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1964 Gibson Barney Kessel Regular, Blonde

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Serial #: 176780, orange oval label

Body size at lower bout: 17". Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut Width: 1 11/16"

Materials: Solid mahogany neck; solid Brazilian rosewood fingerboard; arched spruce top; arched tiger flame maple back and sides; dual-parallelogram mother of pearl fingerboard inlay and thistle peghead inlay; triple bound top, bound back.

Hardware: Original hardware includes twin Gibson Patent # humbucking pickups and electronics; beveled 5-ply pickguard; 3 way control switch, gold reflector cap knobs, nickel Kluson double ring tuners, compensated rosewood adjustable bridge. Correct replacement Barney Kessel engraved nameplate tailpiece and rubber grommet switchplate.

Notes: Guitar legend Barney Kessel began his career as an acolyte of his fellow Oklahoman Charlie Christian. With a career that spanned from the bands of Artie Shaw and Charlie Barnet to the combos of Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson, Kessel's resume spanned the most formative years of the contemporary jazz guitar. After a short-lived endorsement deal with Kay, Kessel became a Gibson artist, and his namesake model made its debut in 1961.

A 17" long scale twin pickup jazz box in the tradition of the ES-350, the Barney Kessel was Gibson's first full-depth double cutaway archtop, a design intended to facilitate access to the uppermost frets. A versatile and popular model, some 1857 examples of the BK were produced until the last of the series shipped in 1973. Catalog descriptions, shipping records and conventional wisdom has held that all these guitars, in both the Regular and Custom series, were finished in the standard cherry sunburst, and we'd never had reason to demur. Until now.

This remarkable instrument is a transitional model, one of the last to be built with the arched spruce top of the original series, and one of the first with the chrome hardware of the latter examples. Neatly handwritten on the orange "Union Made" oval label is the serial number, #176780, which dates it positively to 1964. And atop the label on the "Style" line in green cursive script is the abbreviated designation "Barney Kessel Reg (Nat.)" Whether this gorgeous blonde was a custom order, factory one-off, or trade show model, we'll probably never know. But there's no question that this guitar left Kalamazoo with an original natural finish, and we've yet to find another example documented anywhere.

Natural finish instruments were often showpieces for the most extravagantly figured woods, and this unique instrument shows spectacular tiger flame maple in the back and sides, and a very handsome bookmatched arched spruce top. The original natural finish is now deeply ambered and weather checked, but despite its years, the guitar shows only very light incidental pick and thumb wear, and virtually no buckle wear. Both pickups show original Pat.# decals in place and original chrome covers, and are beautifully matched with smooth, powerful output. The original nickel Kluson Deluxe double ring, double line tulip keys are in excellent shape, as is the original 5 ply beveled pickguard and bracket, the original gold reflector cap knobs, and the original Brazilian rosewood adjustable compensated bridge. A few finish dings on the neck have been smoothed in with some light clear overspray, and apart from a soundly resealed side crack of less than an inch in the bass cutaway, the instrument is otherwise without cracks or repairs. Even the jack area shows no stress cracks, a minor miracle in this vintage.

The neck profile is a slim, comfortable "C' profile, with the full 1 11/16" fingerboard width at the nut, and the original medium jumbo frets are still high and undented on the handsome Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The tone is classic 60's jazz: fat, warm and sweet, with excellent clarity and balance across the range. Complete with its original hardshell case, Barney's Blonde is the rarest of the rare, and a superb gig-ready player to boot.

Setup: This instrument is strung with medium gauge nickel roundwound strings (.012-.054). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 5/64" to 6/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.

Case: Original black Gibson hardshell case with plush lining.

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