Imagine that I was able to quote this (which Safari is having trouble with)

"the actual body/neck design is quite unique and has caught the eye of everyone who has seen these things and all have been very impressed by it. feedback would be fantastic."

A few design suggestions, based on TB.

The Travis Bean receiver does not hold the strings. The bridge is connected to the wood body, through which the strings pass. (scary grammar there) The nut on each of the three TBs that I have is not connected to the neck well. Thus, the idea of "one solid piece of metal" holding the strings from end to end is somewhat compromised. I'd be curious to play something that kept the integrity of anchoring the string at both sides. If anyone knows why this shouldn't be, chime in. (Now that I think about it, I can see why it couldn't be the actual same piece for adjustment and repair purposes.) Same with the frets on the fretboard.

Second, the weight of the TB is neck heavy. Not the end of the world, but I wouldn't mind testing something that doesn't always want to dunk forward.

From a visual perspective, I prefer the more classic look of the 1000 and 500 to the more space age-y 2000, but that's just me.

And don't have anyone from any jam bands do the ads.

= Justin

the design:

the guitar neck profile will be based on the veleno neck but have a slightly longer scale. the headstock will be at the angle of the old travis beans. the tuners will be gotoh and the name will be sandblasted into the headstock as to not remove any more aluminum than is needed. we tried machining the nut and frets directly into the aluminum but it didnt make that much of a difference and what if you need to change them...your out of luck. so the nut will be brass and slide into a groove and be epoxied into place and the frets will be attached much like a traditional guitar but epoxied into place as well...both will be removable but quite rigid. heres the strange part of the design. looking from the side starting at the last fret the body angles down with the midpoint being the rear of the bridge and continuing to the butt of the guitar. so the front pickup is almost entirely flush with the body but an inch or so back there is the traditional amount of playing/picking room which sounds strange but makes for a fantastic feel and ease of playing. i hope that makes sense. the pick ups will be seymour duncan p90 customs for the guitar and hot stacks for the bass but we can put whatever you want into if you prefer something else. the controls will be like a veleno...2 volume, 2 tone, toggle, and a phase switch. the bridges will be string thru and mounted directly on the aluminum. the bass neck will be based on the reissue travis bean necks. they are so nice to play. the prototype bass will be done this weekend and the guitars{3} should be done in the next few months. after working the bugs out i will have a CAD program written and all will be machined on a CNC mill. the bodies of the prototypes will be in a wedge design for 3 reasons on a regular mill its almost impossible to get good curves and i like the wedge shape and i miss my old #12 wedge. the production ones will be in a tb500ish shape. they will be completely aluminum and polished to a mirror finish.

ill post pictures asap. please feel free to ask anymore questions. this is going to be quite fun.

...also these guitars are 1.5 inches thick at their thickest point. they are machined out of 2inch plate of aluminum. the plate is about 85lbs when we start and when complete they weigh about 16.5lbs. im also toying with giving the finger board a radius(please let me know what you think on this because im quite torn). the bodies will favor a tb500 but will not be a copy. the tops will be sculpted almost like a les paul meets a mosrite. it will be minor but very tasteful. the cases will be aluminum as well and will be number matched with its guitar. also heres the best part, i dont have exact numbers but these guitars will be around 2000.00. i know thats alot but its less than a les paul and a veleno is 8995.00, the new beans were 6995.00 and those abcs are 3000.00. one more thing well be able to produce 1 a week. ill post more technical info as soon as i can.

jimmyjames6 wrote:im also toying with giving the finger board a radius(please let me know what you think on this because im quite torn).

Sounds like a real nice piece of work. I'm fond of smaller "vintage" radii, but you might find more votes for larger, flatter radii. (I'd think that a smaller radius would be a bigger pain in the ass to produce, too.) Best of luck with this project--I'm looking forward to seeing the pics.

$?

Sparks, I'm intersted in those ABC guitars but I couldn't find anything else about them on the internet.How can I get in touch with them?

you can contact Matt Hall (ABC guitars) directly via the following email address:

abcgroup_doc@hotmail.com

tell him Ben sent you.

I don't know the protocol on this board for stuffing up space with thanks,
but thanks Dioxide.

hey, btw, i know someone who is selling a very nice t.bean bass for $1100

old body style (narrower than the later bodies)

so there you go

let me know if you want more info

This guy makes aluminum guitars, necks, and parts. http://hometown.aol.com/gbailey842/main.html