New Burny, New Member

[marrathon6]

Greetings-

I have been searching for a decent burny for quite some time now. I finally pulled the trigger and got this one from an online dealer in the US. I've been lurking for a while, and I've gained a wealth of knowledge from reading through these forums.

I've pretty much concluded that this is an earlies nineties MIJ model, but I wanted to hear everyones thoughts...

Its cherry sunburst, two screw winged bell trussrod cover (checked for additional screw holes and there were none), medium tennon (sits flush with the beginning of the pickup cavity), black and grey wires for the pickups. The covers were taken off, you can see the actual scratches on the pickup, which I don't mind. The knobs were replaced as well.

Any thoughts? Year, pickups, etc.... Also, heres where I need a little schooling.... Inside the pickup cavity you can see two different sections of wood. So would you call this a two piece body with a maple top? Little confused there...

Either way, I'm a proud new burny owner and I love this axe. The neck/fretboard feel like they were designed for my hands and it plays like butter. Super low action. Very excited about this guitar, can't wait to get it set up and re-strung!


Put the pics in flickr, let me know if I should post these differently.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15015870@N07/

 

[NWOBHM]

Nice guitar and welcome! Could be older, late 80's possibly. I noticed it had the green capacitors. All mine from the late 80's have the green caps and christmas tree TRC.

 

[mojoburst]

Welcome & congrats!

Very nice BURNY (except the knobs :wink: )!

 

[telenut62]

G'day marrathon, looks very much like my mid 80's Burny, diff TRC though. They sure punch above their weight ,
A solid good quality mahogany back (often 2 piece. But sometimes 3)
A one piece mahogany neck (often with a separate neck cap)
Two piece solid centred, sometimes very nicely figured maple top
A nice rosewood board
Thin poly finish
Nickel hardware
Fret binding
Weight around 4.2 kilo
...though your pot/cap set up is diff, mine the cap is on the body and the left lug. Looks like VH-1 pups, my advice on those....upgrade...then you'll really hear your baby sing

 

[jacco]

Low script logo & winged truss rod cover means not earlier than 1988. Look for a serial number in the pickup cavity; if it doesn't have one it's late 80s, if it does it's early 90s..

 

[marrathon6]

Thanks for the replies guys...

So pickups... I was under the impression that VH-1s are sought after? I'm on the fence personally about them, but I'll have a more definitive idea after its properly set up and strung. The strings now are lifeless so its hard to base an opinion on the pickups yet. What kind would you recommend changing to? I play crunchy, E flat stoner riffs, some hardcore, some blues, some slightly more aggressive stuff...

Yes, The knobs gotta go... and i'm thinking about adding a black pickguard. And this guitar will be played live as well, what are your experiences with these tuners? again, I can't tell yet because this thing needs a set up. Do regular generic stock parts manufactured for gibson les pauls fit?

And yeah Jacco, I assumed it was late eighties early nineties based on the winged TRC. No serial number that I recall, I'll give a better look next time in both cavities just in case. But NWOBHM mentioned the caps, and after late eighties (88, 89?) i thought they were yellow... I'm reaching a bit here, but given that it has some early 90's features, as well as some mid 80's characteristics, perhaps its one of earlier models to have a winged truss rod cover (88 ish?)

not overly concerned either way, this thing plays awesome and I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger and got one! Its lighter than my 79 les paul that I used to own, but the neck(and the entire guitar in general) just seems to have more life in it. More mojo, if you will.

 

[jacco]

Earlier VH-1 pickups have a yellowish baseplate, from '89 it's a metal coloured baseplate like yours. In '88 the caps changed from green to yellow.
All these numbers are observations not a strickt rule but combined with the low script logo and winged truss rod cover it's most likely a late '88 model.

 

[Mono]

I have a Burny that has all the same characteristics, except it has a long neck tenon and a veneered flame top. Jacco, do you know of any like this?

 

[jacco]

Sounds like an RLG-60 to me. Pics?

 

[Mono]

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=16052

More available at http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15889

 

[jacco]

based on long neck tenon, low script/winged truss rod cover, metal pickup baseplate post 1988
based on no serial nr and low script pre 1991
green caps puzzle me a little bit but because of that must be transitional, so most probable 1989

 

[Mono]

Sweet, thanks jacco. Good knowledge.
You should check out the Other Les Pauls section on mylespaul.com, we have some good times over there.

