I was a 9 year old kid in 1957. My friends Dad ordered one of these and had to wait for delivery. I recall him puffing Pall Mall after Pall Mall and playing his Kay Barney Kessel every night in their family room. I thought he was so cool that I talked my Parents into letting me start guitar lessons. Eventually he traded the Kay for a Gibson ES345, but those Pall Mall’s caught up with him and he died in the early 1960’s. That Kay certainly played a role in getting me started on guitar. Incidently, my friend bought a Fender Jazz Bass the first year they came out to, at least in part, to play with his Dad. I remember that sunburst Jazz with the concentric knobs was about the coolest thing ever. I got my first good guitar - a Gibson SG Les Paul Standard In 1962. Ah, memories are made of guitars.
So cool. Thanks for your awesome video on this guitar. I have beenlooking for a clean sounding but yet original tone guitar for a while. I just bought one of these mint condition, beautiful guitar case for a great deal! The workmanship is high quality. I'm playing jump blues, gypsy jazz with mine!
John, The Kay headstock was always referred to as the "Kelvinator Headstock"(like the refrigerator). The Gibson ones have very thin necks. I owned a `63 BK Regular (there was also a Custom BK). The bridge pickup on the Gibson had the magnet flipped intensionally. It even says so in the catalouge. "It offers the purest tone over the entire range with a special magnetic field in the bridge pickup to emphasize the highs."
We called the headstock on that model "Kelvinators" because they resembled the logo of the appliance company. Likewise, the pickups were called "Kleenex boxes" because of the resemblance.
Only us true guitar geeks know this stuff. This guy don't know jack, does he even mention that there are videos of Barney playing an Ibanez model they were making for him? Nope. Saw one on Ebay once for 30 grand. The guy said they only made three.
Sweet guitar and demo! Get some Poll winners three albums. Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne on drums. Mr Kessel is a complete master of the guitar in all ways.
The Kelvinator is among my favorite headstocks. Deco! The original “Kleenex box” pickups sound great too. The necks tend to be the weak point with old Kays. The Gibson Kessel design may’ve been a rejected early version of the Tal Farlow model. I’ve got one of these. Thin neck, nicely balanced, plays & sounds terrific.
Omg!!!!......that tone is ridiculous!!!!!.........nice job John......now we gotta do something about that hair color of urz !!!! To young to look old .....find me I have the secret to youth on top of ur head!!.
Does this guitar get the award for the ugliest head of all time? Barney might have put his name on it, but he probably never played one. He was a Gibson player.
Let Tice Why would they make a guitar named after Barney Kessel and not make it sound like his tone? Those 50s jazz guitarists didn’t have “interesting” guitar tones by our modern standards, they were all very clean. So obviously you’re not gonna get blown away by the guitar unless you love the genre.
@@TheWoodenZozimos Who says jazz guitarists didn't have interesting tones? I wouldn't be so quick to say that about, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery or Django Reinhardt or even Barney Kessel for that matter. I'd ake that sound over the generic 80s hair metal, pointy guitar through a Marshall any day.
Matt Rogers Now see, you and I think they’re interesting, but that’s because we don’t find clean tones boring. We’ve come to appreciate the traditional guitar sound of the jazz genre. But to the person raised on metal, the clean tones could leave something to be desired.
I personally appreciate both the clean jazz sounds of a Montgomery, Kessel, Charlie Byrd, or Joe Pass, but also the more driven jazz sounds of Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, and some John Scofield
I was a 9 year old kid in 1957. My friends Dad ordered one of these and had to wait for delivery. I recall him puffing Pall Mall after Pall Mall and playing his Kay Barney Kessel every night in their family room. I thought he was so cool that I talked my Parents into letting me start guitar lessons. Eventually he traded the Kay for a Gibson ES345, but those Pall Mall’s caught up with him and he died in the early 1960’s. That Kay certainly played a role in getting me started on guitar. Incidently, my friend bought a Fender Jazz Bass the first year they came out to, at least in part, to play with his Dad. I remember that sunburst Jazz with the concentric knobs was about the coolest thing ever. I got my first good guitar - a Gibson SG Les Paul Standard In 1962. Ah, memories are made of guitars.
