Other
manufacturers please be aware that Kinman, Hx, Zero-Hum, AVn, SCn, Belltone
and DCT are Trade Marks of Chris Kinman.
*Stratocaster and *Strat are trade marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp. Kinman Guitar Electrix is not associated with Fender but they kindly consent to me referring to their marks. Fender have asked me to tell you that they do not endorse Kinman products (understandably :)
25-Mar-08. Prices rising soon, after 10 years remaining unchanged.
We lead in No-Hum pickup technology today ... others will try to catch up tomorrow
who are you going to follow? the innovator or the imitator?
DIY install kit with my NoSoldering Harness with K7 and K9 switching for extended versatility Click here
This page displays 3 basic sets of Zero-Noise pickups to suit the *Stratocaster, or similar
instruments. Each set of 3 (or 2 pickups for bridge humbucker installs)
can be ordered with my unique
NoSoldering Harness which achieves maximum sonic potential of each set. Sets of 3, 2 and Single pickups can also be
ordered from my Shop
Online.
Traditional Mk-II set
Blues set
Woodstock (Reg and Plus) sets
In a nutshell:
Released in March '04. Buy this set if you want a big and bold traditional vintage sound similar to the best Strat pickups of yesteryear. Complex Alnico character, excellent dynamics, projection and definition that are retained even when distorted. Fluid, shimmery, chimey highs (never thin or Ice picky) More punch and thwack on the wound strings than a regular single coil. Has excellent twang and growl. 'Caricature' of classic vintage Alnico Strat* tone, with Zero-Hum.
Very versatile, buy this set if you want great clean sounds that don't break up easily. Extended versatility with a K9 NoSoldering Harness.
In a nutshell:
Buy this set if you want less aggressive, rounder Aged *Strat sound with softer attack than the Trad Mk-II in clean mode and breaks into crunch more easily. Lots of Alnico detail but less bright tone, medium strong output. Also great for smooth overdrive sounds with 'clarity and TONE. Zero-Hum.
Quite versatile. Extended versatility with the K9 NoSoldering Harness.
In a nutshell:
Buy this set if you want THE most dynamic slightly-aged Strat sound with the most thump and punch of any Strat pickup. Explosive attack with exceptional clarity, definition and projection, breaks easily into crunch under heavy pick attack. Heaps of Alnico tone character. Overdosed with projection and plenty of grit and powerful top end chime. Great for Heavy Rock and extreme distortion. Your Strat will easily stand alongside Les Pauls with it's high output and have less hum, because these have Zero-Hum.
Moderately versatile. Dramatically extended versatility with the K9 NoSoldering Harness.
There
is a lot of additional information below so please scroll down or
use the following shortcuts to read it all. For more detailed
Technical information and Tips (and handy hints) look in
my Tone Workshop pages.
IMPORTANT:
All my *Fender replacement pickups use Alnico rod magnets because
Alnico imparts a rich complex midrange detail that alternate
magnet designs just don't have.
Introduced in March 2004. The previous Traditional set has been discontinued as of March 2004, this Mk-II set is a different animal. The only similarity is the name.
What makes this set so very different from other noiseless pickups is there is nothing missing from the upper frequencies, the non-wound (plain) strings are alive and fluid feeing with the classic tinkly, shimmering quality of extremely nice Strat pickups, never harsh or dominating. Position 2 and 4 have great Knopfleresque 'quak' sounds.
Many
genuine old (aged) vintage Strat pickups are feeble, weak and dull and have lost 'the' Fender sound due to excessive aging. Now imagine a great vintage Strat* sound from yesteryear before things went downhill. This set articulates the best characeristics of those clean sounds made by the best mystical old 50's pickups. Sparkly sweet and classic with a somewhat aggressive attitude (but no Icepick). And thanks to the low strength magnets you'll get more sustain and much better behaved distortion that retains definition and clarity.
The best old Strat pickups were not scooped in the midrange and had wonderful Twang and Thwack factor that provided kick and punch to the sound. Those qualities elude many modern pickups. The Traditional set makes a big impact when you hear them for the first time because they capture that elusive twang and low end punch that so many hear for the first time with a Kinman Mk-II experience.
If your guitar has stock pickups you will be in for a BIG surpise. This set has superb dynamic range and will break into crunch only under heavy pick attack. A most versatile set, at home in many styles of clean and modern overdriven guitar, it's the ultimate set of Strat pickups for Surf, Jazz, Country and even for Blues.
