Burns Weill RP2G Super Streamline bass guitar from 1959

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an intriguing and supposedly quite rare bass guitar from Jim Burns and Henry Weill, the Burns Weill RP2G Super Streamline Bass. I suppose that back in 1959 it looked futuristic and space-age. Today it looks ... I don't know what. It's an ugly bass for sure but probably not as hideous looking as those ghastly singlecut jobbies with the bass-side bout extending half way up the neck which seem to be unfathomably popular these days in bass playing circles. It's quite recognisably a design from the Burns stable, displaying future echoes of the Burns Flyte on the treble side of the body.

Here is what the eBay seller has to say about it:

Burns Weill RP2G bass

This is a very rare bass made in 1959 by Jim Burns and Henry Weill. The body, neck etc., were designed and made by Jim Burns and all the electrics and pickups within the scratchplate were designed and made by Henry Weill.

This particular bass came from the collection of Mark Griffiths - bass player for The Shadows.  It was sold in auction some time ago along with many other guitars and basses owned by Mark Griffiths. I did not manage to buy it then but a while ago I contacted the buyer and managed to purchase it.

It is totally original apart from the fact that it had been refinished in the past - possibly when Mark owned it.

It is a very rare bass regardless of previous owners and its actually the only one I have come across. It has two pickups with volume, tone and blend controls plus a pickup selector switch and two-way switch - all working well, and it is a very nice playing bass with a lovely neck, quite narrow but very playable with twenty-two frets with red dot markers and a scale of thirty inches.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £950.

G L Wilson

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