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.