Here's the next one in the group of banjos I'll be bringing to Joe Val this next month.
It is a 1968 OPF Gibson TB500 that I have built an exacting reproduction 5 string neck for. I am extremely happy with the way this banjo came out. The neck is profiled to the same pre-war templates that I have been using the last 2 years, so you don't have the clubbiness of the normal late 60s 5 string necks. This banjo also has a Faulkner tone ring. You can see in the pictures how the lag bolt hole is much closer to one of the 20 holes than the other. That and the heavier weight are a couple of the ways you identify them. And, above all, the sound. This banjo has a great growly sound with strong lows and very compressed highs. All that you would want. It sounds great in all capo'd positions. The only issue that I can find with this banjo is that there ware different numbers on the rim/neck and the resonator. AA60 on the rim and heal end of the neck and AA48 in the resonator. I don't know how those AA numbers worked. SN: 849818 is stamped in the back of the tenor neck. The other issue is that someone, in their infinite wisdom, had put tacks in the rim under the tone ring. I removed all of these and made sure that the tone ring to rim fit was perfect, but you can see some marks inside the rim where some of the tacks sat over the inside of the rim. Slight cosmetics, but does not effect the sound one bit. The banjo does come with a Guardian style HSC. This will be a good one to own...Bill
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