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new 1925 Gibson TB3 owner

From Bribak on 3/3/2020 9:06:32 AM

Hello all. I've been posting a lot of questions over on the builder's forum and figured it was time I introduced myself here. Hugh Stone gave me a friendly invite to the Group.

I just acquired a 1925 Gibson TB3 shotgun skirt, scalloped ring tenor that I will be leaving as a tenor for Irish music. I've been scouring the Hangout posts to try to learn more about these banjos.

Of the four Grover 2 tab tuners, one doesn't work at all and another one slips so bad it's pretty much useless. So I ordered a set of ABM Long Shaft tuners that shouldn't require any hole enlarging in the peghead. That way I can eventually restore it to Grover 2 tabs down the road if I want to. Right now I just want some ease of tuning.

I do have the hardware for the ball bearing system. All I had to buy was the ball bearings themselves – the washers and springs were already there.

For those of you who are using the banjos without the hardware (with the tone ring resting directly on the rim) - did you have to make some sort of adjustment? I find if I rest it right on the rim, the shotgun skirt is the same height as the top of the ring...so I can't imagine how the head would properly stretch over the ring. On mine, the skirt on the neck side actually looks even a miniscule taller than the tone ring. I hope to love the sound with the ball bearings, but I am curious how it would work without them since the skirt is so high.

If anyone has a Sullivan Ball-Bearing Conversion Ring to sell, I would eventually love to try one. There is a lot of talk about them not fitting the early 1925 rims and mine (8049-10) is an early one and sounds like it could be one where it wouldn't work. It sounds like the possible issue is a small lip of wood on the outer rim (where the shotgun skirt rests) that has to be trimmed off so the conversion ring can seat low enough to make contact on the top of the rim surface along the inner lip surface of the ring. Correct? Unless I'm not seeing something, couldn't you just trim a little off the outer bottom skirt of the conversion ring to let it seat a little lower thus making the inner lip contact the top of the rim properly. I don't want to modify the wood rim at all. I want to be able to restore it to the ball-bearing setup at any time. Anyway, I would love for someone to clarify this issue if I'm misunderstanding it. People talk of these Sullivan rings as being solid – with no cavity underneath – giving full contact on the top surface of the wood rim. Is that accurate? I have seen photos claiming to be Sullivan Conversion rings where some had holes, some didn't, some had cavities underneath, etc.. So I'm not sure what the ball bearing conversion rings are really like.

My preliminary impression of the tone of this banjo is really good! I can only string it with three strings because of the tuner issue, but so far I am really impressed. I had the head drum dialed to about 90. It has a ratchety, loose quality that I really like. And I've never had a neck vibrate in my left hand like this one does. You can feel this banjo as well as hear it. I have flipped the ring and was still impressed but thought it might have lost a little of the ratchety quality. It was very close sounding. Flipping the ring on the ball bearings does result in the ring dropping about 1/16 inch lower – resulting in lower action. So I can see where you'd need to use a little taller bridge to keep the same action. I guess that wouldn't be true if you weren't using the ball bearings.

Anyway, I've kind of just been thinking out loud. It's nice to have this group resource of ball bearing owners to gather info from. It's so cool to be playing a 95 year old banjo with such a unique design.

1 Comments
	kodakcollector says: 3/3/2020 9:29:16 AM I have FON 8033-1, a 1025 TB-4, converted to a 5 string with a Clancy Mullins neck. I purchased a Sullivan conversion hoop before I realized it would not fit. I probably have a decent set of tuners for you. You can contact me directly and I can send pictures. Best regards charlie
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