Dating of BURNS Guitars and early BALDWIN Guitars
1960 -1967 .

SERIALNo.PLATE. Click on the photo's to enlarge pictures !

During 1960 and the greater part of 1961 , all models had "GLUE-IN" necks and no serial-numbers were used ! The serial-numbers were introduced , together with the "SCREW-ON" neck-models , around the same time as the introduction of the BURNS 4 Pick Up Black Bison Guitar in December 1961. The BURNS 4 Pick Up Black Bison guitar was the ONLY BURNS-model with a "GLUE-IN" neck and with a SERIALNo. This Serialno. was engraved on a black plate and mounted on the tremolo-base.
: See photo

On all models , with "SCREW-ON"-necks , the serialno. was engraved on a rectangular plate, made from scratchplate-material. This plate was fitted with 4 scratchplate-screws on the back of the body , covering the 4 neck-fastening screws and also the trussrod-adjusting -spindle. Together with the serialno. you can also find the various Patent Application numbers / Patent numbers and /or Registered Design numbers
(also engraved) on the Serialno.plate.
: See photo

After the BALDWIN takeover (end of September 1965 ) , the serialno.range was maintained, for some time , but after mid-1966 the layout and design of the Serialno.plates changed .

DATE-STICKER.

You may find the Date-sticker under the scratchplate or controle-panel. See photo At least if the sticker is still there ! A lot of stickers got lost through the years ! I have NOT found any Date-sticker on 1960 /1961 /1962 models ! Occasionally you can find a date written (with pencil) under the scratchplate.

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I bought my first BURNS-guitar on March 14 , 1983 . Since the start of my collection I've have been gathering serailno.s with the belonging date's and also a lot of other useful information .

I've made a list of these Serialno's and the belonging Date's. There is a remarkable "GUIDE-LINE" among the serialno's and the belonging date's , within a reasonable deviation , especially in 1964 and 1965 ! Of course there are exceptions ( some are marked with * ) which do NOT quite fit in this "GUIDE-LINE"

Serialno.'s & Dates

Serialno. on : serialno.-plate	MODEL :	Date on : sticker beneath the scratchplate
20555	BALDWIN BISON GUITAR	9 February 1967
18463	BALDWIN VIBRASLIM BASS	1 December 1966
17198	BALDWIN BISON BASS	31 October 1966
15273	BALDWIN JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR (Trans.-model)	19 May 1966
14758	BURNS SHADOWS BASS (transition-model)	14 February 1966 **
12979	BALDWIN NU-SONIC BASS ( transition-model)	17 January 1966
12949	BALDWIN MARVIN GUITAR ( transition-model)	30 November 1965
12494	BALDWIN BABY BISON GUITAR (V-headstock)	26 October 1965
12418	BURNS BABY BISON GUITAR	7 October 1965
11711	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	22 January 1965
10874	BURNS JAZZ BASS	22 March 1965
10810	BURNS BISON GUITAR	9 September 1965
10654	BURNS BISON BASS	18 March 1965
9700	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	24 February 1965
9460	BURNS BISON GUITAR	25 November 1964
9064	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	2 December 1964
8998	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	19 November 1964
8975	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR (left/hand)	17 November 1964
8952	BURNS JAZZ BASS	23 November 1964
8942	BURNS BISON BASS	30 November 1964
8913	BURNS JAZZ BASS	9 November 1964
8637	BURNS BISON GUITAR	13 November 1964
8582	BURNS BISON GUITAR	13 November 1964
8350	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	28 September 1964
8258	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	9 December 1964
8206	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	28 May 1964 *
8167	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	5 November 1964
8134	BURNS NU-SONIC GUITAR	26 November 1964
8067	BURNS BISON GUITAR	11 November 1964
8051	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	19 November 1964
7890	BURNS 3P/U BISON GUITAR ALBINO-MODEL	18 April 1964 *
7882	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	3 September 1964
7432	BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	4? September 1964
7333	BURNS JAZZ SHORTSCALE GUITAR	18 August 1964
7291	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	7 August 1964
7264	BURNS JAZZ SHORTSCALE GUITAR	24 September 1964
7214	AMPEG/BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	10 August 1964
6740	BURNS JAZZ SHORTSCALE GUITAR	16 June 1964
6580	BURNS NU-SONIC BASS	19 June 1964
6571	BURNS NU-SONIC BASS	23 June 1964
6514	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	30 June 1964
6125	BURNS JAZZ SHORTSCALE GUITAR	8 July 1964
5940	AMPEG/BURNS JAZZ SPLITSOUND GUITAR	8 June 1964
5939	BURNS VISTA SONIC BASS	22 June 1964
5751	BURNS VISTA SONIC GUITAR	6 May 1964
5649	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	21 April 1964
5576	BURNS MARVIN GUITAR	18 April 1964
5474	BURNS DOUBLE SIX	5 May 1964
5306	BURNS DOUBLE SIX	2 May 1964
5194	BURNS DOUBLE SIX	2 April 1964
5186	BURNS SPLITSOUND 6 STRING BASS	21 April 1964
5120	BURNS (BLACK)BISON BASS ( in RED SUNBURST !)	10 August 1964 *
5046	BURNS SPLITSOUND 6 STRING BASS	21 April 1964
5008	BURNS DOUBLE SIX	9 June 1964
4445	BURNS NU-SONIC GUITAR	8 April 1964
4171	BURNS BLACK BISON 3 P/U GUITAR	14 November 1963 *
4147	BURNS JAZZ SHORTSCALE GUITAR	17 March 1964
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC GUITAR	26 February 1964 ( ON STICKER !)
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC GUITAR	NO STICKER ! 11/12/63 *******
3783	BURNS VISTA SONIC 4 STRING BASS (Prototype)	6 December 1963
2396	BURNS BLACK BISON 3 Pick Up GUITAR	9 December 1963
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC GUITAR	NO STICKER ! 06/12/63 ***
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC BASS	NO STICKER ! 02/12/63 ***
1597	BURNS SPLITSOUND 6 STRING BASS	NO STICKER ! 26/02/63 ***
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC GUITAR	NO STICKER ! 16/01/63 *******
NO Serialno. !	BURNS SONIC BASS	NO STICKER ! 28/12/62 ***
111	BURNS 4 Pick Up BISON GUITAR ( green/golden sunburst)	NO STICKER ! NO DATE ! ********
95	BURNS 4 Pick Up BLACK BISON GUITAR	NO STICKER ! NO DATE ! ********
I've made a review of 11 Serialno.plates from 1962-'67, as a contribution for the new burnsbook : Pearls & Crazy Diamonds(2001) CLICK HERE	Back to Home-page: CLICK ON LOGO	REMARKS: * : Deviate from "GUIDE-LINE" : "BURNS"- logo on R/H-horn ! *** : Date written under scratchplate ! : Serialno.plate on tremolo-base- plate !**