Spring at last

Spring is on it´s way at last, even if it still might be cold during nights. Have to start with the Levin deal. a 1952 Levin archtop entered the premesis, but was in a hurry exchanged for a 1980 Burns Marvin guitar.

Per Gjörde´s cousin arrived with a faulty Burns Orbit Three amplifier, one that I will restore to former glory. At the same time a similar amp was wreck was bought just as spareparts. There is always huge problems today in finding the right components for those 60´s amplifiers but with this wreck some rare parts was found. It´s cabinet and one of the 12" speakers is now set up as a speaker cab and will be useful with me Orbit 6.

  

As usual we use Wednesday´s for rehearsal with our band "The Görans Garage Band". It´s satisfying to realise that we seam to be getting better every week. All the cover songs that we used to play is now long gone, instead we use only music that is written by our member´s!

To cover up for missing band-members Kjell have bought a nice gadget where drums and bass can be store´d and set up with ease. Natuarly that gadget will go to the bin as soon as a bassplayer and some skilled drummer show´s up. (Ringo we need you).

List of song´s that is rehears´d at this moment, and is about to find the final form-sound.

"Human memory" music/lyrics by Kjell J

a nice ballad

"50 fat & lazy" music/lyrics by Kjell J

have to call this one 60-80`s Rock´n Roll 

"Stay with me now" music/lyrics by Kjell J

"Dragons daughter" music/lyrics by Kjell J

some kind of weird music

"Is this Rock`n Roll" music/lyrics by Kjell J

well here it´s 60-70´s rock for sure

"Joke of a man" music/lyrics by MJ

weird ballad about ole man-young girl.

"What is reality" music/lyrics by MJ

blues-ballad

"Company Sale" music/lyrics by MJ

rockballad in honur of Jim Burns and Burns guitars.

"Butterfly" music/lyrics by MJ

sweet as honey ballad

Do I need more guitar´s? Well there´s alway´s room for one more, and for long I´ve been hoping to find a Burns bass. Either a Marquee or a Bison. Not one of the old one´s I rather prefer the new made by Barry Gibson. Suddenly a white Bison was on sale at Ebay, and with the help of me freind Bill, I was able to buy it. At this moment I´m waiting for the package to arrive. Not one package but two as Bill has taken the bass apart, in hope that it would not be ruinéd in freight.

For at least a year by now I tried to sell me nice acustic bass, but with no luck. A couple of days ago a freind told he was interessted in it if I would like to make a swap for his 12-string Höfner guitar. At this moment he have the bass on trial at his home, but I´m sure he will arrive at my place any day  now with the old Höfner.

Spent last evening trying to make a demo of a new song. At 2.45 this morning I gave it up, made a pre-Master on me Minidisc that I use in the Studio. Left the studio, went to the livingroom and started playing the disc on my HiFi system. Only to discover that the balance was´nt right. Next step will be to make a new  pre-Master with correct balance!

As often as possible me and me dear Mrs tend to wisit Fleamarket´s in hope to find some nice things. At the last one we wisited I found this nice Dinky Toy´s model car. Lady Penelope´s 6 wheel Rolls Royce. A little gadget with link to music, Burns and the Shadows.

A yesterday wisit to the scrapyard where this sound device was found in working order. Nice gadget to use with recording systems.

 3 x Burns Orbit Three. One of em with 3x10" the other two with 2x12"

Now back to the studio in hope to get a proper balance in me recording.

music madness!

And so its about time again, to put thought´s into word´s. As ususal this time a bit of this and that.  For year´s I´ve been writing song´s. Some may even be called good, some not that good, but then sometime´s I end up with a song written way back that seam to stuck in my head. already I´ve done several attemt´s to record the song. This time I´m gonna do it different!

Step One : enter´s me small homestudio and turn on the light´s, turn on the computer, mixer and the old trusty VOX amp, just to realise that the VOX is dead silent and dont produce anything in the form of sound. Well it does´nt matter. This recording was supposed to be different! VOX turned of a the NEW ( 50 years old - but new to me) Burns Orbit Six is turned on.  It´s red lamp glow´s like a red little star, a distant sound tells it´s working as supposed to.

Step Two : While the VOX do have an amp-output, me Burns amp´s was´nt supplied with this little gadget. The search for some proper microphone´s start´s and a pair of em is connected to the mixer. Might work?

