Burny models that with RLG-XX. The XX were numbers that indicated the guitar series. The bigger number means the better the guitar in terms of sound and finishing qualities. Take the LP Standard copy for example, there are the RLG-45, RLG-55, RLG-70, RLG-90 etc, the best being the 'Super Grade' model made in Japan.

• Burny Guitar History
• Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg Number
• Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg 2
• Burny Guitars Japan
• Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg 1
• Burny Guitars Website

• The FLG 240 was a special order handbuild guitar with one piece body, one piece neck and solid flamed top, finished in nitro with Duncan 59 pickups and high quality nickel hardware. I’m told that not many 240´s were build, because the production line FLG 150 was just as good, and it had the same features.
• I'm no expert on Fernandes but a lot of MIJ guitars date by the serial number. Yours would be Dec 1980. A= Jan up to L= Dec 0 = 80 the first digit is the year. Sometimes the first two digits. You can usually tell if it's 1970 or 1980 by the hardware etc. Earlier Fernandes had a Fender font logo. Some had 'by Burny' underneath.

REFERENCE & RESOURCE PAGES:

SUPERSOUND (1958) - BURNS-WEILL (1959) - FENTON WEILL (1960-65)

ORMSTON BURNS (1960-1965) - AMPEG (1963-64) - BALDWIN (1965-69)

SHERGOLD WOODCRAFTS (1967-69) - ORMSTON (1968) - HAYMAN (1970-75)

BURNS UK (1973-77) - BURNS ACTUALIZERS (1979-82) - SHERGOLD (1975-92)

TIMELINE - PUBLICITY - FACTORY

ARTIST - DELUXE - SONIC - BLACK BISON - VISTA

BLACK BISON III - JAZZ - TR-2 - NU-SONIC - MARVIN - DOUBLE 6

Burny Guitar History

BISON - VIBRASLIM - GB65 - GB66 - VIRGINIAN - BABY BISON

AMPLIFIERS - ACCESSORIES - PROTOTYPES

Rear of 131 Queens Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex

These photos were kindly shared with me by Bill Lovegrove, co-author of 'The Jim Burns Story'.

The book is available to buy here and makes for an incredible read, containing hundreds of never-before-published photographs and anecdotes from family and Burns-team members, spread over 400 full-colour pages! It's a small-run privately printed book, and copies are very limited, so if you want one I'd urge you to order one now before they are all gone!

Jimmy Jams, 22nd April 1961.

Jim on Ormston Hawaiian Lap Steel, Phil Sweet on Burns Thinline Prototype through Tele Amp (or two?)

Station Approach, Cherry Tree Rise, Roding Valley

Photo from the Farrell archives. Presumed circa mid-1962, preparing for a Trade Fair?

25th April 1963 Ormston Burns Letter

Burns Guitars Research Team, 1963:

Hi Everyone, This a picture of me (John Clark) on the left, with Gordon Chandler (chief designer) and Phil Storm aka Phil Sweet (designer draughtsman). It was 1963 I think and I was 18.

Unloading a lorry outside the Burns factory

Memories from Norman Houlder

Re: BURNS ARTIST BASS info? Norm?

• Post by n.houlder » Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:00 pm

Hi
As far as I can remember? that instrument was all hand moulded with fixed neck moulded to the body.
There is only one person that could help is Lez Andrews. He was the main cabinet maker in the early days, he lives in
Plymouth. He was the mainstay for Burns right from the early days in Buckhurst Hill basement; I was roped in to Mechanize the production in the early 60s when they moved to Roding Valley with Jack Golder in charge. I diverse. I did get involved with the Black Bison; trying to machine that one was a bit of a headache with it's curled up horns. When they started screwing the necks on that's when I stepped in. Sorry can't help. Have you had a look in the Burns book by Per Gjord PEARLS & CRAZY DIAMONDS? It's very informative of all Jim Burns efforts.

• Post by n.houlder » Wed Aug 09, 2017 7:59 pm

BURNS FACTORY PROMOTIONAL SHOTS

Published October 1963

Above: Dave Van Doorn with a TR2

'Bert'

Above: Keith Davis working on Touch-Sensitive Bass prototype

Brooklands Approach (Published address Chesham Close), Romford

Patents:

VISIT TO EDDIE CROSS & SON, 1984 (Walter Kavli)

Stewart Orr: 'I met Eddie at the factory in the eighties and I remember those Bisons. Eddie explained that when Baldwin stopped they simply piled all the machinery, stock and anything else into a corner and pressed on with their other work. I remember Eddie producing a box full of Bison tuner covers, he felt that Jack Golder with his background at Rootes motors constantly over-ordered parts and this did not help cashflow! Glad he did though. Eddie had a framed 'bounced cheque' from JB on his wall. The cessation of Baldwin gave Eddie's dad very serious problems at the time as they were the biggest customer he had.'

Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg Number

Eddie Cross' Engraving Machine

SPRAY FINISHERS 'G. Brunt, 17 Charlotte Rd, London'

Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg 2

JOB FIGURES Dec 1964-Nov 1965

Signed off by Jack Golder

From phone conversation with Paul Day

Burny Guitars Japan

Paul Day's Vibrato Series overview:

Burny Guitar Serial Number Fg 1

The earliest version of Burns' recessed bridge/vibrato assembly was the 'Series 1', introduced in 1962. This employed either 'solid' style saddles mounted on a thin steel bridgeplate, or the earlier cradle type bridge (used on the Split Sound bass only), both carried on a large diameter roller. The vibrato arm screwed straight into the string retaining spindle, which was located right at the rear of the large aluminium baseplate and spring tension was non-adjustable. The accompanying cover was initially a push-on type, subsequently superseded by the screw fixing flanged equivalent, but on both versions the vibrato arm access hole was accordingly sited towards the back of the cover top. The revised 'Series 2' design first appeared around late '63. This featured 'open' style saddles mounted on a much thicker, aluminium bridgeplate, which was in turn carried on a correspondingly smaller diameter roller. The vibrato arm was now fitted to a collar around the string retaining spindle and this collar could be swivelled to vary arm angle height as required. The spindle was sited further forward, as the attached vibrato spring was shorter and now faced backwards, terminating at a tension adjuster. The vibrato arm access hole in the cover top naturally was moved forward to match, but just to muddy the waters (in typical Burns manner of course!), this aperture varied slightly in both size and location, as did overall proportions of the cover, suggesting that measurements changed depending on batch manufacture. This means some covers fit and line up better than others, while the partner threaded body inserts also play their part in accurate (or otherwise) positioning. The flanged cover used on the various basses and the Double Six adopted a similar appearance but was deeper to provide the necessary extra clearance.

Burny Guitars Website

Burny/Fernandes Guitars:
Fernandes is the parent company that made most of the company's Fender replica guitars under its own Fernandes name.
Burny is the brand name or division that focused on the making of Gibson replica guitars. Fernandes/Burny first started
cloning Fender and Gibson guitars in the 1970s and continued thorugh the mid-1980’s, up until Fender and Gibson
threatened to sue them for copyright/trademark infringement. At that point, Burny/Fernandes changed their truss rod
cover shape and other small details to appease both Fender and Gibson. For their Fender copies, they were forced
to change their headstock shape completely.
The rare old Fender and Gibson 'lawsuit' replicas that can be found are extremely accurate in their attention to detail that
the original Fender and Gibsons had. The guitars were called the “Revival” series, as they were essentially reviving the old
classic Fenders and Gibsons. The headstock logos were dead ringers from 15 feet away. On the Revival Stratocaster,
the saddles were stamped like Fenders, except bore the F.S.R.G. stamp (Fernandes Sound and Research Group) instead
of the FENDER stamp. Other details were uncanny, too, in their replication of the Fender Strat. The Tele was just as
collectible. Prices even in Japan are triple what they were 5 years ago due to collector interest not only from abroad,
but also from within Japan.
Currently, Burny/Fernandes is still making high-end Gibson and Fender replica guitars in Japan, but has also opened up a
Japanese just have higher standards of work and materials while the same standards are not always upheld elsewhere, even
How can you tell the difference between a modern Japanese-made Burny and a Chinese-made or Korean-made Burny?
You really need to trust a seller and ask lots of questions about the craftsmanship (ask to see a photo of the neck pickup
well and also ask what the model number of the guitar is)... all Burny/Fernandes guitars have model numbers, but sellers
often intentionally or unknowingly misrepresent the model numbers to get higher prices. Most guitars look good from the
outside... have a look under the hood before you buy one. I am still gathering information about how to determine
Japanese-made vs. Chinese-made & Korean-made and will update my site as soon as more accurate information is located.