Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I would be most interested in hearing your comments about your Burns' guitar or one that you played including photos. They are a rarity in this neck of the woods.

As I said before in other threads, I love my Burns Marvin and prefer it to any Fender Stratocaster I have ever played (although I like the Strat, too). I think that the Burns Marvin is even more comfortable to play. Its weight is very well balanced and the shape of the body is beautifully contoured. The vibrato is unique and gives you a very special feeling that is ideal for the Hank Marvin playing style. The guitar is very well build. It stays in tune better than any other vibrato equipped guitar I have ever played.

The frets are a little too thin for my taste and I would prefer a maple fretboard over the rosewood, but you cannot have everything ... Another downside is the polyester finish, which I do not like very much, but which is very durable on the other hand.

The thing I like most about the Marvin is its beautiful sound. I do not know how to describe this in English. The tone has a certain "sparkling" brightness that sets the guitar apart from a Fender.

I have also tried a Burns Marquee and must say that it is the best instrument I have ever seen in this price range (I got mine used in perfect condition for 200,- GB pounds plus shipping). Most of my students play instruments in this price range by Yamaha, Ibanez, Epiphone, Fender Mexico, but none of these instruments play as easily and sound as good as the Burns Marquee. Nevertheless the Marquee is quite different from the Marvin. It sounds more aggressive and it also feels different to play it because of its "ordinary" vibrato unit.

Thanks for your additional comments, Markus. I wanted to consolidate the information in a single thread. I would love to hear some of your recordings with your Burns' Marvin should you have any to offer. It seems that the sound of the Burns is somewhat close to that of the Stratocaster and it should be no surprise when one considers it was modeled after the same.

Peter, I have got my Burns Marvin since October 2007 now, and currently I have only one song to offer on my website, that I have recorded entirely with the Marvin. It is a little version of "My Funny Valentine" - not a very professional recording (you might observe that I am not a very good drummer ), but nevertheless I am quite fond of it. I have played the Burns with the neck pickup and the tone control half way down. I have also recorded an instrumental version of George Harrison´s "Something" with the Burns, but I am afraid to offer it for download as there might be copyright problems. I do not know exactly how old a song has got to be before it is considered to be in the public domain.

You might also remember my 5 different versions of "Sleepwalk" ... one of these was played on the Marvin.

Hallo Markus

I don't think that you need to worry about publishing (or linking to) your own recordings on these kinds of forae even if the song itself is copyrighted (which, I believe lasts for 50 or even 70 years). Another matter is publishing an original recording by let's say The Shadows.

Just check out YouTube where you can find literally millions of clips with material which is copyrighted.

I've noticed that your rendition of Sleepwalk (very nice too) is already available for download on your homepage, so you have already handed it out to the world............

goran wrote:I've noticed that your rendition of Sleepwalk (very nice too) is already available for download on your homepage, so you have already handed it out to the world............

Yes, but "Sleepwalk" and "My Funny Valentine" are older than 50 years, "Something" is not. And The Beatles have many well paid lawyers .

By the way, the version of "Sleepwalk", that you find on my website was not played with the Burns - this one was played with my Rickenbacker 650A - sounding quite different from the Shadows version.

The rendition was good regardless of guitar.........

goran wrote:How long does copyright last? Quote from the Internet:

Generally speaking, copyright in music and lyrics lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. Copyright in a sound recording usually lasts for 70 years from when the recording was first published. There are exceptions to these rules and if you are uncertain as to the duration of copyright in a work, seek advice.

Theoretically speaking this would cause musicians to seek permission from the creator every time a musical piece is performed in front of an audience.......
To uphold this would be impossible so the common interpretation is that permission is only needed when performing for a paying audience (or making recordings or broadcasts for commercial purposes or making cd's for spreading even for free among the public). In reality musicians normally never pay for the right to perform, but it is the recording company or the owner of a venue or arranger of conserts or broadcasts who pay to the organisation looking after the composers rights.

And I forgot to mention:

there are about 100 000 video and sound clips of the original beatles on Youtube and I guess the beatles' lawyers will find a single home-recording on a private forum quite low in priority so I think you can safely post your music here. They might get to you in a hundred years or so

Markus: I especially enjoyed My Funny Valentine.

The tone of your Burns' Marvin is quite remarkable and sounds like you are using the neck pickup for this number.

Your choice of material is also interesting and I especially enjoy your interpretation of this standard. I hope you don't mind the link below. In this case your recording allows us to listen to the great tone of the Burns without the "halo" of having a Shadows' tune in the mix. The Burns certainly stands on its own as does you playing.

With regard to backing tracks, I appreciate your point about making a song ones' own. Certainly writing an original backing track highlights the overall talent of the performer as musician. At the same time, for those of us who are less talented it is a great opportunity to concentrate on the craft of playing without having to worrry about the entire production of the song from start to finish.

With regard to tonal difference between the Fender Stratocaster and the Burns Marvin, it is a subtle one to my ear. That they are similar is not at all surprising with the design of the latter being based on the former.

At the end of the day, it seems to me that the tonal difference is related in very large part to the difference in pickups. One of my quests will probably be getting an inexpensive Fender and replacing the pickups with the Burns.

In the meantime, in order to get closer to the Burns sound the use of an EQ is helpful in this regard.

admin wrote:At the end of the day, it seems to me that the tonal difference is related in very large part to the difference in pickups. One of my quests will probably be getting an inexpensive Fender and replacing the pickups with the Burns.

I think the different vibrato with its so called "rez-o-tube-system" makes a certain difference, too. Maybe the zero fret also makes a difference. But I agree that with the same pickups a Fender Stratocaster might sound even closer to a Burns.

doctorno wrote:I think the different vibrato with its so called "rez-o-tube-system" makes a certain difference, too.

Yes... it can give a cetain "boing-y" sound. Like in "A Place in the Sun."

sir_andrew_of_left_coast wrote:

doctorno wrote:I think the different vibrato with its so called "rez-o-tube-system" makes a certain difference, too.

Yes... it can give a cetain "boing-y" sound. Like in "A Place in the Sun."

This is not what I meant. I think that the materials and construction of the vibrato system have an influence on the sound of the guitar, even if you do not use the vibrato.

Markus: I quite agree about your comments that the vibrato mechanism can alter the tone of the instrument. I have experienced this on a couple occasions when I have installed a vibrato in place of a trapeze tailpiece. The tonal characteristics in both cases changed.