longterm test
A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist’s longterm test reports
In the past 12 months the Les Paul has loomed large in my sights. Like any guitar nerd, yes, I’d love a late-50s ’Burst. Yeah, dream on. But, during this past year, I’ve got to play some pretty cool single-cuts – Gibson, Eastman, Godin, Patrick James Eggle, PRS, Knaggs, Guild… on it goes.
But the thing is, back in the early 80s, I owned a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Now history might have attached an ugly duckling tag to those guitars but back then it was my pride and joy. And, after finding an old demo tape of my band at that time, I was more than pleasantly surprised by its sound. It began to hone my single-cut lust – that guitar’s mini-humbuckers gave it a brighter voice, less thick and chewy than the ‘rock’ LPs so many love. Arguably, that cleaner, brighter voice is more akin to those 50s Les Pauls than more contemporary pieces – reissues aside – and that, Deluxe or not, is what I was looking for.
A quick check on Reverb, however, and I was rather horrified to see Les Paul Deluxes, as ever depending on condition and originality, going for £2.5-£3k. En masse they also seemed to be much weightier than I remembered. Now a 10lb Les Paul to a 20-something-year-old guitar player whose gigs were mainly 20-30-minute support-slots might not seem too excessive, but to a now considerably older player, invariably doing two-three-hour gigs at functions and events, frankly it’s a no-no.
Plus, there are always issues with any old guitar – a necessary re-fret, swapped nonoriginal parts and pickups, neck breaks etc. As I continued my search the only realistic options were far from ‘clean’. Was it time to consign my Deluxe to my memories?
As a stop gap, I acquired a Guild Newark St Bluesbird. A semi-hollow, lightweight and thinner-depthed single-cut that has, like a smattering of the early samples, pull-push tone controls to coil split the Seymour Duncan ’59 and spec’d JB at bridge. That latter pickup turned out to be an unusual SH-16 59/Custom, as mentioned in my previous first instalment of the Shergold Masquerader Longterm test (issue 429).
As a lighter sounding, partially semi-like single-cut it’s a cool piece but it lacks the solid heft, sonically, of a good Les Paul. Great for jazzier, bluesier outings but I also needed a bit more clout in reserve. And so it went, every single-cut I tried – good guitars all – had that ‘it’s almost what I want but not quite’ vibe.
However, I realised how much I liked the ‘plain top’ Red Sunburst vibe of that old Deluxe, which seems quite at odds with the majority of flame-topped, posher options, such as the PRS SC 594 or Eggle’s Macon Singlecut. Eastman’s SB 59/v is certainly a contender with its handmade vibe. Godin’s Summit Classic Ltd was arguably a better guitar, and extremely versatile too, but I knew I wanted (needed) a Gibson-like four control and shoulder-mounted toggle switch drive.
I was impressed with a 2017 Gibson Les Paul and, as we reported with numerous discounted prices, it’s a lot of real estate – with the right name on the headstock – for the money. Speaking of which, did I actually have a budget? With a few instruments to sell on, £2.5k might be doable. Possibly.
Speaking with Peter Wolf and Joe Knaggs, of Knaggs Guitars, on a completely unrelated topic I ended up discussing my Deluxe dilemma.“All I frigging want is an un-posh single-cut that weighs in around 8lbs and sounds like – obviously – a ’Burst,” I laughed. A couple of months later a Knaggs Kenai turned up. “See what you think. Let us know.”
Now Knaggs make some very artful, posh guitars but in their Tier 3 range things are more simple, more player’s grade. And from that short conversation Joe and his small team had clearly ‘got it’. A plain top Kenai in that Deluxe-like Cherry Sunburst (aka California Sunset), but a satin nitro like Doug Rappoport’s signature model I’d most recently reviewed. It was powered by a set of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers, with brushednickel covers, and absolutely no bling or fingerboard binding, just simple dot inlays.
No, it’s not a Les Paul, it’s a Kenai, Joe’s hugely intelligent take on the single-cut, which weighs in – unchambered – at 7.6lbs. The ’59 neck shape has plenty of girth depth-wise but is beautifully shaped with slightly V’d shoulders that makes it far from a baseball bat. No tricks, no treble bleeds or coil splits. As simple as it gets. Could this be my Deluxe replacement?
“No, it’s not a Les Paul, it’s a Kenai – Joe Knagg’s hugely intelligent take on the single-cut”