However, I'm not so sure about the patriotic finish on this "Jubilee" example from 1977. (1977 was the year of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, i.e. she'd been monarch for 25 years). Even though this is the original factory finish, the Union Flag - popularly known as the Union Jack but technically speaking it shouldn't be referred to as such unless flown from a ship - has been poorly rendered with very thin crosses and not enough of a pinwheel effect on the diagonals. It's made to look all the more bizarre by the process of ageing which has turned the blue background to green and the white to yellow - in fact when I first saw this I was trying to decide if it was supposed to be the Union Flag or not. If you didn't know it was supposed to represent the flag of the United Kingdom, then perhaps it'd be easier to think of it as an abstract design. Still don't think I'd like it.
Like it or not, it's still a very interesting piece. This particular example was being sold by Denmark Street Guitars in London but is marked "Out Of Stock" which implies that it has either been sold or else withdrawn from sale. Unfortunately this means I cannot give you a price or value. However, three years ago, a Burns Flyte with "supposedly" original rare red finish was being offered for sale in Germany with a price of €1444. My feeling is that this Jubilee edition would be more valuable. Burns experts please feel free to correct me!
G L Wilson
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I owned this Guitar in 1995 and did my research with a guy called Paul Burns who was supposed to be very knowledgable about Burns guitars.
ReplyDeleteHe said there was only one of these made to commemorate the queens silver jubilee in 1977 and I removed the Plectrum guard to try and find the SJ markings and then the neck and found nothing except the "Red White & Blue" colours under the plec guard which I was told that the paint had reacted with the wood and hence its strange Red, Yellow and green colours.
Paul Burns said this wasn't the Silver Jubilee model.
I took my guitar into Northern Guitars and asked him for its value and was told it wasn't of any true value so I sold the guitar for £150 to what turned out to be a con man as he and the so called specialist Paul Burns had colluded the deal and it was then in the window for £1500.00..To say I was annoyed and cheated I confronted the man in the shop and he just laughed.