NOTE: The new AVn-62b bridge pickup is a special pickup for the bridge position with a unique magnet stagger designed for optimum balance and most pleasing sound. It's not the same as the AVn-62 in the Blues set. You will find yourself using the AVn-62b bridge pickup more and more on it's own.
Optimium performance and extended versatility is achieved with my K9 NoSoldering Harness
The aged vintage tone (less aggression) of this set is great
for crunchy blues solos, full on distortion or clean soft, delicate passages in jazz since the attack and trebles
have slightly less prominence than my Traditional or Woodstock sets.
The Blues set has thicker tone so when overdriven gives creamy distortion without mud.
Positions 2 and 4 sounds are acceptable in comparison to stock single
coils. Under heavy attack
this set break into crunch easily which makes it great for Blues.
This is not the most powerful set I make, in fact it has the same
output as the NEW Traditional Mk-II set, but it just seems to hit the
spot with so many modern Blues players, making it one of my most
popular products. Add to cart
CAUTION:
If you want a Strat on steroids with heaps of punch, heaps of dynamic range, aggressive attitude and an exciting feel with a huge sound, then look no further than the 2nd generation of my Woodstock's (revised in late 2001). A Stratocaster* equipped with a set of these will stand it's ground against a Les Paul, and will make less hum.
Named for the Woodstock era (not just for Jimi), my Woodstock sets are very powerful and dynamic pickups that pack such a wallop that they may require a little experimentation in height adjustment to tame the performance to what you are accustomed to with regular single coils. They overload the front end of an amp easily. Turning the volume control down a tad [with my bypass filter fitted] sweetens the sound up nicely.
This set has a big powerful darker sound and features aggressive, fast semi-aged attack and superb dynamic response. Accenting the dynamic, extremely fluid and super responsive feel of one of the great inspirational Stratocaster* masters of all time. Bright and bold, extremely responsive with loads of feel and punch. It's almost too easy not to sound polite with this set. Retains remarkable definition, clarity and presence under heavy overdrive. These pickups behave and sound better than most all Strat pickups when cranked. The non-wound strings are unusually powerful. Perhaps surprisingly switch positions 2 and 4 produce recognozable Knopfleresque quack sounds.
These Woodstock's make it easy to sound more like Jimi than Jimi himself did, and you won't have to use a curly cord to get his sound. These are a Strat Virtuoso's delight and packs such a wallop your playing will project with a voice of authority. If you own a Fender with stock pickups you are in for a REALLY BIG surpise. Les Pauls move over.
The AVn-69's are great for matching bridge humbuckers both in terms of sound character and output. No regular Alnico Strat pickup comes close. Combining these with a humbucker works best in my (SS+H) NoSoldering Harness designed to automatically adjust the pot load according to pickup selected. 250K for single coils and 500K for humbucker, and it doesn't require separate pots. One more innovation from Kinman.
This set is a 'Charicature' (magnification) of semi-aged Alnico Strat* tone that's especially suitable for Hendrix, Richie Blackmore (Machine Head) etc. Some players will find these too strong and aggressive for Jazz. Add to cart
Some players have asked me for a fatter, hotter bridge pickup for
the Woodstock set, one that has more output. Well here it is. As
far as Alnico Strat* pickups go the Hx-85 bridge pickup packs a real
wallop and is heading in the direction of a P-90 but retains the unmistakably characteristics of a Fender genre single coil. (hence the designation
of 85, Hx means hum cancelling, 85 being just short of 90). It has a
fatter, thicker tone with thumping attack and output to better match
the high output AVn-69 neck pickup. Position 2 (bridge + middle)
is unexpectedly delightful with unusually high amount of chime. My
most powerful pickup for Stratocaster*, the Hx-85, measures 9.6K
Ohms and has 4.3 Henrys of inductance....in other words it's an
awesome beast that growls like...err...a tiger.
CAUTION:
The Woodstock series are quite powerful pickups that
drive amps hard, they may require a different picking technique and some experimentation with pickup
adjustment to get the performance you are accustomed to with regular
single coils. Turning the volume control down a tad [with my bypass filter fitted] sweetens the sound up nicely. Add to cart
Optimium
performance and dramatically extended versatility is achieved with my
K9 NoSoldering
Harness which delivers a P-90ish sound in the 8th and 9th positions.
