Gibson TB-3 #25-23

                   

                   

Style 3 was the least expensive model in Gibson's Mastertone line.   It was introduced in 1925 and remained in production through 1937, when its price was lowered from $100 to $75 and it was renamed style 75.  While the style 3 of the twenties and early thirties had a two-piece flange with maple neck and resonator, a fiddle-shaped peghead and the diamonds and squares inlay pattern, the style later changed to the configuration seen here.  The flange is one-piece; the wood is mahogany with two white/black/white purfling rings on the back of the resonator, and the peghead shape is double-cut.  There is single white binding on the neck and on both edges of the resonator.  The tone ring is a forty-hole archtop; this example's tailpiece and case are non-original.

While most style 3 banjos of this period feature the leaves and bows inlay pattern, they are also occasionally seen with flying eagle inlays on the fingerboard as on this rare example.

#25-23 is currently owned by William "Bill" Eddy who bought it in 1975 from the Bob George Music Store in Kansas City, MO for $900.  Mr. Eddy played the banjo for twenty years with the Kansas City Banjo Band before moving to Idaho, where he continued to play in churches, nursing homes, and once a week at Godfather's Pizza.  The banjo continues to be played and enjoyed by Mr. Eddy, his son Bob, and his grandson Brett.

Photos courtesy of Bob Eddy.
 

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