Carl Barney Custom Jazz Guitar

made in 1977 by renowned connecticut jazz guitar luthier carl barney. it is an all solid wood (maple and spruce) es 175 style guitar w/ one neck humbucker, volume and tone. guitar is fully bound w/ ebony fretboard and abalone inlays all over. gorgeous carved ebony tailpiece. completely hollow w/ grover tuners. 22 frets. all in all a gorgeous jazz box.

fantastic for what it does. it is a jazz box so it has a gorgeous lush jazz tone through a sweet clean amp. surprisingly it actually rips w/ distortion as well although it will feedback but any hollowbody will do that as well. i play jam band/jazz fusion type stuff. think dead meets yes or john scofield. all in all sounds pretty sweet but not all that versatile.

bought it used as a 25 year old guitar that was sitting in a case and not played often. intonation is a little bit off and a setup is needed but that's not a huge deal. guitar plays so nice though. real fast action, chording sounds sweet. guitar is all handmade and everything is very high quality. some chips on the binding but this is due to age.

very fragile guitar due to it being a hollowbody and it being all solid wood hollowbody. believe it or not laminates are actually much stronger and tonally to my ear sound better on hollowbodies than solid wood. the strap button is a tight fit near the tailpiece which makes it a little scary when playing standing up. i would feel comfortable playing it live but would absolutely need a backup since it couldn't cover all my styles. the hardware has lasted 25 years so i think it is all top notch.

barney has no web page, although i did find a phone number and home address.

been playing 10 years, last 2 gigging reguraly and recording etc. currently own a gibson lp studio, jackson rhoads and a gibson howard roberts fusion. i have owned in the past peaveys, usa hamers, fenders, parkers, usa kramers, you name it i've owned it. the barney is a true handmade jazz box w/ tons of vibe to it. all in all its a gorgeous instrument.