Former head of the Private Stock Division at PRS, master luthier Joe Knaggs founded his own boutique guitar brand in 2009. Based in Maryland, Knaggs Guitars produces high-end, handcrafted electric guitars, emphasizing design, quality, and innovation. With refined body shapes, sophisticated details, and premium finishes, Knaggs appeal to players who seek both artistic craftsmanship and sonic excellence.
With its contoured double-cutaway body, floating tremolo, and three pickup configuration, the Knaggs Severn draws inspiration from mid-'50s American icons. This Severn HSS was made in 2014, and it is an impressive solid-body guitar that demonstrates Knaggs' artistry. It starts with an Alder body and a Rock Maple neck with a gorgeous Curly Maple fingerboard. While similar guitars are traditionally built with bolt on necks, the Severn has a carefully-designed set neck. Because of that, this 2014 Severn is a resonant instrument with a lot of sustain.
This Severn is the Tier 3 version, so it's a simple slab Alder body (instead of the multiply Tier 2 with Maple tops). Finished in Baby Blue, it has a faint racing stripe across the baody contour. For pickups, the HSS configuration gives you a Seymour Duncan Trembucker bridge and two Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Staggered single-coil pickups. With a fice-way toggle switch and traditional volume/tone controls, this Severn delivers wide-ranging versatility. Plus, you can tap the coil on the bridge for an all-single-coil approach.
This 2014 Knaggs Severn HSS is a used guitar that has been played, so it shows some scuffs and cosmetic signs of use. The pickguad is lacquered, which is worn and flaking in the picking area. There are some nicks around the edges of the body and around the headstock, including wear from some kind of hanging stand. But the playability is really nice and the frets are in excellent shape. This guitar is inviting and ready to deliver night after night, a testament to the Knaggs reputation. It has strap buttons for older-style Dunlop Strap Locks.
This 2014 Knaggs Severn HSS is a hard-working axe with a wide palette of tones on tap. The body contours feel comfortable, and the weight is really nice, too. It feels like an artfully crafted instrument. It includes its original tremolo arm, paperwork, and hardshell case.