Perhaps
best summed up with these comments by the British guitar magazine
Total Guitar; "After fitting Kinman Woodstock's our stock single
coils suddenly seemed shockingly thin and weedy"
NOTE:
In December '01 I made some changes/improvements in my pickups for
Strat* and similar guitars (not Woodstocks) which result in an increase
of presence/brightness, attack and output. The changes are coincidental
to another change, that of changing the coating on the Magnetic
Shields from Gold Passivate to chemically etched Black. The magnetic
shields are the two formed-sheet-metal parts that surround the coils
and can be viewed in the pictures below. The improvements are the
consequence of us now manufacturing these crucial components 100%
in-house in our own metal press shop so we can control quality and
other important aspects of their manufacture which is impossible
with outside suppliers.
Tone chart: Updated chart coming soon JUne-07 .......
The 56 and 62 have been changed dramatically.
These
graphs are intended to give an impression of the tone while not
being representative of any actual measurements.
Note that the tone bars are related to output, which is related to attack/presence.
The treble bar is actually representative of presence as well as
high frequencies.
Lead Free manufacturing: As of August 2006 we began the transition to RoHS compliance; that is our products are manufactured to comply with the new Lead Free international standards. All products will be Lead Free by end of 2006. You will see this symbol printed on the back of the pickups or harness parts.
Lead Free products use SAC solder (Silver and Tin) and are soldered at a temperature of 700 degrees F. NEVER mix Lead solder and Lead Free solder. If a lead free product is repaired and re-soldered with leaded solder then long term reliability can not be assured.
Returns for exchange: I like happy customers telling the world what great pickups I make and am prepared to exchange if the results are not as dramatic as my customer hoped for. The details are located on the *Terms and Conditions* buttons on my Shops Online.
Kinman's
unique low strength Alnico-5 magnets (unlike American manufacturers who use Chinese magnets for economy mine are expensive and most definitely not made in Asia)
On
regular single coils for *Strat's and *Tele's the Alnico-5 magnets
are quite strong, too strong to allow natural string vibration patterns.
The result is reduced sustain and a kind of warbling sound from
certain strings (the G-3rd and E-6th strings are the worst affected)
that is actually a range of discordant frequencies mixed together,
not a pure steady note of a fixed pitch (see Strat-itis).
And because the magnets pull the strings down onto the frets (resulting
in strings crashing into the frets) Fender's are notoriously buzzy/rattly
instruments and sustain is cut short by the loss of energy from
the strings.
Kinman's
unique and special Alnico-5 magnets on the other hand have 35% less
magnetic pull that allows the strings to vibrate freely and purely.
Sustain is noticeable longer and there is negligable Stratitis.
And because the strings are not pulled into the frets by the magnets
the sound is amazingly devoid of buzzes and rattles and crashing
of strings into frets.
This
is not magnet aging or simple degaussing, this is a metallurgical
difference in the material itself...a difference that you will hear
the moment you first hear Kinman's. And incredibly output is not
sacrificed with the reduction in magnet strength. You will be astonished
at the strong output, longer sustain, increased clarity and purity
of sound that your guitar will produce when you fit Kinman's. This
is how your guitar sounds when the strings are not hampered by excessively
strong magnets.....as many thousands of players have discovered
to their delight.
High
string/Low string presence difference solved.
As
of December '02 all Kinman pickups will be shipped with an improvement
that guitar players will love. Many players complain that if they
set their amp up for killer wound string sound their un-wound strings
literally slice their ears off with excessive ice pick. But when
they adjust the amp to make the un-wound strings bearable they loose
the great tone they had on the wound strings. There seemed to be
no-where in between. Other manufacturers have addressed this by
using Alnico-5 magnets on the wound strings and Alnico-2 magnets
on the un-wound strings, but having different magnets changes the
overall sound and results in a new type of pickup.
I
have found a way of keeping the highs sweet and the lows crisp without
using different magnets in the same pickup. Resistance, inductance,
resonance, magnet strength and Q are unchanged so this little secret
of mine can't be detected other than by listening. The wound strings
on my pickups have all the snap and attack that you'd ever want
but the plain treble strings produce a nicely balanced sweet tone
that won't offend ears. And most importantly, tonal and response
balance is not compromised as it is when different types of magnets
are mixed to solve the problem.
