RLC-xx John Sykes Modal

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the_dude

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Hey folks,

Long time lurker of the forums, but thought I would join to discuss my Burny RLC-xx John Sykes modal that I picked up a few months ago.

I have, like so many others, been trying to acquire as much info on this guitar as possible. When I first saw it in the store I dismissed it as being a MIC Burny due to the 3 screw TRC, but after taking a closer look I could see that all the hardware was Gotoh (tailpiece, bride, tuners etc) so I was pretty sure that this one was MIJ.

After I first brought it home and took it apart I was able to confirm that all the hardware was in fact Gotoh. The pickups are VH-1 from Gotoh (not sure if they would be Alnico or Ceramic)

I was also able to find a serial number in the bridge PU cavity which started with a 9 so I took a guess that it was 1999. The Gotoh bridge was the same ABR-1 bridge with the wire retainer that is on my 1999 MIJ Epiphone SG, so another reason why I thought it could be from 1999.

The pots have no dating as they do not use the pots that many other MIJ guitars have in which a date can be determined, the pots are Noble A500 and B500 (Made in Japan).

So I was thinking that this was a Dyna Gakki build. The tenon is short with an empty space in the neck PU cavity in the absence of where a lip of a tenon may be.

Here is some shots of the control cavity... I have a Fujigen Les Paul from 2010 (Cool Z) and it has the flat parts of the route, where as this Burny has a curved routing (on the control cavity), so it is not Fujigen.

But things are not so clear.... last night I was looking at a Reverb post where somebody was selling the same guitar, even had the same artisan headstock inlay (not the Split diamond or the lightening bolt). The seller claimed it to be a 1992 based on the serial number. But when looking at the pictures, the seller shows the serial number in the bridge PU cavity and the strange thing is that it is EXACTLY the same number as mine :eek: - could it be that these numbers in the PU cavity are not serials, but a modal number? I am not sure when this inlay started, first guitar I see with it in the catalogs on a Burny in 1992 (but not an RLC modal)

https://reverb.com/item/1194417-burny-les-paul-john-sykes-custom-1992-black-made-in-japan-mij-cij

This modal is confusing, as Burny last shows any of the Revival series (RLG and RLC) in the 1992 catalog and do not return to it till 2002, but these are MIC (in 2003 MIJ Burny's were back with one modal, the top tier modal). The John Sykes modal is not even in the 1992 catalog (it appears in 2003 catalog, but now from a RLC-55 MIC guitar). So did they stop the revival series in 92 like many think? Or did they continue making and selling Burny guitars throughout the 90's but not advertise or market them? Mystery.

My 1984 RST-50 64 strat was much easier to decode. The date is stamped on the heel of the neck 8)

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zc6CMntFG3W5UNdM6
 
I am thinking that perhaps the seller of the reverb post above is correct and that it is a 1992, this because today I was reading over Gotoh's company profile timeline and it says that they stopped pickup production in 1993 and as my guitar (and the one in reverb post) has Gotoh pickups logic would tell me it would have to been made before 1993.

Just in case anybody does a Google search and ends up here, it looks like the last manufacture producing the VH-1 was Gotoh and they started in the late 80's and as they stopped making pickups in 1993 it would fit the timeline that the Burny's Revival series last appeared in the 1992 catalog and returned in 2002 as Made in China guitars (with a MIJ top tier model being added in 2003).

If you have Gotoh pickups, this might help you narrow down a date.
 

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