#171390  by FromWichita
 
Searing75 wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:21 pm When Jerry switched back to Wolf in mid to late ‘77, it had three single coils in it. Not the two humbuckers with one single coil.
I stand corrected. I'd have bet that when Wolf came back for late 77 until Tiger, it had coil-tapped humbuckers. Good thing I don't gamble.

From Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology:
“Ace” Shaw

I NEVER saw any difference
Between playing cards for money
And selling real estate,
Practicing law, banking, or anything else.
For everything is chance.
Nevertheless
Seest thou a man diligent in business?
He shall stand before Kings!
Searing75 liked this
 #171393  by FromWichita
 
jackietreehorn wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:58 pm Ok, I'll take a stab. I'm going off the top of my head so be gentle if I have my facts wrong....

As someone mentioned the biggest thing that sets these guitars apart is the aluminum neck - an the neck is different than a kramer or one of the modern remakes, because the pickups and bridge are mounted to it. The necks are supposed to be a pain to keep in tune. I've never played one, but I've heard as they warm up from body heat you have to retune them. You can get a pretty good look at one here (and make a bid on one of Jerry's backups if you have some deep pockets - https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com/Je ... Kr6GEMbWw_.

The pickups are also fairly unique from what I understand. I don't know my ass from an apple when it comes from pickups, but people who do know what they're talking about have said the closest pickup to a Bean in construction style was an old Fender Wide Range Humbucker (not the modern reissues). They're not P90s. There is a dude out there who makes a pretty good replica now - I mean a really good replica, it's scary how spot on it is.

I don't know how many Beans Jerry owned, but he played two "styles" the TB1000A (2 pickup) from the Fall of 75 to Summer of 76 and then the TB500 from Summer of 76 to Fall of 77. The TB500 was his third most played guitar, behind Wolf and Tiger, and played the iconic Spring '77 shows like Cornell. It was also the first guitar with an OBEL.

Bean sounds great and is a unique instrument. I like hearing people's stories who have played them. Some people I've talked to love them, other people hate them.
I loved them very much.

TB1000A means has an "Artist" body, which has a nicely carved body - the face of the guitar had a "topography" and trapezoid fret markers. The "Standard" was TB1000S; the body was a block, i.e. flat on all surfaces, and had dot fret markers. There was no Artist body TB500 model.
At some point during production, Travis Bean began to coat the neck with Imron, which feels like a combination of rubber/vinyl l to try to give the neck a better feel (than metal) and maybe serve as a temperature buffer. I don't know whether I preferred the Imron. It definitely felt warmer than a cold neck.

I owned, over the course of maybe a decade one TB500 and three TB1000s - two Standards and one Artist.
Sequentially, I first obtained a Koa TB1000S which is a beautiful Hawaiian wood. It had an exposed metal neck. It was heavy, and neck-heavy at that. I actually put chrome knobs on the thing, which added weight but looked nice and may have functioned as a counter-balance to the neck.

Then I got a Koa TB1000A, which had an Imron coated neck. The fretboard seemed wider than the first one. I remember selling it inside a Guitar Center on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston (no longer there) to a guy who met me there to buy it. That was a strange deal.

Third, I got a possibly Walnut TB1000S, which had the metal exposed neck. Someone had pulled off the metal pickguard and left a mess behind. This neck/fretboard also felt different than either of the earlier ones and the body was slimmer than the Koa Standard.

Something else different about each were the fretboards - a veneer of wood over the metal neck. I'm not sure what wood(s) were used, but I'm pretty sure there was noticeably thicker fretboard on the first Koa TB1000S.

So then I located a TB500 - in Australia! Ha ha I woke up the guy (Paul)'s wife one crucial day when I called him. It was morning here.
Anyway, I got it and the body was dang-near pristine! I think it was Serial # 319. I don't know what the wood was, but it had a light color. It had an Imron coated neck. And the neck was a much better size for my hands than any of the TB1000 guitars. It was more like a Strat. I loved the single-coils sound! One thing that occasionally happened was the neck would "creak" - from where the metal neck and wood body met; I can't explain it, but you can find photos of the backs of TB500 guitars where there are actual cracks visible at either side of where neck leaves the body.

I don't think (from what I remember) any fretboard had a radius!

So the greatness of a Travis Bean in my opinion is the quality of tone (due to much denser & heavier aluminum) achievable - I'd mentioned it reminded me of "playing a tuning fork". The notes snap, if that makes sense. I think "crisp" is a good term. Then there's the soaring sustain as the aluminum doesn't "soak" up the vibration like wood. Playing higher on the neck is easier because the body doesn't really interfere until your way up near where neck & body meet.

