The ShadowMusic Web Community

There have been a lot of photos/etc. on social media, indicating that July marks the 50th anniversary of "Wonderful Life." I learned from reading posts on this site that the bass was played by Licorice in the studio recordings of the soundtrack and that John Rostill was in the actual movie, miming (as they all were). What I am curious about is: the Burns Marvin guitar is generally referred to as a 1964 instrument. In "On the Beach" Hank plays a greenburst Burns Double Six. I was wondering if that means the Double Six was invented in 1963, and not 1964. And, similarly, is the Double Six considered to be a "Marvin" but with 12 strings, or is the whole instrument different?

I am trying to put the pieces together about the Shadows switching from Fenders to Burns, and I think I've got it straight except for the Double Six part. They went from fiesta red Fenders, to white Fenders, to white Burns Marvins. I don't think I've ever seen Hank play an electric 12-string guitar other than a greenburst Double Six, but I'm not sure.

Thanks a lot.

Cheers,
Donna

The first Double Six that Hank was seen with was a red-burst one during 1963 if I'm not mistaken, during the time that the white Strats' were used, then the green one appeared a bit later.

Hi Donna

Dave is correct. The Red one appeared first and then the green one in the film.

Stu

To answer the other question the First double sixes were launched before the Marvin.. They had a one piece scratchplateI and split sound electronics and pick ups.so quite a difference from the Marvin.I think discussions and trials were probably going on with Jim Burns and the Shadows at the time. The Burns Book may be a good source of information for you Donna. These come up fairly regularly on eBay. Here is a picture of an early red burst which was kindly forwarded to me by Paul Day.

Thank you very much for the replies and the information. I understand better now, especially how or why they used a Double Six in "Don't Talk to Him" which isn't part Wonderful Life, I don't think. Some of the black-and-white photos I see of Hank with a Double Six might be the redburst one. Thanks for the close-up photo. I can see the splits in the pick-ups and how scratchplate differs from the greenburst model.

Cheers,
Donna

With 'On The Beach' it sounds like Hank is playing a Burns 12 string and a Double six on the solo only which must have been dubbed on afterwards.
'Don't Talk To Him' sounds like a Burns 12 and not a double six.

Paul Childs wrote:With 'On The Beach' it sounds like Hank is playing a Burns 12 string and a Double six on the solo only which must have been dubbed on afterwards.
'Don't Talk To Him' sounds like a Burns 12 and not a double six.

The Double Six IS THE Burns 12 String. The only other Burns 12 string was semi acoustic.

dave robinson wrote:

Paul Childs wrote:With 'On The Beach' it sounds like Hank is playing a Burns 12 string and a Double six on the solo only which must have been dubbed on afterwards.
'Don't Talk To Him' sounds like a Burns 12 and not a double six.

The Double Six IS THE Burns 12 String. The only other Burns 12 string was semi acoustic.

It says in the book 'The Shadows Story' by Mike Read that Hank had a Burns 12 string and also a double six that had six regular guitar strings and six bass strings an octave lower.

There is a picture in one of the 1980s tour programs that shows Hank's complete collection and there are two Burns 12 string type in the picture.

Is this the photo you are referring to ?. The Double a Six on the right is the one with Split Sound Wiring. The other one on the left looks like the more moderns/current version which had a 3 piece pickguard and strat style switching. Both are Burns Double Six versions. One is later version than the other.