Premier Rock Forum

Does anyone feel like discussing their beloved Travis's?
I'm the proud owner of TB500 252, which I brought in New Zealand for $US120 off a mate! Since Then it has travelled all the way from Invercargill in the bottom of the South Island of NZ, right the way up the country, to LA across the States to New York and to Paris and finally London. It's a fuck'n miracle it wasn't lost...

As you can see I'm bored at work

Ya I'm at work too...bout to get layed off in fact...I pulled some strings to buy myself another week...just need a little more time so I can record...I'm about $1250 away. Anyhow...what makes the Travis Beans so special...they got a metallic sound? Where are they from?

I got layed off earlier in the year. It stinks. I had just got back from a holiday in Cuba and Mexico. I was a bitter man...

The main thing about Travis's is its like a club, like owning an Apple computer, pre CBS Fender or a Vespa scooter.
The sound is unique, and they look cool -well the TB500s do-. A lot of the vibe is also down to Mr Albini owning one...

Overall they're just "cool" things to own that make other guitar geeks go "oh and ah" at your gigs.

I'm sure I'll start a fight with a few purists over this...

That sounds badass! I hope there's one at electrical...I'm recording there in a few months...I might even have to play all the instruments being that I don't have a band....which I can do...I've been practicing playing gtr, bass and drums and syncing it up on the 4 track...but I'm still trying out a couple of drummers just in case...that way time would be a little more on my side...I'm hoping to do about 5 songs...30 minutes worth of stuff in 2 days...if I end up doing it by myself I'll just keep practicing and by the time I'm there I should be able to zip right through the songs...sorry to spill my life's story

my baby is one the lovely reissue basses...the white one that is. they are fantastic....with a few modifications...but yes it is my baby and will forever be my baby. it can be heard on the up coming album "gkth > your band" by gravity keeps the hours (shameless plug..hehe).

Cool, I don't know much about the reissues. Were they from a couple of years ago? Oh, I better get a shameless plug in as well.

www.sun-tzu.co.uk

yeah, they are from 1997. travis made 18 instruments actually he had them made by other people...the machinist being named kelly condon. 12 guitars and 6 basses. the entire backs of the new guitars is aluminum and is much like a pan. they are completely hollow inside and the machining is amazing. the top is bolted much like a veleno to the bottom. the tuners are gotoh and i assume the bridge is as well. i changed the nut to a brass one and the pickups to seymour duncan hot stacks. the scale is a bit longer than the old ones and to me they sound a bit better than the old ones. the fretboard has a radius as well. i hope this helps. take it easy...."heart", kevin

The first Bean i ever saw was a TB1000 in a mall in Bellingham,WA.
It was serial #666.
I passed it up at the time, and a few weeks later when I returned to buy it - gone. It's haunted me ever since.
I now have a TB2000 bass S/N 188. It pleases me to no end to take it apart and slide the neck out of the body and admire how it all fits together. Playing it is pretty nice as well. But I'll never forget that guitar...
Tim

so, as a photographer I've started a series of musicians with their TBs -- Zak from Low, Lee Ranaldo, and, uh, my own [TB2000 #389]. Haven't had the opportunity to photograph Shellac in action, but I'd love to. It's a cool concept, and in addition to their awesome sound, TBs photograph really nicely.

My band played with New Brutalism a couple summers ago in Knoxville, TN. Before the show, we went to their bass player's homestead. That's when I spied a TB2000 that would eventually become my own. I asked him if he'd sell it, knowing that he was not using it in New Brutalism, as their guitar player, with the help of a machinist, builds guitars and basses from solid aluminum (they do sound great). He told me he wanted to hold on to it, which is understandable. But when I broke a string during our set and I started to restring, I saw something shining out of the corner of my eye. And lo, it was Mr. Basford offering up his TB2000 for me to use for the rest of the set. It played beautifully. It sounded beautiful.

The next summer when we played with New Brutalism again, Mr. Basford approached me and asked if I'd like to buy his bean (TB2000 #54), because he needed cash to work on his tape machine. I didn't hesitate on the offer. It's been over a year and I've never stopped loving its gorgeous tone.