ORIGINALLY PRODUCED: 1962-64

ORIGIN: UK

TYPE: Solidbody, Passive 4-string

BODY: Sycamore, twin cutaway

NECK: Maple, bolt-on, 22 medium frets plus zero fret at nut

SCALE LENGTH: 851mm (33.5-inch)

FINGERBOARD: Ebony, bound, white dot inlays

HARDWARE: Chrome, 4-saddle bridge, fully adjustable, Van Ghent open gear tuners with large black plastic buttons

PICKUPS: Three Burns Ultra Sonic Bass units

CONTROLS: Volume, tone, 2-way selector (A/B) & 4-way tone selector (Wild Dog, Treble, Tenor, Bass)

FEATURES: The cutaway horns curved upwards from the flat plane of the body, cover plate over bridge, string damper fitted

FINISHES: Predominantly black (hence name) but white with white scratchplate and custom colours were also available

COMMENTS: This was the first full-scale bass produced by Jim Burns and in spite of its considerable weight it became very popular with session players of the time. This was the first of many variations and was produced as a companion to the Bison guitar.

The original guitar had four pickups but the bass only ever had three, fortunately! In keeping with the theme, black flatwound strings were fitted as standard and contributed to the very powerful and big booming sound. However clear notes were never a problem thanks to the legendary Wild Dog Treble setting!