Project Vista Sonic (rut row, JIO's at it again!)

[Fender_Bender]

That looks great! Yes, very vampy nail-polish/lipstick red.



Lenny Breau was an astoundingly original talent (with a too tragic end). "Must know" IMO. My friend Phil deGruy studied and played with him a lot - including some living/crashing together. Good intro to Breau in this documentary done for Canadian TV by his daughter:



By the way, was reminded that on the band Massacre's album "Killing Time" (with Bill Laswell playing bass), Fred Frith played a Burns guitar (a Black Bison IIRC) on the whole thing.

I first saw that doc about 20 years ago. I believe it was my introduction to him. It made me very sad that he was already dead, and that with the small population in Canada that it might be a very long time before another Lenny came along. I feel the same way a little bit about David Wilcox, a guitar prodigy from Toronto who fell in love with the bottle.

 

[JIO]

I first saw that doc about 20 years ago. I believe it was my introduction to him. It made me very sad that he was already dead, and that with the small population in Canada that it might be a very long time before another Lenny came along. I feel the same way a little bit about David Wilcox, a guitar prodigy from Toronto who fell in love with the bottle.

Being an artist myself and knowing many artists in the fine-arts, musicians, dancers/theatrical people over the years - it's always sad to see that combination.., but I understand where it comes from. Look at Jaco, look at Tim Buckley, Chet Baker, Janus, Jimi, Jim Morrison, Belushi, Kaufman - brilliant souls that burned brightly. I'll look up David Wilcox.

 

[JIO]

Cavity coated w/2 coats carbon shielding paint. (this is the first coat still drying) I used to do 3 coats, but two is sufficient and 3 is overkill. I'll assemble the body tomorrow and box it until the neck returns.

I decided that the finish looks like Red Hots cinnamon flavored candy -

 

[Fender_Bender]

Being an artist myself and knowing many artists in the fine-arts, musicians, dancers/theatrical people over the years - it's always sad to see that combination.., but I understand where it comes from. Look at Jaco, look at Tim Buckley, Chet Baker, Janus, Jimi, Jim Morrison, Belushi, Kaufman - brilliant souls that burned brightly. I'll look up David Wilcox.

It seems to me the old expression of “a fine line between genius and madness” is unfortunately the truth. The obsession it takes to be world class in something, particularly the arts, really does seem to be destructive to many people. Jaco for example in the Bellevue hospital would be making progress but as soon as he’d get his hands on an instrument he’d start going backwards again. So many of these people have trouble living life off the stage.

Wilcox’s best song imo is called “riverboat fantasy”. He’s never going to challenge Tom Petty for songwriting, but he can play the guitar like a ringing a bell. He’s still around and I think he’s sober.

 

[Dynacord]

I first saw that doc about 20 years ago. I believe it was my introduction to him. It made me very sad that he was already dead, and that with the small population in Canada that it might be a very long time before another Lenny came along. I feel the same way a little bit about David Wilcox, a guitar prodigy from Toronto who fell in love with the bottle.

Worth checking out Phil deGruy - some of Lenny's playing lives on with him and he's truly remarkable in his own right: Phil duGruy

Down Beat Magazine "Blindfold Test" with Charlie Hunter, June 1996
(The "Blindfold Test" is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to identify the musicians who performed on the selected recordings. The artist is then asked to rate each tune using a 5-star system. No information about the recordings is given to the artist prior to the test.)

Philip deGruy
"My Girl" (from Innuendo Out The Other, NYC, 1995) deGruy, solo guitarp.

(immediately) "Phil deGruy. What can you say? It's a shame more people don't know about him. He's one of those guys who has changed the face of the guitar without using a lot of spandex. He's taken the vibe of Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins and Bill Evens. The first time I saw him perform was in his room in New Orleans. There were five other musicians watching him play. It was the truth. No ******** at all. Just this guy and his totally insane playing. He can even take the corniest tune in the world -- like this one, which I could stand never hearing again -- and make is sound golden. He has his own sense of humor and sense of harmony, incredible voicing, and you can't mess with his right-hand chops. Plus, no one else in the world can play that instrument. This album is the only solo-guitar record I can listen to now. Every guitar player should have this in their collection, no matter what kind of music they play. Stars? Oh, a million. Five million and a half."

 

[JIO]

It seems to me the old expression of “a fine line between genius and madness” is unfortunately the truth. The obsession it takes to be world class in something, particularly the arts, really does seem to be destructive to many people. Jaco for example in the Bellevue hospital would be making progress but as soon as he’d get his hands on an instrument he’d start going backwards again. So many of these people have trouble living life off the stage.

Wilcox’s best song imo is called “riverboat fantasy”. He’s never going to challenge Tom Petty for songwriting, but he can play the guitar like a ringing a bell. He’s still around and I think he’s sober.

Kinda reminds me of this -

 

[JIO]

Worth checking out Phil deGruy - some of Lenny's playing lives on with him and he's truly remarkable in his own right: Phil duGruy

Down Beat Magazine "Blindfold Test" with Charlie Hunter, June 1996
(The "Blindfold Test" is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to identify the musicians who performed on the selected recordings. The artist is then asked to rate each tune using a 5-star system. No information about the recordings is given to the artist prior to the test.)

Philip deGruy
"My Girl" (from Innuendo Out The Other, NYC, 1995) deGruy, solo guitarp.

