Gibson prewar Tb 11 conversion banjo

This is a very good looking prewar Gibson Style 11 conversion. Original it was a tenor banjo. The tenor- neck was unfortunately sold. These non mastertone style 11 banjos were introduced in 1932, used pearloid, blue paint, and silkscreened designs to dress up what was one of the company’s less-expensive banjo offerings. Selling for $50, half the price of the least expensive Mastertone model, the style 11 proved to be quite popular and remained in production through the early 1940s. With the pearloid and paint provided Gibson to use cosmetically flawed wood which might not have been suitable for more expensive models. This Tb 11 can be dated between 1932 and 1936 because it lacks a factory order or serial number.
The rim and and the hardware are original, except of the armrest and the tailpiece. The tailpiece is also prewar, it is an old presto from a vega banjo. The armrest comes from Prucha. Unfortunately the Gibson-label inside the rim is torn off, only remnants are still visible. The pot is clean. The conversion pearloid neck was done by Robin Smith. The banjo has a style 11 pattern in pearloid on the back of the resonator with a brown shade around the side of the resonator-back. This is rare and it looks really cool. The flange and tension hoop plus all of the hooks, nuts and thumbscrews are all original and look great. This banjo has new tuners. The rim was cut by the german banjo luthier Bernd Gassmann and was fitted with an unplated no hole Yates flathead tonering.  This machine produces a real prewar tone.
The banjo is in a very clean condition and sounds marvelous. It comes with an non original tweed TKL HSC.