Step Three : Me Yamaha keyboard is turned on and a drumpattern is choosed that could suit the song. Because I´m still in the Reel To Reel way of recording it take´s two recording´s of app 6 minute´s to finish the first drumtrack.

Step Four : Finally time to record the first guitar-track. The Burns Sonic is picked fot the job and 6 minutes later the first music track is ready. I normaly record the first track, just to have a track to follow.

Step Five : Time to record a Bass track. Witch bass shall be used? Among me three basses (a Burns Vista Sonic 1963,  a Asian Violin Bass copy 2010, and me homebuildt Burns a bit look a like 4 pickup bass) I end up the me homebuildt clone. Somehow I done a good job with this bass. Not that it today have a great look and finish, but it is actually a very good bass to play on giving a nice sound all the time. A couple of take´s is needed, natuarly during recording I tend to play the wrong note´s so I have to start from the beguinning.

Step Six : How does it sound? Already after a few bar´s I realise that the bass sound´s like shit. Time to make a new recording! Six minutes later I realise that I need another microphone to make it sound right. Let´s search for a microphone witch can transform lower tone´s. New mic is set up and yet another recording of the bass. Puhhh - this time the bass sound nice.

Like this everything goes on and time fly away. The leadguitar is picked, a Burns Bison with its sweet sounding TriSonic pickups. Guitar connected thrue a 1960´s tube Hagström Echo and the first lead guitar track is recorded. It does actually sound like a clean Echo sound of the 60´s. Still the sound from all channels dont sound like the perfect tune in me head. I need a more modern sounding lead guitar.

Step Seven : Up until a year ago I never used any sound gadgets exept echo and reverb on me guitars. Then the Burns Buzzaround Fuzz arrived and I loved it´s naughty sound. So yet another lead guitar track was recorded, this time with the Buzz going to the Echo and thru the amp into the recording computer.

Step Eight : Well natuarly something was missing, so some strings coming from the Yamaha was added and yet another rhytmguitar track. The first one was now deleted.

Every track was now listen to and corrcted until all track´s seamed to be okey. Finally a compressor was used on all channels and the recording of this song from 1996 was ready. This was possibly the 50´th time this song was recorded. Maybe it now sound the same as the sound I can hear in me head.

So far there´s never been any real success as it do sound much better in me head then on record. There always seam to be a huge demand for a female voice in the songs instead of yours truly who enjoys singing very much but should do something else.

Other nonsens!

As you all could read earlier the new addition to me Burns amplifier collection has been resored to a very good and useful condtion. It´s not like new, at least not on the cabinet outside, but it´s amplifier section today works in the way it was intended. The original front badge was missing but a Badge is posted and on it´s way to Sweden, Bill told.

Me freind Per Gjörde came up with the idea to improve a Burns Bison-62 reissue guitar with a RezOTube tremolo, the finished product look´d great! Such a guitar should be a sucess! So when Bill told he did have a set of TriSonic pickup for me, the dream design was ready. Me Bison-64 is going to loose its Rezomatic pickups in favour of the Trisonic. Hopefully it will then sound even more like a Burns. In my oppinion the RezoMatic pickups sound to much like the Fender Stratocaster pickups, and on my behalf I dont want a Fender, I want a Burns!!

There may even be a chanse that I use the RezoMatic pickups in me Rämje Stratocaster!

By the way, my latest recording is´nt ready. Thought so, but when listening to it in me homestereo I could with ease hear someone singing out of key! That´s me! So the vocal tracks have to be done once again in hope to rectify this problem.

Orbit SIX history

the Burns Orbit SIX was possibly the biggest Combo amplifier on the market during the 60´s. With its power of no less then 80 watt´s thrue either 6 x 10" ELAC-Burns Orbital or 3 x 12" FANE-Burns Orbital spekers it was a true beast!

Three channels where one of them was intended for use with a bassguitar.

Up until a few week´s ago Ihav´nt seen any of those amp´s, and as far as I know the Swedish importer of Burns at the time "Boosey & Hawks" never sold a SIX.

My amp come´s from Brittain and me freind Bill. But what was its story before that. Another fellow in UK had it for a year or two, without ever using it, until Bill took it over. But before that? Who had the need of such a huge powerful amp during that time, and who could afford it? Thousand´s of questions pop up in me head. Is it possible to find an answer?

