Identifying PickUps on Burny Les Paul

RedRooster · Apr 13, 2006

Hey there!
First visit, first question

Finally I managed to get a used Burny Les Paul (1976 I think).
It's a beautiful player though there are some problems with the electronics - okay for a 30 year old guitar I think.

Question: Does my guitar have the famous VH-1 humbuckers Fernandes/Burny used to equip their Les Pauls with? There is no label on the pups. The vendor on ebay stated that the guitar would be all-original.

I'll append a picture of the neck PU...

Thanks in advance & greetings from Germany,

Oliver

RedRooster · Apr 15, 2006

Anybody?

bobtastik · Apr 15, 2006

Hi,
I have had 2 Burnys, and neither of them had any markings on the pick ups either, I just assumed they were VH-1s. I dont know if anyone else can help ????

marcusnieman · Apr 15, 2006

FYI, not all Burny guitars had the VH-1 pups.

Those that do usually have a small black and gold sticker on the outside of the mounting ring that says VH-1 - as do the pups on a Burny SG I have.

If I get around to it, I try to snap a picture of the sticker and the back of one of mine....

marcusnieman · Apr 15, 2006

Howdy fellas....

Here are pictures of the VH-1 pickups from my Burny 61 SG:

Label on the outside mounting ring:

Nothing on the inside - although there are four brass screws in mine that yours do not have. Might be the determining difference:

The VH-1 pickups sound awesome - I'd buy them for upgrades if they were still available!

Marcus

RedRooster · Apr 17, 2006

Hi,

thanks guys!

You helped me a lot!

Cu RedRooster

villager · Apr 18, 2006

if you think the VH-1 sound good ...try a set of greco "DRY" these are as good as any modern boutique make I have tried ..
PF voodoos/wagners/tom holmes etc..

marcusnieman · Apr 18, 2006

Yeah, I've heard of them but never heard them....

What models were they found on (Super Real, Mint Collection, etc)?

Didsomeonesaylespaul? · Apr 19, 2006

I have a few Burnys and two of them have the VH-1s with stickers, However, I've switched out the pups to "Dirty Dogs" because they are matched very well and sound great for the money.
You can find them on Ebay, sold by "Toms House of Wayward Guitars"

hogguitar · Apr 22, 2006

I just bought a Burny SG off e-bay, and it advertises VH1's. I'm anxious to get it and hear them.
Villager, I have a Greco Custom LP, EG650 with the dry pickups. They are great sounding pickups.

marcusnieman · Apr 22, 2006

I have a few Burnys and two of them have the VH-1s with stickers, However, I've switched out the pups to "Dirty Dogs" because they are matched very well and sound great for the money.
You can find them on Ebay, sold by "Toms House of Wayward Guitars"

Yeah, I've seen his pups for sale on ebay - thanks for the recommendation. Always nice to hear a testimonial from a user.

RedRooster · Jan 23, 2007

Hey guys, old thread - anyway I'd like to post some updates on my Burny.

I call it my own for about a year now and it's been one of my favourite axes since the first day I had it.
I made some changes on the Hardware recently:

-Replaced stock tone-caps with Mallory 150 .022?f
-Changed "Fernandes" trussrod-cover with plain black Gibson bell
-Changed pot-knobs to golden tophats
-Changed tailpiece to aged alumium part
-Ordered (but still haven't received

) SD Antiquity Pickups.

I also got a questions regarding date and origin... It got a serial number stamped into the back of the headstock reading x62001. "x" is just the letter, no number...
Any information on that? As far as I know, Burny used serialization rather inconsequently.

I'll append some pics again

Note the original "Les Paul-Model"

Mallory Caps

20 century boy · Jan 23, 2007

marcusnieman said:

My VH-1 P.U. have exactly the same brass screws under the pickup, while the usuall Burny PU don't have them. Could it be the way to guess if it's VH-1 PU or not? Could other VH-1 owner check this to verify.

