KWS Sig Strat

dazzajl

I don’t know anything about this guy, hadn’t heard of him until today but FB chucked this in my path and it looks like a gorgeous guitar. Lots of stuff I don’t usually like on a strat but this seems to just work somehow and look really classy. 

Also he seems way more involved in creating this model than a lot of sig players are, which I like. Much more a labour of creating a guitar he wanted than handing over a well known axe to be copied. 

https://youtu.be/9Lf4CMg1Dxw

DrCornelius

Looks great, I have a lot of time for kws since I saw him play an underattended show in Dorset a few years back. Big American star plays to probably 250 people at a dive in Poole. You'd have thought he was playing MSG, he gave it everything.

Strat54

Yeah he's never got much exposure here. He emerged in the mid 90's as an SRV wannabee and was pretty high profile back then with Jonny Lang, Pretty impressive player for his age then too, his vocals are a bit like Mickey Mouse unfortunately and for that reason he's mostly recorded with a singer. I saw him a handful of times, often with Chris Layton on drums.
I like the article recently that revealed his amps are actually Dumbles disguised and built in to Fender cabinets 
Trivia: He's married to actor Mel Gibson's daughter.

EricTheWeary

IIRC Kenny got the support slot on an Eagles comeback tour which got him some fairly large exposure in the USA quite young. I do have a couple of albums somewhere although he’s in the incredibly talented if slightly anonymous camp. 

Very much a strat guy, I think there was a previous signature model although other than it being a strat I don’t remember anything about it ( go faster stripes maybe?). 

Edit: back in 2008. There was a sunburst, a black one with grey stripes and a white one with a cross. 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

Very much a strat guy, I think there was a previous signature model although other than it being a strat I don’t remember anything about it ( go faster stripes maybe?). 

Edit: back in 2008. There was a sunburst, a black one with grey stripes and a white one with a cross. 

Yes you're right, I've got a neck (only) from his old sig model and it did indeed come in three finishes.  The neck is fairly chunky, I read an interview where he said it was much bigger than the neck on his '61, I don't know if that was his choice but he certainly chose the finishes and had input on the pickup selection.

I thought he was very much SRV Jr when he emerged, but watching YouTube clips he is - or has developed into - a really good live performer.  The records are a bit underwhelming but presumably he has a live album or two.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:

Very much a strat guy, I think there was a previous signature model although other than it being a strat I don’t remember anything about it ( go faster stripes maybe?). 

Edit: back in 2008. There was a sunburst, a black one with grey stripes and a white one with a cross. 

Yes you're right, I've got a neck (only) from his old sig model and it did indeed come in three finishes.  The neck is fairly chunky, I read an interview where he said it was much bigger than the neck on his '61, I don't know if that was his choice but he certainly chose the finishes and had input on the pickup selection.

I thought he was very much SRV Jr when he emerged, but watching YouTube clips he is - or has developed into - a really good live performer.  The records are a bit underwhelming but presumably he has a live album or two.

Somewhere I've got his Live in Chicago, haven't listened to it in ages. Some of the tracks are with Chicago stalwarts like Hubert Sumlin and others with his own band so it jumps stylistically a bit. 
I used to do long journeys for work pre lockdown and pick out a couple of CDs so it would be great for that but no need at the moment. 

photek

10 Days out is well worth a watch.

hotpickups

One could mistake that as an Eric Johnson strat at first glance with the block inlays and bound neck etc 

guitars4you

surprised it has a 7.25" radius - Was under the impression he favours a 12" radius 

jeromegreenday

I Know Kenny's favourite guitar is a 61 Strat so if it has any similarities to 1961 it could be a much cheaper option than getting a custom shop '61

Vaiai

Saw him with Matt Schofield in support - who was tasteful, grooving hard and had an amazing trio.
Then KWS came on and played boring SRV style stuff (I love SRV tho!) with a bunch of great musicians who looked bored and a singer who had no chemistry with KWS and just kept looking to him to get his cues - I left after 4 songs as KWS was so loud I couldn't hear the bloody drummer - on my way out I stopped at the desk to see if the mix was any better there - nope...he was just obnoxiously loud on stage! 

boogieman

Have a listen to his track Blue on Black, it’s a cracker. Really lovely octave fuzz solo in it too. 

mrkb

boogieman said:

Have a listen to his track Blue on Black, it’s a cracker. Really lovely octave fuzz solo in it too. 

And Blue on Black has been covered by Five Finger Death punch, which is a good cover version.