Used Vintage 1978 Travis Bean TB1000A

Sonic Evaluation

Wildwood Guitars is a wonderful place, but it also occasionally makes me want to scream into a paper bag. Why? Well, because it is mathematically impossible for me to take every guitar I fall in love with home, and that is a cosmic injustice of the highest order. That may seem like an exaggeration, but if you play this Travis Bean, you'll understand the grand scale of my suffering (I'm kidding) (sort of). We were lucky enough to be the temporary guardian of a Travis Bean when I first started at Wildwood (shout-out serial 173), and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I have no doubt I'll still be thinking about this guitar in eight years, too.

So, why has it ensnared my heart so thoroughly? Well, simply put, it does The Aluminum Guitar Thing, a very technical, precise term for the beautiful ringing sustain, incredible touch-sensitivity, chorus-like lushness, and furious bell-like clang and chime that are the hallmarks of a such a guitar. This serial is an excellent example of all of these qualities. When you play softly, it has a beautifully smooth, glassy, three-dimensional lush sound. When you dig in, it sounds like a fanged church bell from Hades!

The low-end is gargantuan but clear, the midrange is rich and complex, and the trebles have more sparkle than the glitter section of an arts and crafts store. The bridge pickup is a desert island sound for me: muscular enough to force your facial muscles to contract into a vicious stank face when you hit a big chord, but refined and complex at the same time. It's the kind of nasty tone that makes you contemplate setting things on fire and breaking the law. As my colleague Greg puts it, it's a guitar that makes you want to steal a riding lawnmower.

The neck pickup is no less delightful. Those of you who read the site regularly know that I am firmly Team Bridge Pickup, but I actually liked the neck pickup on this guitar so much that I got lost in the music and forgot to even flip to the bridge (when I sat down to write this, I realized I didn't know what the bridge sounded like because I had forgotten to test it). Needless to say, it's a pretty special sound! It has a lower output from the bridge, and though it can still sound crushingly heavy, it has a sweeter, smoother voice, and it has outstanding articulation and clarity even when you play with lots of gain. Both pickup positions have a gorgeous, lush overtone presence.

Whether you're a certified fiend for aluminum-necked guitars like me or have never experienced their magic, you'll love this exceptional Travis Bean TB1000A. Please just let me have visitation rights!

Condition Report

This awesome Travis Bean has undergone some surgeries over the course of its storied life, but make no mistake--it's an absolute ripper! It has reissue pickups from the folks the modern iteration of Travis Bean (the aluminum-loving wizards at the Electrical Guitar Company), and they sound fabulous, measuring in at 12.94k in the bridge position and 8.96k in the neck. We believe the frets are not original, and they show very little wear, measuring .103 inches by .041 inches. The fretboard is almost completely flat, and it gives about .003-4 inches of relief when strung up with a set of 10-46 strings. Beyond that, it shows the typical vintage wear and tear like dings, scratches, and chips, which gives it tons of mojo.

It comes with a non-original Fender gig bag, and also this copywriter's undying envy, as it is one of my favorite electric guitars I've ever played!