Travis Bean Artist 1000 custom made for Michael Sembello

[cdf]

Hi Folks - I am probably going to put my TB1000 Artist on ebay in the near future, but wanted to offer it here first as I would like to see it go to a good Alembic home. I bought it on ebay, but not from Michael. It has coil tap switches, which seems to be the main custom features. I was told it was custom made for Michael Sembello, and took the buyers word for this. Sometime later I took it to a repair shop by Berklee School of Music in Boston to get the pots cleaned. The chap who worked on it said it had Sembello written in the interior of the neck, which seems to confirm its origin. If you are interested I can take some pics and send.
 
Cheers,
Court

[crobbins]

Here's a shot of me and my Travis Bean from years ago.

[zemog59]

Greetings fellow Alemni,
 
Yikes, used 2 have a Kramer 650 artist which I believe one of the original engineers from TB started that company and the instruments were gorgeous with the wooden inlays in the necks & all BUT what a pain in arse they were, I mean any fluctuation in temperature & humidity at all & you had some serious issues with those instruments. My personal fav was when they got cold the necks would reverse bow totally rendering the instrument unplayable  
(buzzin @ every note) til it warmed up again, T140 aluminum was great for passenger aircraft BUT not practical for instruments especially bass.
 
Good Luck With the sale mate!!

[crobbins]

I never had any problems with the neck on my Travis. Solid as a rock.. And I regret selling it. Wish I could afford to buy another..

[pace]

(buzzin @ every note) til it warmed up again,  
 
Not a problem w/ mine, but then again it's fretless.

[cdf]

Hi zemog59. Thanks for the endorsement it will no doubt help with the sale ;-)   Just pullin' your chain a bit ;-)
 
Seriously though all metals expand and contract with temp changes and with noticeable temp swings my TB does detune somewhat. I believe Jerry Garcia said one time that the detuning issues are what caused him to get away from playing TBs.  
 
However unlike on wood humidity has no effect on aluminum necks. I'm certainly not knocking wood necks, I love 'em! (Have one Alembic guitar and another one 'in the oven' so to speak'.) Just pointing out that humidity should not have any expansion/contraction effect on an aluminum neck. I never have used a Kramer so I can't speak to their performance in varying temps and humidity, but can only say, Yes detuning is a consideration, but I have not experienced so much fret buzz as to render my TB unplayable. The longer the neck the greater the temp effect will be, so perhaps it is more pronounced on basses than guitars.  
 
In the interest of full disclosure I also would say the TBs are also very heavy.  
 
All that being said I have loved owning and playing this guitar and am sorry to be in the position where I need to thin the herd a bit. If you can live with detuning and weight issues I'm confident that this guitar will provide someone else as much enjoyment as it has me. If you are a collector or fan of Michael Sembello there is that bonus as well. I was told, but can't confirm that Michael used this guitar on tour with Stevie Wonder.
 
Cheers,
Court

[lbpesq]

I used to play in a band with a guy that played a Travis.  I don't recall him ever complaining about de-tuning.  He did note that when we played outdoors in cool weather, the neck felt cold and would never warm up.  I believe this problem was why Kramer built his aluminum necks in a T shape, with wooden inserts on either side of the bottom of the T that ran the length of the neck, so the aluminum on the back of the neck looked sort of like the skunk stripe on the back of some Fender necks, or the middle laminate running the length of Alembic thru body necks.  Also, the Travis is not a light guitar - something that we as Alembic-types can probably relate to.
 
Bill, tgo

[cdf]

Another note on my TB, due to the aluminum neck and the overall weight of the guitar (solid Koa body) it has sustain that lasts for days, Ok maybe not really days, but the sustain on these guitars is really very impressive.  
 
Hey just noticed one more post and I'm at 100!