Kay Barney Kessel

Kay made "Barney Kessell" models both in solidbody and archtop hollowbody designs. These were usually fancy, 3-pickup versions of plainer Kay models that usually had only 1 or 2 pickups. I once owned a single-pickup Kay "Upbeat" which was a single pickup version of the Barney Kessell archtop.

My specimen was from around 1960, and had the full Kelvinator headstock, a black finish, rectangular mother-of-toilet-seat position markers, a bound fingerboard, and a white/silver sparkle pickguard with that jagged-egded shape Kay used during that period. It had the same 17" cutaway body as other large Kays of the period, and a single-coil pickup with adjustable pole pieces. It had an unusual truss rod adjustment at the back of the heel of the neck that required a small wrench similar to a drum key.

I used mine in a small, rock & pop combo as a teenager in the 60s. The sound was very full played through a small Ampeg Rocket amp with a 12" speaker. When playing rhythm licks with pick and fingers, people would sometimes comment that it sounded like an electric piano!

It was capable of getting a nice, bluesy, distorted lead sound, but the one cheesy pickup and hollow body wouldn't generate the kind of tones you'd find from a Strat, for example.

The action was set painfully high. On more than a few occasions, I had bloody fingers by the end of a gig. Aside from that, the guitar seemed to have better workmanship than a typical cheapo Kay, including the nicely bound fingerboard. The neck was especially slim for a Kay, and could have been very comfortable if the action were lowered.

Mine survived several years of active gigs, and a longer period of less frequent use. It was lost in a flood around 1973.

N/A - The original Kay Company has been out of business for many years, although I believe an importer of cheap guitars from Asia has acquired the rights to the brand name.

I've been playing since 1962. My current stable includes:
1964 Martin D-28
1959 Gretsch Eldorado (17" cutaway acoustic archtop)
196? Kawai 17" cutaway acoustic archtop(copy of Gibson L-4C)
1960 Harmony Sovereign (flattop jumbo acoustic)
1960 Roy Smeck Electric (a fancy Harmony Stratotone)
1993 Washburn J-6S (Gibson L-5CES copy)
1995 Fender HMT Telecaster "Acoustic"
Recent Yamaha RBX260F fretless bass

Kind of looks like Gibson Citation...single pickup (coil), single cut-a-way jazz guitar. Has no known serial number on it. Nothing really special about it.

great "fat" jazz tone. works great with smaller amps, especially a Polytone.

the guitar is probably from the late fifties/early sixties. and seems to have held it's own over the years.

Kay doesn't remember making the guitar, so I'm assuming this is a one of a kind axe.