Live and Let Die

[iBudd]

There I was channel-hopping yesterday when I stumbled across super-dated Bond movie [i]Live and Let Die[/i]. Having only watched it several hundred times already I thought "why not?", when suddenly I spotted something I hadn't seen before. At the 'Filet of Soul' restaurant in New Orleans, a band are playing before BJ Arnau comes on and does her thing, and the bassist is playing the coolest white Burns Bison. These were quite popular in sixties Britain but they're a bit out of place in the US... then I realised it's only a movie and I'm sure all the interiors were filmed at Pinewood with locally-sourced props etc.

Here's the only cap I could find online (from screenmusings.org). Cool huh?

Edited March 10, 2014 by iBudd

[Lee Carter]

Looks like one of [url="http://www.burnsguitars.com/burnsshadowbass.php"]these[/url] (not a re-issue though!)

[Count Bassy]

I agree with the OP - A Bison, not the Shadows special.

[BigRedX]

It's a Bison bass, but it looks like the Baldwin rather a Burns. The control plate is a slightly different shape and the bridge is closer to the end of the body compared with the Burns version.

[BetaFunk]

I agree with BigRedX. It looks like a Baldwin 516 Bison which was basically a re-badged Burns Bison for the American market.

[BigRedX]

The Baldwin version had some of the features simplified (notably the scroll headstock) so it was easier and more cost effective to make.

[BetaFunk]

...and not forgetting the problems they had with the polyester finish when they arrived stateside.

[iBudd]

Good eyes everyone!
So that's interesting, it seems like it IS an American instrument after all. I guess there's a story there then since it was definitely filmed at Pinewood.
There was a good angle on the scroll headstock in the movie. it didn't look fundamentally different from a standard 60s Burns one, but it was out of the corner of my eye... I should try and find or make some other caps...
What went wrong with the polyester finish? Did it somehow go manky in transit?

[BigRedX]

The Baldwin versions are american in name only. The early ones were completely made in England and later they had the final assembly in the US but only to beat import tariffs on assembled goods.

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='iBudd' timestamp='1394489798' post='2391978']
What went wrong with the polyester finish? Did it somehow go manky in transit?
[/quote]
It seems that the polyester finish couldn't handle the climate changes in the U.S. meaning that a lot of the Baldwin era guitars and basses were refinished after they arrived in the U.S.

[BigRedX]

To the OP: If you are interested in Burns Guitars and their history, you should invest in a copy of "Pearls And Crazy Diamonds" by Per Gjörde. I would post a link but the Burns Museum web site appears to have been hacked.

Obviously both BetaFunk and myself have copies.

[iBudd]

Thanks for the tip, I hadn't heard of the book.

[BigRedX]

There's also the older, less impressive looking (although equally informative) and now out of print "Burns Book" by Paul Day.

[iBudd]

That one looks good too, thanks.
My interest in Burns basses comes about because I interviewed Dave Richmond for Bass Guitar Mag last year and since then part of my brain seems to be on the lookout for Bisons!

[BigRedX]

If you like that sort of thing, there's something special about the creations of Jim Burns.

My first bass (which I still own) was a Burns Sonic, and if my needs hadn't moved towards requiring 5 strings I might still be a Burns player. At some point if I ever have enough spare cash a custom-made 5-string version of the Flyte Bass is on the cards.

Thee's a short thread with some Basschatter's Burns Basses [url=http://basschat.co.uk/topic/208911-burns-basses/]here[/url].

[iBudd]

I love the look of the Flyte basses—the space age dragged into the glam era. Super seventies!

EDIT—and based, accoring to Tony Bacon, on the look of Concorde. Which I can sort of see.

Edited March 14, 2014 by iBudd