BURNS Marvin 1965 UK. Rare early model. Original. From Paul Day collection.

BURNS  ·  MARVIN

The Hank Marvin Signature — White, Pre-Baldwin

c. 1964–65  ·  Made in England  ·Serial No. 9817

PROVENANCE: THE PAUL DAY COLLECTION

International Guitar Museum  ·  Home of the Richard Davis Collection

This guitar is offered by the International Guitar Museum of Durham, North Carolina, which now houses the Richard Davis Collection — one of the world’s largest and most deeply curated private assemblages of vintage and custom guitars, and home to one of the deepest holdings of Burns instruments anywhere. It is an original, pre-Baldwin Burns Marvin — the Hank Marvin Signature model — in white with a tortoiseshell guard, serial number 9817, built in England by Jim Burns’s own company. It comes directly from the celebrated collection of Paul Day — the noted guitar historian and author of The Burns Book, the standard reference on the marque — and is accompanied by full IMIR provenance documentation and a Certificate of Authenticity.

Museum founder and curator Rich Davis offers his personal assessment:

“Of every guitar Jim Burns ever made, the Marvin is the most famous — the signature model that carries Hank Marvin’s own name. This is the instrument Hank and Bruce Welch designed with Jim Burns to replace their Fender Stratocasters, and the guitar Hank played on record, stage and screen right through the years the Beatles were changing everything. Mine is an original, pre-Baldwin example from Jim Burns’s own company — white with the tortoiseshell guard, exactly as the Shadows played them — and its provenance is impeccable: it came to me directly from the collection of Paul Day, the man who quite literally wrote the book on Burns. It is one of the cornerstones of my collection, and one of the most important British guitars of its era.”

Why This Guitar Matters — The Guitar That Followed the Strat

Before the Beatles, one band reigned over British popular music: the Shadows. With Cliff Richard and on their own, they were the country’s defining act, and their bespectacled lead guitarist, Hank Marvin, was Britain’s first guitar hero — the player a generation of British guitarists, from Brian May to Mark Knopfler to David Gilmour, grew up trying to copy. Hank’s sound had been made on a Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster, the first Strat in Britain. But by 1963 he and rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch wanted a guitar built to their own exact specification, and they turned to the finest maker in the country.

Jim Burns worked closely with Marvin and Welch from 1963 to design it. The Marvin was first advertised in May 1964 and its patents filed that August. The brilliant-white finish with a red tortoiseshell guard was borrowed from the band’s last set of Fenders; the three-and-three scroll headstock was Hank’s own idea; and the guitar carried three slanted Rez-O-Matik pickups, voiced for the nasal, singing tone of the Shadows’ records, over the knife-edge Rezo-Tube vibrato. The tailpiece was engraved “Designed and Handcrafted for Hank Marvin by Burns,” with Hank’s own signature. He played it from 1964 to 1970 — “The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt” among the records cut on a Burns Marvin — and the link with the Shadows cemented Burns’s position as the United Kingdom’s leading guitar maker. It is the most famous guitar Burns ever made — the brand’s signature instrument, and the one the world pictures when it pictures a Burns.

Pre-Baldwin — The Pinnacle of Jim Burns’s Own Company

Only about 315 to 350 original Marvins were made across the whole 1964–65 run, before Jim Burns sold his company to the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company in September 1965. The pre-Baldwin examples — made by Jim Burns’s own firm, before the line passed into corporate hands — are the ones collectors prize above all, and this is one of them.

Its details place it precisely. The serial number, 9817, sits in the early-1965 pre-Baldwin range (a documented sibling, 9823, is dated to early 1965). The large “Rez-O-Matik” engraving on the pickups was introduced in January 1965 — the earliest guitars had small engraving — which points to the same early-1965 production. And the full, un-flattened scroll headstock with Burns branding confirms it was built before the Baldwin changeover of early 1966, when the headstock was flattened and the Baldwin name applied. Every one of these tells agrees: an original Burns Marvin of the pre-Baldwin era.

