Baby's In Black:

Refinishing The Most Famous Rickenbacker

by Peter McCormack

Part 5: Beyond The Finish

Burns London Revisited

As history would have it, Mr. Jim Burns would be called upon by the Beatles management to attend to the 1958 Model 325 for a second time. In 1963, Mr. Burns would ask his woodwork department to refret John Lennon's first Rickenbacker. Apparently the frequent heavy playing by Lennon had resulted in considerable fret wear that necessitated repairs. Those who worked with Burns London in the 1960s have expressed that this was an unusual request and fortunately, for Beatle enthusiasts, it left a lasting impression on the luthier who was assigned the task.

Just in passing, prior to the Baldwin takeover, the Company was known as Burns London. In 1960 the Company's very modest beginning was in a private residence at 131 Queens Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. It later moved to a small factory in 1962, a mere two miles away, at Roding Valley. In 1964, it moved to a larger factory at Chesham Close, Romford, Essex. It was at the Chesham Close location that the work on Lennon's Rickenbacker was carried out.

While Mr. Leslie Andrews was to do rather extensive work on the refretting and setup of Lennon's guitar, he was to stand in line before he would be called upon to do his fine luthiery. The reason for the guitar arriving at Burns' shop to begin with is revealed by in Andy Babiuk's Beatles Gear book. Chris Roberts, a writer for the Melody Maker music magazine was talking to Lennon in September 1963 about his Rickenbacker. At this point Lennon asked "Can you do something about my Rickenbacker? Do you know anyonwe who can fix the electrics."

Roberts knew of Jim Burns expertise as a luthier and so arranged to the instrument inspected by him while the Beatles were on holiday during the last two weeks of September 1963. During this period Mr. Burns had the wiring repaired and passed the instrument on to Leslie Andrews who did the fret work. Andrews described the details of his work in the next section of this article. It would seem that it is this September 1963 work on the frets and electronics of Lennon's guitar that led Burns' employees to perhaps also consider that finish work was out sourced to Derek Adams at the time. The hunt continues for the elusive Mr. Adams to ask whether he has had any involvement with the guitar at the time. Is it possible that the instrument was refinished in September 1962 and then again in September 1963. This would seem unlikely, but remains a loose end at this point.

Burns' Leslie Andrews Refrets The 325

Mr. Leslie Andrews was asked by Mr. Burns to refret Lennon's 1958 Model 325. He was of the opinion that Jim Burns did not work on this guitar.

Mr. Andrews described his work in detail and had the following comments to make about his work. "This guitar was black and it was badly worn and quite dull, showing raw wood in places. The work I did concerned the neck only. The frets were worn down to the finger board making it virtually unplayable, the strings had cut grooves in the wood which had turned green indicating that John's hands were very moist. I can confirm that it was in bad shape. The guitar had not been refretted before. I removed all the frets, the wire was just normal Rickenbacker type I would think. The next job was to plane down the board to remove the damage and to straighten out any distortion. This was done with a normal metal hand plane with final finish by glass paper using a long hardwood block. The slots would then be checked for depth as the finger board would now be lightly thinner. This was done with a small hard backed saw of the correct gauge. The new frets would have been normal Burns wire. After this they would be leveled with a file and glass paper and block. I would have replaced the original nut glued into position. I was not involved in any electronics. I was in charge of the hand working department only. The work would have taken about two hours. I did not see this guitar again after it left me."

Mr. Andrews was reasonably confident that he completed his work in 1963, although he could not remember the time of year. His comments certainly confirm that Lennon's instrument had suffered considerable wear and tear and this would be consistent with the many performances by The Beatles from 1962 to 1963. One can only imagine that the instrument had similar abrasions at the time of its first refinishing to black in 1962. Mr. Andrews comments also explain the reason for the unlacquered finger board of Lennon's 1958 Model 325 in Bacon and Day's "The Rickenbacker Book.", the Rittor publication and photos from the John Lennon Museum in Japan. As DeMarino makes no mention of refretting Lennon's guitar during the 1970s it is reasonably safe to assume that Andrew's refretting and removal of the lacquered finger board has remained untouched since 1964. Lennon received his new 1964 Model 325 Jetglo from Rickenbacker in 1964. During 1965, he played his Rickenbackers far less eventually moving on to other makes including, but not limited to, Epiphone and Fender.

Submitted on November 17, 1999 - Revised April 19, 2003

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