Here’s an incredibly clean and original “trap-door” Gibson tenor banjo from the company’s early pre-Mastertone days. The only part missing is the tailpiece cover, and perhaps the biggest surprise is the original tall bridge with heart-shaped cutout between the legs as those bridges are fragile and rarely survive. There are some shallow scratches to the finish on the back of the resonator, but the neck’s finish is almost pristine. The neck is straight and frets show only minimal wear. Thanks to the short 19 inch string scale, these early Gibson tenors are easy to play and can be adapted to a variety of tunings, plus the trap-door feature actually works and gives you an easy and almost instant way to modify the tone. Best of all, this example is just so dang cute!