Gibson TB-1 #1109-4

               

                       

                           

The style 1 of the 1930s was a non-Mastertone model and therefore had no true tone ring--only a small-diameter brass hoop on top of the rim.  It did, however, feature the same pot metal one-piece flange and three-ply maple rim as the Mastertones of the same period.  Style 1 had nickel-plated hardware and a dark-finished maple neck and resonator, with white binding on the neck and both edges of the resonator.  Even though the Mastertone models had by this time gone to the double-cut peghead shape, the fiddle-shaped peghead was retained on style 1, with a minor modification--the two small indentations normally found under the fourth- and first-string tuners were absent.  The rosewood fingerboard was inlaid with a fleur-de-lis inlay pattern until circa 1937, when the fingerboard inlay was changed to the simple dot pattern seen here, although the "inverted bud" peghead inlay remained.

#1109-4 was shipped on February 16, 1937 to J.D. Stacy, leader of a fretted instrument orchestra in Sturgis, Michigan.  It is likely that Mr. Stacy ordered this banjo for resale to one of his orchestra members.  When sold on eBay in 2009, #1109-4 was housed in an original Geib Masterkraft five-string/plectrum red-line hardshell case.  The banjo has now been converted to five-string with the addition of a neck by Frank Neat; the rim has been left uncut.

Photos courtesy of William B. Anderson.
 


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