Baldwin Jazz Bass

Made between 65' and '66, after Baldwin purchased Burns of London and before they went to the shorter scale neck. 32" scale, 3 Trisonic pickups on a huge pickguard, volume, tone and 4-way rotary selector with "wild dog" setting, bridge that allows you to adjust intonation, height and spacing for each string, four-in-line pseudo-fender headstock, truss rod adjustment through the back of the body at the heel, bolt-on neck. Not sure what kind of wood it's made of, but Burns/Baldwin was known for using odd woods like Sycamore and birch.

The selector switch has four settings; bass, contra-bass, treble, and "wild dog." I generally use the first two, since treble is too thin and the "wild dog" uses some sort of filter to notch out the mids, or maybe it's an out-of-phase setting. The pickups don't have a lot of output, apparently because they're low-impedance. Underneath the pickguard there's a couple of small transformers. Baldwin/Burns guitars were infamous for overly complicated circuitry. You really have to boost the gain on the amp to get a good sound. The roller bridge saddles also seem to affect the sustain. Overall, it has thunky, plucky tone to it, almost like a standup bass. It does a good job of producing that classic 50s/60s "muted" bass tone. It's good for old rock n' roll, jazz and blues, but it's definately not a metal bass.

This bass has the best action of all my basses. Thin neck with almost no relief, it buzzes some but it doesn't come through the amp. Someone stripped off the original finish and refinished it with a slightly tinted clear coat using a brush. The wood looks good but I might refinish it in either clear or the traditional Burns green sunburst.

It seems to be holding up well except for the bakelite knobs on the tuning machines which are starting to fall apart. Unfortunately you can't get these particular tuning machines new anymore. Other than that it's rock solid. I've only gigged with it once or twice but you could use it without a backup.

BurnsUSA sent me a special wrench to adjust the truss rod for free, and how can you beat that? They also emailed me back when I asked about new tuning machines.

I've been playing 17 years and I also own a Fender Jazz Bass, a Rickenbacker 4001 copy, a Dearmond Starfire and a Epiphone EB-0. This bass plays better then all of them and I'd use it more in the right musical setting. I've always been fascinated by Burns/Baldwin instruments despite (or perhaps because of) their quirks. I'd probably collect them if I had more money. Burns recently reissued this bass as the Korean-made Marque Bass. I haven't tried one but it's probably got a more modern tone. If this one was stolen I 'd try to get one of those if I couldn't find an original.