So the restorationwork on me SIX contintued. Everything electronic was set back to original standard, and the amp really show´d it´s hidden potential. The outside of the cabinet was not good at all. It was RoadWorn!! Looked like shit. Parts of the black nagahyde was slized, but could be glued back. Lower front looked extremly bad and a new strip of similar material was glued and rivetted in place. Suddenly it started to look at least fair. 

Biggest problem to solve was the green cloth in front of the speakers. I already knew that it would be impossible to find the same aluminium mesh that once was original so after consultation with a steelcompany I found a mesh in aluminium that could serve as a substitute. I think it do looks okey.

At the backpanel of the amp the original production badge was still intact, even it the numer was extremly hard to read. With the help of a lens this minor problem was solved. Number 2388 was back. At least a small clue to it´s story. Yet another part of the story was found inside the amp in form of a output transformer unit.  On the badge "RINGWAY MUSIC" could be read, and with that beguins the history of this amp! 

There was for sure not that many band´s that bought and used the Orbit Six combo, even in the UK. It was huge, it was expensive - way to much. Then again a few bands used it like "the Ramblers" on picture below with no less the two SIX´s at back. I´m pretty sure they used one of em as a Bass-Combo.

the Rambler - London

Another band "the Volume Four" had a SIX model with 6 x 10" speakers. Shown here on the pic with an Orbit Three on top.

then I suddenly remember a pic showing "the Spencer Davis Group" outside a musicshop in Birmingham.

In 1965 the band went into the shop mainly selling organs, and bought not only a SIX but also a Burns Buzzaround Fuzz box. the Fuzz was used of one of their first hits "Keep on running" together with the Orbit Six. Steve Winwood vocal-organ and his brother Muff on bass.

Might be that the brothers bought the huge SIX with 3 x 12" speakers to use it as both an organ-amp and bass-amp. I will for sure try to find an answer to that.

this picture at least tell a little about the size of the amp.

A contact gave some extra help! (the Burns freak world is fun and helpful) as far as He told there was only two Orbit Six Combos sold by Ringway Music Birmingham, and one of em was equipped with 6 x 10" speakers!!

Well, in no way I can prove today that my Orbit Six is the same as on the Spencer Davis picture outside the shop, but it seams to be the right answer. If so the beguinning of it´s history is known, now there´s only some 30 years of that missing... What happened after SDG?

home recovering and building.

at the moment fully occupied with the repair of a Jaguar engine but also delayed by some illness I started to construct my own loudspeaker. 

the old bookshelf and 2 x 12" speakers

Already there was a couple of 12" speakers in the closet, so I was in need of a suitible cabinet. This item was found at a secondhand shop in form of an old bookshelf. 

After reinforcement of the bookshelf  the construction developed slowly into the for of my new speaker. 

the new 2x12+midrange speaker and VOX AD60

The two 12" speakers had a 16 ohm resistance was connected in series with each others and then a midrange speaker of 8 ohms connected paralell to the two. Ending up in a 4 ohm almost 100 watt speaker system.

bedside cabinet 12" speaker and TOA amp,DOD effect.

I have to admit that this me latest speaker cabinet is far more refined then the one I made some monthes ago. then it was yet another 12" speaker mounted in a badside table!!! 

Ending up with a couple of rather good speakers to a cost of almost nothing!!!

"love at first sight"

Sometimes I wonder what really makes one single guitar so special. 

What make´s it stand out in a way that cant be compared with its competers. Is it caused by it producer, its brand. Or maybe its more important in wich country its originally produced.

How is it possible to compare different guitars in a wide different price range. Is it even possible in regards of the Electric guitar.

Caused by economic retrictions, custom-rates and other taxes a fairly cheap guitar in its orgin country might end up extremly expensive in Your own country. Even if those extra cost today seam to be minor.

Les Paul & Mary Ford in the early 50-ies

With the use of famous guitarplayers, bands different guitar-makers can make their product more popular. They can even add an air of exclusivity to their brand.

with the Japan revolution we realised that they was not only able to build great motorcycles, cameras, hi-fi equipment and more. They also started to produce electric guitars, often exact copies of guitars made in countries like the US. 

Gibson Les Paul-Playboy edition.

the "LOG" Les Paul´s first electric guitar

Back to the roaring 50-ies n 60-ies.

