Kinman Pickups

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phyl
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Phyl

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I've been looking at replacing my stock Strat pups (1960 re-issue) with the Kinman Woodstock Plus set.

Any body using Kinmans? Opinions? How much quiter are they than stock pups?

Thanks.
 
Got a pair for my MIM tele and they sound at least at good as stock and eliminate hum (as advertised).

J-
 
I've used the Kinman Avn Blues set for almost a year now and I love them! I use them for recording and they are 100% quiet. My reasons for buying them were

1. Authentic wonderful Strat sound without ANY hum - none whatsoever, even standing 2 feet in front of my computer screen.

2. Better balanced string-to-string than any stock Fender pup.

3. Awesome service and advice. They come with easy-to-follow instructions on replacing them yourself (which I did). Just check out Chris Kinman's website http://www.kinman.com/ and you'll see that this man is a Strat afficionado.

The Avn Blues set is a little hotter than stock Strat, but cover most genres like Rock, Jazz and Pop (not just Blues!) I understand the Woodstock set is more vintage sounding, maybe like a late 60's Hendrix-y kind of clean sound. There are great descriptions on the website, in case you haven't looked yet.

Before the Kinmans I tried Seymour Duncan Classic Stack (noiseless) pickups, but although they were a vast improvement in the hum department, they fell short in tone (same as the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage from what I hear). Lace Sensors didn't fare much better.

If money's no issue, the only other pickups I would consider if concerned about retaining an authentic Strat tone are Lindy Fralin (you'd have to find out if they're totally noiseless though, as I don't know).
 
Thanks Pennylink.

I ordered the Woodstock set a few days ago.

I've read through the Kinman website a couple of times - great information. I'm very fond of the tone my MIM 1960s reissue Strat has in positions 2 and 4 but hate the bridge pickup, so the Woodstock set seemed a good selection.

The Woodstock bridge pickup is supposed to be somewhat hotter than stock and not nearly as shrill. This guitar has never sounded good distorted using the stock pickups, I've always gone to my humbucker guitar when I wanted to play dirty.
 
Phyl, you made a wise decision. You will be a very happy man!
 
Kinman Pups

Phyl,

so now many months later, are you still happy with the Kinman Woodstocks?

BB
 
Kinmans are very good. They are as silent as any thing, but to my ear they do not have the same punch as standard single coils, which is what I always like about single coils.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I'm very happy with the Kinmans - dead quiet and plenty of the quack and chime that I love in positions 2 and 4. I found that pickup hieght had a lot to do with dialing in the tone; my pickups are set very low, very close to the pickguard.

I also incorporated a mod suggested on the Kinman site. It involves rewiring the second tone pot to be a "blend pot". It blends in the neck pickup with whatever combo you have the 5 position switch set for. I really like setting the switch for the bridge pickup only and then blending in a little neck pickup - sounds great distorted.
 
A freidn recently put Kinman PUs in his Tele. I got a chance to play it for a couple hours and it sounds great with no hum. It sounds like a tele, just without the hum. Great pickups!
 
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