Red rooster, I allways found this Burny model very sexy, with the fernandes TRC. Saw them pop-up on Yahoo sometime. How is the quality?1 or 2 piece back? Medium or long tenon? No frets binding Iguess...

Theses are the first series. Must be from 76.

RedRooster · Jan 23, 2007

Hi 20 century boy,

3-piece back, one-piece neck, no fret-edge-binding.

1 inch maple top, center seamed

original Grover tuners installed, ABR-1 "Made in Japan".

Original PUs are now working in my '76 Epiphone ET-290, sounding great for this guitar.

Overall quality is very good, very few dings & dongs, binding aged nicely.

Don't think I'll ever sell it

MIJvintage · Jan 23, 2007

RedRooster, Looks like you have the earlier FLG model which I believe does not have the fret edge binding or the VH-1 pickups. If the pups don't have the brass screws they aren't VH-1s.

The later RLG models (RLG-80 & RLG-90 Super Grade Models) have fret edge binding and VH-1s with the black plastic insulation covered wires. VH-1s will have the 4 brass screws on the bottom no matter if they are the earlier black insulation models or the later gray insulation models. The general rule is that the older black insulation ones sound better than the later gray insulation VH-1s. From my experience this seems to be very much the case.

I would generally put the older black insulation VH-1s up against almost any PAF style pickup on the market; not overly strong output but very well defined & articulate without the noise of some others.

I have owned nearly 2 dozen RL models, all equipped with VH-1s, and just as PAFs, all VH-1s are not created equal. The best sounding set I currently own are in a black RLC 2 pickup version. I bought the 2 pickup version RLC (center in photo) to repalce a 3 pup RLC model (left in photo) that I sold.

MIJvintage · Jan 23, 2007

RedRooster, Looks like you have the earlier FLG model which I believe does not have the fret edge binding or the VH-1 pickups. If the pups don't have the brass screws they aren't VH-1s.

The later RLG models (RLG-80 & RLG-90 Super Grade Models) have fret edge binding and VH-1s with the black plastic insulation covered wires. VH-1s will have the 4 brass screws on the bottom no matter if they are the earlier black insulation models or the later gray insulation models. The general rule is that the older black insulation ones sound better than the later gray insulation VH-1s. From my experience this seems to be very much the case.

I would generally put the older black insulation VH-1s up against almost any PAF style pickup on the market; not overly strong output but very well defined & articulate without the noise of some others.

I have owned nearly 2 dozen RL models, all equipped with VH-1s, and just as PAFs, all VH-1s are not created equal. The best sounding set I currently own are in a black RLC 2 pickup version. I bought the 2 pickup version RLC (center in photo) to repalce a 3 pup RLC model (left in photo) that I sold.

MIJvintage · Jan 23, 2007

Sorry for my double post; my ISP sucks and it is causing problems here...........

Villager, I saw your ealier post concerning the Greco DRYs which I have played; I actually prefer the older black insulation VH-1s though. Just a personal preference........I also prefer the generally slightly smaller Burny neck profiles too........

RedRooster · Jan 23, 2007

very detailed info!
thanks a lot... the bad thing: it seems like I HAVE to buy some set of VH-1s as soon as possible... Argh GAS :lol: Seems to be quite difficult to get them without the guitar they're built in -.-....

luis · Jan 23, 2007

I have seen VH-1 pups red logo under the pickup(back side) in '80 FLG-100 III(3 pickups). Igues the pickups asked in this post are pre-VH-1 too.
Fernandes made some changes from '74-late I guess(when FLG models appeared on the market).In '73 only FSGs were avalaible.....I have seen a '76 FLG pup and it was like te one showed....

One warning: Fernandes made Gibbo replicas under the BURNY logo because Fernandes was too long and did not sound like Gibson...marketing affairs!.There are some Fernandes Supergrade models made however in 77-79 years...And besides there are several models from FLG-60 to FL-120 I gues diifferent specs.Usually are 3 pieces made poly finish,but some were laquer finish.The specs could easily had been changed in later models...

Identifying PickUps on Burny Les Paul

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