1961 Gibson Barney Kessel Regular

Excellent condition featuring twin Florentine double cutaway laminated maple fully hollow body, laminated spruce top, bound top and back body edges, two F holes, two Gibson PAF humbucking pickups with original black plastic pickup surrounds, two volume controls and two tone controls with gold reflector top knobs, three way pickup selector switch with rubber gasket ring and original amber colored Catalin switch tip, multi-ply black and white plastic elevated beveled edge pickguard with metal mounting bracket, trapeze tailpiece with wooden badge plate, rosewood bridge base with tune-o-matic style bridge top, set mahogany neck with bound Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and pearloid split parallelogram inlays starting at the third fret, original bone nut, enlarged bound Gibson peghead, black peghead face with pearl Gibson logo and decorative crown inlay, three per side individual sealed tuning machines, factory stinger, serial number 41124 impressed into the back of the peghead, three metal strap buttons, gold plated metal hardware, cherry sunburst finish and original brown Tolex covered Gibson hard shell case with pink plush interior.

This 1961 Gibson Barney Kessel is in excellent vintage cosmetic condition showing some signs of play wear here and there but there are no major scratches, dings or bruises and it is overall very clean. The pickup covers, tuners, tailpiece and bridge are gold plated replacements and were replaced by this guitar's original owner. The original wooden badge block has been installed on this current tailpiece and the original plastic “Barney Kessel” badge is included as well as the original rosewood bridge top. There are holes that remain from the original tuners and the bridge has been pinned to the top of the body. A strap button has been added to the horn. The original electronics are present and in great working order. The original PAF pickups still retain their original windings and sound great. This instrument excels as a jazz guitar and sounds tremendous in every pickup position. This guitar features a typical 1960-1962 Gibson thin neck profile although the shoulders are not as pronounced as say, a Les Paul SG from this time period. This neck feels very nice, comfortable and fast. The original frets show some wear but this instrument plays great up and down the fingerboard. This is an early example of this model from the first year of production. Kessel models made between 1961-1962 had and retained a darker overall top finish than the later versions that seemed to fade quickly. The first year Barney Kessel models are quite rare to find and Gibson reported a total of only 43 Kessel models were produced in 1961. This guitar has an original Catalin switch tip and is housed in its original brown Gibson hard shell case with pink plush interior. If you are interested in buying this guitar to remove the pickups to put in your reissue Les Paul, then we can’t be friends and I’ll refuse to take your money. If you are after a really cool, great sounding 61 year old instrument that was well loved by its original owner, then this Barney Kessel may be what your looking for. A gem of a guitar shipped safely and promptly from our little shop in Clarksville, Tennessee, to your front door.