What makes this guitar worth your attention?
I've played countless Severns over the years, and I've always considered the model one of Joe Knaggs' most successful designs. It has the familiar feel and versatility you want from an S-style guitar, but with the construction, neck feel and attention to detail that make a Knaggs distinctly different.
Black Rhino #9, however, has remained NOS and unplayed since I received it. Just as with Black Rhino #1, I chose to preserve this guitar rather than use it as a demonstrator, so I'm not going to give a playing review of this particular instrument.
Visually, #9 is extraordinary. Joe selected a beautiful Tier 1 quilted maple top and finished it in Charcoal Burst over the alder body. The curly maple neck carries the Charcoal Burst treatment as well, while the curly Rock maple fingerboard with black binding provides a dramatic contrast.
One of my favorite details is the extra-flamed maple pickguard with black purfling. Rather than simply adding a conventional pickguard to an exceptional top, Joe made the pickguard itself another piece of the woodworking. Against the dark quilted maple, it gives the guitar a look unlike any normal Severn.
The quilted maple headstock veneer, Black Rhino fingerboard inlay and carefully coordinated hardware complete the concept. The HSS configuration—with a Lollar Imperial humbucker and two Lollar single coils—also makes this a particularly versatile version of the Severn.
Black Rhino #9 is one of only 11 guitars in Joe's 2018 Black Rhino collection, built from some of the exceptional Tier 1 woods he had set aside for the project. Like Black Rhino #1, I've kept it essentially as it arrived from Knaggs. For a collector looking for an unusually well-preserved example from this very small run, that matters to me.
— Gary Thomas