Clifford Travis Bean
August 21, 1947 – July 10, 2011
Travis Bean was a Los Angeles, California area electric guitar maker who helped revolutionize the instrument during the 1970s. In 1974, he launched Travis Bean Guitars to mass produce high-end electric guitars that had solid aluminum necks instead of the customary wood ones. Besides giving the instruments a unique tone and durability, the metal added heft and cost to the guitars, upwards of $1000 each, which was a fairly large sum at that time. Loyal fans of Bean’s guitars included Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, and jazz great, Stanley Jordan. Bean also constructed a similar bass guitar that was used by the likes of Bill Wyman. Bean halted production of the guitars in 1979 rather than compromise on the quality to meet lower cost demands. Over 3600 guitars and basses came off the line during the five years of production. Bean returned with another round of similar guitars and basses during the late ’90s. Travis Bean was 63 when he died on July 10, 2011 following a long battle with cancer.