The SECRETS inside a Kinman pickup for Stratocasters*:
I
occasionally get asked why my AVn pickups are more expensive than
regular single coils or even some other brands of noiseless pickups;
Well
lets talk about value for money and how Kinman's will actually help
to pay for themselves. The reason these are expensive to manufacture
is several fold:
1)
I do not use molded plastic parts to form the coil bobbins. My bobbins
are assembled one at a time by hand using individually drilled and
routed flanges that are skilfully hand de-burred and radiused around
the edges one at a time. These flanges are made from extremely inflexible
(and expensive) material that is made specially for me and is much
stronger than even the best moulded plastic parts. Molded plastic
parts are certainly cheap but I get far better performance using
my special parts and painstaking hand assembly. My special black
material is most definitely not the usual inexpensive vulcanized
fibreboard which is stamped out enmasse at very low cost.
2)
my pickups are 3 or 4 times more complicated than regular
single coils and even more complicated than other noiseless;
there is actually more than two regular pickups inside one of my
pickups. (see photos below)
3)
My designs have extra components (magnetic shields, steel pins and
stamped steel H-core parts) which are present to prevent magnetic
coupling of the coils which is the deadly enemy of verticle noise
cancelling designs. Consequently my pickups require much more time,
effort and equipment to manufacture and to maintain strict quality
control on every one of them. My products feature jewell-like
precision attention to detail which will be your pleasure to
discover and experience.
4)
Most of the materials and components used in my pickups are specially
made for me to my rigid specifications and are the highest quality
available anywhere. I avoid off-the-shelf components and materials
to achieve better than off-the-shelf perfomance and sound.
5)
I also include a high quality tintable cover and 2 sets of specially
made mounting screws (Pan head and Countersunk) for each pickup
to suit different types of guitars as well as the parts to make
my Bypass filter, all nicely presented and packaged. Ohh yeah!!! and
eack pickup is fitted with a unique shielded cable already prepared
ready for soldering into your guitar. These cables are more than long enough for stock strat installs. Quality of design and manufacture
with forethought and attention to detail all the way, and then some.
Many
players have noticed that after they fitted Kinman's their strings
last longer, up to twice as long (depending on your body chemistry).
That means the Kinman's will help pay for themselves and eventually
save you money.
Now for the inside story: Picture
#1 shows a partially exploded view of what is inside. A regular
single coil is the equivalent of the assembled magnet bobbin (bobbin
at left) without all the other things. I use six Alnico magnets
and therefore must also use my Patented magnetic H-shield to ensure
a faithful reproduction of Alnico single coil noiseless tone than
can work happily into a 250K volume pot.
Click
on the images for a better look.
The
hand assembled magnet bobbin, upper magnetic shield, lower magnetic
shield and hand assembled noise sensing bobbin. Note the Blue insulation
sleeve around the magnets on each end of the bobbin, this is an
industry first. This specially manufactured precision sleeve is
extremely thin but prevents shorting of the coil to the magnets (a common problem with other brands).
We
manufacture our own magnetic shields in-house on 3 different Power
Presses (35 ton to 12 ton strike force) to ensure the highest quality
standard. We also do this because no outside supplier has the other
special equipment necessary to complete these crucial parts. These
parts are not painted because paint affects performance, I use chemical
etching Black stuff that adds ZERO thickness.
Note
how there is actually more than 2 regular pickups in one. That's
real value for money huh!!!
This
is how it would look if assembled before winding the coils into
the bobbins. Note the 8 steel poles (unaged models have 10) in the
noise sensing lower bobbin (right) and the 6 special Alnico-5 magnets
in the string sensing upper bobbin (left). The 8 or 10 steel poles boost the efficiency of the noise sensing coil by over 200% compared to what alnico magnets would yield, and that means the coil can be less than half the size. Minimizing the lower coil reduces it's adverse affect on the signal to almost zero.
The
two coils are very different to each other, being wound with different size wire and vastly different turns
count (unlike regular stacks which have similar coils) but each generates the same noise voltage and therefore cancell noise perfectly. The lower noise sensing coil has less than half the number of turns and less than 1/3rd the resistance of the string sensing upper coil, reducing it's undesirable affect on the sound to almost zero. Here the bobbins have been assembled, the wires terminated and it
has been vacuum wax potted at 120 degrees C.
