1925 Gibson TB-Granada 5-String Conversion, Frank Neat Neck, Original Tenor Neck and Case

This is a 1925 Gibson TB-Granada, factory order number (FON) 8118-22, converted to five-string with a new curly maple neck by Frank Neat. It is a first-year "Mastertone" with the ball bearing tone ring and the shotgun skirt, it retains its original tenor neck and original tenor case, and it comes with the paperwork from the day it was sold new in San Diego in 1927.

We handle a lot of prewar Gibsons. We have never had one arrive with its original bill of sale.

The banjo comes with the original sales documents from Frank's Music Shop on Fifth Street in San Diego. The statement reads "Gibson Banjo & Case #8118-22," the same number stamped into the rim. The lease card shows the banjo written up on January 14, 1927 at $250: $40 down, $3 a week from there, and the remaining $171 paid off on April 15, 1927, marked paid in full and signed by Wm. H. Haaf for the shop.

Original: the rim, the ball bearing tone ring assembly with shotgun skirt, the gold-plated flange, the engraved gold armrest, the engraved gold Kershner tailpiece, the figured maple resonator with its two concentric marquetry purfling rings and ivoroid binding, the "Gibson Mastertone Guarantee" label inside the rim, and the four tuning pegs with their original buttons. New: the curly maple five-string neck by Frank Neat, the fifth string peg, the bridge, and a Remo Weather King head.

Frank Neat's inlay is the Hearts and Flowers pattern, cut to match the original tenor neck. As Geoff puts it in the demo, "the match is just virtually perfect." His neck carries the "Mastertone" block at the end of the fingerboard, the 1926-and-later placement, while the original tenor neck has the word on the peghead. The pot is a 1925.

The ball bearing tone ring floats the tone tube above the rim on twenty-four ball bearings, each riding on a spring and washers set into holes drilled around the top of the rim. It gives a different voice from a flathead: sweeter, lighter in the hand, with a bloom to the note. All of the ball bearing hardware in this instrument is present and accounted for.

Condition is excellent, and better than excellent for something that has been in the world since 1925. There is honest wear to the plating on the armrest and some oxidation on the hardware. The resonator and rim are clean. The instrument plays.

Our banjo tech Tara sets up every instrument by hand before it leaves the shop, and on a vintage instrument that also means checking rim trueness, tone ring fit and the condition of the hardware. It ships in a new Superior CD-1530 Deluxe hardshell five-string resonator case, and the original tenor case travels with it.

• 1925 Gibson TB-Granada, FON 8118-22, converted to five-string
• Ball bearing tone ring with shotgun skirt, all hardware present
• New curly maple five-string neck by Frank Neat, Hearts and Flowers inlay
• Gold-plated flange, engraved gold armrest, engraved gold Kershner tailpiece
• Four original tuning pegs with original buttons
• Original 1927 Frank's Music Shop sales documents
• Original tenor neck and original tenor hard case with blue plush lining
• Original bracket wrench and an antique tenor pitch pipe in its Wm. Kratt Co. box
• New Superior CD-1530 Deluxe hardshell case
• Excellent condition. Right-handed. Made in the USA

Geoff Hohwald is the author of The Banjo Primer, the number one rated beginner banjo method, and has been selling fine banjos since 1980, now based in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Free shipping. 7-day satisfaction guarantee. Call or text Geoff at (404) 218-8580.