Baldwin Bison

This is a revison to an earlier review that I had submitted on a 1965 Baldwin Bison. As I had mentioned in that review, I have been playing a 95 American Deluxe Fender Strat almost exclusively for the past five years. Prior to that the Bison had resided untouched in it's case for about 10 years while I went about my business of raising kids, only occassionally playing an Alverez accoustic. I had been reading some other reviews of other brand guitars when I decided to put my two cents in regarding the Bison.

I'm writing this follow up in that after restringing the Bison, lowering the bridge pickup and spraying contact cleaner into the pickup selector switches, I realized that I shortchanged the instrument. When I first began playing it, the neck felt a little odd. However, I noticed that some of the chromatic runs that I struggled to play on the Strat were easier on the Baldwin. Overall the action is a bit better on the Strat but the Bison ain't bad. Also, the Bison has a much wider tonal range given the twin pairs of three way switches. It also seems to have a natural chorus effect resulting from the through the body bridge which rests of a metal platform. While my musicianship is mediocre at best, if you like Boston or the Eagles sound, this guitar seems well suited. It provides a very clear and pleasant bell like attack. It seems very rich in harmonics and overtones; very pretty and like an accoustic. However, even with the rich voices of the Bison I can't see hot and overdriven licks like Stevie Ray Vaughn ever emitting from this axe. If you like Texas style hot pickups, look elsewhere.

Anyway time, a professional grade setup, new strings and a bit of electronic maintenance has made me rethink the sonic quality of this guitar. It's workmanship was always obviously top notch. Also, I saw the guitar in the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe, not Planet Hollywood. Maybe I will give the whammy bar another try. It still is a heavy guitar on ones shoulder but less so then most early Gibson's.

I still prefer my Strat but I'm going to make it a point to play the Baldwin on a regular basis. Although it's value as a collectable has doubled or tripled by some accounts in the past two years, it is a very enjoyable instrument to play.

Great for clear tinkly bell like sounds. Has a rich chorus sound without special effects. Kind of a bridge between an accoustic and electric. The Bison has an unusually wide variety of voices.

I'm using it with a vintage tube Fender Super Reverb or an Ibanez IBZ-10 practice amp or headphones in Korg ToneWorks pedal.

Have never gotten a punchy SRV Hot Texas style sound out of the axe. I'm sure with the right electronics you could.

Top notch quality hardware. It took me 35 years to get it set up right. Not a good first guitar for a 15 year old kid, not even in 1965. It appeared to be designed with few budget limitations and overly finished like a grand piano or an instrument intended to be used in a concert orchestra.

When I initially got the guitar it was not properly set up. I attempted to adjust it with absolutely no idea of what I was doing. I monkey fingered with everything. Thanks to Tims Guitar Repair, the axe was finally properly setup only a year or two ago. At that time I was enamoured with a 95 Strat so I only played it once or twice for a few minutes, loosened the strings cleaned and polished it and locked it in it's case until recently.

This was a beautiful and solid axe. One problem. The finish was like a hard plastic coat. One morning I had left it over night in an unheated room. It had not gotten extremely cold but as I was getting dressed, I picked up the guitar and brought it into a heated room. As I was playing it I heard a crack like a string had broken. When I looked, a crack had formed in the finish running almost the length of the body. This crack was very fine and only in the finish but it drove me nuts for years. Other than that, the instrument is as solid and perfect as I have seen.

As I said before, this is a re-review. After re-stringing, cleaning the contacts and lowering a bridge pickup that I had initially set too high, I realized that I had been unfair of my criticism of the instrument. Having said this, the guitar was judged harshly in the court of consumer popularity which resulted in a short production run. None the less, my main regret is forfeiting the value of a 1965 Strat that I had intended to buy and not having the Baldwin properly set up years ago. I guess whatever curse damned it 36 years ago continues to damn it today. I have always shown it to friends as an Edsel like anomoly but it really is a pretty cool axe.

This instrument was made in London England dated 3/5/65 and imported by Baldwin after their purchase of Burns. It is one of the first models shipped having only the lower pick guard horn replaced with the Baldwin logo. I purchased the guitar in July of 1966 for $450.. I had intended to by a Fender Strat (how much would that be worth?) but was persuaded on the merits of the guitar's georgious looks and an older middle age salesman that the Baldwin (Burns) was the way to go. As I recall, the Baldwin was $25 more expensive than the Strat.

The Guitar had a flawless white overly large, deeply recessed cutaway "Bison horned" maple laminated solid body with three Burns Rez-o-matik pickups, twin three way toggle switches, one volume and two tone controls. It had a three part blue pearled pick guard which adorned both "horns" the pickups and controls. It had a blonde 22 fret bolt on neck not counting a faux fret at the top. The neck was adjusted my a single truss rod at the base of neck. It was covered by the pick main pickguard assembly and required major disassembly for adjustment. There was a fancy broad chrome whammy bar connected to 3" by 6" chrome assembly called a Rezo-tube. On this assembly, the bridge, string through body type also rested and the entire assembly moved when the whammy bar was depressed. The instrument, was beautiful to behold.

The guitar was not properly set up by the music store. The frets buzzed and the intonation was off. I took it to a local specialty shop and it was set up for heavy guage strings because the technician was somewhat of a country music guy. The guitar sounded rich through a Fender Super Reverb amp but the action was ponderous. I mostly played chords. All of my friends agreed that it was one of the most beautiful and impressive looking instruments they had ever seen. However, some of the more knowledable players questioned the Baldwin label and everyone agreed that the heavy stings had to go. I allowed a friend to install super lights and from that time on the instrument was never in tune. Everytime someone bent the whammy bar tuning went totally out. Also, the frets were large and a sting would go sharp if pressed deeply into the fret. Although the guitar was played by many local muscians, the only decent player who was liked the guitar was a blues guy who loved it. No one seemed to hate the guitar but all the rockers pretty much agreed something did not feel or sound right. They complained that it was too heavy, did not feel right on their shoulders, seemed unbalanced, the voice and attack was off. Something about the instrument was just not right. One musician suggested that the Bison would probably be good for a studio musician or a jazz band but something about it was just wrong and he had no idea where to begin fixing it. By unanimous decree I removed all tension off the whammy bar and let the bridge rest heavy against the body.

My affection for guitars has always far surpassed my musicial abilities and I eventually collected a group of superior or at least more satisfying instruments which I play equally poorly. The Bison lay untouched in it's case until about two years ago when I became sentimental, it was my first, and took it to a well regarded shop for an overhaul. I had several frets and the nut replaced. The neck was also realigned and the intonation reset for medium light strings. The guitar plays and sounds better than it ever did but it is no match for my 94 Strat.

This guitar seems best suited for blues. It has a full clean, clear but lack luster sound. The pickups seems a little noisy as compared too Fender Lace. Maybe good for country. Definetly not rock of any stipe.

Once properly set up, the neck is thin and the action is actually pretty good. The guitar came to me a total mess insofar as setup. It took thirty five years to get it set up properly.

This quitar was made to very high standards. very expensively made.

Can't really say.

I sure wish I had bought that Fender Strat in 1966. This has got to be a relatively rare axe and I can well understand why. I have seen Burns models that look identical in books on lapel pins and one hanging in Planet Hollywood. I wish mine said Burns on the pickguard instead of Baldwin. This is an expensively made beautiful guitar that just lacks something. Yet there are compelling aspects to it.