We
indellibly print and write a lot of identification data onto the
back of every pickup so you won't ever forget what it is. Every
pickup has a (green) copper ground plane over the baseplate, this helps shield the coils from RF noise (buzzing).
Aging
tints: As of December '00 Kinman pickups for Strat are fitted with a new design pickup
cover which is moulded in either Black or a special White plastic
that's capable of being stained to a variety of colours. As well
as Black and White I also offer Mint, Aged White, Parchment,
Old Strat, and Cream. See my Glossary Aged
Covers for full details. As of May '06 most of my colours are moulded into the plastic during manufacture and the colour is very uniform.
I do
not offer metal plated covers for Strat pickups. Real metal plating
affects the sound excessively and Metallized deposits that dont affect the sound like my Tele
cover require a special plastic which requires it's own prohibitively
expensive injection molding tool.
No
Logo covers: (May 06) No logo covers are specially made that way. NOTE: when you order pickups without Kinman Logo you will be charged extra.
CAUTION:
Do not attempt to fit foreign replacement
covers to Kinman pickups. Some of these foreign replacement covers
are not faithful reproductions of Fenders and are too small and will fit too tightly onto Kinman bobbins. Often
these covers destroy the bobbins when attempting to remove them.
Removing
covers requires special knowldege. Click on this to learn
how to remove
covers without damaging the pickup.
String alignment issues and Narrow
spaced neck pickup:
As
of mid March '01 all Kinman Strat sets are being shipped with a
special neck pickup that has the E poles 3mm closer together. This
means that the magnet-poles of the neck pickup will align satisfactorily*
with the strings on both Twin Pivot AND Traditional type
bridges made by Fender and others. Strats with either bridge will have improved
performance with no more dropouts on the E strings and better bending
performance. *I consider it satisfactory when the strings align within the perimeter of the magnet. It's OK if the strings do not lie on the dead centre of the magnets.
The magnet spreads are: Normal is 52.5mm between centres of the two E magnets. Narrow is 49.mm between centres of the two E magnets. Click here to see a diagram.
Only genuine Kinman pickup covers will fit because
the neck pickup with narrow pole spacing has it's own special cover.
Customers with vintage instruments can have all 3 pickups to have normal spacing by requesting that in the *Additional notes* box on the payment window.
From
July '01 all pickup sets have included for FREE the 130K resistor
and the .0012uF capacitor to make the volume control bypass filter.
This device, when used with Kinman pickups, actually increases the
brightness slightly as the volume pot is wound down, making it great
for volume reduced rhythm chops. When used with regular single coils
it more or less attempts to preserve the amount of brightness as
the volume pot is wound down. Read more about it here.
NOTE:
All Kinman pickups are available in 6 options. Right and left hand
improved stagger (for non-wound G string), right and left hand traditional
stagger (for wound G string), flat (non staggered for flat fretboards), bridge stagger and neck/middle stagger.
No difference in price.
It
has been said that vintage pickups sound so good because they have
certain imperfection (excessive string pull resulting in string
crash and buzz, pitch instability (Strat-itis), overbearing G string
that sounds like a chain saw, 60Hz noise etc etc), however I strongly
disagree. I reckon they sound so good because of some fundamental
electrical characteristics and that they sound great inspite of
these imperfections.
Regular
single coils with traditional magnet stagger (with high G pole)
were designed for wound 3rds (G) as these strings have lower output
than plain (non-wound) strings. When a plain 3rd is used on one of
these pickups the high 'G' pole gives that string more output than
all the others making it dominant over the others (level wise).
It jumps out and can be heard as the loudest string, standing out dramatically
in licks, runs and chords.
This
increased sensitivity also means the 3rd (G) string misbehaves somewhat
in terms of not oscillating at a stable frequency. And because of
it's mass and low tension, it tends to succumb to the magnetic influence
and at elevated levels sounds akin to a chainsaw or buzzsaw. This
is actually a combination of the string crashing into the frets
and frequency instability (Strat-itis). So we end up with a mix
of Strat-itis and fret crash, I can't imagine anything more horrible.This
also translates into distortion sounds and, as with clean sounds,
it is really quite objectionable and unpleasant (very un-musical).
