This beautiful Japanese-made hollowbody is in remarkable condition for its age.
The Shaftesbury Barney Kessel is a rare double cutaway hollowbody. Shaftesbury was the house brand for UK musical instrument distributor Rose Morris. The first Shaftesbury guitars appeared in Summer 1968, just under a year after Rose Morris opened their London, Shaftesbury Avenue store (hence the name).
This model was added to the range in either late in 1968, or in 1969 - in addition to the three Rickenbacker-inspired guitars. The guitar was a close copy of the Gibson Barney Kessel Custom. When released the Shaftesbury Barney Kessel would have set you back a not inconsiderable £89 19s 0d (around £2,000 in today's money).
From the 1968 Shaftesbury catalogue:
“An outstanding semi-acoustic instrument – built to an exacting specification embodying all the refinements of a Virtuoso Guitar. Deep, full-size body with double Florentine cutaway, finished in high gloss red sunburst with white purfling around body, tone holes and neck. Two adjustable magnetic pick-ups of revolutionary design, each with separate pole pieces - give outstanding tonal quality. Each pick-up has separate volume and tone controls; a pick-up selector switch and overall volume balance control are also provided. Fully adjustable metal bridge, mounted on rosewood base and fitted with individual string adjustment saddles. Fast action rosewood neck incorporating metal truss rod to insure perfect alignment at all times. Special, fully enclosed and finely-geared machine heads are fitted; these and all other metal fittings are finished in bright gold lacquer.”
We have been really quite taken with this guitar as it plays and sounds fantastic. It has a laminated maple body and a 3 piece maple neck. The neck is very comfortable and a bit slimmer than its Gibson counterpart and the frets are a touch smaller.
It comes with a mixture of original and new hardware, the most obvious of which are the Gibson deluxe machineheads.
Comes in a quality padded gig bag.
Far Out Guitars provide a 14 day no-quibble return policy, so if you don't get on with your new guitar you can return it for a full refund.
You can come and play the guitar at our premises in Marple, Cheshire by appointment only. Just drop us a message.
