Burns Baldwin Baby Bison Bass - Clean and Original - with Burns Guitar Pickup - Original Case

I am selling my Baldwin Burns Baby Bison Bass guitar, manufactured in England around 1965 and sold in the US by Baldwin. This bass is in very good condition, is all original, with a clean glossy polyurethane finish, very few nicks or scrapes, and a straight neck with working Burns gear truss box. Comes in the original Burns/Baldwin hard case in good condition.

The often missing bridge mute is included and the foam is still somewhat soft on it. I do not use it but you may find it to your liking. One of the screws is slightly bent but it does screw into place with some patience.

The bridge and tailpiece are NOS stock and basically new - I bought them from a fellow Reverber recently. The original tail was in good shape but the height adjustment screws were stripped and it could not be adjusted. Easier to replace the whole unit. I have also installed a few sheets of thin metal beneath the bridge to give more flexibility for height adjustment. Now the adjustment is smooth (if you raise the strings be sure to loosen them to avoid stress on the screws). I have found that a .05 inch hex tool works well with them, though there may be an even better metric equivalent.

The neck pickup on this bass, and other Burns guitars from the era, is traditionally a stacked coil, with the middle knob being for “presence”, allowing you to turn it to dial in the second coil. To my ear the middle knob acts as a tone for the neck pickup, without effect on the bridge. The wiring seems to suggest this as well. I am just guessing, based on the readings (they do not change when the middle knob is turned) that the coils are both active together, not tapped. It works though, the guitar pickup is bright, especially in the bridge position, and the tone nob can dial it down (it works on both pickups). The neck pickup, which is not as loud or bright as the neck pickup, can be darkened or brightened somewhat with the middle knob. So lots of tones.

The truss rod gear box (basically the same one in Gretsch guitars via the sale of Baldwin/Burns to Gretsch around 1969) at the base of the neck turns at a very high 16:1 ratio, which means that about 4 turns seems to needed to do a bit of adjustment. I loosened the neck recently and the truss rod has much more adjustment in it if for some reason you want to tinker.

Important note: The gear box turns in the “normal” directions with the correct tool - Right to tighten, Left to loosen. The newer truss rod boxes, adapted by Gretsch from the Burns versions, turn opposite of what is “normal”. To the left is tightening, to the right is loosening. The patented truss rod key is missing (I did not receive it when I bought the bass) but I learned that a spanner insert bit, 1/4" Hex Shank works well on these guitars. The extension that turns is fairly soft metal so be careful not to over stress if you use it.

The heavy polyester finish on this guitar is remarkably clean - often they are weathered and creased by the change in environment after being shipped overseas. The original Van Ghent tuners work smoothly and keep tune.

At some point I replaced the original jack, the old jack is included. I have included an image of the pots, wiring and gear box stem.

I do not remember what strings I put on it when I changed them a year or so ago. It once had black taped RotoSound strings, which sounded and felt great.

Some tech notes:

Neck: Medium

Scale: 30 inch

Nut width: 1.75 inches. 

Length: 45 inches

Lower Bout: 15 inches across.

Weight: Around 9.5 pounds.

Readings:

Neck Pickup: 30.9

Bridge Pickup: 6.2

Both: 5.4

The original Baldwin case is included - it is solid and in good shape.

I’ve described this 60 year old bass guitar as best as I can with words and images, if you have any questions be sure to ask me before you buy.

Will pack professionally and ship quickly.