Brand: Baldwin
Instrument Categories: Acoustic Steel String, Electric, Guitars, SOLD, Thinline
By the mid 60’s Burns was a dominant name in the UK, and the company was bought by Baldwin in 1965. The Virginian was the last guitar Jim Burns designed for his company, and was unlike any other instrument at the time.
We now see many thinline acoustic-electric guitar models, but in 1965 the Virginian was groundbreaking and unique. Built with a laminated mahogany body and heavily braced “controlled resonance” sycamore top, it sported a pair of Bar-O-Matik pickups with a three-knob tone density circuit, and the patented Rezo-Tube vibrato bridge. The scroll-head maple neck has a rosewood fingerboard and zero fret. The scale length is 24.5 inches and the nut width 1 11/16 inches.
The Burns company was sold to Baldwin shortly after this guitar was introduced, and there are some differences between the Burns and Baldwin versions. For example, the Burns models had a pair of rosewood bridge extensions – purely cosmetic to evoke the look of an acoustic bridge, and the Virginian logo on the headstock is shaped and located differently. The core of the guitar is the same, however. Baldwin also added the ‘Model 550’ designation. This Baldwin-era example is in good working order, with only the Bigsby trem arm and the case being non-original. A fairly heavy polyester finish was standard at the time (and soon started appearing on many American production guitars) and has a tendency to check and crack as is the case here.
A non-original hardshell case is included.
- Model: Virginian
- Year: 1968
- Finish Natural
- Class: Vintage
- Serial Number: 19864, built around 1968 by Baldwin in the UK.
- Country of Origin: UK
- Condition: Good
- Date Posted: 14/08/2018
- This instrument has been sold
- Consignment Item
- Required CITES documentation
- Including Hard case
- Scale Length: 24.5in
- Nut Width: 1 11/16in