All bridge pickups made since March 2004 have got a lower 5th string (A) magnet than the neck and middle. These pickups have a 'b' suffix attached to the model ID (eg AVn-69b). This alleviates the nasty gnarling sound prevalent in Fender type pickups (non-noiseless and noiseless). The volume of the strings remains well balanced.
I
make all my pickups available in the Traditional stagger upon request
but if ordered with the improved magnet stagger the rasping 3rd
(G) is not a problem. Almost all Fender single coils (other than
flat pole setting) have a Traditional magnet stagger. In any case
my Traditional stragger behaves significantly better then regular
pickups because of my lower magnet strength.
NOTE: When a wound G string is used with a magnet designed for non-wound string the wound string will have significantly lower output. If you contemplate alternating both types of string it's better to choose a stagger for wound G string. When you are using the non-wound string it will be louder than the others but that is preferable to one that has lower output.
Special
note about Jimi's Reverse Stagger: I believe Jimi got his sounds
in spite of the reverse stagger and that he just learned to live
with it. So I do not recommend a reverse stagger to emulate Jimi's
sound. All this does is lower the output of the A string and that's
definitely not very pleasing. If you want to emulate Jimi's sound
you will be thrilled with the Woodstock's performance and once you
hear them you won't regret not getting Jimi's reverse stagger, I
promise you.
Click
on the photo for a larger view. Discontinued 10-April-07. We still have some stock left, when you order ask for availability in the Additional Notes box.
My
Gold plated poles and screws are double plated with Nickel first
and then double plated with Gold on top of that. This makes them
more resistant to wear and corrosion that regular Gold hardware.
You can see a photo of a handsome Strat Deluxe with Gold Kinman
pickups by following
this link Gold has an additional cost of US$50 per set. Direct sales only.
For
direct orders I provide Pan head screws or Countersunk screws (See
links immediately above). All Strat* sold to Dealers have included
2 sets of screws (6 panheads for modern guitars or 6 countersunk
for originals or vintage reissues). All sets contain 6 special springs,
prepared ready-for-soldering shielded output socket cable and cable
ties to make a neat job plus comprehensive Fitting Instructions
and various Wirograms.
If your original pickups are EMG or similar pickups with parallel baseplate and your pickup cavities will not accomodate the normal offset asymetric baseplate of a regular Strat pickup then click this to see how to provide for normal baseplates.
For mounting with out a pickguard direct to
the wood it is imperative that no foam (or very little) is packed
under the pickup as spring material. The correct method is for the
Silicon rubber tube springs we provide to be placed over the screw
between the wood and the pickup (do not use metal springs as they
might short the signal). Excess pressure resulting from using foam
packing under the pickup will lead to mechanical de-formation (bending)
and eventual failure of the pickup. A minimal amount of low density
foam to help align the pickup from leaning is OK. Click here to see how it's done.
You
need smaller diameter but longer screws [than the ones we include
for pickguard mounting] of the Wood or Self Tapping type. The type
of screw used to mount Jazz or Precision Bass pickups is what you
need for this application. The screws should be of a diameter that
pokes easily through the tapped screw holes in the baseplate of
the pickup without harming the thread in the baseplate (so the pickups
can be mounted on a pickguard using the correct screws in the future).
WD Music Products supply small diameter longer screws Code: PBSB/P.
Allparts also have them, refer to my links page for their website
links.
Installation and Wiring: (Scroll down for
my innovative NoSoldering Harness that eliminates wiring and soldering)
Installing Kinman's
is straighforward. However you should check your pots with a multimeter to ensure
they measure a minimum of 240K ohms. My pickups work with all the
original controls and the hook-up cables are already generously cut to correct lengths
(tip
of cable and ground take-off leg) and are pre-soldered to suit most Strat* and Strat-like guitars. If you have non-standard control positions (Volume pot and/or selector switch) and require longer cables tell us when you order in the Additional notes box on the Checkout page. You
will need soldering skills and a soldering iron, a screwdriver for cross head screws and a tube spanner to tighten
the pot nuts and output socket nut. Comprehensive fitting instructions
are included and are very detailed with easy to understand wirogram
drawings (you can view these at Tone Workshop >Tone).
Changing covers, shielding and setting up is also discussed in the
instruction text and on the Tone Workshop pages of this Website.
