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Solid necks?

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straightedge79

Joined:
23 Jul 2009
Posts: 11
PostPosted: 05/16/2011 at 12:41 AM    Post subject: Solid necks? link

Has any of the TB2000´s solid necks?

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straightedge79

Joined:
23 Jul 2009
Posts: 11
PostPosted: 05/16/2011 at 3:36 AM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

A friend of mine has been told that the older TB2000´s has a solid aluminum neck and the later
one´s does not.

I´ve never read anywhere about it and wanted to check with you!

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admin

Joined:
01 Jun 2001
Posts: 1266
PostPosted: 05/16/2011 at 7:22 AM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

That is correct When Travis Bean Guitars first started, it was before they had the machine shop.. and in particular, the lathe. The first Artists.. and the first Bass necks were hand shaped by Travis. There is a photo in the History section (Kramer Article) that has a photo of Travis sanding a neck, and behind him is a board with orders. This photo was taken in 1974. On the board, there is a 'BASS' column with TB2000 serials of #11, #12, #13 and #14 on there. The first departments created shortly after this period was the wood shop and the machine shop. When the machine shop started, they would have jumped directly to the lathe process.

Now, were they hollow? The first prototype was completely solid, and Kaman's article suggests that the early necks were similar in design to the prototype. The Bean patent (http://1.usa.gov/ljaoAA) shows grooves cut into the neck area. Patent states - "Neck 12 has horizontal grooves 28 along the upper side thereof, which grooves efficiently transfer the sounds generated by the strings to sound board 16 and also reduce the total weight of the instrument". I would assume that the early necks followed this, since early on weight was an issue. It means that there was material removed from the neck at that early stage and not necessarily solid, but definitely more solid than later necks. The patent was officially applied in 10/21/1974 and granted in 10/28/1975. Travis Bean Guitars official business license was submitted on 12/24/1974 and filed on 1/14/1975

Later when they used the lathe, they had a more contoured cut of material within the neck cavity and had a center spine in the middle of the neck to help support the fingerboard. This would definitely fall under the category as 'hollow'. The last design prior to the shop closing was the use of the "alumi-plate" as they called it. They would use a piece of aluminum to box off the top of the neck (under the fingerboard). They used a special aluminum biding adhesive (which they needed to bake to cause the reaction) to help provide additional surface area for epoxy to bind with the fingerboard. Prior to this, fingerboards would sometimes 'pop off' the neck. They had lifetime warranty on the neck, so a solution to prevent this from happening had to be developed.

Hope this helps!
admin

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straightedge79

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Posts: 11
PostPosted: 05/16/2011 at 10:53 AM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

Thanks Hank!

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Obie

Joined:
12 Mar 2008
Posts: 76
PostPosted: 05/17/2011 at 8:13 PM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

Interesting. Bass #13 belonged to my brother and I have it here. It's a black fretless with an ebony fingerboard. It's signed by Travis and Marc and dated May17, 1975, which was my brother's 23rd birthday. No way to tell if the neck is solid except possibly by weight. So what does a standard TB200o weigh?

Kurt O.

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admin

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Posts: 1266
PostPosted: 05/17/2011 at 11:23 PM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

Hey Kurt

It's interesting.. the photo I have has three columns.. GUITAR A, GUITAR B and BASS. Only notes on the board were for Guitar A and Bass... looks like no standards yet. The note for #13 says "Arcadia Music - Natural". I have to say that the #13 isn't clear.. but #11, #12 and #14 are. I wonder if these were original orders placed? Obviously things changed ... and a different bass was shipped to Arcadia Music.

I remember that #13 bass of yours being a really great looking bass!

h

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straightedge79

Joined:
23 Jul 2009
Posts: 11
PostPosted: 05/18/2011 at 9:02 AM    Post subject: RE:Solid necks? link

Kurt - my #515 weighs almost 11pounds!

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