tb5

Orville H. Gibson was born in Chatteagay, New
York in 1856. For unknown reasons, possibly to
seek therapy at a world-famous sanitarium in
nearby Battle Creek, he moved to Kalamazoo,
Michigan in 1890. There he made musical
instruments and applied for his first and only
patent in 1895. It was for a mandolin with a
carved top and back and with sides cut from a
solid piece of wood. Mandolins of this design
would eventually replace the popular bowl-back
instruments of that era. In 1902, he sold his patent
rights as part of the establishment of a company
that bore his name but in which he played little or
no role. His health gradually failed and he moved
back to New York, where he died in 1918.

That was the year that began a period of intense
activity in the company under the influence of
several talented luthiers, most notably Lloyd A.
Loar. The TB-5 was introduced in 1923, before
Lloyd Loar left the Gibson Company. It did not
have a true tone ring but a chamber said to be of
Loar's design, consisting of a hollow ring set on
springless ball bearings. It had a resonator with a
veneer of celluloid, which Gibson called Pyralin.
There was an optional "trapdoor" and a fern
peghead inlay similar to the peghead inlay on
Loar's famous F-5 mandolin.

After Guy Hart took over as the general manager of Gibson in 1924, the company
began to make better banjos. Paramount had incorporated into the design of its
banjos a rounded, wooden resonator in 1921, and in 1925, Gibson did the same. In
that year the Mastertones were introduced. The style 5 acquired a rounded
resonator, a spring-loaded ball bearing tone chamber, and a fiddle-shaped
peghead. In the early years of the Mastertone line, the style 5 was the fanciest of
the numbered models, surpassed in price and ornamentation only by the Bella
Voce and the Florentine.

This TB-5 has the serial
number 9029-24, which places
it circa 1928. It has an archtop
tone ring, which replaced the
ballbearing tone ring in the
style 5's in 1927.

The instrument has a replica 5-string neck crafted by Frank Neat. The replica
neck is a faithful copy of the original tenor, which is beautifully figured
walnut. The rim and resonator are also walnut. The tenor has donated its
gold-plated Grover tuners to the 5-string conversion. The pegheads feature
wood-inlaid marquetry in a floral design on the back.

The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard,
both edges of the resonator and the rim
have celluloid binding bordered in
multicolored marquetry. The tenor and
the reproduction necks have a celluloid
heel cap bordered with marquetry
corresponding to that of the peghead.

The serial number is
written in chalk on
the inside of the
resonator and
appears unusually
fresh. One can even
see the chalky
fingerprints of the
Gibson employee
who wrote it there.

Stan Jay of Mandolin Brothers writes, "The engraving is
all fresh and original. It has never been replated, and, but
for a small amount of darkening of the gold on the
clamshell tailpiece, which is engraved, "Deluxe," there is
no other significant sign of aging and no sign of gold
wear. The tuners look so new and golden that at first we
wondered if they were new replacements. They are not.
They are 100% original Grover Patent tuners with actual
mother of pearl buttons. The frets show about four hours
of playing worth of fret wear (meaning nearly none). This
banjo was bought, played a few times and put away for
most of its 75 plus years."