Why did the Shadows shift to Burns guitars?

[Didier]

I suspect that the 'tuning' problems were indeed 'pilot error'

In his book, Bruce tells that tuning his guitar drove him so mad that in the end, he paid John Rostill to do it for him before each concert !

Didier

[Didier]

When they switched to Burns, have you noticed that around the same period the chart placings dropped with new releases after that and hardly anymore hits until the 70s when they switched back to Fender. That tells you something.

When I first saw the Shadows at the Paris Olympia in early 1961, Hank was still using the first Strat and a meazzi echo, and the sound was fabulous, much the same as what can be heard on the "Kingston" live CD recorded in 1962.
But when I saw them again in 1964, the sound was much different, not because of the Burns guitars, but because Hank used hardly any echo, and I liked it much less.

Didier

[Paul Childs]

When they switched to Burns, have you noticed that around the same period the chart placings dropped with new releases after that and hardly anymore hits until the 70s when they switched back to Fender. That tells you something.

When I first saw the Shadows at the Paris Olympia in early 1961, Hank was still using the first Strat and a meazzi echo, and the sound was fabulous, much the same as what can be heard on the "Kingston" live CD recorded in 1962.
But when I saw them again in 1964, the sound was much different, not because of the Burns guitars, but because Hank used hardly any echo, and I liked it much less.

Didier

I think there was a period in the late 60s when Hank didn't use any echo, you can tell by the sound on some Youtube things and he has mentioned about re-creating their old sound when they reformed as The Shadows after the MWF era.

With the tuning problem, Bruce has mentioned in the past about not knowing anything about setups in those days so it was probably intonation more than tuning and even Hank put bits of paper under the strings on the nut on 34346 to stop it buzzing instead of adjusting the truss rod. It was set up perfectly years later when Bruce used it and no paper in the nut.

[Gary Allen]

It sort of went south when they started using Burns, Different image ? Sound ? Choice of material ? some good tunes in the burns era but would they have done any better in the charts if they had stuck to the previous format/sound when they dominated the charts.

[Iain Purdon]

I'd say not. It had more to do with not finding material that would make hit singles. Public tastes changed and not many groups lasted all that long anyway.

Jet and Tony both felt the music went wrong after they left but I'm not sure it would have been different if they'd stayed.

[ecca]

Why did the Shadows shift to Burns guitars?
Because they'd taken leave of their senses.

[Paul Childs]

They made it back in the charts in the 70s when they used strats again.

[Paul Childs]

Apart from Shadows music, what else can Burns guitars be used for? don't see them used by anyone else for any other style? whereas Strats are versatile.

[ecca]

Paddles, beaver fodder, cricket bats.

[Rover]

Hi, my understanding is that four Burrns Marvins were stolen from a van in April 1972, this is well documented elsewhere, but please correct me if I am wrong. A green one belonging to Bruce, two green ones and one white one belonging to Hank were taken. I also understand that Hank made efforts to obtain another Burns, but Baldwin had closed and the remaining guitars had all been sold. I did read somewhere that Hank borrowed a Burns for an appearance on a show, but this is unconfirmed. I also read that he appeared in Perth Australia with a white Burns in 1976, but again this is not confirmed.
Some of the latter comments on this thread make the authors look idiotic, I thought this was supposed to be a sensible and serious place for real Shadows enthusiasts. Do some of you really think that Hank and Bruce would have used Burns guitars if they were no good? Listen to Hank's solo album released in 1969, all tunes played on a Burns except one, and how brilliant is it?
regards Rover