I
urge you to learn how the pickup ground cables should be terminated
onto the volume pot by visiting Soldering
tricks on the Tone page.. click on the small photo
to see how only the tips of the cables are soldered. DO NOT HEAT
THE ENTIRE CABLE (exposed) ground section as this can cause short
circuits.
A list of recommended installers for the USA can be viewed on My
Dealers >USA.
Star
grounding, is it necessary?: Star grounding in a guitar
is not the absolute necessity it is in 'active circuits' like CD players or Amplifiers
where it is designed to inhibit ground loops. Guitars don't suffer
from ground loops. It is practiced in guitars more as a convenience
that serves simplicity, convenience and neatness of wiring. That means as
long as all the ground wires ultimately connect to the output socket
ground terminal all will be OK. In some circumstances it may be
more convenient to piggyback some ground wires onto an intermediate grounded point
that is different to the central main ground point on the cover of the volume pot.
DYI install kit for Fender Stratocasters (and similar). Pickups and wiring no soldering required. NoSoldering Harness with K9 switching or K7 switching.
Get greater versatility than using a bridge humbucker or P-90! (Woodstock Plus with K9 Harness)
Install pickups without soldering!
Change pickups at will without soldering!
Replace your existing controls with high quality parts without soldering!
Packed with great features to make you sound and play better. Some have said it's impossible but my UNIQUE and revolutionery NoSoldering Harness for Strats* (and copies) is now available as an "add-on" accessory when you order Kinman pickups: Prices and Shipping options are displayed in the pickup order boxes on my Shop
Online.
These unique and highly innovative harness make it dead easy for you to install Kinman pickups into your Strat* or similar because you don't have to solder anything. It has my pickups and high quality pots, switch and output socket all pre-soldered or with solderless connections. Install instructions are sent by email at time of shipping.
P-90 and Strat in one guitar with the K9 and Woodstock Plus set, and all sounds have Zero-Hum.
Unique K7 or K9 pickup mixing controls for maximum versatility with stock knob appearance.
Absolutely ZERO soldering required. 3 years in develoment and perfecting.
No twisted wire connections and no wrap around tape. Just clean, secure, reliable connections that will NOT fail you.
No modification required to your Strat or similar guitar (see Note-3 and 4 below)
Save money on installs, do it yourself inside 30 minutes using simple basic tools.
Specially made CTS pots to maximize sonic performance. Learn what's wrong with stock Pots.
2 user switchable Tone caps, Normal & HDTC (aka High Definition) See below for details.
current versions (16-March-06) are engineered for both pickguard mount and wood mount (rear routed) control cavities See NOTE-2.
user replaceable K9 control -and- volume pot without soldering (10-Aug-06) in case of faults developing after installation.
Swap other harness-compatible Kinman pickup in minutes
without soldering.
Pickup covers and knobs are colour matched where possible but Old Strat covers get Aged White knobs and Parchment covers get White knobs.
Left hand versions with left hand pots available.
Passive circuitry, no battery required.
NOTE-1: the harness is shipped to you on a Red plastic panel. You take the pickups and controls off that panel and swap them to your pickguard. The connections to your guitar are easily completed without soldering.
NOTE-2: All current NoSoldering Harness are suitable for guitars that have the pickups mounted on a pickguard or direct to the wood with rear rout control cavity, provided the pickup cavities accomodate the offset baseplate or are undercut to do so.
NOTE-3: Minimum depth of control rout must be 1.42" or 36mm. Maximum thickness for mounting pots with star washer fitted is 7.5mm. Some Chinese Strats (Squire affinity) and certain copies have a shallow rout in the control cavity that may have to be made deeper. Check before ordering or be prepared to rout your control cavity deeper. Deepening the floor will not adversly affect the sound of the guitar, remember that all Strats made since early 1950's have a full depth cavity and lots of those guitars sound legendary.
NOTE-4: For G&L guitars the K7 harness fits without problem but the K9 will not fit unless a new pickguard is fitted which has the switch slot at a similar angle to a Fender Strat.
High definition Tone control is a very usable tone control because it's effect is not as savage as a regular Tone control. Unlike normal Tone controls it can be used at position '0' to get a smokey soulful tone flavour without robbing the sound of important high mids. In comparison, regular tone controls turn the sound to mud because they severely cut important upper midrange frequencies that give notes good definition. Some players think it's not working because it's a subtle control and may take some getting used to before it's effect comes into focus. However when you finally ‘get it' you (like so many before) might find it very pleasing.
