From 1955-1962  The Gibson ABR-1 bridge had no retaining wire which held the saddles into the bridge base. Gibson changed the bridge to have a retaining wire in late 1962 this prevented saddles from falling off when a string broke. This was a big problem if  you were on stage.  In 1965 the bridges changed form nickel to chrome it was a transitional year so both styles were used. In 1966 Gibson obtained a pat number for the bridge and a Patent No. was now stamped on the bottom of each bridge along with the Gibson name.  The tailpiece saw  little if any change other than the fact that they changed from nickel to chrome plating . Today most styles are still used.

This second picture appears to be the same Gibson L-5C Guitar with serif end to the fingerboard, with similar improvised damper by the Tailpiece and the pick-up switch is restored.

Grimshaw Plectric Supreme

The Hedley Ward Trio
Jack McKechnie on Grimshaw Plectric Supreme circa 1955

During the fifties Grimshaw made many archtop, acoustic and electric models including the G3, G5,G6, and “Plectric” single cut away jazz style electric, all were archtop styles some with pickups built into the fret board (Grimshaw patented this type of pickup in USA and GB) Grimshaw called these invisible pickups, tone/volume controls were added to the scratch plate.  The Colour Image Plectric is slightly more decorative than that which Jack is holding in the Trio Picture.

Grimshaw Guitars - History
Grimshaw Guitar Players
Grimshaw Origins

Burns Solid Body Jazz Guitar

Jack McKechnie with a Burns Solid Body Jazz Split-sound Guitar with Tremelo Arm and a Rotary Effects switch - A Strat-like beast still popularly sought after.  From 1963. A classic guitar from the legendary Jim Burns - this one features the split sound pick-ups and a rotary switch offering a choice of Treble, Bass, Split Sound and 'Wild Dog'.

Burns' jazz guitars comprised two instruments with Fender-influenced styling but with their own character and a different sound, while the Short Scale Jazz Guitar (1962-65) was a decent and affordable item with the famous Tri-Sonic pickups.

Paul Day - The Burns Book - The UK edition dates from 1979 and was published by PP Publishing and doesn't have an ISBN. Your local library will unlikely have a copy, unless he's a local author, but they should be able to obtain one from the British Library on Inter-Library Loan.

Born in County Durham, James Ormston Burns (1925-1998) learned to play the guitar in his teens. He built his first electric guitar during the war, using nothing but sheer ingenuity and RAF materials. His first six-string sale occurred in 1952 while he was earning his living as a waiter and a paint sprayer. In 1958, Burns released his first line of guitars under the Supersound trademark.  Burns in use - a later Generation

It was followed by the more popular Jazz Split Sound (1962-65), with its famous 'Wild Dog' setting. This was one of the most popular Burns guitars of its time and tends to generate strong nostalgia among English guitarists who were there in the '60s.

A Tri sonic guitar already decided for you what tones you require. The rotary switch gave you a choice of Treble, Jazz, Split Sound a forth position labelled “Wild dog.”  Each pickup was actually two pickups with two separate coils and these were switched via a complex arrangement of the rotary control. So with three double pickups there were six coils to switch, sadly the designers limited the outputs of these to just four options.  “Wild dog” was actually an out of phase sound with very high treble, “Treble” was the bridge pickup, “Jazz” was the neck and centre pick ups and “Split sound” was something quite original. The coil under the treble three strings on the bridge pickup was paired with the coil under the three bass strings in the neck pickup. Thus the sound was “split”, the treble strings were very treble and the bass strings very bass.  

Ike Isaacs - Jazz Split Sound Burns  - Below with the tremelo cover removed

These pickups were actually low impedance with a matching transformer built into the instrument. The coils were not wound onto the magnets as in a Fender Strat type design but were wound separately and then placed into the housing around the magnets. Because of this loose design the pickups could be quite microphonic but they do have a sound of their own, Brian May used Burns pickups in the guitar he built and plays.  Sadly, the quality of the Tri-Sonic wiring left a bit to be desired nothing was screened and the whole wiring loom used to be laced up with a single black cable, which they didn't bother to earth. By any standards it could pick up quite a bit of hum and noise, earthing the lacing cable would virtually cure that.  If you have a standard Fender Strat the tremelo has several springs to hold it in position, as a side effect, these springs do give the guitar resonance.  Now the Burns` tremelo did not have these springs so they came up with a metal tube through which each string passed.  This was supposed to give that resonance to the body of the instrument. The word Rezomatic is stamped on many Burns` pickups but it actually refers to these “Rezotubes.”  The tremolo unit was quite unique. The six bridge pieces sat on a plate which itself rested on a roller and could slide back and forth. The tremelo arm would move the roller, which would move the bridge pieces back and forth, there was a Bigsby type return spring which didn't always bring the bridge back to the same place it started.

Eric Ford - early studio session player with the same Burns solid body UK Designed Guitar.  Session man Big Jim Sullivan described this as a 6 string Bass?

