Wich Pickups on Travis Bean Guitar ?

[SK66]

Looks to me like a special pickup using the "wide range" as the basis.
I don't think the CuNiF magnets in the wide range would do very well in a 1/4" thick steel plate, and they aren't utilizing the machined feature of the widerange pole magnets, so they probably stepped to A5 or so (cheaper per) and then used the plate to modify back towards the original tone.

[David Schwab]

Now I remember that they used only the bobbins of the "wide range" pickup. I don't know if this meant they rewound them, or just changed the magnets and cover.

Seems like an expensive way to make a pickup, but I guess it made sense at the time. There surely wasn't any market for pickup parts. That was probably for the original batch of guitars.

I guess once things got rolling they had their own parts made. They never were able to fill all their orders, so the output of guitars must have been pretty low. Gary Kramer recalls that Travis became more interested in playing drums than building guitars!

http://www.garykramerguitar.com/history.html

[David Schwab]

I just found the text clipping I had saved at some point:

These first "limited production" guitars were TB1000 Artists and were produced in 1974. The serial numbers started with 11 and went to 20. These guitars were hand made by Travis and Mark McElwee, Travis' partner in the company, and are quite similar in construction to the second preproduction prototype. The bodies were Koa, Teak, Padauk, Zebra Wood and Alder (guitar 11 and 18 are known to be Padauk).

The necks on these were quite different from the later production models produced on a lathe. These were hand carved from a solid block of T6061 aluminum and are solid under the fingerboard and solid through the body. The necks have a wide and flat profile which is noticably thinner than the later production which are much fuller and more rounded.

The pickups on these first guitars are humbuckers using Fender Bobbins and Alnico magnets and have "Travis Bean" engraved on the chrome pickup covers. The guitars are quite thin, about the same thickness as the 1979 final profuction Artists.

[Sol]

The first Prototype had gibson HB. I've seen photos of early guitars (whether pre-production or production some else can answer) with Fender WRH in them.

Based on Davids photo...yes it looks like they got there hands on some WRH bobbins. But, if you look in the photos in the links I posted you'll see they eventually moved to a cleaner (i.e. no square holes in the middle) clear bobbin (which I'm assuming they either sourced or made). It looks like these clear bobbins were used in both the HB and the single coil pickup.

SK66

read the third link I posted. Shop workers discuses how the pickups were wound and that A5 was used in all pickups, so no CUNIFE. Also, the tone of the TB HB and the original WRH is different (but I've only played TB pickups in a TB and WRH in teles, so it's not a apples to apples comparison).

[Sol]

The first Prototype had gibson HB. I've seen photos of early guitars (whether pre-production or production some else can answer) with Fender WRH in them.

Based on Davids photo...yes it looks like they got there hands on some WRH bobbins. But, if you look in the photos in the links I posted you'll see they eventually moved to a cleaner (i.e. no square holes in the middle) clear bobbin (which I'm assuming they either sourced or made). It looks like these clear bobbins were used in both the HB and the single coil pickup.

SK66

read the third link I posted. Shop workers discuses how the pickups were wound and that A5 was used in all pickups, so no CUNIFE. Also, the tone of the TB HB and the original WRH is different (but I've only played TB pickups in a TB and WRH in teles, so it's not a apples to apples comparison).

[jason lollar]

you can see the thick steel plate on the bottom- as I recall the wide range pickups have a solder post on each end of each bobbin- I only see one on one end of each bobbin- wheres the other? I am sure on this point becasue there is normally a piece of tape covering one end where you just solder togther the posts.
eveything else looks like I recall.

the tele forum discussion- they could have saved alot of effort getting ahold of me- I have specs on the wide range and own two sets of them, have rewound and repaired more than I recall and can even make replacement bobbins for them- silly guys. All I need is some cuniffe which I have a lead on but havent had time to pursue it

[Electricdaveyboy]

Travis Bean Clone pics

Thanks Jason,
I just finished the TB pickup project - I hope my customer likes them.
The closed covers will help me to get rid of those pink-cream AP bobbins.
Cheers
david

[David Schwab]

Nice work! How do they sound?

