RIP Travis Bean, guitar maker

[urth]

Mr. Bean was 63 when he succumbed to lymphatic cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/arts/music/travis-bean-aluminum-guitar-maker-dies-at-63.html?_r=1&src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Farts%2Fmusic%2Findex.jsonp

Geoff, any contact between you and Mr. Bean?

[ggould]

Mr. Bean was 63 when he succumbed to lymphatic cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/arts/music/travis-bean-aluminum-guitar-maker-dies-at-63.html?_r=1&src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Farts%2Fmusic%2Findex.jsonp

Geoff, any contact between you and Mr. Bean?

I knew him professionally,  not personally.  He came into the biz at roughly the same time, a little earlier.  His use of unorthodox material (aluminum) for the neck helped open the door for musicians to consider other alternatives (like our graphite neck), and I also saw him as a competitor, since the idea was the aluminum was cold and heavy. I last saw him at the NAMM show in '10.  Since Jerry Garcia played a Travis Bean for a while, and we made instruments for Lesh and Weir, a lot of the same people were aware of both brands.