Drawbacks are the weight and tuning issues b/c of metal neck.

Thanks for the memories!

Factum fieri infectum non potest.
"It is impossible for a deed to be undone."
 #173937  by Darkstar860
 
jackietreehorn wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:58 pm Ok, I'll take a stab. I'm going off the top of my head so be gentle if I have my facts wrong....

As someone mentioned the biggest thing that sets these guitars apart is the aluminum neck - an the neck is different than a kramer or one of the modern remakes, because the pickups and bridge are mounted to it. The necks are supposed to be a pain to keep in tune. I've never played one, but I've heard as they warm up from body heat you have to retune them. You can get a pretty good look at one here (and make a bid on one of Jerry's backups if you have some deep pockets - https://www.gottahaverockandroll.com/Je ... Kr6GEMbWw_.

The pickups are also fairly unique from what I understand. I don't know my ass from an apple when it comes from pickups, but people who do know what they're talking about have said the closest pickup to a Bean in construction style was an old Fender Wide Range Humbucker (not the modern reissues). They're not P90s. There is a dude out there who makes a pretty good replica now - I mean a really good replica, it's scary how spot on it is.

I don't know how many Beans Jerry owned, but he played two "styles" the TB1000A (2 pickup) from the Fall of 75 to Summer of 76 and then the TB500 from Summer of 76 to Fall of 77. The TB500 was his third most played guitar, behind Wolf and Tiger, and played the iconic Spring '77 shows like Cornell. It was also the first guitar with an OBEL.

Bean sounds great and is a unique instrument. I like hearing people's stories who have played them. Some people I've talked to love them, other people hate them.
DO you know the person who makes these pickups ? or how i can find more info on these? i was curious if i could put different pickups in mine or not. Or if i can get that fit into a normal guitar. Thanks :-)
 #173938  by Slewfoot2000
 
Darkstar860 wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 8:34 pm]
DO you know the person who makes these pickups ? or how i can find more info on these? i was curious if i could put different pickups in mine or not. Or if i can get that fit into a normal guitar. Thanks :-)
The single coil TB500 pickups unfortunately won’t fit in the TB1000 A+S guitars. The pickup is a little taller where one would need to do some routing to fit them in.

One could add in a coil taps and drill for toggles. Although that would take away some of the intensity of the original humbuckers.
 #173940  by Darkstar860
 
Hmmm... thats not a bad idea. Do you kow if the newer models pickups are coil tappable. ? Id try the switches out before routing and if its a tone i think i can use, ill route. Or i could use tone pots that push n pull and not have to route anything. Hmmm... the possibilities ! :-)

Thanks !
:-)
 #173941  by Slewfoot2000
 
You can email Jason Hurt at the email below. They’re not the fastest in responding, but feel free to stay on top of them.

jason@electricalguitarcompany.com

This is the Travis Bean I have in the link below which had a single coil installed into it in 1979 by the original owner. That is another possibility. All depends on if you want to drill or not. It will change the value. Up or down will depend on other potential buyers out there! I have played original two humbucker Beans and the output is much stronger on those so you do lose some things while gaining others…if you happen to be in the New York area you are welcome to check it out sometime!

http://www.travisbeanguitars.com/index. ... detail.htm
 #173944  by Slewfoot2000
 
Darkstar860 wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 3:15 pm I like how you got a middle pickup put in. What type of tools were used to do this ?
No idea unfortunately as it was done in a random shop in Boston in 1979...but they also had to drill two additional small holes in the back of the aluminum neck.

It is a pretty major project for a guitar and I'd really only trust the guys at Electric Guitar Company to do something like that these days since they make the current Beans.

But do remember that you will lose some of that Bean power by adding things and splitting the coils. I would be inclined to keep as is for X number of months so you can really be sure if you want to make those changes. You basically currently have the setup that Jerry had for most of 1976 so it is still a Jerry guitar. :^)
 #173945  by Darkstar860
 
^ Yeah i plan on just using it stock for now and im kinda just writing in a little notebook different things i like and dont. So far its 99% like and 1% dont like ;-)

THanks again for all the info ya"ll ;-)


Has anyone had to change their nut on a Bean before ? A friend has a ECG and wants to change his nut but doesnt know if its as easy to remove as a standard guitar. I think its most likely easy enough to take off and change, but id rather ask you guys who know mucho more than me.

-Walt