traveler guitar TB-4P on the way!

pcake

pcake

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Sep 20, 2011
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#1
after almost ordering or buying in store a traveler guitar TB-4P bass over and over and over, today i pulled the trigger. it's very small and weighs about 6 pounds, and what's cool about it is it has a 32" scale but uses 34" strings, so can use virtually any string set in existence, unlike the poorer string selection for other short and medium scale basses. also it's headless, so no neck dive.

as some of you may know, i have some recurring shoulder and wrist issues. this morning i was playing my fender dimension, and a few hours later i had pain all the way from the shoulder to the wrist. darn! and one thing i've discovered is that the ergonomics of the TB-4P make it more comfortable to play than an ibanez mikro, so today convinced me it was time to make that move.

sweetwater was again offering 3 years with no interest, so we used our sweetwater card - and next wednesday i'll finally have a traveler guitar TB-4P! they no longer make it in red (drat) but the sunburst isn't bad at all. and believe it or not, i've never owned a sunburst bass or guitar.

short demo of this model


another short demo that shows the entire bass better
 
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#3
at this time, i rarely can play standing up - the issue that hurt me further today was from reaching my left arm out to play, not from the weight of the bass. i can't wear a camera backpack at this time, even one that loaded weighs 3 1/2 pounds.

it seems like after some more physical therapy, the gruvgear duo could be handy, though. i've added it to my GC cart so i can come back to it later.
 
#5
before i post an actual NBD, i need to make sure the bass will be staying. it's got severe buzz in two places, the buzz on the neck caused by the complete lack of neck relief and very slight back bow, the buzzing on the bridge we have still to look into. action is high, too - the last time i got a bass with that much buzzing, high action and no neck relief, it turned out to have a neck pocket that was too deep on only one side and someone tried to compensate. there's another potential issue, too, but my husband's going to work on it tomorrow and hopefully it'll join my bass herd.

btw, it sounds better than expected - and i've played lots of others in stores - feels just great, better than any of my short scales for my injured shoulders due to the way it sits on my leg when i play sitting down. the neck is on the chunky side but a good shape, and all my current basses have slim necks, so it's a good thing. i stayed up last night playing it with my amp volume on .5 :D and played it unplugged this morning - i thought i'd try it for a few minutes, and an hour and a half later, life was good. so i really hope it's just got a bad setup.

btw, after playing guitar and bass since 1968, can you believe that this is my first sunburst instrument ever :jawdrop:
 
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#6
Congrats! The TB-4P is a great little bass. I'm on my second one, and have never had any trouble with buzzing, but the action tends to be a little high from the factory. A good set-up should sort you out. I'd swap out the stock strings at the same time. They're good strings, but sound a little thin, and there are better choices out there.
 
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#7
JakobT said:
Congrats! The TB-4P is a great little bass. I'm on my second one, and have never had any trouble with buzzing, but the action tends to be a little high from the factory. A good set-up should sort you out. I'd swap out the stock strings at the same time. They're good strings, but sound a little thin, and there are better choices out there.
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thanks! out of curiosity, what happened to your first one, or do you now have two? they are really sweet little basses - i only wish i'd ordered one when they were still making the red ones, but the sunburst is pretty nice, too.

yeah, i never had buzzing on the at least 20 i've played at GCs and sam ash stores. but like i said, in addition to high action, there's literally no neck relief and we think the buzzing in the saddles might be the springs, which are really loose.

i actually like the stock strings - go figure! - but since i have tendonitis in both wrists, i have to switch to extra extra light strings till it calms down. then it's time to play with different strings including hi beams and ti jazz rounds. i can't wait :)
 
#8
pcake said:
thanks! out of curiosity, what happened to your first one, or do you now have two? they are really sweet little basses - i only wish i'd ordered one when they were still making the red ones, but the sunburst is pretty nice, too.

yeah, i never had buzzing on the at least 20 i've played at GCs and sam ash stores. but like i said, in addition to high action, there's literally no neck relief and we think the buzzing in the saddles might be the springs, which are really loose.

i actually like the stock strings - go figure! - but since i have tendonitis in both wrists, i have to switch to extra extra light strings till it calms down. then it's time to play with different strings including hi beams and ti jazz rounds. i can't wait :)
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My first, a black one, was unfortunately stolen last year, and I got a red one to replace it, as they were on sale at Thomann at the time. The sunburst is nice, but I've never been able to get on with tort :)

The neck is perhaps the easiest to adjust on any bass I've owned, so you should be able to get the proper relief to it in no time at all. Never had any problems with the bridge, but if the springs are the culprit you should be able to stretch them a little, or you could even replace them altogether. Another area you might also look out for is where the strings go round the body. The rollers are just held in place on a metal rod by the string tension, so they could conceivably generate some buzzing.

Regarding strings, I've experimented for a while with different kinds, but have finally settled on GHS Bass Boomers for a vintage-like but well-defined sound. I tried flats as well, but found that while they sounded nice, they had a tendency to slip a little on the guitar-style tuners.
 
