Pickguard Planet

This page features pickguards for Burns & Baldwin Burns instruments. Burns was founded by Jim Burns in the late 1950s, specializing in short scale instruments. American-made guitars were very difficult to get in England in the.years that followed WWII, creating an opportunity for a UK domestic brand. The use of Sycamore wood & early catalyzed polyester finishes did not yield instruments as long lasting & durable as the Fenders of the period, but Burns did offer the WILD DOG switch setting, which made up for some of the shortcomings of some of their guitars. The Tri-Sonic pickups are a cult favorite among players looking for a unique voice for their sound; listen to Brian May's guitar parts, played on the verge of feedback...seems like only he can control the Burns/Vox/Arbiter rig he uses! At the other extreme is Hank Marvin's glassy but resonant clean tone with the Shadows. Yet they both play Burns/Vox setups! And by the way Shads fans; we're still trying to get in touch with Cliff Richard's Girlfriend for an interview; let us know if any of you can help with that!

We still remember jamming on The Shadows' "Apache" with Burns' Barry Gibson at the Budokan in Tokyo with Barry on a Marquee Club & PC on a Chandler 12-string Bass with Tom & Rick from Cheap Trick in the audience...

For the record, Burns guitars are cool & offer a late 60s vibe like no other. If you want to have your Burns pickguard engraved like the old ones were, contact us.

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