1926 Gibson TB-2 Conversion to Five-String

Original 1926 Gibson TB-2 tenor banjo in excellent condition. Client wants a five-string neck in place of the four-string for Bluegrass style playing. I want to make it as true to the original as I can.

Close-up of the inlay design. I will copy it exactly on the new neck.

I photographed the original banjo with a ruler to get an accurate tracing.

I then created an outline in Adobe Illustrator that I could use as a template for cutting the Mother-of-Pearl.

I glued the paper template onto the Mother-of-Pearl piece and cut it out with a jeweler's saw.

Here are all the pieces cut out.

Then I routed out the wood in the exact shape as the pearl piece.

Then I gently pressed the pieces in place, sanded it all. Exactly like the original.