1976 Travis Bean TB500

I remember when Travis Bean guitars first appeared in the mid-1970s. I had just started playing guitar and I was in a local guitar store buying my first electric (a Carlos Les Paul copy) when they took delivery of their first Travis Bean order. I don’t remember the model number but I do recall the guitar’s body was made of koa, the first time I had ever seen that wood. (Boy, that sure was a day of firsts.) The salesman wouldn’t let me play it then, but over the years I did get play quite a few of them and I was always impressed with the way they played and the way they sounded. The aluminum neck never felt weird to me, although a lot of players didn’t care for it.

One player who did like them was Jerry Garcia. In 1976 and 1977 Garcia played a number of Travis Beans, including this 1976 TB500, which was pretty much his main guitar for a year. (He retired it when he took delivery of “Tiger” from luthier Doug Irwin.) Like most of Garcia’s guitars, this one has had its electronics modified, in this case by the addition of an effects loop. This guitar is currently up for auction at Julien’s with a minimum bid of $75,000. The auction closes on December 2 and it looks like there already one bid in place, so if you want to own the guitar Jerry Garcia played on Terrapin Station it will cost you a pretty penny.