 

[jacco]

Yep, will do that!

 

[marrathon6]

ok, got it back from my luthier. Plays fantastic. He originally set it up with 11's as requested, but when when i asked to lower the action a bit more, we found that we needed a bit more tension to compensate. I like beefy strings anyway, so we put the low E,A, and D at the equivalent of a 12 guage set, and left the rest the same at 11. Pickups were niceley balanced and he cleaned the hell out of the fret board.

The bridge is getting changed next... it rattles a bit with the bigger strings.

Tuners are holding up well. Might get something with larger posts eventually becuase the low E barely gets 2 wraps right now. I'll be giving the full test tonight at rehearsal when i can plug it in and play loud.

 

[marrathon6]

hmmmm, not really digging the pickups. I thought there were kind of thin, muddy, maybe a bit to trebly? Tried a JCM 800 and a mesa. It sounds ok, but gets lost in the mix real easily. Anyone here swap out their burny pickups? I guess these are the vh-4's, and from what I read everyone is a fan of the vh's. Any thoughts?

 

[NWOBHM]

Earlier VH-1 pickups have a yellowish baseplate, from '89 it's a metal coloured baseplate like yours. In '88 the caps changed from green to yellow.
All these numbers are observations not a strickt rule but combined with the low script logo and winged truss rod cover it's most likely a late '88 model.

Yeah, A few people have posted FLG's from 80' and 81' with Nickelbaseplates. I have an 83' SG75AY That has Zebra VH1's with Nickel baseplates but, in the 83' catalog it's listed as having L8000? Same with my 82/83 RLG90 It has the same Zebra VH1's with nickel baseplates but, in the 83' catalog it's listed as having the old L8001. Like Jacco said, there's no strict rules. Now, I do have an 81' FLG90 with brass baseplates and the sound is pretty much the same as the VH1's, alot like a real PAF or a 50'S p90, clean when lightly picked but, growls when you dig in.

 

[zepping]

Earlier VH-1 pickups have a yellowish baseplate, from '89 it's a metal coloured baseplate like yours. In '88 the caps changed from green to yellow.
All these numbers are observations not a strickt rule but combined with the low script logo and winged truss rod cover it's most likely a late '88 model.

Yeah, A few people have posted FLG's from 80' and 81' with Nickelbaseplates. I have an 83' SG75AY That has Zebra VH1's with Nickel baseplates but, in the 83' catalog it's listed as having L8000? Same with my 82/83 RLG90 It has the same Zebra VH1's with nickel baseplates but, in the 83' catalog it's listed as having the old L8001. Like Jacco said, there's no strict rules. Now, I do have an 81' FLG90 with brass baseplates and the sound is pretty much the same as the VH1's, alot like a real PAF or a 50'S p90, clean when lightly picked but, growls when you dig in.

Here's what those 1981's look like with the yellowish base's,

Amazing.

 

[telenut62]

Quote......hmmmm, not really digging the pickups. I thought there were kind of thin, muddy, maybe a bit to trebly? Tried a JCM 800 and a mesa. It sounds ok, but gets lost in the mix real easily. Anyone here swap out their burny pickups? I guess these are the vh-4's, and from what I read everyone is a fan of the vh's. Any thoughts?......Quote


I had VH-4's in my Burny, I tried some Tokai's MKII as a trail and the diff was night and day....VH-4's if your a home player... MKII's if your on stage. They just have more go it's as simple as that. I'm trying out some Dimarzio super distortion's next and then the holy of hollies.... Dry Zeeee's

 

[marrathon6]

dude do those dry z's actually go for that much? I'm seeing 500 bucks for a set? thats like 3/4's of what I paid for my burny....

not a huge fan of the dimarzio SD's, tried them in an sg a few years ago. had a cool growl but i thought they were muddy and undefined. what would you consider those MKII's to be the equivalent to? and yeah, I have all intentions on this being my live guitar

 

[telenut62]

I know and I just want to hear how they go, at the end of the day I can always re-sell em..... I have no idea how the MKII's compare as I'm a newbie to LP types, that's why I'm on a crusade of trial and error but I tend to stick to the vintage models. All I can tell you about them is that the bridge is a lot hotter than the neck and I found it a bit of an imbalance so I had to adjust the pup height to even em out a bit. It's all very much what your own set up is to how pups come across, so seek and ye shall find :wink: