Re: I love Travis Beans

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by i love sharin foo » Tue Dec 19, 2006 6:39 pm

fullerplast wrote:
Mr. Bean began development on new guitars
That goofy British guy makes guitars!!!!?  :o
I loved watching Mr Bean! Some of those episodes are classic, like the one where he got the turkey stuck on his head  ???

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by aen » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:03 pm

mjet260 wrote: Steve Albini is the most well-known player that I can think of who plays these. And he knows a thing or two about getting sounds out of equipment.  ;)

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I prefer their older stuff.

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by fullerplast » Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:19 am

I loved watching Mr Bean!


I was surprised to find that Mr Bean is HUGE in the Philippines. During my recent trip, I noticed he was on twice in the mornings, once in a 30 min. show and another in a Mr Bean cartoon.

I hadn't seen him at all since the US release of the movie several years ago, and I really cracked up....    ;D
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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by luau » Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:53 pm

I think Rose from Poster Children used to play a Bean bass. I can't find a photo of her playing one so maybe I dreamed it. I used to dream of Rose frequently so it's possible.
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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by enormous » Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:43 pm

mjet260 wrote:
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Are there any other pictures from this show floating around?

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by mjet » Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:45 pm

"You eventually learn that true priorities are like arms; if you think you have more than a couple, you're either lying or crazy."

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by rabidhamster » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:44 pm

what are the necks like on those things, both the beans and the electrical guitar ones? ::)

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by i love sharin foo » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:50 pm

The Bean necks were turned on a lathe, so the backs are perfectly round. Mine seems to be a little thicker in the lower register and a little thinner up high when compared to most wooden necks. It is mainly because it keeps pretty much the same profile all the way up. Most Beans had NO radius on the fretboard. NONE! It actually feels pretty natural for me.

Justin
Last edited by i love sharin foo on Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by rabidhamster » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:44 pm

wow, that sounds wonderful.  I've always thought a perfectly round neck would be great.  I cant stand thin-flat necks though, like lots of SGs have, and worried thats how it would be.  I think the no radius business might be slightly weird at first, but Id get used to it, as long as it didnt make the edges of the fretboard feel sharp and angular.  I dig classical guitars, and they have a flat radius, and my favorite old harmony/airline/whatever it is offset-copy has what looks like an almost flat radius, so now I think I've gotta have one.  I guess fretting out on a bean isnt an option, ey ;D

If these things can still be had for less than 2000 bucks, that just might be my next guitar purchase, instead of a Paul Reed Smith.

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by i love sharin foo » Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:45 pm

rabidhamster wrote: wow, that sounds wonderful.  I've always thought a perfectly round neck would be great.  I cant stand thin-flat necks though, like lots of SGs have, and worried thats how it would be.  I think the no radius business might be slightly weird at first, but Id get used to it, as long as it didnt make the edges of the fretboard feel sharp and angular.  I dig classical guitars, and they have a flat radius, and my favorite old harmony/airline/whatever it is offset-copy has what looks like an almost flat radius, so now I think I've gotta have one.  I guess fretting out on a bean isnt an option, ey ;D

If these things can still be had for less than 2000 bucks, that just might be my next guitar purchase, instead of a Paul Reed Smith.
I haven't found the edges of the board to be too sharp. They still used wooden fretboards too, so they naturally round a bit with age and wear. Some of the later ones have a very slight radius. I don't think I have seen one sell for less than $2k for a decent while now, unfortunately  :(  They seem to be catching on a bit. For a long time they always seemed to sell for 12-1500 or so. there's always an exception though, so keep your eyes peeled  :)

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by Naturality » Fri Dec 22, 2006 4:38 am

i love sharin foo wrote: The Bean mecks were turned on a lathe, so the backs are perfectly round. Mine seems to be a little thicker in the lower register and a little thinner up high when compared to most wooden necks. It is mainly because it keeps pretty much the same profile all the way up. Most Beans had NO radius on the fretboard. NONE! It actually feels pretty natural for me.

Justin
Cool! That way is better than the way Gibson make their necks which is by eye. Always seemed a little dodgy to me

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by i love sharin foo » Fri Dec 22, 2006 6:41 am

I'm not so sure it is better, but just a different way af going about it. It makes for a really consistent feel which is nice. When necks are carved and shaped by hand, there are always variations, which makes it possible to find "the one". When they are all done so precisely, you don't get that variation and lose to chance to find a really special one. I like both though.

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by stratatak » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:21 pm

Yeah I've never played one ..

But one grabbed my attention . I was watching an indie band " forward , russia " and the guitarist was playing one . Had to say to myself , don't see them that often .

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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by Fall reverb » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:00 am

I also like the design of these instruments...I think it was quite a daring step for a manufacturer in the 70's to come up with guitars/basses that featured (machined) aluminum necks which were running through the body and had their pickups solid-mounted to the aluminum, resulting in instruments that could produce a big amount of sustain...
I think that Keith Richards and Bill Wyman, who at one time also favoured Travis Bean-instruments, were probably the most 'high-profile' users of these, however I remember reading somewhere that they both commented that their instruments - due to their aluminium necks - were quite sensitive to temperature changes and often had tuning problems as a result...

Here's b.t.w. a nice pic (which can be found in the 'equipment'-section of Steve Albini's 'Electrical Audio'-studios' website) showing 3 Travis Bean-guitars (including 2 'Wedge'-guitars), and also note that the studio has 3 (probably equally-rare) 'Veleno'-guitars in their collection - John Veleno's guitars went even one step further than the Travis Bean-guitars, as these were completely made out of aluminium...

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Last edited by Fall reverb on Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I love Travis Beans

Post by Naturality » Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:28 am

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There's one of these on the bay at the moment

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