Burns, Bison (Model 2), 1963

Tabs

Specifications
Builder: 
Burns
Model: 
Bison (Model 2)
Serial Number: 
1952
Year: 
1963
Color: 
Black
Body: 
Sycamore
Fretboard: 
Rosewood
Pickups: 
Three Ormston Burns Ultra Sonic Pickups
The Story Behind

Jim Burns redesigned the Bison from the original four-pickup version to this model with three pickups, a bolt-on neck and a simplified vibrato unit.

The Black Bison Three Pickup Model was made for only two years (1962 and 1963) and were never produced in large quantities. They are all considered to be quite rare models, and a very desirable addition to any serious guitar collection.

The rotary switch gives a choice of Treble, Jazz, Split Sound a forth position labelled “Wild dog.” Each pickup is actually two pickups with two separate coils and these are switched via a complex arrangement of the rotary control. So with three double pickups there were six coils to switch, sadly the designers limited the outputs of these to just four options.

The, “Wild dog” position is actually an out of phase sound with very high treble, “Treble” is the bridge pickup, “Jazz” is the neck and centre pick ups and “Split sound” is a something quite original. The coil under the treble three strings on the bridge pickup is paired with the coil under the three bass strings in the neck pickup. Thus the sound is “split”, the treble strings were very treble and the bass strings very bassy.

These pickups were actually low impedance with a matching transformer built into the instrument. The coils were not wound onto the magnets as in a Fender Strat type design but were wound separately and then placed into the housing around the magnets. Because of this loose design the pickups could be quite microphonic but they do have a sound of their own.

The tremolo unit is also quite amazing. The six bridge pieces sits on a plate which itself rests on a roller and could slide back and forth. The trem arm will move the roller, which will move the bridge pieces back and forth, there is a Bigsby type return spring which doesn't always bring the bridge to the same place it started.

If you have any questions, please contact us