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The P-90 Hx made it's debut on 9th October 2009
Click here for Install Requirements for the P-90 Hx (revised info 24-Mar-10 might mean no routing is necessary). It contains information about Soapbar and Dog Ear covers and dimensions of pickup cavity that is required, etc.
The P-90 Hx is made possible by new 'Patent Applied For' technology and has a remarkable new 600 ohm noise sensor…. another first that reconfirms Kinman as the world leader in hum-canceling technology.
Sounding *identical* to a noisy P-90 this is one terific hum-canceling pickup designed with innovative and unconventional thinking; it has 202 individual parts (regular P-90 has just 13) and is designed to make the most toneful P-90 sound possible, without mains hum. *one model has improved P-90 sound*.
Limited Edition - 'Inaugural' Sets: It took a few days to dawn on me, and then I began to wonder…was it pre-ordained destiny or wondrous coincidence that the first batch completed manufacture on the 9th day of the 9th month of 2009? After all the set backs and obstacles during those 8 plus long years I believe it was destiny to arrive on a day with so many 9's in it's date, now known around here as Destiny day, 9-Sept-2009. I believe this pickup is such a major milestone in the evolution of pickup design that to celebrate the arrival of the P-90 Hx after almost 9 years of development I am offering a Limited Edition Inaugural Set collectors pack, only 90 sets will be made and each is assigned a unique serial number between 1 and 90. Each pickup is engraved on the back with it's unique serial number, model designation and date of manufacture as 09-09-2009 and autographed by me, Chris Kinman.
The new plastic box made specially for the P-90 Hx also has a unique Inaugural Series label which is hand inscribed with the unique serial number of the pickups. These sets will become collectors items and will rise in value in the future because only 90 sets are being made.
These Inaugural Series sets are set apart with a special neck pickup that is not otherwise currently available. It has a different wind especially for the neck pickup that has even more definition and tone, it still has the big sound that P-90's are noted for. There is almost no tendency to mush out, it just responds with even louder clearly delivered notes. The regular neck pickup is not rendered inferior by this one as it is itself significantly better then my Gibson original, read on.
These Limited Edition 'Inaugural Series' sets are available now in the webshop.
Regular P-90 Hx pickups - Sonic Characteristics:
I modeled my P-90 Hx on an authentic, original early 50's Gibson P-90 (previously I said it was an early 60's but I was wrong). The basis character of the Gibson has been retained while certain aspects of performance have been improved. High output, fabulous attack, sensitivity and dynamic range, remarkable presence and aliveness, sweet but prominent highs, wonderful growl in bridge position, piano-like stringy mid-tones in neck position, girthy HUGE luscious lows and a position 2 sound (two on together) that quacks/clucks like nothing else.
What's wrong with P-90's? Not much, but two aspects that annoy me are the strong tendency of the neck position wound strings when played as a chord to turn to mush under aggressive pick attack; that and the large amount of mains hum.
During the course of the development period I came to realize that some manufacturers of P-90 are under-winding for a lower output in an effort to reduce 60Hz hum. Well they certainly did that but unfortunately they also lost a lot of revered sonic characteristics. It was when I compared these inferior modern cousins to my genuine original Gibson P-90 I realize why it is I see so many comments on forums saying the hum from a P-90 is about the same a Strat pickup. That is a deluded claim because under identical laboratory test conditions a genuine P-90 has 650 millivolts of hum compared to 250 millivolts for a Strat pickup. P-90's are incredibly noisy.
Improvements: To reduce the neck pickup turning to 'mush' under heavy pick attack I improved the definition and clarity by increasing the dynamic range while the sound remains un-mistakably P-90. My noiseless P-90 Hx are great sounding pickups, not offensive in any way, but not polite either. It has the same brutal output as the original and the same muscular sound that in many ways is more likeable (and more silent) than a humbucker. The P-90 Hx is an incredible tone machine.
How good is the Kinman? Whether you like the sound of a P-90 in the neck position or not, the true test of quality of a P-90 is whether it sounds GREAT in the neck position or not. The Kinman speaks with a BIG voice, notes are so alive they just leap out and it sounds gorgeous and luscious in the neck position. With it's baseball bat attack it won't turn to mush too easily when played hard. The sound has piano-like mids, huge deep lows, sweet transparent highs that sizzle rather than clang and dynamic range that takes you from a tonefull gentle whisper to a crunched power chord in a nano second. One more important test is 'does it sound great at low volume?' If a P-90 passes both these tests in the neck position it will sound superb in the bridge position too. Then and only then can it qualify as an authentic sounding P-90 and you'll know because you wont be able to put the guitar down.
