Here's a beautiful fresh-to-the-market 1931 TB-2. It remains in original condition with the exception of a postwar tension hoop and one replacement prewar bracket nut. This banjo appears in Gibson’s factory shipping ledgers being returned to Wittich’s Music in Reading, Pennsylvania on April 27, 1949 following an unspecified repair; the repair likely consisted of the installation of this early postwar tension hoop as a replacement for the original pot-metal tension hoop which had broken or disintegrated due to “zinc pest“.
One odd feature of this banjo is that rather than a large-diameter tone hoop sitting on the outside edge of the rim or a small-diameter hoop sitting on the inside edge of the rim, it has an intermediate-diameter hoop sitting in the middle of the rim, and held in place by four small pins. I've never seen this before and I don't know if this arrangement is factory work or if it's connected in any way to the 1949 repair.
#20-2 remains in its original Geib and Schaefer "red-line" case and shows one small area of resonator binding separation by the neck notch.
This one is $3,800 including insured USPS shipping to the lower 48. Sorry, no trades.
Please see complete photos and description at earnestbanjo.com/wp/gibson-tb-2-20-2/
