Playing That Burns Shadows Bass Guitar - Gives Me 'Needles & Pins' (Burns Shadows Bass Guitar)

Member Name: Caveat-Emptor

Product:	Burns Shadows Bass Guitar
Date:	05/07/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 60's Style, MoreTonal Variation & Pick up Configurations Than Almost Any Other Bass

Disadvantages: Not Good For Slap And Heavy Styles

My review of the Burns Shadows Bass Guitar
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Introduction
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Burns Guitars and Basses had their heyday in the 60's and were a favourite among some of the best known bands of the time;

...from (obviously) instrumental band The Shadows (possibly the most famous instrumental band ever, formerly Cliff Richard's backing band) who temporarily traded in their American made Fender guitars for Burns ones...

...to pop bands like the The Searchers; their bass player and the guitarist all used Burns instruments at one point in their career (though not anymore). -Incidentally they're a great band and are still going strong - the Searchers bass player was kind enough to tell me all about his bass collection after one of their gigs.

So burns guitars scream 60's, and that's really what this bass is trading on -heritage....

But what about the sound and build quality?
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First off, I think this is a really well made and good looking bass guitar - it looks not dissimilar to a Fender Precision bass (which I've no doubt it was modelled from), but Burns have added those beautiful (if you're into that sort of thing -lol!) visually sharp 'horns' that extend out from the body curving around the neck, where it meets the body.

The scratch plate is much more intricate than a Fender Precision one -it's split into three parts, and has the burns logo printed neatly on the bottom segment. Some people might say this is a little ostentatious for a scratch plate, but I think it looks really classy.

The truss rod design is superior to most basses too, in that it offers better adjustment of the neck/fretboard straightness. I was really impressed by how well it let me set the neck.

For those of you who don't know; a truss rod is a metal supporting rod seated beneath the fretboard, running the entire length of the neck up to the headstock-it counters the pull of the strings, which would otherwise pull the neck concave -ruining the 'action' (playability of the guitar defined by the height of the strings above the frets).

The pick ups are a Burns Custom design -and what I really like is that there are 3 of them, and there's a 5 way selector switch with a 'pull' pot on the tone control which allows another 2 pick up choices...

This might sound a bit technical and boring at first until you realise what it means. You can 7 different pick up configurations, and combinations there of... This is more than any other bass guitar I have ever seen or heard of -I'm very impressed!!! (In comparison a Fender Precision bass, fine instrument though it is -has 1 pickup and no other sounds).

It did take me a little while to get used to all the new sounds -I'm not used to basses having that much tonal variation; it's more like an electric guitar than a bass in terms of pick up versatility.

But once I'd gotten used to the new sounds in my pallet (much like getting used to a new type of cuisine, when you've only had fish and chips for tea for years) I really warmed to it.

The two pick up combinations that I found the most useful for when I played with bands were -bridge and neck pickup simultaneously (great punch, with some really subtle softer overtones), and bridge and neck pick up simultaneously (loads of punch but with a healthy thumb of low end depth too). Other settings are really 60's sounding, and I love a bit of retro :-)

The Burns Shadows Bass Guitar feels really solid and well built, and the finish is very good - I found it easy to adjust to my playing style; which is a big plus too.

My Verdict
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If you like 60's panache and shed loads of different pick up switching options and sounds then I'd recommend this bass whole heartedly - it's just so versatile and I love it!!

Granted it won't sway Fender purists, and it's not a great bass for playing 'slap' styles or heavy rock on... but just one look at that gorgeous 60's styling is enough to turn heads... A true classic!

Hope you found my review of some help, and good luck with your bargain hunting!!

Best wishes,
Caveat-Emptor

Summary: Fetch me me wallet, I'm going to the music shop... and I may be some time!!!