Gibson TB-7 Mastertone #390-1, the "Hawaii"
Introduced as part of Gibson's overhaul of its Mastertone line in 1937, style 7 was the least expensive of the three new top-tension models. #390-1 is from the second known lot of TB-7s to have been produced; it conforms to standard catalog specifications for the model with dark-finished maple, nickel-plated hardware, and "slashed bowtie" inlays in a radiused rosewood fingerboard. This banjo's original owner is believed to have been a serviceman stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack in 1941; this unidentified original owner is also believed to be responsible for the word "Hawaii" carved into the back of the resonator. The factory order number is stamped inside the rim in an unusual font only seen in a few scattered banjo lots in the 1930s.
#390-1 (see Gibson banjo serial numbers vs. factory order numbers) is currently set up with a reproduction five-string neck by Frank Neat.
Photos courtesy of an
anonymous collector.
