Info: Hello. Up for auction is this wonderful vintage 1966 Gibson Barney Kessel guitar in very good/excellent condition. I purchased this guitar from a guitar shop in Rochester, New York about a year and a half ago. I paid $3400 for this guitar and if you look it up in the guitar blue book you will see that these guitars rate at $2800-$3500 for the year 1966. I used to teach guitar at this store and they have been in the Rochester area for over 30 years, they do not overprice or overrate their instruments so when I say that this guitar is in VG/EXC condition for its age I mean exactly that. They told me that this guitar was a single owner guitar that was very lightly played and it shows. As far as I know everything on the guitar is original except the bridge may have been changed from a wooden one to the one I have which is a wood base with a metal bridge on top. I do not know for sure if this is how some of them shipped from the factory or this was changed out at some time. I travel regularly and have come across a few Kessels at different music stores and none of them came close to the quality of this Kessel in terms of appearance and playability. This is a sale that I have no doubt I will regret, but I am not playing enough jazz gigs at this time to hang on to an instrument of this caliber.
The guitar plays like a dream and the tone is super rich. Instant classic jazz tones on the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup has a lot of bite. There is the normal amount of finish checks and cracks that are expected on a guitar of this age. There are no major dings but there are some minor things which I tried to document in the photos. There is a small ding on the back of the neck, the G string tuning peg has a small crack in it, there is a very small chip on the back of the body, and some scratches and scuffs on the lower bout of the guitar near the strap button and input jack. If one were inclined I think that all of these things could be quite easily erased by a qualified luthier. The frets are low but still have some life in them. The neck is 60′s slim profile. The serial number of the guitar is 346857. I took off the Barney Kessel plaque but have kept it in the case, it will be included. I don’t know if the case is original, I believe it is and its in very good condition. Please check out my feedback and bid with confidence. I work at a guitar store and I have shipped guitars before. This guitar will be shipped via UPS in a proper guitar box, packaged with care. Please contact … Click For More Info
The guitar plays like a dream and the tone is super rich. Instant classic jazz tones on the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup has a lot of bite. There is the normal amount of finish checks and cracks that are expected on a guitar of this age. There are no major dings but there are some minor things which I tried to document in the photos. There is a small ding on the back of the neck, the G string tuning peg has a small crack in it, there is a very small chip on the back of the body, and some scratches and scuffs on the lower bout of the guitar near the strap button and input jack. If one were inclined I think that all of these things could be quite easily erased by a qualified luthier. The frets are low but still have some life in them. The neck is 60′s slim profile. The serial number of the guitar is 346857. I took off the Barney Kessel plaque but have kept it in the case, it will be included. I don’t know if the case is original, I believe it is and its in very good condition. Please check out my feedback and bid with confidence. I work at a guitar store and I have shipped guitars before. This guitar will be shipped via UPS in a proper guitar box, packaged with care. Please contact … Click For More Info
Price: 2026.00
Ends: 2009-11-20T18:35:13.000Z