So cool. Thanks for your awesome video on this guitar. I have beenlooking for a clean sounding but yet original tone guitar for a while. I just bought one of these mint condition, beautiful guitar case for a great deal! The workmanship is high quality. I'm playing jump blues, gypsy jazz with mine!
John, The Kay headstock was always referred to as the "Kelvinator Headstock"(like the refrigerator). The Gibson ones have very thin necks. I owned a `63 BK Regular (there was also a Custom BK). The bridge pickup on the Gibson had the magnet flipped intensionally. It even says so in the catalouge. "It offers the purest tone over the entire range with a special magnetic field in the bridge pickup to emphasize the highs."
I love that tone wow
Beautiful guitar!
Man, I wish they put alnico pickups in these, I've never bonded with ceramic magnet pickups but I do like the guitar!
We called the headstock on that model "Kelvinators" because they resembled the logo of the appliance company. Likewise, the pickups were called "Kleenex boxes" because of the resemblance.
Only us true guitar geeks know this stuff. This guy don't know jack, does he even mention that there are videos of Barney playing an Ibanez model they were making for him? Nope. Saw one on Ebay once for 30 grand. The guy said they only made three.
Super retro vibe, cool tones.
He does a great demo. Love his playing. He talks but not nonsense like other demos have.
Sweet guitar and demo! Get some Poll winners three albums. Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne on drums. Mr Kessel is a complete master of the guitar in all ways.
He played his Gibson signature model on a few Monkees recordings.
The Kelvinator is among my favorite headstocks. Deco! The original “Kleenex box” pickups sound great too. The necks tend to be the weak point with old Kays.
The Gibson Kessel design may’ve been a rejected early version of the Tal Farlow model. I’ve got one of these. Thin neck, nicely balanced, plays & sounds terrific.
Gracias y saludos cordiales desde Mallorca para vosotros premier guitarre
Happy Days!!!
You rock!
Kessel the Bonamassa of the day? what an insult to Barney
That was an awful thing to say... With all due respect to Bonamassa(not a big fan btw but i do appreciate the talent)
I personally find Bonamassa kind of a safe/boring player.
Omg!!!!......that tone is ridiculous!!!!!.........nice job John......now we gotta do something about that hair color of urz !!!! To young to look old .....find me I have the secret to youth on top of ur head!!.
Btw, that version is $1250
Mamo outrageous. Not worth it. Maybe $400
I BOUGHT TRINI LOPEZ'S BARNEY KESSEL.
Mmmm,kay
My cool lookin guitar .. the pickups sound like they're "covered" tho if that makes sense.. less articulate
I'm sorry, Les Paul was an "electric jazz cat" before Barney Kessel.
hi , why you don t. give , in the description, what kind of amp you re use , pedal etc , i think it s important for the followers ..
Interesting but I didn’t hear any actual jazz tones - it sounded harsh at every turn...
Oof way trebly for my tastes
Does this guitar get the award for the ugliest head of all time? Barney might have put his name on it, but he probably never played one. He was a Gibson player.
Great video series, great presenter, great player.. Boring ass guitar. Definitely for the faint-of-heart.
Let Tice Why would they make a guitar named after Barney Kessel and not make it sound like his tone? Those 50s jazz guitarists didn’t have “interesting” guitar tones by our modern standards, they were all very clean. So obviously you’re not gonna get blown away by the guitar unless you love the genre.
@@TheWoodenZozimos Who says jazz guitarists didn't have interesting tones? I wouldn't be so quick to say that about, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery or Django Reinhardt or even Barney Kessel for that matter. I'd ake that sound over the generic 80s hair metal, pointy guitar through a Marshall any day.
Matt Rogers Now see, you and I think they’re interesting, but that’s because we don’t find clean tones boring. We’ve come to appreciate the traditional guitar sound of the jazz genre. But to the person raised on metal, the clean tones could leave something to be desired.
I personally appreciate both the clean jazz sounds of a Montgomery, Kessel, Charlie Byrd, or Joe Pass, but also the more driven jazz sounds of Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, and some John Scofield
@@TheWoodenZozimos Hey, I like overdriven guitar sounds too. 😎