I'm kind of surprised nobody asked about this already but:

How did you manage to machine the neck so precisely?

Do you have a ton of proffessional equipment at home or what?

I mean, how did you get the neck heel curve so precise? And the T headstock hole?

I'm just curious what kind of machines were used here.

Mazec wrote:I'm kind of surprised nobody asked about this already but:

How did you manage to machine the neck so precisely?

Do you have a ton of proffessional equipment at home or what?

I mean, how did you get the neck heel curve so precise? And the T headstock hole?

I'm just curious what kind of machines were used here.

just carpentry tools, [router, jigsaw, sander] with aluminum cutting bits. jigs and lots of anal measuring and placement [that sounds kind of sus doesnt it] that is being anal about meaurements not the practice of measuring ones anus.
gary

GSE: Right on, I was just curious about what it's actually like working with aluminum. I mean, I've made guitar necks before, out of wood of course, but I used a spokeshave to shape it, which I presume is a non-starter with aluminum.

What I'm interested in is:

When you started out with the neck, was it just a rectangular billet of aluminum? Did you route it down to a perfect neck-curve shape in just one cut, with a lot of sanding and polishing afterward, or was it a gradual process to round it out?

As I mentioned, I have no idea about working with metal at all. Can aluminum be shaped largely by the same principles as wood, or what?

Also, you mentioned that the neck was solid and the regular Travis Bean is scalloped. How does that affect balance? I mean, does the neck start falling to the floor when you sling the guitar on? Or did you change the placement of the strap button to counteract this?

Feel free to get into detail here, please don't make it sound simpler than it actually is.

Mazec wrote:GSE: Right on, I was just curious about what it's actually like working with aluminum. I mean, I've made guitar necks before, out of wood of course, but I used a spokeshave to shape it, which I presume is a non-starter with aluminum.

What I'm interested in is:

When you started out with the neck, was it just a rectangular billet of aluminum? Did you route it down to a perfect neck-curve shape in just one cut, with a lot of sanding and polishing afterward, or was it a gradual process to round it out?

As I mentioned, I have no idea about working with metal at all. Can aluminum be shaped largely by the same principles as wood, or what?

Also, you mentioned that the neck was solid and the regular Travis Bean is scalloped. How does that affect balance? I mean, does the neck start falling to the floor when you sling the guitar on? Or did you change the placement of the strap button to counteract this?

Feel free to get into detail here, please don't make it sound simpler than it actually is.

the guitar balances pretty well. the timber i used for the body is aus black wood which is quite heavy. the unscalloped neck is heavy. they balance them selves out into one heavy guitar. it would be quite hard to describe clearly the procees i used. i have tech drawings of the neck and for the router jig i made up. i would be happy to have a think about how to best describe the procees and pm it to you along with the drawings. if you could pm me to remind me so i dont forget that would be good.
you could probably do the curve on the back of the neck in a similar way as you would for a timber neck. you would cut away the bulk with a metal bladed bansaw or jigsaw. you would then use a powefile [similar to a hand held linisher] instead of a spoke shave to shape it. use a cutting lubricant when cutting aluminium. then use wet and dry sandpaper [start with 80 grit working up to 2000grit] to smooth it out. there is probably alot of room for error doing it this way though. i wouldnt recommend this as it would be very hard to end up with perfect planes but i guess if youve got a really good eye and lots of patience its possible. this is probably similar to how travis would have done the first few prototypes
do you have any friends that are metal machinists. they could quite easily point you in the right direction. even someone skilled with timber lathework could show you how to do it. the principless are similar just different types of tools.

nick92675 wrote:

Gramsci wrote:Hi,

This website -link now not working- http://www.lexiconoclast.com/bean/ used to have a whole section with the Travis patent, including wiring diagrams...

Maybe someone here know a little more?

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www ... .com/bean/

http://web.archive.org/web/199911030222 ... atent.html

What a blast from the past.

I'm a 'tard and can't figure out from the patent drawings what the scale of the TB 500/1000 necks were. Anyone know?

Fucking hell, do want!!!

Andy (superpussy bassplayer) has recently finished making a bean style jazz bass. Its pretty cool. here is his myspace link if anyone wants to have a gander
http://www.myspace.com/bassballs2

Mazec wrote:As I mentioned, I have no idea about working with metal at all. Can aluminum be shaped largely by the same principles as wood, or what?

i was wondering this so i started trying to make an aluminium-necked electric viola. i'm about halfway through shaping the neck using hand-tools (coping saw and files) and it works, but it takes a lot of effort. a lot.


the tb500 is amazing by the way. congratulations.