(21 August 1947 – 10 July 2011)
In 1974, he partnered with Marc McElwee and Gary Kramer to start Travis Bean Guitars, which made high-end electric guitars and basses featuring machined aluminum necks.[1][2] This was an unusual design, departing from more traditional wood necked instruments. The aluminum center section ran through the instrument body, with the pickups directly mounted to the aluminum.[3] The majority of these instruments featured solid koa wood bodies and humbucker pickups. Though praised for their sound, the use of aluminum necks also made Travis Bean guitars heavier than other electric guitars. Models included the Artist, Standard, Wedge (rare), and TB500 (rare) with single coil pickups.Kramer and Bean parted ways in 1975, with the former starting Kramer Guitars. The first series of Kramer guitars were redesigned aluminum-necked instruments but utilizing wooden inserts along the back of the neck to cut down on weight and provide a more traditional feel; these modifications also avoided patent violations on Travis Bean's original neck design.
Around 3,600 guitars and basses were produced between 1974 and 1979.
In the late 1990s, Bean teamed with master machinist/designer B. Kelly Condon and produced a run of 24 high end, custom instruments. These guitars and basses were aluminum-neck instruments, each machined from a 125 pound billet of 7075 aluminum.[citation needed] The pans weighed just over 4 pounds when finished and all were serial numbered and identified inside of the pan.
A documentary called "Sustain" about Travis Bean guitars and the individuals that built these historic instruments and the players that play them (past and present) was reportedly in development in 2009.[4]
Models
- TB500 (Budget Model) - 351 produced
- TB1000S (Standard) - 1422 produced
- TB1000A (Artist) - 755 produced
- TB2000 (Standard Bass) - 1020 produced
- TB3000 (Wedge) - 45 produced
- TB4000 (Wedge Bass) - 36 produced
Musicians who play or have played the Original Travis Bean guitars and basses
Guitar Players
- Steve Albini of Shellac — plays TB500 and Wedge[5]
- Matthew Bolger of The Redneck Manifesto - plays TB1000S [6]
- Duane Denison of The Jesus Lizard - played TB1000S (Sea Foam Green)[7]
- Jerry Garcia - played TB1000A[8][9] and TB500[10]
- Roger Fisher of Heart - played TB1000A
- Stanley Jordan - plays TB1000S[11]
- Keith Levene of Public Image Ltd — played Wedge and TB1000S
- John MacLean of Six Finger Satellite
- Kim Mitchell
- Ceylon Mooney of Pezz
- Joe Perry - played Wedge and TB1000S[12] (black and silver)
- Rubberduck Jones, a Finnish punk rock guitarist, who is most well known as the guitarist of several Pelle Miljoona related bands, like Pelle Miljoona & 1980 and the Suspenders.
- Yannis Philippakis of Foals uses a TB1000S (natural and black) and black TB500[13]
- Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) plays TB1000S
- Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth — played TB1000A (several were stolen in July 1999) [14] Also played TB1000S "bullseye" [15] (which was destroyed) and TB1000S
- Keith Richards - played a TB1000 on the Rolling Stones 1975 tour and a custom made 5-string TB1000A during the 1979 New Barbarians tour. Used a black TB500 during the Rolling Stones 1978 Saturday Night Live performance.
- Brian Robertson played a TB1000A during his time with Thin Lizzy
- Kelly Ryall played a TB1000 during early High Pass Filter shows.
- Vincent Gallo plays a TB1000A and TB3000 Wedge
- Slash
- Ron Wood - played a TB2000 on the Rolling Stones 1975 tour, a TB1000A and a white TB500 during the 1979 New Barbarians tour.
- Johan Folkesson - of Swedish mammoths Switchblade from Stockholm as well as former bassplayer Anders Stén are known to play Travis Bean instruments.
Bass Players
- Mick Karn of Japan
- Tim Midgett of Bottomless Pit and Silkworm - plays TB4000 Wedge.[16] During Silkworm, Tim played a TB1000S modified to baritone[17] and TB2000.[18]
- Bob Weston of Shellac and the Volcano Suns
- Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones -Wyman used a custom made short-scale TB2000[19][20] from 1977 until 1986. A total of 4 short-scale TB2000 bases were made for Wyman.
- Peggy Foster, The Runaways, Steve Vai, TB4000 Wedge Bass #25, TB2000 Fretless #248
- Matt Gentling of Archers of Loaf plays a TB2000.
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