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Description

Summary: Barney Kessel (1923-2004) was one of the most significant jazz guitarists to emerge from the bebop era in the US, having played with some of the genre’s legends including sax innovators Lester Young and Charlie Parker as well as piano giant Oscar Peterson. Gibson accordingly honored him with his own signature model, launched in 1961. Built in the Kalamazoo factory, the Gibson Barney Kessel was available in two formats: the regular model we have before us here and a more sumptuous Custom variation. Someone has changed a lot of the hardware on this standard Barney Kessel guitar to more closely resemble the Barney Kessel “Custom”. This beautiful guitar plays wonderfully and is in great condition although it has had some tasteful modifications. All the replacement hardware appears to be vintage Gibson spec from the late ‘60s. It sounds superb acoustic or amplified despite it only having one of its original Gibson patent number humbucking pickups (neck pickup). It ships in a 1980’s brown aftermarket Gibson hardshell case, with plush pink interior and matching interior slip cover.

Body: This famous Florentine double cutaway hollow body jazz guitar looks fabulous with its 2 tone sunburst lacquer finish and w/b/w binding. The lower bout is 17” wide, the top is laminate flame maple, the sides are solid maple and the back is solid flame maple.

Neck: The maple neck has a ‘60s style width of 1 9/16” but a nice full depth to its profile and a scale length of 25 ½”. The bound rosewood fretboard has 20 frets, split parallelogram inlays, large Gibson headstock, bone nut and black stinger on the back of the headstock.

Pickups/Hardware: It has an original Pat. Number pickup in the neck position and a replacement P.A.F style pickup in the bridge position which sounds very good and pairs well with the original neck pickup. The pickup ring of the bridge humbucker says “Dimarzio” but we are unsure what the pickup itself is exactly. The tuners are gold Grover Imperials, gold Gibson tune-o-matic Pat. # bridge with rosewood base, gold trapeze tailpiece with “spaghetti” wire W design, w/b/w pickguard, gold knobs (2 volume 2 tone), and 3 way toggle switch.

Cosmetics: The neck has a lot of wear from the years of playing but it feels really broken in and natural. The body is in fantastic condition and has no major dings, cracks, scratches or visual repairs. The pickup covers have a bit of wear through the plating, there is a fair amount of finish checking around the body, a few small chips in the paint, 2 small holes where the Bigsby once sat which have since been filled in and are barely noticeable and slight indentations on the back of the headstock from where the original tuners were installed. The back of the headstock appears to have been finished in black to mask the original tuner holes. There are also a few chips at the end of the headstock but overall this guitar is in fantastic shape and looks absolutely stunning.

Playability: This guitar has been inspected, set up and restrung by our in-house guitar tech with low action and a set of 11 guage D’addario chromes flat wound strings. The neck is straight and the frets feel smooth and comfortable.

Modifications: A lot of the hardware has been swapped out with era correct gold hardware one would find on the Barney Kessel Custom. We think the truss rod cover has been replaced with a real Gibson “custom” truss rod cover. The guitar would have originally had a Bigsby which has been replaced with a gold trapeze tailpiece, the knobs have been swapped to gold knobs, bridge pickup is aftermarket, as well as the pickup covers, the tuners have been swapped out to gold Grovers and the output jack has been swapped out but the original is in the case.

Weight: 6 lbs, 10 oz.

Case: This guitar ships in a non-original, brown Gibson hardshell case from the ‘80s. The case has a pink interior cover and one missing latch on the back. There is also some silver spray paint on the front.

Empire Guitars RI

Empire Guitars RI

1968
Gibson
Very Good
Sunburst
Hard
13 Years
Empire Guitars RI
Empire Guitars
1-877-558-9264
Providence, RI
1:59 PM
Mon-Fri 10am-7pm EST Sat 9am-6 pm EST Sun Closed

We ship to select international locations. International shipping can become quite expensive. We will not falsify value on customs forms EVER! Please don't ask.

3 days on used and vintage gear. 14 days on new items. Buyer pays shipping both ways. No returns on shipped amplifiers. New items returned with out all packing materials and included inserts will be charged a 15% restocking fee.