History. In 1960 Barney Kessel was a popular guitar player and the Gibson Guitar Company pursued him; wanting to put his name on a jazz guitar signature model. 

The Barney Kessel artist model was released in 1961 and was produced until 1974. The guitar was available in two versions: a regular model and a Custom model. This one is a Great player and comes with a heavy-duty custom-made Cedar Creek case and the original case it came in. The pickups are Seymore Duncans 57's from 2004. There is one non-working original pickup and one cover. The pickup went missing. The pickup covers were changed to gold sometime in the past. The original nickel covers are included. The tuners were upgraded to Shalers and the originals are lost. They are better tuners anyway. See pictures for pickups and work done on this great guitar. Same owner since the 70’s. Handling charge is for extra case.