Burny Super Grade - what would you do?

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bbarnard

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I recently won a late 80s/early 90s Super Grade on Ebay. Has the winged TRC, a serial number in the cavity, short tenon and fret edge binding. Later VH1s. Three piece back, veneer top (but with some nice flame).

When I got it, it was having some fretting out issues and around fret 15-16 a pretty bad buzzing. I had a friend of mine who normally does my set ups, set it up. He called today and said that everything is good except it appears that the fret where the buzzing is is too low and even if dressed I may lose the ability to keep it from fretting out.

When I bought it I was allowed to have a 24 hour inspection period and the guy has actually extended that through this week when I had it set up due to the fretting out and buzzing issues. While my friend is very knowledgeable, I'm taking it to a more experienced luthier tomorrow for a further evaluation.

I really like big necks and this one has a pretty substantial one. I got what I think was a pretty reasonable deal on it (right at $600 shipped). Is it worth it to either fully or partially refret or would you just return it and keep looking? It is in pretty good shape only one fairly minor ding and a couple of "dents" but nothing major.

Here is a link to the auction.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1980s-90s-Burny...oryZ2384QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Clearly says "no fret wear" which is clearly not the case (although on most of the other frets there is very little wear). Also says sounds and plays great. There's no way that if it was played you couldn't have noticed the fret buzz at this one fret area.

So what would you do?
 
mic the fret heights & compare to the lower fret to see what the difference is

Once you know, you could get a quote for replacing just the one fret

It shouldn't be more than $40 for everything
 
MIJvintage said:
mic the fret heights & compare to the lower fret to see what the difference is

Once you know, you could get a quote for replacing just the one fret

It shouldn't be more than $40 for everything

Not sure what "mic" the fret heights means. I did take it to the luthier and he seemed to think he could crown and level the frets without taking too much off so it was unbendable. He did say he may have to do some very modest scalloping in the one fret area. However if I had had to have had a total refret some planing of the neck would have been required anyway. At this point the cost is about $32. So I guess I'm keeping it.

Not sure what feedback to leave for the person (who had very good feedback from others) as there is no way that if played in that neck position this could have been missed. I don't think it was even played before being sold as the strings were EXTREMELY rusty and in fact when I tuned them back to pitch (I assume they were detuned for shipping) the high E broke on the first bend.

Any feedback from others would be appreciated.
 
'mic' refers to using a micrometer to measure the height of the fret

a good repair person, that does frets (refretting) should be set-up for this

they can check the fret height (widths too) on the frets near the lower fret, to see what wire gauge is needed & once a determination has been made as to the exact size needed, then replace the one low fret

why do a total refret, when you have one low fret?

the service should be no more than $40 but make sure you get it done by someone that knows what they're doing, a pro
 
I would keep it. If it plays & has the neck you like especially. I have one of those up on auction as we speak & are nice guitars.Mine is 81910 & in the same cavity with same inking under the finish in bridge cavity. If yours also has the extremely well laid & pointed fret markers, great neck, excellent burst paint whicj I see yours also has, you would be hard pressed to do better for what you paid, I would just get the frets dressed & play it. Those are real VH-1's & the guitar looks totally original, mine is slightly later. Also that is a long tendon.....just doesn't have the tongue, but is a long tendon.......... side by side with a Historic the fret inlays on your guitar are just as good..I am picky about fret inlay..looking at your burst application again,,,I would for sure keep it,, very well done...There is alot of beater Super Grades going for what you paid easy..
 
Hi,

nice Burny, very similar to my cherryburst one (which is soundwise a killer).
If it is not as described, just return it.
It seems to be a 90s Burny, and it should not be too difficult to get a rather similar one.

Fret buzz doesn't come from (too) low frets, but from too high frets (e.g. if some frets have less fret wear than others).

CYah
b.III
 
Thanks for all the advice.

MIJ, I wasn't sure you could really replace one fret when the fret ends are bound (this one DOES have FEB).

I got it back and most of the problems are gone. The low E still has some minor issues but I need to play around with it some. I've tweaked the truss rod just a tad from where he had it to add a little more bend and raised the action on the high E just a tad (I like to fight my guitars a little).

Played it at a jam Sunday and it sounded awesome. The pickups are pretty good.
 
replacing any fret is a last option but a single fret, even with end bound frets, can be replaced by a competeant repair person

Glad to hear the issue is not as problematic, as previously stated
 
So can anyone tell me what model this is?

87a4_3.jpg

8740_3.jpg

8690_3.jpg

85e5_3.jpg
 
how are the pups in your guitar? i have 2 90's LP customs (96 i think going by the number in the bridge cavity) both have vh1's. one has both pups with grey wire, and the other has the neck pup with black wire (as yours appears to be). the original 80's vh1's had black wire, and the 90's vh1's had grey wire. anyway, the pups in one guitar were fine, but in the other both pups had really bad microphonic feedback and had to be potted, even though they had already been potted during manufacturing.

really nice flame on your guitar (vaneer maybe but still nice. not too over the top)
 
Bernard,

Your Burny is a late 80?s early 90?s,altough the VH-1 pickups are confusing me,they could be earlier they are not like the ones on a Burny LPC I had.....Maybe I?m wrong on the pickups, hope our Burny expert coming here to confirm....
 
big-ace said:
how are the pups in your guitar? i have 2 90's LP customs (96 i think going by the number in the bridge cavity) both have vh1's. one has both pups with grey wire, and the other has the neck pup with black wire (as yours appears to be). the original 80's vh1's had black wire, and the 90's vh1's had grey wire. anyway, the pups in one guitar were fine, but in the other both pups had really bad microphonic feedback and had to be potted, even though they had already been potted during manufacturing.

really nice flame on your guitar (vaneer maybe but still nice. not too over the top)

The pups sound great. No microphonics that I've noticed and I've played it pretty cranked.

I haven't taken the pups off myself (those pictures were from the auction). They look definitively black in the picture where you can see the "VH-1" sticker but in the picture above that the wires look like they may be grey. I'll have to remove them myself at some point.
 
luis said:
Bernard,

Your Burny is a late 80?s early 90?s,altough the VH-1 pickups are confusing me,they could be earlier they are not like the ones on a Burny LPC I had.....Maybe I?m wrong on the pickups, hope our Burny expert coming here to confirm....

Yep I knew the age, I'm looking to see if someone can ID the model. FYI, the frets do have FEB.
 
bbarnard said:
big-ace said:
how are the pups in your guitar? i have 2 90's LP customs (96 i think going by the number in the bridge cavity) both have vh1's. one has both pups with grey wire, and the other has the neck pup with black wire (as yours appears to be). the original 80's vh1's had black wire, and the 90's vh1's had grey wire. anyway, the pups in one guitar were fine, but in the other both pups had really bad microphonic feedback and had to be potted, even though they had already been potted during manufacturing.

really nice flame on your guitar (vaneer maybe but still nice. not too over the top)

The pups sound great. No microphonics that I've noticed and I've played it pretty cranked.

I haven't taken the pups off myself (those pictures were from the auction). They look definitively black in the picture where you can see the "VH-1" sticker but in the picture above that the wires look like they may be grey. I'll have to remove them myself at some point.

Actually the pups are slightly microphonic. Where does one go to get pickups "potted" (waxed?)?
 
I once had some potted by these people

http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/index.asp

Andy did a great job, turned them round in a couple of days, about 10 pounds each if I remember correctly.
 
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