Bizarrely Beautiful - Surprisingly Versatile

2002 Burns Steer.

This bizarrely beautiful guitar weighs just 7.10 lbs., and features a 13 3/4 wide, 2 inch deep, single-bound on top and bottom, chambered basswood body with a classic translucent green polyester finish. Basswood top with a 3 inch diameter soundhole. One-piece hardrock maple neck with a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a very fast thin profile. Maple fretboard with 20 original medium-jumbo frets and black dot position markers. 'Steer-horn' shaped' headstock with clear acrylic 'steers-head' with "Steer" engraved in black from the underside and two circular string-trees. Individual Burns Deluxe (Rotomatic style) tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with "Burns / London / Steer" engraved in black and serial number "0210179" engraved in blind. One Burns 'Tri-Sonic' single-coil pickup in the neck position with an output of 5.43k and one Burns split humbucker in the bridge position with an output of 15.51k. The guitar has two black over white plastic pickguards, the one by the neck pickup with three screws (engraved in white "Burns / London" and the larger one (securing all the controls) with eight screws. Master volume control, two tone controls, three-way pickup selector switch + coil-tapping switch. 'Tele' style metal control knobs with domed tops and knurled sides. Burns deluxe bridge unit with six individually adjustable saddles and through body stringing. This guitar is in mint unplayed (9.50) condition. Housed in a Ritter Junior, two-tone blue gigbag (9.50).

"When one’s hands first wrap around the Steer, you’re struck by how solid the guitar feels. The materials, build quality, and attention to detail are more typical of a guitar costing two to three times as much. Our tester arrived with a nice setup and played extremely well right out of the case, and a few strums reveal a great ringing acoustic quality with good natural volume. Plugged into a U.S. Masters TVA30 (see review last month), the Steer’s Tri-Sonic single-coil pickup (a favorite of players like Brian May) sounds remarkably full and round. Rolling off the Tone knob creates a great Joe-Pass-type tone, thanks in part to the resonance of the body Steer’s cavities. Adding just the right amount of high-end from the Tone control through a Randall RM50 Top Boost module gives a classic British Invasion-type Beatles tone, a la “Revolution.” A taste of the Steer’s diversity comes via its bridge-position humbucker. Though the guitar carries a decided retro-vibe aesthetic, its tonal varieties are plentiful. From Billy-Gibbons-style crunch to flat out Metallica-inspired distorted mayhem, the Steer delivers. Tapping the humbucker unleashes another one of this bull’s many personalities. Through a Fender Deluxe, the Steer trots straight to the rodeo, with an outstanding country/chicken pickin’ tone especially with the Tone control wide open. Visions of hayrides and sweet tea abound! The middle position on this beefy tone machine produces a more “distant” tonal offering, perhaps due to the body cavity. It’s a tone that could be useful for ’60s-oriented music or perhaps surf, due to its almost lipstick-pickup tonal quality. There’s a minor change in output along with its more hollow overall sound, and certainly some will appreciate the alternate color, as it is markedly different from the other voices of the guitar. Keeping in mind Burns’ search for an ideal guitar, the Steer Cutaway is made with a grand collection of player-friendly options. He was a musician first, design visionary second, and both are represented well. The take-it-or-leave-it looks may not be for every player, but if you’re looking for an extremely versatile instrument with unique style, and you’d rather not break the bank, this may be the guitar for you. (Vintage Guitar Magazine - review of the Steer Cutaway).

Among the many players that use a Burns Steer are Billy Bragg, Earl Slick and Phil Solem.