The loud mouthed Kinman noiseless P-90 Hx with it's remarkable 600 Ohm noise sensor is in a different world, keeping good company with genuine great sounding noisy P-90's. It really has got something to crow about.
A new beginning and a change of history:
The P-90 was cursed with hum from the beginning, that's the reason Gibson developed their famous humbucker so long ago …. to create a hum-cancelling pickup. But Gibson's humbucker turned out to be a very different sounding pickup and the P-90 hum problem was not actually solved. The twist of history is now the P-90 Hx is even quieter than a humbucker.
With it's revolutionary 600 Ohm noise sensor this pickup is gonna move a lot of air, and change a lot of minds about hum-cancelling pickups. It is nothing less than an astounding new beginning for the noiseless era and will start a new chapter of history concerning P-90 sound.
Behind the scenes story:
G'day, Chris Kinman here. Over 8 years ago I set my goal to duplicate the gorgeous sonic characteristics of a genuine original P-90 but eliminate the 60Hz hum, a noiseless P-90 (or hum canceling P-90) no less. At the time I did not realize the massive effort and complex manufacturing it was going to take to achieve that goal. Now I know the reason noiseless authentic P-90 sound has not been achieved before by other pickup manufacturers. There are plenty of look-a-likes but not one has a genuine P-90 sound.
When I tried to design a hum cancelling P-90 by applying my existing patented technology I found that which works well for Strats* and Teles* was not suitable to cancel the immense amount of hum from a P-90 without destroying it's magnificent sound. I came to realize that P-90 sound, although in some ways brutal and powerful, is actually quite fragile and a more sophisticated technique would be required if the original sound is to be retained.
Discovering the additional solutions took almost 3 more years with countless hours spent and many experimental pickups made and discarded creating a whole bin full of scrap copper wire and parts. There were many times I thought it was an impossible mission and almost came to the point of abandoning the whole idea as a waste of expensive R&D materials and my valuable time.
However, I had made a promise in 2001 and almost in desperation, I continued, like a lonely prospector looking for gold in the wilderness. I'm glad I didn't abandon my quest because eventually, little by little the P-90 gave up it's secrets and I eventually found the Mother Lode.
My P-90 Hx captures the magnificent girth, luscious lows, piano mid tones and extreme dynamics that characterize a great P-90 pickup. It has 202 individual parts and some very unconventional thinking to accomplish this extremely difficult task. Now YOU can enjoy magnificent P-90 sound without that annoying mains hum.
Technical stuff:
Inclusions: included with each pickup is a Cream or Black soapbar cover, 2 mounting screws and 2 silicon rubber tube springs, a handy drill guide template for positioning the screw holes in the virgin floor of the pickup cavity of a project guitar or guitars with freshly deepened cavities.
Winds for Bridge & Neck coils: There are 2 models with optimized coil winds for the bridge and neck/middle positions. The bridge wind has lots of girthy growl n midrange for the bridge position, like my old Gibson P-90. The neck wind has a bit more focus and aliveness for increased definition and brightness which avoids the usual tendancy of regular P-90's to 'mush' out. Both can be swapped around but I don't recommend it highly.
Pots: The best value for the volume pot is 500k as this allows the pickup to breathe for maximizing dynamic response and aliveness. A 250k pot can be used but there will be noticeably less of the above characteristics.
Phase reversible: The P-90 Hx has 3 conductor cabling so is phase reversible. Normal phase (aka output polarity) is compatible with all Gibson and other Kinman pickups. Fender pickups have opposite output polarity so reverse phase hookup can be used.
Covers: The P-90 Hx can be installed under Dog Ear covers in an F-hole hollow body too by including an optional Kinman mounting bracket with your order. Solid body guitars with Dog Ear covers don’t require the bracket. There are three Install Guides: for solid bodies with Soapbars and Dog Ears as well as for f-hole hollow bodies with Dog Ears.
Dog-Ear covers which have a pole spread of 50mm are suitable for the P-90 Hx. Most Epiphone Casino Dog-Ear covers have 50mm spacing however there are some Dog-Ear covers around that won't accept the 50mm pole spacing of the P-90 Hx.
Connections: Can be ordered with with normal solder connections or with Kinman connectors for plugging into a Kinman Strat or Tele harness.
Shielding: It is highly recommended to install comprehensive shielding since any P-90 worth it’s salt is susceptible to RF buzzing from lighting dimmers etc. This is not the same kind of noise as mains hum and can only be minimized with shielding.
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