jacco
Well-known member
Over the past few months I have studied hundreds of pics in order to get an idea on how to date our beloved Burny LP. I don?t have a 100% waterproof case yet but I wanted to share this info with you now in the hope we can get a constructive discussion going on. And hopefully get some more pics out..
We can date our MIJ Greco?s and Orville/ObG?s because they all have a serial number on the back of the headstock. The interesting part of these brands is that they used the same pots from 1981 to around 1992. So I had a look at those pots. To my surprise I found that the first digit of the bottom row of the pot corresponds with the year the guitar was made in, in 9 out of 10 times. Some pots have a digit of the previous year so I?m guessing the guitar was made early in the next year with pots of the previous year. I will demonstrate this with pics borrowed from japanstrat?s great piece on Orville/ObG?s.
1988 ObG 1
1988 ObG 2
1989 K Orville 1
1989 K Orville 2
So there?s 2 types of pots which each can have 2 formats:
Top row denotes the type of pot: M500kΩA = volume pot or M500kΩB = tone pot
Bottom row with 2 formats: format 1: digit digit K (for instance ?87 K? as seen above) or format 2: digit letter K (for instance ?8D K? as seen above).
There are pots that have ?89 K? for instance. Don?t be fooled by the second digit in thinking this particular one was built in 1989. I have seen many variations with the second digit making no sense at all, including my Burny RLC65 pot which says ?43 K? (see below).
So the first digit of the bottom row of the pot is the year of production of the pot. Now guess what? Burny?s from 1981 to 1992 use the same pots! Here are pics of some Burny?s, including my RLC65 with pots of 1983 AND 1984 in the same guitar.
Burny RLC60
Burny RLC65 1
Burny RLC65 2
Now we are going to have a look at features as routing/wire drilling.
Using the pot date I can generally say that all Burny LPs with diagonal wire drilling (wire comes out on the left hand corner of the neck pup cavity) are built from 1982 to around 1985. Fujigen uses drilling were the wire comes out of the right hand side of the neck pup cavity and early Terada has center wire drilling.
Left/diagonal wire drilling on Chris' beautifull early 80s RLG (pot code Chris??)
Fujigen right wire drilling on this very nice 1993 RLG70
Terada center wire drilling on a 1980 FLG
These guitars also feature a hole in the control cavity that?s more in between the pots and is often rectangular. This hole is placed different from Fujigen which is in the right hand corner or Terada which is in the left hand corner.
Burny RLC65 centered hole in control cavity
Burny RLC60 rectangular shape
1993 RLG70 Fujigen's hole on right hand side
1980 Terada FLG with hole on left hand side (courtesy of japanstrat)
And then there?s the pointer washer on Burny LPCs from 1982-1985. These are longer and the point has a 45 degree angle in stead of the shorter 90 degree angle of the later LPCs.
long 45 degree pointer washer
later short 90 degree angle pointer washer
And now the sensitive question of the split diamond vs the lightning bolt.
All lightning bolt LPCs feature right wire drilling and 90 degree angle pointer washers so are from 1986 or later. The earliest lightning bolt LPC I have seen has a pot date which starts with an 8. I also have pictures of a split diamond with pot date 8. My conclusion for now can only be that the lightning bolt LPC started to be produced on it?s earliest in 1988.
1988 lightning bolt 1 (the owner confirmed that the lightning bolt has been taped to look like a split diamond)
1988 lightning bolt 2
1988 split diamond from chingo for sale right now:
http://imageevent.com/chingo123/october2010/burnylpcblack5536?z=2&c=4&n=1&m=-1&w=4&x=0&p=33
Regarding the lightning bolt LPCs with serial number. They all feature the control cavity shape that was first seen in 1988. So must be of a later date than the alledged mid 80s. Also I am very curious about pics of the pots and pickup height screws. As Nils Bro Muller pointed out before around 1988 these screws changed from a slotted type to a philips type.
control cavity shape up to 1988
control cavity shape after 1988 1
control cavity shape after 1988 2
Hope this info will interest some of you guys, especially the ones with Burny?s that are willing to share their knowledge so we can improve my theory.
Also there?s some blank spots to fill in and one of those are the Matsumoku RLCs, so I?m hoping to get some good pics too!
I will close with this headscratcher, a Burny LPC with square tab routing a la Tokai but with right wire drilling:
http://imageevent.com/chingo123/june2010/burnylpcblack5285?z=2&c=4&n=1&m=-1&w=4&x=0&p=35
Thanks for reading.
