By Claus Adenaeuer, Germany
Build quality
First of all the new BURNS BHM looks more like the original than my GUILD BHM from 1984. I think everybody knows what the Guild looks like if we remember the "One Vision" video, but here are the details: The body of the Guild guitar is smaller than the originalīs, solid and somehow in a much darker non-transparent red without any graining. Guild used black DiMarzio BHM pickups back in the eighties and a Kahler locking vibrato with fine tuning mechanism. The switches are white. All in all the build quality is - apart from the fact that it looks a bit different - very good. But what do you expect from a guitar that did cost a little fortune?
When I opened the case of my Burns I was very relieved to see that the guitar looks much more like the original red special than my Guild. Looking over the whole guitar, the build quality that Burns have achieved for this price is quite astonishing. The body is made of one piece of basswood, transparent red-cherry showing softly grained wood with white pin-stripe binding on both top and bottom. It is also much lighter than the Guildīs red tone. The paint is well applied and smooth on both the body and neck, and the overall feel is much better than the price suggests: From just looking at both guitars you couldnīt tell which one was the cheaper choice. All in all the finishing of the Burns is quite impressive. It looks and feels like a much more expensive guitar than it is.
The body of the Burns guitar is bigger than the Guildīs due to the fact that it matches the original red special shape exactly. Neither the pickup selection switches nor the pots show any sign of atypical noise, and feel solid and reliable. My Guildīs switches and pots tend to produce atypical noise from time to time, but maybe thatīs a sign of "her" age.
The neck is a bit fatter/wider than the Guildīs but the difference is negligible, I think. I prefer the slightly fatter neck of the Burns because of my long fingers - itīs easier to play (maybe this was Brianīs intention when he build his Red Special?). The neck on the Burns is better glued to the body with no signs of paint bulges. The Burns has much more resonance which can easily be heard by playing unplugged. This, of course, derives from the acoustic chambers which the Guild lacks. Therefore it has more sustain and it sounds a lot brighter - just semi-acoustic.
Playability
Well, then...
The best I can say about it is: If I play the Burns for a few minutes and get into it, I can hardly distinguish which guitar I am playing - the Burns or the Guild. They feel very similar, although the Burns is a bit heavier and has a different "centre of gravity". Another difference between the two guitars is that you can align the strings closer to the neck without getting the typical string-rattle using the Guild. But again, I think, this difference is negligible.
Although the tremolos are different they work all very well with no problems returning to the correct pitch. On both guitars the tuning stability is much better than on my Strat. Of course, the trem-arm of the Burns feels a bit strange first, but there is no problem in using it. Maybe it is a matter of taste which you like more.
Both guitars have - in my opinion - a very good playability. Due to the price this means another advantage for the Burns guitar.
Sound
As mentioned above Guild used DiMarzio BHM pickups and that is a major difference for the sound. The sound of the Burns Tri-Sonicīs is much warmer and brighter. The DiMarzio pickups sound more aggressive, especially if you compare the "switch 1 and 2 in-phase"-mode. They also tend to produce a feedback much easier than the Tri-Sonics, and sometimes that is really hard to control. Also if you play "out of phase", the DiMarzios sound much more aggressive, and they also produce more rustle. Here the feedback is even harder to control. In addition to that the Guild has a solid-body-type-tone, easy to see why...
In comparison the Burns - of course - sounds more like the original and the feedback is easier to control. The sound is brighter, warmer, richer and creamier. Nevertheless I also like the Guildīs sound a lot. It is better if you like to play hard-rock songs like "Resurrection" or "White Man". But if you prefer getting closer to "the Masterīs" sound, you have to chose the Burns. Anyone who has listened to the Guitarist CD will know that the Burns sounds very close to the Red Special in Brian's hands.
Value for money
Guitarist Magazine gave 5 stars of 5 in this category and I can only subscribe to this opinion. If you consider that for my Guild I had to pay a price that was 3 times higher than the Burns` price but cannot figure out any major difference in quality, Burns must have made a very good job. Actually, I donīt know if there is any other guitar on the market at the moment that has a better value for money than the Burns BHM.
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