Here’s a great find and fantastic player !! This original Gibson TB-3 banjo from the early 30’s was converted in the 70’s to a 5 strings banjo with a new neck from the renowned luthier Mike Allison from Providence. The neck retained all the original inlays (plus the new ones to accomodate the longer scale) and original headstock plate from the original Gibson tenor neck and is superbly made. The fretboard is ebony, the neck is high grade mahogany and a new fretjob was done by Franz Elsener when i got this banjo some years ago. The playability and sound are remarkable and this banjo beats the shit out of all the high end instruments I was so far able to compare with, even my 2000 Earl Scruggs Signature Gibson banjo, and it hurts to say this…

This professionally converted Gibson TB-3 features its original rim, archtop tone ring, tube and plate flange, tension ring, brackets, mounting hardware and armrest. The rim has lost its original Mastertone decal but the finish seems original. The conversion 5 string neck is built with a superbe solid mahogany 1 piece block and has a flat radiused ebony fretboard. The original Mastertone inlay and other inlays have been salvaged from the banjo’s first neck and are one of a small number of 1930s TB-3s featuring the standard “leaves and bows” inlay pattern on the fingerboard but the much more elaborate peghead inlay pattern used on Gibson’s ornate Bella Voce banjos of the late 1920s. These banjos with such ornaments were part of batch numbers 275, 345 and 347 and usually date from early to mid 30’s. The tuners are recent ones with 2 Scruggs tuners. The resonator is original to the banjo, and this TB-3 Conversion plays super easily, with an excellent neck angle and a new and perfect bridge. The frets are new and the fretjob was done recently by Franz Elsener, and a 70’s rail capo was removed during hte fretjob and replaced with spikes that were professionaly installed on the fretboard. This banjo also has a pickup instaled and is ready to play.

This superb player comes with an old (1940’s?) Gibson banjo case, some documents from the previous owner, a bill from a previous acquisition in 1995 and the previous capo rail, capo and thumbpicks and finger picks.