But now, as you’ve discovered, the new website is up and running and is, once again, live on the internet.

The production and maintenance of the new Sutherland website has been taken completely in-house. Work has been done by Sutherland’s own designer Nicole Rugman who has, for several months, been working flat out in HTML in between her print design duties, and John Wyles who has been the technical wizard for our content management system. Thanks John!

Enough of the data has been uploaded to make the website meaningful and Nicole is feverishly working away to add the final few product groups – accordions, Stonebridge, Madarozzo etc.

When all the product information has been uploaded, Nic will begin to flesh out the Media section by adding more videos and PDFs.

The purpose of the two day visit was to give the dealers, who hadn’t previously visited the facility, a greater understanding of the products and the manufacturing process. Hosted and led by joint managing director Karl-Heinz Menzel, the itinerary included a factory tour, product presentations and plenty of good hospitality.

Pictured from left to right are Gordon Ferguson – Drum Bank, Andy Strack – Sonor export manager, Mark Nutty – Drumnutt, Tim Senior – Bonners, Wolfgang Maywald – Sonor percussion product manager, Jason Westgate – Anglia Drum, Andy Milner – Northern Drum Company, Karl-Heinz Menzel – Sonor joint managing director, David Schultz – Sonor drum product manager, Paul Hemming – Sutherland drum division manager, Chris Bruton – Sutherland Southern area sales manager, Criston Thomas – Talkin Hedz and Pete Lewis – Sound Attak.

The album was produced by Kevin Churko who had previously worked on the Black Rain album. It is the first album to feature guitarist Gus G who replaced Ozzy long-term guitarist Zakk Wylde in 2009. Notwithstanding the change of guitarist, the album is liberally sprinkled with Fernandes Sustainer, which was a stand-out feature of Black Rain.

Producer Kevin Churko stated, “Once again, the Fernandes Sustainer came through big time on the Scream. It’s all over the record, sometimes sounding like strings, sometimes a keyboard and sometimes just plain old guitar.”

The Fernandes Sustainer is available ready installed into certain Fernandes guitars and also available as a kit to be retro-fitted into customers’ existing instruments.

The Vortex X features a solid Alder body and bolt-on hard Maple neck with a rosewood 24-fret fingerboard, equipped with dual high output humbuckers for powerful tone and at a great price.

Available in Black and Snow White finishes, the Fernandes Vortex X is in stock now at a recommended retail price of £249.

“I felt that we must do something special to mark Burns’ 50th anniversary so we’re releasing four limited edition guitar series, each of which will come with a numbered certificate signed by my own fair hand.

“The Dream series comes in three finishes – Transparent Honey-Burst, Red Sunburst and Blue Burst. They have highly figured maple tops and new noiseless Rez-o-matik pickups developed by Alan Entwhistle. The price should be much higher but we haven’t been too greedy to keep them saleable.

“The Dream Gold 50th anniversary is limited to only 50 pieces worldwide and more than half have been ordered already. It has a special Gold polyester finish with gold hardware and gold effect pick-guards which contrast well with the ebony fingerboard and black pickups. The certificates are numbered and when they’re gone, they’re gone!

“There’s a Double Six Apache Special in Green Burst with a unique 12 string Rez-o-Tube tremolo unit, for the 12 string enthusiasts.
“Finally, we have the Apache Special Noiseless Limited Edition, again with the new ENR noiseless pickups and looking stunning in White polyester with Pearl Fingerboard Binding and Pick-guards but also available in Transparent Red Honey-Burst.

“They all come complete with Burns fitted cases. These new models will kick start the range for the next year.

