WTB : Knaggs Chena, Kenai or even Severn

melod

If anyone has any of these, do let me know. I have put them in order of preference.

If Inam honest, I equally like PRS’ but some of the aesthetics really bother me.

Dominic

Chena is a lovely thing to play
Beware of the early ones unconventional bridge .....they can make it sound thin
Avoid the Seth Lover Pickups ........they are puny

melod

Dominic said:

Chena is a lovely thing to play
Beware of the early ones unconventional bridge .....they can make it sound thin
Avoid the Seth Lover Pickups ........they are puny

The Seth lovers seem to be in the majority of cases... Not sure about the bridge. Doesn’t knaggs always has its own bridge or there was a different version earlier on?

thanks!

tabano

I have seen Kenais with one piece bridge, the Knaggs design and with tune-o-matic so I don’t know for sure if that is the case with the rest of the models,
some earlier Knaggs were shipped with Allen pickups or Seymour Duncan but again,
I don’t know what criteria did they follow to choose each one,
current ones also offer Bare Knuckles,
my Kenai came with Seymour 59s from stock
late 2016 model,

Whitecat

Seth Lovers in a Chena sound incredible. They were made for that guitar. The BKPs they use now are obviously great too though. There are other variants in the wild - D Allens were standard for a very short time a few years ago as mentioned, but earlier ones were generally either Seymour Duncans (SH1s or Seths) or Fralins - usually Pure PAFs. There is the odd outlier too with something unexpected. When they were launched the “tier” you ordered would also specify the pickups - SH1s for T3, Seths for T2, Fralins for T1. But then a few years ago they went to an a-la-carte order system where the “tier” only refers to the visual grade of the maple top and everything else could be specced as you like, so guitars just got what was ordered. 

The bridge thing depends on the model - the straight up Kenai normally uses their own custom “connected” tune-o-matic where the bridge and tailpiece are basically one piece but it’s still “strung over”. The signature models - Steve Stevens and Eric Steckel models - those use the old-fashioned two piece design. In practice the proprietary Knaggs design is a bit brighter, it preserves more harmonics, the old school signatures are more mid-forward. The one-piece Schroeder style adjustable bridge is very new for them - they’ve only been offering that on carved top Kenais for like a year or so so far. I suppose that one may be the brightest of all. 

Note that afaik for the Chena the bridge is always the Knaggs proprietary one - don’t think they’ve ever offered alternatives on it except for a Bigsby. 

Hope that helps, good luck with the quest!

melod

Whitecat said:

Seth Lovers in a Chena sound incredible. They were made for that guitar. The BKPs they use now are obviously great too though. There are other variants in the wild - D Allens were standard for a very short time a few years ago as mentioned, but earlier ones were generally either Seymour Duncans (SH1s or Seths) or Fralins - usually Pure PAFs. There is the odd outlier too with something unexpected. When they were launched the “tier” you ordered would also specify the pickups - SH1s for T3, Seths for T2, Fralins for T1. But then a few years ago they went to an a-la-carte order system where the “tier” only refers to the visual grade of the maple top and everything else could be specced as you like, so guitars just got what was ordered. 

The bridge thing depends on the model - the straight up Kenai normally uses their own custom “connected” tune-o-matic where the bridge and tailpiece are basically one piece but it’s still “strung over”. The signature models - Steve Stevens and Eric Steckel models - those use the old-fashioned two piece design. In practice the proprietary Knaggs design is a bit brighter, it preserves more harmonics, the old school signatures are more mid-forward. The one-piece Schroeder style adjustable bridge is very new for them - they’ve only been offering that on carved top Kenais for like a year or so so far. I suppose that one may be the brightest of all. 

Note that afaik for the Chena the bridge is always the Knaggs proprietary one - don’t think they’ve ever offered alternatives on it except for a Bigsby. 

Hope that helps, good luck with the quest!

Thank you all for your input.

