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NGD: Knaggs Kenai


DBraz

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I’ve been longing for a single cut mahogany bodied guitar for a while.  After scouting a variety of options including Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop variations, I never felt confident enough in getting a “good one”.  Looking further afield, and pretty much always dismissing Knaggs guitars, I ended up buying one.  The Knaggs Kenai single cut shape was a grower for me.  Like FB’s I initially hated it years ago but it grew on me.  Here we are.

This particular Kenai has Knaggs double purfling maple top allowing two distinct colours without bleed.  Very cool.  Accompanying that is a one piece mahogany neck, one piece mahogany body, rosewood inlays, vintage tuners, Knaggs stop tailpiece and Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbuckers.  Colour Blueberry Pie (fitting)  with a dark brown stain for the body/neck. 24.75 scale length.

Tonally it’s no surprise thankfully - plenty of mahogany - and it plays well with a medium width fat neck with medium frets.  We’re still getting to know each other but so far so good.  Build quality is exceptionally good.  Going over it with a fine tooth comb I can see a lot of care went into both the material selection and the way it was put together.

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                                Pretty cool! Like the body shape and the top, almost art deco, to me anyways. The combo tailpiece and bridge got my attention right away, that's kinda cool also. Don't know much about these but have seen them around on different forums, the build quality is like you mention very high. For someone looking outside the box for a Les Paul  style guitar I can see people looking to own one of these. The builder isn't he ex PRS? Thought I read that somewhere..................not much into "Boutique" guitars and there a more than a few out there so..................... Congrats!

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52 minutes ago, ARM OF HAMER said:

  The builder isn't he ex PRS? Thought I read that somewhere..................

Yes!  He was a long term employee that looked after a lot of their higher end builds.  Started on his own in 2009.

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Congrats. If I "needed" a singlecut, I would seriously consider a Knaggs.

FWIW, I acquired a slightly used Knaggs Severn (hollowbody) with a somewhat similar level of "ornateness" this past year. It is the only Knaggs I have ever even touched. And it immediately became "the Strat" that I had always wanted to fall for.....With or without the appearance upgrade.

That is a good get!

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5 hours ago, DBraz said:

I’ve been longing for a single cut mahogany bodied guitar for a while.  After scouting a variety of options including Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop variations, I never felt confident enough in getting a “good one”.  Looking further afield, and pretty much always dismissing Knaggs guitars, I ended up buying one.  The Knaggs Kenai single cut shape was a grower for me.  Like FB’s I initially hated it years ago but it grew on me.  Here we are.

This particular Kenai has Knaggs double purfling maple top allowing two distinct colours without bleed.  Very cool.  Accompanying that is a one piece mahogany neck, one piece mahogany body, rosewood inlays, vintage tuners, Knaggs stop tailpiece and Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbuckers.  Colour Blueberry Pie (fitting)  with a dark brown stain for the body/neck. 24.75 scale length.

Tonally it’s no surprise thankfully - plenty of mahogany - and it plays well with a medium width fat neck with medium frets.  We’re still getting to know each other but so far so good.  Build quality is exceptionally good.  Going over it with a fine tooth comb I can see a lot of care went into both the material selection and the way it was put together.

86B062DD-BCB8-4C28-8927-05E6C691D0E4.jpeg

4DAEF2DF-3A3D-4232-ACB1-A3416EB97B8C.jpeg

D29ED40B-D4CF-4D81-9E7D-26FDABB6CDC5.jpeg

Very cool!  I’ve heard great things about Knaggs but have never had the chance to play one. 

How does that switch location feel to you?  Seems a little far away. 

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1 minute ago, Travis said:

Very cool!  I’ve heard great things about Knaggs but have never had the chance to play one. 

How does that switch location feel to you?  Seems a little far away. 

Great spot!  Do you know what? Normally the switch is in the LP location but on this particular build, along with some others, it’s in this location.  To me that was part of the attraction. 😃

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1 hour ago, gtrdaddy said:

Shit! That's crazy cool! The inlay around the purple on the top is something I've never seen before. Just wild!

It’s clever isn’t it?  As I understand it they shape the maple top and then create channels for the binding.  The binding stops the colour bleeding into the next section.  My guitar being natural maple on the outside and purple inside.

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