Early Burns-Aristone Connection?

Posted on: 2nd June 2016

Hi Guy

Every so often I trawl the internet for clues about my Aristone-branded Burns Sonic. Usualy all I come up with is a link to my own blog post Simon’s Musical Den: Burns Sonic guitar, 1960 (“The Aristone”) that you may have seen, since it’s been online since 2008.

Today I came across some extra info, not new info but new to me – that the Burns Ike Isaacs guitar included some parts from Aristone. This is first time I’ve seen the two names linked. The source (https://gypsyjazzuk.wordpress.com/36-2/ike-isaacs/ike-burns-guitars/) says they used Besson Aristone parts, which would be Framus I assume. I’ve seen a couple of other guitars with the same ‘The Aristone’ logo, which the Gypsy Jazz site suggests were made in England by Jack Abbott (see https://gypsyjazzuk.wordpress.com/gypsy-jazz-uk-home/uk-luthiers/aristoneguitars/)

The ’58-’60 period is quite confusing to me, but it seems like the different deals and partnerships overlap. Any thoughts on my guitar? I know nothing is definite, but I’ve been curious about it for a long time.

Thanks for your time, and your excellent website!

Simon Murphy London