Radiotone archtop guitars were distributed in the UK by James  E Dallas and Sons from the 1930s onwards. The range included archtop acoustic and electric guitars as well as more unusual instruments like archtop ukuleles, resonator guitars and double top mandolins. Most were made in Europe (typically Czechoslovakia), although some were made by Kay in Chicago. Original advertised Sale Price £6.75

This Radiotone archtop guitar is in good condition, considering its over 70 years old. The back and sides of the guitar are made from flamed maple.  The guitar has a mahogany neck and has a rosewood fret board.T  he guitar is bound on the back and front of the body and around the neck.

The guitar has mother of pearl inlays in the 5th 7th 9th 12th and 15th frets, as well as on the head stock.  The guitars machine heads appear to be original.  The guitar is fitted with flat wound strings and has a trapeze tail piece.  It has one or two minor cracks on the top but this does not affect its sound or playability.

The guitar has a wonderful tone, with a very good action and very little fret wear.  The 20th fret is missing but could be replaced easily, however it is not a fret you will ever be likley to play.  This guitar is very similar to the first that Pete Townshend of The Who started with.  Pete Townshend’s 1936 Radiotone guitar, the first guitar he played as a boy, the cello guitar made for J.E. Dallas and Son in Czechoslovakia by Höfner or Alfred Borst, with associated paperwork, in modern soft case

The guitar also has an arched back and tonally sounds very much like a mid 50's Hofner Senator.  The guitar looks like it once had a DeArmond pickup screwed into the neck and also had a pickguard once. The neck has probably been reset at some point in its life.

I have been doing some research on my dear old dads guitar that he passed on to me a couple of years before he died in 2001 , It is an arch top Radiotone that he has had since just after the war, he told me that during the war he had made friends and played with a guitarist that was in Italy then (dad was a very accomplished pianist could bang out any tune you could hum but could’nt read a note of music ) , apparently he was a guitarist of some note as he was there entertaining the troops . they became quite good friends and apparently dad gave him his address in London and told him to look him up in civvy street which he did   When he arrived at dads place in Old Kent Rd London he was a little upset that his own guitar had been damaged on the train journey to London  ( he was apparently he was due to be playing an engagement that night! )  he told dad that he would have to go and buy a new guitar immediately and dad said if he would like to have his busted Radiotone  he was welcome to it.  My father being the ever practical bloke that he was, repaired it  The neck was broken away from the body of the guitar but it was quite a simple repair job.

We emigrated to Melbourne Australia ,in 1956 aboard the P&O liner Strathnaver and we have lived here ever since ,I started playing the old Radiotone or at least tried to, when I was about twelve or thirteen ,the fact the  strings seemed to be an inch off the frets did not help at all, but I persevered  and finally was able to bang out some sort of tune on it.  I am now aged sixty two but still have a strong  interest in music as I have a cover band called the Occasionals , I have a collection of really nice guitars, mostly high end Australian made Maton guitars that are produced locally,  a Gretch and a Yamaha Pacifica Mike stern model and my pride and joy the old Radiotone.

I suspect that maybe that guitarist my dad met during the war was Jack McKechnie! ,my dads name was Alec David Evans and he was with the 6^th Army Royal Artillery ,he was a gunner during the occupation of Italy in 1943 and I know from my research that Jack was over there entertaining the troops so I guess this connection is a distinct possibility and that I now own Jack's borrowed Radiotone.  It is quite different to the Radiotone of old ,insofar as I had refinished it when I was 18 and then again when I really new what I was doing in my 40s, and recently after it was given a new tailpiece machine heads and pick up, I hope you find this tale of interest to you and maybe you have some information that can shed some light onto the possibility that this is true.  John Evans

Jazzeddie - Could also have been Jack Llewellyn

There are some hints that are relating the Radiotones with Alfred Borst.

It's not proved yet. Borst was an instruments maker from Schönbach. He made mainly guitars. Borst bought the old Hoyer Schönbach facilities, tools and stock in the early '30s. The new plant allowed him a much bigger production. His own brand was Albo (ALfred BOrst acronym). These guitars are true rara avis even in the Czech Republic.

It seems that (like most Schönbach builders did) he concentrated in exports via SMG and only a few instruments were sold locally branded as Albos. After the war most Borst's employees were relocated in the Bräuer workshop and the Cremona plant. This explains why many aspects of the post war Bräuer models look so close to Albos in many details, specially the necks are identical. (or at least this is what I've been told by a Czech expert). I've only seen one Albo and I thought It was a Bräuer for a long time until that guy assured me it was a prewar Albo. They look so close!

That single guitar makes me think that Radiotones were not really made by Borst, and again, I badly want to find one to inspect and compare it thoroughly with my Radiotones inside-out. The bad part is that I've been tracking Albos in the Czech Republic for three years with no success. But I won't be the one to refute the Czech experts theories without real evidences.

So I still consider the possibility about the Borst workshop origin... but without too much confidence in it. I used to refer to my two Radiotone guitars as Borsts. After all, Radiotone is a rebrand, but I stopped doing this. Now I call them SMGs until I find some better hints about their true origins... If I ever find anything better. - Snap