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#9
JakobT said:
My first, a black one, was unfortunately stolen last year, and I got a red one to replace it, as they were on sale at Thomann at the time. The sunburst is nice, but I've never been able to get on with tort :)

The neck is perhaps the easiest to adjust on any bass I've owned, so you should be able to get the proper relief to it in no time at all. Never had any problems with the bridge, but if the springs are the culprit you should be able to stretch them a little, or you could even replace them altogether. Another area you might also look out for is where the strings go round the body. The rollers are just held in place on a metal rod by the string tension, so they could conceivably generate some buzzing.

Regarding strings, I've experimented for a while with different kinds, but have finally settled on GHS Bass Boomers for a vintage-like but well-defined sound. I tried flats as well, but found that while they sounded nice, they had a tendency to slip a little on the guitar-style tuners.
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sorry your first one was stolen, but the red ones sure are purty! the tort will probably be switched out assuming i keep it.

surprised but happy to hear it. the buzzing is coming from the bridge and the neck - i managed to play it with my head next to the bridge, which wasn't easy to do, btw. i'll keep an eye on the rollers.

i used to love boomers, but haven't used them in years. maybe it's time to get some and see. not a fan of flats but you never know. thanks for the heads-up about the tuners.
 
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#12
pcake said:
it has a 32" scale but uses 34" strings
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Congrats - that's a neat little bass and I'm glad you were able to get the setup issues sorted out.

Can you explain this statement? I have several 32" scale basses, and I have always used the same strings that I use on my 34" scale basses. I can't seem to recall ever having an issue or needing special strings.
 
#13
JakobT said:
Glad to hear everything went smoothly. Enjoy your new bass!
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does your traveler gigbag fit the bass? mine was so tight that it's almost impossible to get the bass in or out - i'm wondering if that's just this gigbag or all/some of them.

wvbass said:
Congrats - that's a neat little bass and I'm glad you were able to get the setup issues sorted out.

Can you explain this statement? I have several 32" scale basses, and I have always used the same strings that I use on my 34" scale basses. I can't seem to recall ever having an issue or needing special strings.
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is there wrapping on your tuning pegs? i've always used short scale strings for short scale basses, and would have used medium scale strings for medium scale basses. the strings can break on the tuning pegs and, depending on the bass and strings, the thickest part of the strings with the most wrap may not fit in the tuning peg holes. i gather that the lighter scale strings have these problems much less.
 
#14
pcake said:
does your traveler gigbag fit the bass? mine was so tight that it's almost impossible to get the bass in or out - i'm wondering if that's just this gigbag or all/some of them.



is there wrapping on your tuning pegs? i've always used short scale strings for short scale basses, and would have used medium scale strings for medium scale basses. the strings can break on the tuning pegs and, depending on the bass and strings, the thickest part of the strings with the most wrap may not fit in the tuning peg holes. i gather that the lighter scale strings have these problems much less.
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The only strings I have ever broken were Smith strings. They are good strings (IMO) but tend to be a little brittle, and I have broken them installing on 34" basses with smaller posts.

I guess most of my 32" basses may be designed to accomodate long scale strings. For example, my Urge I strings through the body, adding to the length before the string hits the nut. My Gretsch G5123B runs the strings to a tailpiece that is a good bit past the saddle. I'd have to dig through cases (can't remember which other bass I have that is 32") to see what other design considerations may come into play, but it seems to me that maybe several 32" scale basses are designed such that long scale strings are fine.
 
#15
wvbass said:
The only strings I have ever broken were Smith strings. They are good strings (IMO) but tend to be a little brittle, and I have broken them installing on 34" basses with smaller posts.

I guess most of my 32" basses may be designed to accomodate long scale strings. For example, my Urge I strings through the body, adding to the length before the string hits the nut. My Gretsch G5123B runs the strings to a tailpiece that is a good bit past the saddle. I'd have to dig through cases (can't remember which other bass I have that is 32") to see what other design considerations may come into play, but it seems to me that maybe several 32" scale basses are designed such that long scale strings are fine.
Click to expand...

since i usually play short scale basses, i'm used to buying strings that are scale specific. it's possible that using 34" strings on a 32" scale bass isn't usually a problem.
 
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#16
IMG_2726.JPG
pcake said:
does your traveler gigbag fit the bass? mine was so tight that it's almost impossible to get the bass in or out - i'm wondering if that's just this gigbag or all/some of them.
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They do tend to be on the tight side. It helps to remove the hanging loop or fold it back against the neck.
 
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#19
The TB-4P sounds great and is super-lightweight. One thing I don't like, however, is the tendency of my right-hand fingers to find themselves inside the tuner wells and also the tuning machines sometimes get loose. Both of these things threaten to compromise tuning stability. Does anyone know if these are actually "guitar" tuners?
 
#20
selowitch said:
The TB-4P sounds great and is super-lightweight. One thing I don't like, however, is the tendency of my right-hand fingers to find themselves inside the tuner wells and also the tuning machines sometimes get loose. Both of these things threaten to compromise tuning stability. Does anyone know if these are actually "guitar" tuners?
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I find that the tuning stability of the TB-4P is reasonably good. I tend to play mine when traveling or on holiday, so it's left unused for weeks or months at a time, and I generally have to re-tune when I take it out, but not by much. The tuners (which I believe to be ordinary guitar tuners, and which are used on most of Traveler's guitars as well) have needed re-tightening only once in the last three years.
 
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