Barney Kessel's Guitar ?

[MarkInLA]

Many of you know every make and model of every jazz player's guitar. In those old, Kessel teaching videos he is using what I'll guess to be a Gibson.. It's the 3 screw heads in a triangle on the top, behind the pickup. What are these for ? What are they holding inside the box ? Thanks, M

[neatomic]

here u go

that's a charlie christian pickup..the screws hold huge (but weak gauss) magnets that are suspended under the arch body

cheers

[cosmic gumbo]

[lawson-stone]

I love Barney Kessel. He occupies a spot in the story of jazz guitar playing, and in the present spectrum of the music, that nobody else comes close to.

But I always have to chuckle as he explains this pickup to the interviewer. I mean, he makes it sound like it's some kind of occult device. And then the "knobs" which he got off of an old stereo! Again, he describes some pretty low-tech scrounged parts as if it were a Pentagon secret. All that combined with his accent, "This here is a dial-up modem, and you know, it's got 1200 baud! Yeah, that thing really cooks..."

But it got the job done for him! If I thought it'd make me play like Barney, I'd be raiding old stereos for their volume controls too!

[NoReply]

I love Barney Kessel. He occupies a spot in the story of jazz guitar playing, and in the present spectrum of the music, that nobody else comes close to.

But I always have to chuckle as he explains this pickup to the interviewer. I mean, he makes it sound like it's some kind of occult device. And then the "knobs" which he got off of an old stereo! Again, he describes some pretty low-tech scrounged parts as if it were a Pentagon secret. All that combined with his accent, "This here is a dial-up modem, and you know, it's got 1200 baud! Yeah, that thing really cooks..."

But it got the job done for him! If I thought it'd make me play like Barney, I'd be raiding old stereos for their volume controls too!

Kind of like Howard Roberts and his famous black guitar that he heavily modified in a "shade tree mechanic" sort of way including bondo'ing the neck to reshape it.

[goldenwave77]

Well, "chicken head" knobs are not exactly exotic. They're found on a lot of amps.

But they are very functional. I have a partscaster tele with MOTO pickguard and matching pearloid type knobs. I ended up putting a piece of tape on them with a line marked in to tell me where the knob was, at any particular setting. Annoying to have to guess.

And I think Barney K. is right on, in playing pretty much one instrument his whole life, and figuring out how to get the right sound(s) out of it, for the music he was playing. I wonder if when he and Gibson split over his signature model, he asked them for some design feature, and they came back with something else. I betcha he got annoyed, and said, this is not what I wanted, and it doesn't work, and I'm not going to play it, and the heck with you....kind of like Les Paul when they "improved" the Les Paul and made it into the SG model, which he disavowed. (Caveat: This is pure speculation on my part, but it sounds plausible given the attitudes he demonstrates in this clip.)

I think every instrument is individual and special...and it takes some time to find what it takes to get a good sound(s) out of them....a different amp/setting, different strings, a different pick (thin picks sound a lot brighter), a change of pickups, a change of capacitor value in the guitar, etc.

For a while I put strap locks, with the clip off changeability feature on a bunch of guitars...but you know what, they're heavy, clunky, expensive, and have a way of working loose...almost seriously damaged a guitar one time....caught it as it was heading toward the floor....I've gone to lightweight nylon straps with a slide adjustment....cheap, adjustable, light, and put a nylon string through one end to tie on the headstock...and the guitar balances better...so "homemade" solutions have their place. A lot of guitar gizmos, are pretty dubious, IMO and just amount to ersatz "improvements" that hobbyists will buy.

[MarkRhodes]

I wonder why those "chicken head" knobs never caught on. Barney is right: you can't read the numbers on a round knob under a stage light. They're useless. It would be nice to see at a glance what your current setting is.

[EllenGtrGrl]

He may talk kind of hokey about his guitar, but man! he sure got some killer sounds out of it, and sure played some killer riffs with it too! I should be so good!

[goldenwave77]

I wonder why those "chicken head" knobs never caught on. Barney is right: you can't read the numbers on a round knob under a stage light. They're useless. It would be nice to see at a glance what your current setting is.

Better than seeing them, you can actually reach down and feel where they're pointing.

[MarkRhodes]

Better than seeing them, you can actually reach down and feel where they're pointing.

That too. ;o) I think they're a great idea.

[pingu]

That too. ;o) I think they're a great idea.

yeah right i put them on my guitar
they work great

[neatomic]

that's actually a repro...like the type lollar and vintage vibe make...made to fit the original pattern but not built the same..on the real/vintage cc pickup those two steel sheets are cobalt magnets..the repro's are more like p90's with a small magnet beneath the bobbin...those steel sheets are there just to hold the mounting screws

here's an exact repro by cc pickups of the uk...the two huge but low gauss bar magnets create a huge area of magnetic field....these pups are around 2lbs in weight!!




in fact jason lollar just uses an acrylic sheet for his 3 point mount



cheers

[neatomic]

Better than seeing them, you can actually reach down and feel where they're pointing.

yes...that was the "point"

haha

cheers

[JazzMuzak]

that's actually a repro...like the type lollar and vintage vibe make...made to fit the original pattern but not built the same..on the real/vintage cc pickup those two steel sheets are cobalt magnets..the repro's are more like p90's with a small magnet beneath the bobbin...those steel sheets are there just to hold the mounting screws

here's an exact repro by cc pickups of the uk...the two huge but low gauss bar magnets create a huge area of magnetic field....these pups are around 2lbs in weight!!




in fact jason lollar just uses an acrylic sheet for his 3 point mount



cheers

are you sure they weigh two pounds? My es175CC is light already but you're telling me it could be two pounds LIGHTER?! I'm skeptical.

[MarkInLA]

Wow ! I must say that that has to be some tough decision; to actually go ahead and drill holes in the soundboard, especially in a carved top. Well, that was probably state of the art then. I couldn't do that, even to a modern, laminate archtop....
Thanks for the explanations of this... M

[Greentone]

There's only one pickup in the world that I'd drill three holes in the top of a carved top for...and the cobalt magnet, CC pickup is it. I've played original CC pickups with the magnets in a decent state of magnetization on several ES-150s, and an L-5. The sound was sublime in each instance.

Oops! I forgot a Recording King M-5 that had a CC pickup assembly installed. It, too, sounded fantastic. The CC is the best set-in pickup for jazz that I have ever played.

[Jim Soloway]

I wonder why those "chicken head" knobs never caught on. Barney is right: you can't read the numbers on a round knob under a stage light. They're useless. It would be nice to see at a glance what your current setting is.

They sure caught on with me. I have them on my plank and I wish I had them on my Heritage (and probably will some day). I think their a brilliant solution. Easy to see at a glance and easy to change without looking on the fly. I've had them on a bunch of guitars and really should have them on anything I own.

[Greentone]

Now...if I could only have a ES-350 from the late 40s with a CC pickup. I really liked the look and sound of BK's guitar.