[Electricdaveyboy]

Oh Dave,
I am glad you like their look.
Checked them in my Epi Firebird trough my Marshall and I think they are a cross between a singlecoil and a humbucker.
Lots of high mids with a nose and a tight bottom wehn played with overdrive.
Somthing from the late 70ties or 80ties wehn guitarists needed something loud and agressive.
Cheers
David

[Man@Large]

Hey, guys. This is an excellent board and an excellent thread; very helpful so far.

My purpose is also to build a set of pickups that have these design features, but I do not have a pickup winder. I am hoping to use bobbins/coils from other models that have already been wound.

So far I have disassembled a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat and a PAF-style humbucker. My next step is to modify them to accommodate the alnico rods.

I have the resources to build the base-plates and locate all of the necessary holes, etc. with precision, but then I sort of lose the trail. I know very little about magnetism.

1.) In a humbucking application, how will I need to orient the magnets? Will the individual coils need to be set in opposition? If so, how will the pickup then be mounted in the guitar (which magnet direction - bridge v. neck)?

The magnets will come from Stewmac, and I will also order their guitar repair magnets to magnetize them.

2.) Will the coils still ground in the same way, (to the base-plate) without having to perform any other grounding? Am I lucky enough to just be able to solder the current grounds to my new base-plates?

3.) I am using .1875" cold-rolled steel for the base-plates. Is this acceptable?


So....how do I make these pickups? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Kindest regards,
Matt

[Electricdaveyboy]

you can see the thick steel plate on the bottom- as I recall the wide range pickups have a solder post on each end of each bobbin- I only see one on one end of each bobbin- wheres the other? I am sure on this point becasue there is normally a piece of tape covering one end where you just solder togther the posts.
eveything else looks like I recall.

the tele forum discussion- they could have saved alot of effort getting ahold of me- I have specs on the wide range and own two sets of them, have rewound and repaired more than I recall and can even make replacement bobbins for them- silly guys. All I need is some cuniffe which I have a lead on but havent had time to pursue it

Hello,
I recieve a Travis Bean humbucker for repair yesterday.
The interesting part of it is that the bobbins do not have alnico rods stuck into but Fender wide rane cunife magnets !
Is that something self doctered or did T B make their pickups with cunife screws ,too?

[Electricdaveyboy]

Here are some pics of the Travis/Wide Range:

[David Schwab]

That's interesting. I bet that's a real early pickup. They said they used the Fender bobbins, so I'd bet in the beginning they just stuck the Wide Range in a new case. Later they started modifying them to get the tone they wanted.

In the article I remember reading they said they took the fender pickup and put it in a new case made from bent and soldered sheet brass. They did the bending them selves. I guess as things progressed them started having parts made.

Do you know what year the guitar was made?

Thanks for sharing this, I love the old stuff.

[Electricdaveyboy]

Hello ,
no can not tell if it is an early pickup.I unwound it today and the wire was 42 AWG not 43 like it should.The owner says the neckpickup has the alnico rods and is wound to 11,36 DCR.So I think this pickup is doctored by the preowner.

[lars990]

Travis Bean/Wide Range

Hi.

To clear things up: I am the owner of this pickup. The wide range pu was attached to the Travis Bean cover as a replacement pu after I burnt the original TB pickup about 1980. So: this TB was absolutely not equipped with Wide range pickups originally. I have asked Electricdave to replace the wide range with one of his Mrs Bean pickups, as the wide range never matched the original pickups (lower output + out of phase). The wide range is going on eBay afterwards. The dc resistance of the wide range is about 10.2, while the original TB bridge pickup was somewhere between 12-13. The TB neck pu - and yes, it is the original - measures about 11.3. The guitar is a TB 1000 S with seriel number 479.

Lars