Gibson ball-bearing TB-3 with flying eagle inlays
1926 was the second year of Gibson's Mastertone line; the least expensive and most popular Mastertone model was the style 3. It featured a ball-bearing tone ring, red-stained maple neck and resonator with single white binding on the neck and the back edge of the resonator, a two-piece flange, a grooved tension hoop with flat brackets, nickel plating, a Presto tailpiece, a fiddle-shaped peghead, and a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with diamonds and squares inlays
This banjo is unusual in that it was apparently sent back to the Gibson factory in the 1930s, at which time a new fingerboard with flying eagle inlays was installed.
Photos courtesy of Gruhn Guitars.