Sliding the switch from Hi-Def to Normal (or .022) will return the tone control to normal.
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Details of the two Harneses
The K7 harness comes with a 7 sound mixing system as standard (but optional by request) The K7 pot is a control that, in conjunction with the 5 pos switch, gives you 7 (parallel) combinations of the 3 pickups, the extra sounds being similar to the normal position 2/4 sounds but different. Click this link for the K7 sound switching chart The sounds of the K7 Harness are more suited to clean playing so by inference is best suited to the Traditional Mk-II set. For Distortion and overdrive choose the K9 Harness with the fat and gutsy series connections.
The current version is suitable for rear routed control cavity (24th March '06). Click for K7 footprint template to see if it fits into the control cavity of your Non-Fender guitar. This version has 2 capacitors that can be selected by a mini slide switch mounted on the harness. Slide one direction to get my High Definition tone control or slide the opposite direction to get a regular tone control if you want normal extreme treble cut. Another unique feature is the Volume pot is user replaceable without soldering (occasionally pots get scratchy in time).
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The K9 Harness provides the utmost sonic versatility and is suitable for both pickguard and & rear rout control cavities such as offered by Warmoth. Click for K9 footprint template to see if it fits into the control cavity of your Non-Fender guitar.
This harness provides clean sounds as well as crunch sounds for extreme distortion. The 2 extra crunch sounds are selected by the lower Push/Push pot. Popping the knob out with the pickup selector switch in position 2 re-connects the Bridge & Middle from parallel into series*, for boost in output and instant P-90 crunch: and also *that* plus the neck pickup in parallel for fat hollow crunch. (March 06) Click this link for the K9 sound switching chart.
A unique additional feature is the internal slide switch where you can select either of 2 tone caps, my High Definition Tone control, or a regular tone control if you want normal extreme treble cut. Another unique feature is the Volume pot and K9 control are user replaceable without soldering (occasionally pots become noisy over time).
The K9 works well with all Kinman sets, but particularily the Woodstock Plus set which, in series mode, sounds fat and furry on the treble strings like a P-90, but with better bass side definition. Imagine ..... a Strat and P-90 in one guitar !!!
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Other options:
You also have the option to send us your blank pickguard so we can expertly fit my NoSoldering Harness here. No extra charge. I do not supply pickguards; however there are links to several quality makers of these in the USA on my Links page.
Torres
harnesses and those from various other makers are not approved
by Kinman and do not reflect my preferences or incorporate my selectivity
(special pots). Torres won't even reply to my emails and I have never
seen one of their products. Play it safe and get a genuine Kinman
NoSoldering Harness.
Fender's
S1 switching system. Upon request with order for pickups
I can provide special wirogram and fitting instructions developed
especially to make fitting my pickups to any SSS Strat that is equipped with Fender's S1 system (not SSH).
NOTE: only pickups manufactured after June '04 are compatable. I
do not supply the S1 switch and the S1 system will not assimilate with my NoSoldering
Harness because they are similar products.
I have
been told many times by customers that they use compressors to 'even
out the response and level irregularities' of regular single coils.
Of course this kills some of the 'feel' and 'explosive attack' of
a single coil by limiting dynamic range. Kinman pickups don't have
these irregularities so there is no need to use a compressor, this
means you will get all the dynamics that Kinman pickups are famous
for and you will notice a vast improvement to your guitar without
a compressor.
Mustangs respond very well to pickup upgrade because the original pickups are of student quality and do not let the guitar achieve it's full sonic potential. You can now enjoy radically improved sonic performance by fitting Kinman Strat pickups and rewiring the two slide switches to perform more useful functions. Rewire with my special Mustang wirogram and you can have Neck and Bridge in series with output boost and get a P-90-like crunch as well as Neck and Bridge in parallel, or each pickup individually. Wirogram is only available with new direct orders and will be included with your order for pickups. Order on Shop Online in the 'Custom set of two Strat pickups' box. The original switches provide either, or both pickups in phase and (honky) out of phase.
When ordering choose Mixed set of 2 Strat pickups on the new shop. It is important you tell us you have a Fender Mustang to get the most suitable versions of my Strat pickups. Both should be narrow spaced and the bridge pickup is reversed (left-hand turned around).
