Travis Bean certainly left his mark on the modern electric guitar.  He passed away this morning at age 63.
 


 
 
http://www.guitarsquid.com/Latest/luthier-travis-bean-dies.html

Will he be buried in an aluminum casket?
 
Bill, tgo

(rim shot inserted here)

Great guitars. Here's an old shot of me with my TB..

They sounded great and were quite heavy.  The aluminum neck never seemed to warm up, especially when playing outdoors.  Kramer later left TB and built his own aluminum neck with wood inserts to deal with the cold feel issue.  Bean was an innovator who left his unique mark in the history of the electric guitar.
 
Bill, tgo