In USA the late Les Paul in need of more sound from his guitar constructed one of the first electrified guitar using a Gibson Archtop. Later he constructed the famous Gibson Les Paul guitars. 

Fender Telecaster

During the same time Leo Fender started with his guitars, the Telecaster and Stratocaster. Guitars wich all is famous world wide today.

Fender Stratocaster 1960

In Europe and in my country Sweden we was forced by the economy to use European made guitars. Even if we dreamed of a US built guitar. The line of Fender guitars was more expensive then similar guitars made in Europe.

Gibson L5

Its not totaly wrong to say  that noone went out to buy the extremly expensive Gibson L5 just because Elvis Presley´s main guitarplayer Scotty Moore used one. It all changed with bands like the Shadows, the Beach Boys, the Beatles.

The Shadows started with some different Fender guitars but started to use the UK produced Burns guitars. The Burns company even had models named as signature Shadows and Hank B Marvin. The Beatles entered the scene with a US made Rickenbacker, a US made Gretsch and not to forget a German made violin bass from Höfner. Not a Fender or Gibson in sight.

the Beatles 1964

Especially Beatles made every youngster to shop for a Höfner, the two other guitars was a bit to expensive.

Levin Archtop 1964

All over Europe guitarmanufactors pop´d up like springflowers. In Sweden we already had the Levin and Bjärton factories who made high quality acustic guitars. Soon their guitars was fitted with microphones and became electric archtop guitars. The Hagström company started to make electric guitars, and later acustic ones. all of them was top quality instruments with a price range from fairly cheap to extremly expensive.

Hagström-KENT guitar of 1963

Around western europe several guitarmakers made: EKO, VOX, Elite, Dynacord, Klira, Höfner, Hohner, Framus, Burns and many more. The VOX guitars was mainly made in Italy by other makers, then branded VOX. Main part of the other European made guitars was in the low and middle pricerange offering good value for the money spent.

Höfner 1965

While guitars from the US often was priced higher then the European they also did have their fair amount of cheap guitars. the fact is that the Fender company´s guiars was mainly sold at supermarkets in the US. With this in mind many European musicshops didnt want to sell those mass produced guitars. Still Fender is today regarded as a top of the line guitar. 

Harmony 1965

Harmony was yet another company that sold their products with the help of postalorder and supermarkets. Often Harmony guitars had a different brandname, connected to the shop that was about to sell it. 

Among those companies in Europe as far as I know it only two of them made guitars in the top pricerange. Well buildt handcrafted guitars for the serious guitarplayer. Levin and Burns.

Burns replica made in 2010

Even if they was fairly unexpensive guitars in the 60-ies, they can often be compared with much more expensive guitars of today. The quality of those instruments might be low compared to other guitars from the 60-ies. 

EKO 290 2V 1964

Most of the guitars from the 50-ies and 60-ies is today regarded as colelctors items and sold at prices that seam to reach the skye.

With Japan producing eact copies of great guitars, the US suddenly found their selfs in a competition. Ibanez produced copies of every Gibson guitar made and sold em at extremly low prices. the guitars was of similar quality as the originals. This as the now famous and saught after lawsuit models.

Ibanez Barney Kessel lawsuit app 1970

This competition made almost all of the world renown companies to start procution of copies with their own brand names. Countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India was among the contries were guitars now was made. A Fender named Squire, the Ephphone compande bought by Gibson now became the asiatic brand for the company´s procuts made in Asia.

Epiphone ES175-3 Bigsby made in Korea by gibson

The Swedish copanies Levin and Hagström went out of production, but is now produced in Asia.

Levin archtop made in Korea 2005

Guitars if fashion, guitars is love at first sight. With this in mind You could always find your dream guitar. And if you try to test your guitar blindfolded without looking for its brandname, you may end up with the perfect guitar to your collection. 

That wasnt entirely true. Among those guitarplayers that I know, they always have a small or a big collection of different guitars. The reason seam to be that every guitar does have its own very special quality. A quality that can be found in an expensive brandname guitar as well as in a lowcost one. 

Is your love to a guitar similar to the feelings you have for a the woman in your life. Would  you like to take the guitar to bed? I dont think its wrong at all to compare a guitar with a sexy woman. 

To start of you like the way it looks, next step is to touch it and later its playability. The last part can alter but there is also huge possibilities with abit of work to make a not so good guitar become something great.