(immediately) "Phil deGruy. What can you say? It's a shame more people don't know about him. He's one of those guys who has changed the face of the guitar without using a lot of spandex. He's taken the vibe of Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins and Bill Evens. The first time I saw him perform was in his room in New Orleans. There were five other musicians watching him play. It was the truth. No ******** at all. Just this guy and his totally insane playing. He can even take the corniest tune in the world -- like this one, which I could stand never hearing again -- and make is sound golden. He has his own sense of humor and sense of harmony, incredible voicing, and you can't mess with his right-hand chops. Plus, no one else in the world can play that instrument. This album is the only solo-guitar record I can listen to now. Every guitar player should have this in their collection, no matter what kind of music they play. Stars? Oh, a million. Five million and a half."

 

[Dynacord]

Ha! Good catch. I organized that show (sorry for the poor video quality). That was a great night - first Phil and then Michael Hedges (speaking of incredible talents gone much too soon).

 

[JIO]

Ha! Good catch. I organized that show (sorry for the poor video quality). That was a great night - first Phil and then Michael Hedges (speaking of incredible talents gone much too soon).

Speaking of the new history-gloss over propaganda film about W I just heard about on NPR this morning...

 

[Dynacord]

Speaking of the new history-gloss over propaganda film about W I just heard about on NPR this morning...

All too apropos. Funny how standards can change with later context...

Here's a home recording I did with Phil - just after I put my aluminum double bass together so apologies for less than perfect technique:

 

[JIO]

All too apropos. Funny how standards can change with later context...

Here's a home recording I did with Phil - just after I put my aluminum double bass together so apologies for less than perfect technique:

Really cool David Do you think John McLaughlin knew of Phil? His harp guitar was more coming from a sitar than a harp but like the Dano sitar they all have the additional set of strings. I saw Pat Metheny a few years back up in Davis and he played a crazy multi-stringed acoustic guitar thing.



and a few others play multi-stringed instruments ...


7-string bass with a 6-string guitar + harp

 

[Dynacord]

Really cool David Do you think John McLaughlin knew of Phil? His harp guitar was more coming from a sitar than a harp but like the Dano sitar they all have the additional set of strings. I saw Pat Metheny a few years back up in Davis and he played a crazy multi-stringed acoustic guitar thing.



and a few others play multi-stringed instruments ...


7-string bass with a 6-string guitar + harp

Thanks! No idea on McLaughlin though would not be surprised. Hedges had a number of the old early 20th century Gibson harp guitars with open tuned bass strings (as well as some luthier made reproductions) - here's a clip of him playing one from that same niight as the deGruy clip you posted - and I even get a shout out:



Easy to hear that he could have been a great bass player, too...

 

[JIO]

Bridge ground wire soldered & interfacing with the bridge-plate - need to find three bridge screws that match what Burns used as they were not included. Two I had are place holders. Dunlop Stap-Lok pegs are a concession to function - only one of the originals was on the bass.

A sort of odd original detail is the string mute-bar holes. As you can see they are not symmetric. (as they should be) The left-side set are closer together than the right-side set. 7/16" compared to 3/4". Can only chalk it up to early ad-hock production. Probably a run of bars were drilled 'off' and instead of 86-ing them - they ran with it. Mine has a centered bridge (in the route) but there are examples of the plate being 'off center' in the route. As in - check out the white one below - the bridge is mounted off-center to the right in the rout. No CNC-ing going on here!

Documentation for future provenance -

 

[JIO]

Found this white lefty '64 Vintage 1964 Burns Vista Sonic White Left Handed Bass Guitar - and the bridge screws look pretty basic; crown-head Philips. The plate holes aren't beveled either. Seems like beveled flat-heads would be preferable so as not to be in the way of saddle adjustment, but perhaps the saddles won't need to go that deep. Will find out at set-up time.

 

[JIO]

(if you like 'Je'taime' and 'Melody Nelson' era Serge Gainsbourg) ... this bass is the sound of that classic music. < I saw that and had to grab it. Right up my alley!





Check this out - another white VS in which the owner took the 2-piece string-mute and remounted them as finger/thumb rests! This is an example of one with the string-mute holes in the extended pg. (unlike mine) They also put a Fender P-bass bridge cover on it and strange little knobs...

 

[JIO]

Here's a nice big sharp-focused pic of the bridge. Looks like the three mounting screws are clear of saddles. And another example of the un-tapered bridge rout and extended pg with string-mute holes through it. The thing about having the bridge set down inside a 4-sided rout like that is that the saddle adjustment screws are below the strings and would be a bitch to get a screwdriver in there. Mine has the fluted/tapered bottom side which will offer clear access to saddle adjustment - aka a much better, more functional design. At least the bridge is centered!

Another thing to note - on mine the bridge ground wire comes out a channel at the center edge of the upper bridge route. Like on this one, there is a gap (but not as big) between the edge and the bridge-plate where on mine you can see the wire. This example shows no indication of that but does show a hole near the G saddle where the ground wire probably comes out.

 

[JIO]

Looks like I can buy a (new) reproduction Burns bridge cover for my VS from Spens Guitars Denmark who are the current carriers of the torch producing Burns guitars and basses in their traditional form with a few modern updates. So interesting this company which has similarity to Fender in some ways but is so different. The Burns brand has crashed and been reborn a number of times over decades by hard-core advocates/lovers of these iconic guitars/basses.

This is an example of a guitar cover, which is the same as the bass cover but with a port for a whammy bar to exit. Using the same cover for all their guitars/basses (at least of a certain model) was very economical.

 

[RedVee]

Here is another ‘60’s oddly shaped Basses. A Maton Big Ben. I kinda like it

 

[Dynacord]

Would love to check out a Maton sometime. Only ever seen photos.

 

[herndonbassist]

The tour video cracks me up 'scientifically tuned like it were a real musical instrument'