“We’ve had great coverage for the anniversary in the specialist press. Features in four magazines in a row with no less than 14 pages in Guitar Buyer. Guitarist will be next with Dave Burrluck doing a history of the Burns Story and they’ll also do a big review of the Burns Dream ‘Gold Top’.
“As well as the Burns brand being 50, Burns London is 20 years old this year. We started making in 1990 and Burns London was incorporated in 1992. The original Burns company only existed for five years from 1960 to 65 so it’s now riding higher than it ever was.
“Burns London has stayed strong because we’ve kept it small. I’ve been offered partnerships and other schemes to expand but by keeping it cleverly small and niche we’ve survived the waves – including this current recession.
“The main problems we’re experiencing are with supply lines but we’re gradually repairing them and getting back on track. Two factories went to the wall, which gave us some supply issues, but we’ve replaced them with better suppliers and we’re now stronger to face the future.”
A small brochure is available which gives information and prices on the new Burns Limited Edition models in greater detail. Just follow the contact details to ask for your copy.

The specialist press is pulling out all the stops to celebrate this Golden Anniversary. Already we have a six page feature in Guitar Buyer and three in Bass Guitar Magazine with more to come in most of the other guitar titles, including outside front cover pictures.

We’re going to feature the anniversary properly next month when Barry Gibson, the man responsible for the current Burns company, will tell us about the new products that he has produced to commemorate the special birthday.

Nylgut is the brain child of Mimmo Peruffo who owns the Aquila Corde company. Mimmo is an acknowledged expert on historic instrument strings, a visiting lecturer at Cambridge university and is asked to make true gut strings for the most rare and expensive Stradivarius violins.

Mimmo is happy with the formula for Nylgut and how it combines the density, sound and feel of real gut with the consistency and practicalities of synthetic material. The tried and tested formula remains unchanged but Mimmo has now improved some of the physical aspects of Nylgut. Some extrusion parameters, such as the stretching phase during the extrusion and the die-profile have been optimised. The result is that this new version:

1) stretches less during the initial tuning and settling down period
2) the surface is perfectly polished and smooth, like common nylon strings
3) is stronger than the earlier version. It breaks 4 tones higher, which allows the first string to me tuned to E, making it possible to tune a ukulele to mandolin tuning without breaking strings.
4) is less ‘milky’, because the white colour pigment has been reduced.

We have received a shipment of the new product, although some of the original strings may still be in stock. If you buy Aquila Nylguts at this time they may be made by the old or new process. Either way they’ll sound equally as good.

The Astatic WR-40 is a rare broadcast mic that all the blues greats and rockin’ rollers like Gene Vincent, Bo Diddley, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, and the king Elvis used to use. The TF40 offers a real and fresh alternative to the Shure SH55 which has long been the industry standard microphone used by performers wishing to project a classic look.

TF40 Features:

• Classic design, professional quality.
• High quality Zinc die cast housing.
• High output dynamic cartridge for big powerful sound.
• Cardioid pickup pattern to reduce feedback during live applications.
• Transparent tailored audio with presence peak for distinctive sounding vocals.
• Pop free locking on-off switch.
• Applications: professional stage performances musical instruments recording

The TF40 classic dynamic mic has great performance characteristics and a look straight out of the ‘40s and ‘50s. It adopts high quality moving coil dynamic, high sensitivity, wide range frequency and perfect polar pattern.
Designed for vocals, it has transparent sound and a presence peak that enhances voice reproduction. It is available now at a recommended retail price of £184.99.

Particularly worth checking out are two Limited Edition guitars which have amazing and exclusive Japanese body artwork designed by Shin, a famous Japanese artist. Shin specialises in airbrush, a medium that can produce great colour graduation and expression, and he adopts a freehand technique which he developed whilst studying music in Los Angeles. His work has received great acclaim and has been used for automotive companies Lamborghini and Ferrari.

The Fernandes Vertigo Samurai II and Ravelle Demon guitars have trademark Fernandes body shapes, producing top-notch tone with only the finest wood available. They feature solid mahogany body and neck with a 22-fret ebony fingerboard, Locking tuners, Tune-O-Matic bridge w/stop tailpiece, Graph Tech Trem Nut, Abalone inlays, and black hardware. Pickups are Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge position, and a Seymour Duncan ‘59 in the neck. Shin’s distinctive artists mark is on the on back of each headstock.

Both guitars sell for a recommended £1149. For further information on these and other Fernandes models, contact Fernandes Product Manager Geraint Morgan on 02920 887333.