About This Guitar

An original Burns Marvin in the classic Shadows livery — brilliant white with a red tortoiseshell guard reading “Handcrafted by Burns London,” the marking the Marvin was the first Burns model to wear. It carries three slanted Burns Rez-O-Matik single-coil pickups through a three-way selector and a volume-and-two-tone control layout, over the knife-edge Rezo-Tube vibrato whose chrome tailpiece is engraved for Hank Marvin and bears his signature. The bolt-on beech neck wears a rosewood fingerboard with a zero fret over a 25½-inch scale, capped by the unmistakable three-and-three scroll headstock with its “Marvin” name banner. The neck plate reads “Made in England, Serial No. 9817,” with the Burns patent numbers. It presents in excellent, well-preserved condition.

Specifications

Brand

Burns (Ormston Burns Ltd, “Burns London”)

Model

Marvin — the Hank Marvin Signature (collection no. 524)

Era

Pre-Baldwin, c. 1964–65 (serial and features point to early 1965)

Origin

Made in England (Romford, Essex)

Serial

9817

Patents (neck plate)

App. 35877, 37732, 43736; U.S. Pat. 196530

Finish

White with red tortoiseshell pickguard

Pickups

Three slanted Burns Rez-O-Matik single-coils

Controls

Volume, two Tone; three-way selector

Vibrato

Rezo-Tube knife-edge unit; tailpiece engraved & signed for Hank Marvin

Neck

Bolt-on beech; 25½ in. scale

Fingerboard

Rosewood; zero fret; 21 frets

Headstock

Three-and-three scroll with “Marvin” name banner

Production

~315–350 originals made, 1964–65

Provenance

Ex–Paul Day Collection (Paul Day, author of The Burns Book)

Condition

Excellent, well-preserved

Condition

Presents as an excellent, well-preserved original, with the bright white finish and clean tortoiseshell guard intact and the hardware and engraved Rez-O-Matik pickups showing strongly. An original pre-Baldwin example, complete with its signature Rezo-Tube vibrato and scroll “Marvin” headstock. Maintained in climate-controlled, museum-grade conditions. [Curator to confirm originality of all parts, any wear notes, and case inclusion, and to attach the Paul Day Collection provenance documentation, prior to issuance.]

Provenance Statement

This specimen is offered directly from the exhibit collection of the International Guitar Museum, Durham, North Carolina.

Ex–Paul Day Collection. This Marvin comes directly from the personal collection of Paul Day — the noted guitar historian and author of The Burns Book, the definitive reference on the marque, and the authority whose serial and factory research the specialist trade itself relies upon. Provenance from the foremost expert on Burns guitars is among the rarest distinctions a Burns can carry, and it sets this instrument apart from otherwise comparable examples.

From the Richard Davis Collection. This instrument comes from the Richard Davis Collection — one of the world’s largest and most deeply curated private assemblages of vintage and custom instruments: more than 900 guitars and 200 amplifiers spanning 225+ brands from 12 countries, assembled over 27 years. The collection holds one of the deepest concentrations of Burns and Burns-Baldwin instruments anywhere, of which the original pre-Baldwin Marvin is among the most important.

Attribution. The instrument is an original Burns Marvin — the Hank Marvin Signature model — built in England by Ormston Burns Ltd before the Baldwin acquisition of September 1965, serial number 9817. It is offered on that documented, pre-Baldwin basis, supported by its serial range, pickup engraving, and headstock form.

Why provenance matters now. The market has spoken decisively on what documented provenance and genuine rarity are worth. At Christie’s landmark Jim Irsay sale in March 2026, instruments with documented history realized $94.5 million — 136% above estimate. For a celebrated instrument from Britain’s own leading maker, documented provenance and chain of custody are inseparable from value.

Institutional-grade documentation. This instrument is accompanied by a formal Certificate of Authenticity and a transferable Title of Ownership registered with the International Musical Instrument Registry (IMIR), Luxembourg — providing clear chain of custody from the Richard Davis Collection forward.

When you acquire from the Richard Davis Collection, you acquire the provenance with the instrument. That value transfers with the title — and it does not expire.

Available exclusively from the professionally curated, internationally renowned Richard Davis Collection — accompanied by Certificate of Authenticity and Title of Ownership issued by the International Musical Instrument Registry (IMIR).