Dominic

Whitecat said:

Seth Lovers in a Chena sound incredible. They were made for that guitar. The BKPs they use now are obviously great too though. There are other variants in the wild - D Allens were standard for a very short time a few years ago as mentioned, but earlier ones were generally either Seymour Duncans (SH1s or Seths) or Fralins - usually Pure PAFs. There is the odd outlier too with something unexpected. When they were launched the “tier” you ordered would also specify the pickups - SH1s for T3, Seths for T2, Fralins for T1. But then a few years ago they went to an a-la-carte order system where the “tier” only refers to the visual grade of the maple top and everything else could be specced as you like, so guitars just got what was ordered. 

The bridge thing depends on the model - the straight up Kenai normally uses their own custom “connected” tune-o-matic where the bridge and tailpiece are basically one piece but it’s still “strung over”. The signature models - Steve Stevens and Eric Steckel models - those use the old-fashioned two piece design. In practice the proprietary Knaggs design is a bit brighter, it preserves more harmonics, the old school signatures are more mid-forward. The one-piece Schroeder style adjustable bridge is very new for them - they’ve only been offering that on carved top Kenais for like a year or so so far. I suppose that one may be the brightest of all. 

Note that afaik for the Chena the bridge is always the Knaggs proprietary one - don’t think they’ve ever offered alternatives on it except for a Bigsby. 

Hope that helps, good luck with the quest!

I had a Tier 2 Chena with Seth Lovers........I thought they were the tinniest,puny,overbright things ever ......sounded like a cheap bridge pickup on a tele .I have since discovered that I don't like PAF pickups in semi and hollowbody guitars  because I have Wizz in a 335 and hate those too ! Not as puny as the Seths tho '.I think the bridge is a shame too because it makes everything thin and bright.The combination of the two was awful for me which is a real shame because the guitar was superbly made and felt fantastic in all other respects.

Whitecat

Dominic said:

Whitecat said:

Seth Lovers in a Chena sound incredible. They were made for that guitar. The BKPs they use now are obviously great too though. There are other variants in the wild - D Allens were standard for a very short time a few years ago as mentioned, but earlier ones were generally either Seymour Duncans (SH1s or Seths) or Fralins - usually Pure PAFs. There is the odd outlier too with something unexpected. When they were launched the “tier” you ordered would also specify the pickups - SH1s for T3, Seths for T2, Fralins for T1. But then a few years ago they went to an a-la-carte order system where the “tier” only refers to the visual grade of the maple top and everything else could be specced as you like, so guitars just got what was ordered. 

The bridge thing depends on the model - the straight up Kenai normally uses their own custom “connected” tune-o-matic where the bridge and tailpiece are basically one piece but it’s still “strung over”. The signature models - Steve Stevens and Eric Steckel models - those use the old-fashioned two piece design. In practice the proprietary Knaggs design is a bit brighter, it preserves more harmonics, the old school signatures are more mid-forward. The one-piece Schroeder style adjustable bridge is very new for them - they’ve only been offering that on carved top Kenais for like a year or so so far. I suppose that one may be the brightest of all. 

Note that afaik for the Chena the bridge is always the Knaggs proprietary one - don’t think they’ve ever offered alternatives on it except for a Bigsby. 

Hope that helps, good luck with the quest!

I had a Tier 2 Chena with Seth Lovers........I thought they were the tinniest,puny,overbright things ever ......sounded like a cheap bridge pickup on a tele .I have since discovered that I don't like PAF pickups in semi and hollowbody guitars  because I have Wizz in a 335 and hate those too ! Not as puny as the Seths tho '.I think the bridge is a shame too because it makes everything thin and bright.The combination of the two was awful for me which is a real shame because the guitar was superbly made and felt fantastic in all other respects.

You’re one of the only people I’ve ever heard describe Seths as “puny” but I don’t know what kind of music you make…! For a lot of people Seths are as good as aftermarket PAFs get. I love them in mine, they are warm and woody, exactly as they should be. Did you try adjusting the heights at all while you owned the guitar?

@melod - apologies for the thread hijack, just wanted to address some of the questions that had been posted. will shut up now!

Dominic

I did but I'm no expert at that .........I have realised that I don't like that PAF sound ......I like a warmer ,thicker tone.
I play all types of music but Country and Southern Rock predominantly and a bit of Jazz /Jump blues