Jacco
We can date our MIJ Greco?s and Orville/ObG?s because they all have a serial number on the back of the headstock. The interesting part of these brands is that they used the same pots from 1981 to around 1992. So I had a look at those pots. To my surprise I found that the first digit of the bottom row of the pot corresponds with the year the guitar was made in, in 9 out of 10 times. Some pots have a digit of the previous year so I?m guessing the guitar was made early in the next year with pots of the previous year. I will demonstrate this with pics borrowed from japanstrat?s great piece on Orville/ObG?s.
1988 ObG 1
1988 ObG 2
1989 K Orville 1
1989 K Orville 2
So there?s 2 types of pots which each can have 2 formats:
Top row denotes the type of pot: M500kΩA = volume pot or M500kΩB = tone pot
Bottom row with 2 formats: format 1: digit digit K (for instance ?87 K? as seen above) or format 2: digit letter K (for instance ?8D K? as seen above).
There are pots that have ?89 K? for instance. Don?t be fooled by the second digit in thinking this particular one was built in 1989. I have seen many variations with the second digit making no sense at all, including my Burny RLC65 pot which says ?43 K? (see below).
So the first digit of the bottom row of the pot is the year of production of the pot. Now guess what? Burny?s from 1981 to 1992 use the same pots! Here are pics of some Burny?s, including my RLC65 with pots of 1983 AND 1984 in the same guitar.
Burny RLC60
Burny RLC65 1
Burny RLC65 2
Now we are going to have a look at features as routing/wire drilling.
Using the pot date I can generally say that all Burny LPs with diagonal wire drilling (wire comes out on the left hand corner of the neck pup cavity) are built from 1982 to around 1985. Fujigen uses drilling were the wire comes out of the right hand side of the neck pup cavity and early Terada has center wire drilling.
Left/diagonal wire drilling on Chris' beautifull early 80s RLG (pot code Chris??)
Fujigen right wire drilling on this very nice 1993 RLG70
Terada center wire drilling on a 1980 FLG
These guitars also feature a hole in the control cavity that?s more in between the pots and is often rectangular. This hole is placed different from Fujigen which is in the right hand corner or Terada which is in the left hand corner.
Burny RLC65 centered hole in control cavity
Burny RLC60 rectangular shape
1993 RLG70 Fujigen's hole on right hand side
1980 Terada FLG with hole on left hand side (courtesy of japanstrat)
And then there?s the pointer washer on Burny LPCs from 1982-1985. These are longer and the point has a 45 degree angle in stead of the shorter 90 degree angle of the later LPCs.
long 45 degree pointer washer
later short 90 degree angle pointer washer
And now the sensitive question of the split diamond vs the lightning bolt.
All lightning bolt LPCs feature right wire drilling and 90 degree angle pointer washers so are from 1986 or later. The earliest lightning bolt LPC I have seen has a pot date which starts with an 8. I also have pictures of a split diamond with pot date 8. My conclusion for now can only be that the lightning bolt LPC started to be produced on it?s earliest in 1988.
1988 lightning bolt 1 (the owner confirmed that the lightning bolt has been taped to look like a split diamond)
1988 lightning bolt 2
1988 split diamond from chingo for sale right now:
http://imageevent.com/chingo123/october2010/burnylpcblack5536?z=2&c=4&n=1&m=-1&w=4&x=0&p=33
Regarding the lightning bolt LPCs with serial number. They all feature the control cavity shape that was first seen in 1988. So must be of a later date than the alledged mid 80s. Also I am very curious about pics of the pots and pickup height screws. As Nils Bro Muller pointed out before around 1988 these screws changed from a slotted type to a philips type.
control cavity shape up to 1988
control cavity shape after 1988 1
control cavity shape after 1988 2
Hope this info will interest some of you guys, especially the ones with Burny?s that are willing to share their knowledge so we can improve my theory.
Also there?s some blank spots to fill in and one of those are the Matsumoku RLCs, so I?m hoping to get some good pics too!
I will close with this headscratcher, a Burny LPC with square tab routing a la Tokai but with right wire drilling:
http://imageevent.com/chingo123/june2010/burnylpcblack5285?z=2&c=4&n=1&m=-1&w=4&x=0&p=35
Thanks for reading.
Jacco
