Like I said: there’s not a lot of Dead/Van Halen connections, but Travis Bean should have sued the Kramer folks over stealing his headstock.
Every time I start writing about a band other than the Dead, I’m first struck by the dearth of information on, say, what gauge strings the bass player used in such-and-such year; then I realize that, no, it’s just that Deadheads are insanely obsessive nerds. (And God bless ’em for it: you know how many good–or even acceptable–live recordings of VH there are? Like, seven. And three of them are from the same tour.)
ther was Hendrix then therwas Eddie then ther was Jerome
You may or may not know this, but Gary Kramer originally helped build the Travis Bean guitars and he had his own ideas about how to do aluminum necks so he decided to go off on his own. The Bean guitars are very susceptible to temperature changes, so if you are an intonation freak they can be very problematic. I would think this is one reason the Travis Bean never really caught on. The Travis Bean is certainly a visual masterpiece, but they are a pain to play. Never liked the Kramer, but the fact is Gary Kramer helped build the Travis Bean from the get go. There is a company that builds the Travis Bean designed instruments that he gave permission to build them.
http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com/models/
I personally think the Veleno guitars are the coolest aluminum guitars. I have a friend who owns one and it is a joy to play. Aluminum necked guitars have a quicker attack than any wood guitar, but if you have suspect technique, they are not anything to pursue.
http://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2010/11/veleno-guitars.html
I totally did not know that.
Kramers were one of the guitars to have among the high school bands in New Jersey, mostly due to Eddie.
Did Ohio ever pull this manouver?
How did Phil turn into Ohio?