Baldwin Virginian

circa 1965 to 1967 Baldwin Virginian, parts made in England by Burns of London, assembled in Arkansas at the Baldwin Factory after the Baldwin purchase of Burns of London in 1965,22 small frets w/ zero fret and factory black nut, laminated flamed sycamore top ( awesome ),
2 Burn's Design PUs w/ adtustable poles, maple neck w/ slight flame, rosewood fingerboard, laminated mahogany sides and back, semi hollow acoustic- electric w/ small round sound hole,1 3 way PU selector switch, 1 tone, 2 volume, clear Lucite pickguard w/ " Handcrafted By Baldwin" inscribed on underside of pickguard, Patent and Regisration dates/numbers from England,NewZealand, Canada, United States on tortise shell neck plate cover, serial # 17XXX, Baldwin scrolled head stock, most likely a 1966 assembly

I bought this guitar only because it is an oddball, don't play it so cannot give really good rating for this catagory, I will say that these Burn's Design single coil PUs will kick any single coil in the butt, unbeleivable sound for any factory single coil PU, Mr. Burns had these babys right

This guitar is completely factory original, nothing added and nothing missing, top is perfectly bookmatched, it is gorgeous,this is a very top quality instrument in workmanship, clearcoat is a little thick as most Baldwins I have seen seem to be, very little to gripe about on this wonderful instrument

This guitar would stand up to live performance but she never leaves the house, hardware is built like a Sherman tank, everything about this guitar screams quality, remember it is pre 70,s

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The story of the Baldwin/Burns Virginian; In June of 1981, a friend of mine wanted me to go with him to a pawn shop, he needed to make a payment on an acoustic that he had pawned but he also wanted to show me some " oddball " guitar that was in the store. Don made a payment on his guitar and then showed me the Virginian. I looked at this strange bird and commented to Don how weird this thing is. It was for sale, price $ 199. I could not get the Baldwin out of my mind and about a week later purchased it by lay-a-way. It is now 1-2001 and I still have the Virgian after almost twenty years and have no intention of parting with her. This guitar was meant to be played and it plays great and sounds great but I only bought her to stash her, sorry. Overall this fine instrument gets a nine plus from me. Oh yeah, she is not or will never be for sale, don't ask.

Those fortunate enough to have either owned or run into one of these gems are fortunate indeed ... This is a semi-acoustic electric with the patented rezo-tube tremelo bridge works ... The engineering involved in this piece is nothing short of astounding and certainly was way ahead of its time ... My guitar was produced sometime between 1965 (When Baldwin bought Burns) and 1967, but I'm currently trying to nail it down ... I guess "The Burns Book" by Paul Day will help and I'll have to track one down ... Not sure if the book contains serial numbers ...The guitar was made in London for sure and has a number of design patent numbers from several different countries on the plate that covers the neck bolts ... It's just over 2 and 1/2 inches thick with the bottom 1/2 inch being a solid piece of mahogany ... The top is a natural-finished veneered piece of flamed-matched sycamore ... It has two, single-coil pick-ups (really high gain) and a volume control for each pick-up and a "Density" control for both ... Different than a "Tone" control, the Density seems to change the thickness of the sound ... Almost like a phase switch ... The neck is a very nice birdseye maple with mahogany fretboard ... The strings go through the rezo-tube whammy device, which is mounted into a solid block of mahogany ... There is also a block of mahogany at the base and were the neck joins the body ... I imagine these blocks were used to give the guitar stability, but they also help with retarding feedback at high volume and promote the tone of the wood ... The body shape is single-cutaway ... The head stock is the trademark violin-type scrolled top ... The pickguard is clear plexi-glass with the words "Handcrafted by Baldwin" scripted on the backside, not the top of the plastic ... A lot of thought went into this piece and it shows in the quality of the finished product ... Not sure of the tuner manufacturer, but I was told they were Dutch-made ... I bought it with the orginial hardshell case, also in great condition.

The sound of the Baldwin Virginian is rather unique ... It seems to seamlessly blend the best of the acoustic and electric type tones ... It likes "middle" frequencies and really shines when they're boosted a bit ... I'm playing it through a DOD FX7 Pedal for reverb and chorus then sent to a Yamaha MT4 mixing board for EQ and stereo out to a BBE Sonic Maximizer and finally to a Yamaha P2200 Natural Sound amp (racked) pushing 4-12" Sheffields ... This setup allows me to take advantage of the effect qualities of the pedal and the natural tone qualities of the guitar ... The Virginian is definitely full sounding, but can be thinned out using the density control, as described above ... It can be a little noisy, depending upon where I am in relationship to the amp, but by using the "Gate" on the FX7, it's easy to control, even at very high volumes ... I have no dislikes about this guitar.

The guitar came to me with the strings loosened and in need of changing (thanks for the free strings, Matt) ... I was a little worried at first, because the rezo-tube whammy device depends heavily upon the tauntness of the strings and I thought that it was defective, but I figured it out and the action is great ... The pickups are adjustable, but I haven't monkeyed with them ... The finish on these old Baldwin/Burns guitars tend to crack because of the thickness of the coatings used, but the wood is absolutely flawless.

I've had the opportunity to play the piece pretty hard and have not had any trouble with keeping it tune ... All the hardware is intact and seems to be quite durable ... I'd never gig with it without a backup, just because I like playing my Peavey Wolfgang too much, but this is a very dependable guitar (so far).

Burns London is back in business, but I'm sure they're not supporting this guitar.

Great Guitar at a Great Price, purchased from honest and ethical dealer ... I've been playing for thirty years and this is one of my all-time favorite pieces, bar none.