Aluminium for bodies/necks?

singemonkey

Anyone have opinions on aluminium as a "tonewood?" I came across this master built Fender strat in my browsing (well out of my price range so it is strictly browsing) with a hollow aluminium body.

And then I was wondering why no aluminium neck? Tokai Talbos are aluminium right through, I believe. And what were those ones in the '70s with the split headstocks? Travis Beans? Am I remembering that right? Jerry Garcia played those for a while, and Lee Ronaldo of Sonic Youth is very fond of them.

Why has aluminium not been more popular as a guitar building material? What are its tonal characteristics? And why would you want say an aluminium body with a wooden neck, or an aluminium neck with a wooden body?

Ray

Have never heard of aluminium for body or neck but then again I havent heard much of nothing. But the Danelectros have plenty aluminium in nut, saddle, bridge I think and generates quite a unique sound I believe. And I lust after one of them but cant find.

Bob-Dubery

Back in the 70s (for those of y'all who were actually alive then) there were some brands that I recall having aliyumyum necks.

Kramer was one. I think Ampeg or Dan Armstrong might also have gone that route (Armstrong, after all, had guitars with perspex bodies). I remember these guitars having MOSTLY aliyumyum necks with wood inserts on the back. So maybe one of the problems with this kind of neck is the feel.

Bodies? I've seen some, though I can't quote book, chapter and verse off the top of my head. They're usually from boutique builders (obviously excluding things like National tricones).

I think us guitarists tend to have a luddite streak in us when it comes to our instruments.

singemonkey

Ah. I think Kramers were the ones I was thinking of. In fact, I believe the Kramer necks were hollow.

It just seems quite an underused material. Is it maybe difficult to work with? Special equipment?

Bob-Dubery

You were right about Travis Bean actually.

Wikipedia tells us

In 1974, he partnered with Marc McElwee and Gary Kramer to start Travis Bean Guitars, which made high-end electric guitars and basses featuring machined aluminum necks, an unusual design that provided remarkable clarity and sustain. The aluminum center section ran through the instrument body, with the pickups directly mounted to the aluminum. The majority of these instruments featured solid koa wood bodies and humbucker pickups. Though praised for their sound, the use of aluminum necks also made Travis Bean guitars heavier than other electric guitars. Models included the Artist, Standard, Wedge (rare), and TB500 (rare) with single coil pickups.

Note: Gary Kramer. Apparently he went on to form Kramer guitars. There is some Travis Bean DNA in those guitars, but Kramer had to change some things to avoid lawsuits RE patents held by Travis Bean.

One of the first electric guitars made extensive use of aluminum

That's the Rickenbacker A22, fondly known as "the frying pan".

Here's a 1976 Travis Bean bass

AlanRatcliffe

You sometimes see the Fender aluminium bodies FS on E-Bay for about $1200, which are real pretty.

The original Harley Strat was an engraved version of the same body:

I remember the original Tokai Talbos from the '80s fondly - I lusted after one and even had a framed photo of one on my wall (in my defence, I was still a teen). Wooden necks though... I was pleasantly surprised when I saw they still make them.

The headstock with it's distinctive "mask" is probably the main reason I "tuxedo" my machine heads now. I actually made a plastic mask out of perspex for my first Strat.