New Arrival

[dusty fretz]

I realise my original explanation was a mite misleading. As Ray correctly points out, the 1/4" socket was indeed already in common use on amplifiers back then, but this was usually a plastic chassis 'enclosed' type, rather than the comparative equivalent of the 'open' mini design. Burns body depth was certainly quite shallow and this made the plastic chassis socket an impractical option. It was accordingly very tricky to fit, as I discovered in 1963, when I made just such a change on my Vibra Artist. Installation entailed some exceedingly careful extra carving in the control cavity, as I was acutely aware of inadvertently letting unwanted air in via the back of the body! The open style 1/4" socket subsequently soon became widely available and this made the modification task easier, although some versions were deeper than others, so caution was still necessary. In addition, while some jack plugs had ball ends, others had pointed tips and therefore required greater clearance when inserted, which meant plug choice warranted equal consideration. These days there's quite an array of all-metal 1/4" sockets employing different dimensions, so Bill should be able to find something suitable that won't entail additional woodworking and will also take any length jack plug.

It's worth noting that Burns wasn't the only one making slimline solids at that time and other builders also had to employ odd-sized and unusual alternatives, all intended to eliminate the inconvenience of a captive cable. Some cheaper Vox solids featured a TV-type co-axial socket and various Henry Weill-made models were fitted with an even smaller mini jack socket. Supersound initially plumped for a screw-on style connector and over in Europe, multi-pin DIN connectors were common on guitars, while some Eastern European solids even accommodated twin banana plugs!