Kinman PU's for Tele?

[Jumblefingers]

I have a lovely Highway 1 Tele and though I like the sound the noise at high gain is a bummer. I have been thinking about/looking at Kinmans for a long time as they are supposedly "noisless".

Anyone use them and if so how do they sound - any loss of high end sparkle? I like the Tele-Twang and spend a lot of time on the bridge and middle positions.

Any thoughts apprecaited.

 

[Unburst]

They sound good but not great to my ears.
They lost a little bit of "shimmer" on the top end that a good SC has, but for noiseless pups they are outstanding.

Heard some poeple recommend the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage too, you might want to check those out.

 

[Red Ant]

I put a Kinman in the bridge of my '74 Tele Custom, and I couldn't be happier with it - its outstanding. Also, the middle position with the Kinman and the Fender HB is pure joy!

 

[Seńor Verde]

What is the body and fretboard wood? I don't know what the Hwy. 1 body is.

I have owned Bill Lawrence, Dimarzio Virtual Vintage, Duncan Stacked and both Kinman Tele pups.

My favorite for ash bodied, maple neck pup is Kinman's Broadcaster. If you have a alder body with rosewood, I would go with the Kinman '62. If you have some other configuration, you are on your own, but the Kinman kills all the others, to me.

Playing out with a band, nobody will notice they aren't real single coils and most probably would not notice if you were playing by yourself.

As they say, YMMV

 

[Jumblefingers]

Body is alder w/ satin finish (no gloss, mostly "wood")
Maple neck

 

[Seńor Verde]

Hmmm, Do you have an idea which Kinman you might want? Have you listened to the soundcliups on their website? They are very accurate. Either way, Kinman's are the truest, best I have tried.

 

[Guinness Lad]

The kinman's are excellent I would agree they can sound lifeless if you do not set the height of the pickup just right.

The broadcaster is beefy with a thicker lead pickup tone, think overwound. This pickup has the best lead tone I have ever used, but it does over power the neck pickup, can you live with this? I use them in a 52 reissue which is ash/maple. It can be overly midrangy with the wrong amp but amp adjustments take care of it pretty well.

I didn't try the other style but I have a strat with kinman AVN 62's and couldn't be happier. I highly recommend all their products.

 

[Seńor Verde]

I haven't had a problem with the bridge overpowering the neck. For me, the bridge pickup sounds a bit better lower and the neck sounds good pretty close to the strings.

Tweaking heights for my Teles has been easy. I just received a set of Woodstocks for my Strat clone and those are taking some time to dial in.

 

[drolling]

The highway 1 pickups are what? Standard MIMs? MIAs? Hot? Vintage? The Kinmans are great pickups- good tone and dead silent as advertised, but I would not put them in my 23 year old 52RI which is totally stock except for the frets and the compensated saddles. Even the very best of the stacked humbuckers (which Kinmans are IMO) do not sound EXACTLY like single coil pickups, so if you're really, really happy with your tone, you may want to leave well enough alone. The very best old style Fender tele pickups will always sound different (better?) than any of the hum-cancelling designs.

Having said that, I put his AVn 48 'Broadcaster' pickups in my MIM '69 thinline and the guitar sounds much better. Still plenty of *sparkle*, "chime", etcetera whatever AND no more 60 cycle hum. And as a previous poster remarked- the bridge pickup is unreal- beaucoup de !slice! You can really pile on the compression + distortion with these 'noiseless' pickups in a way that you couldn't possibly get away with using regular single coils. His AVn 60s are every bit as good, but the 'hotter' sound of the 48s seems to work better with the hollow mahogany body. Chris is also a pleasure to work with, consumate pro, he'll even want to know which model of tele you're playing to make sure that the leads are the correct length. In addition to mounting hardware, he also throws in some caps and resistors so you don't lose your highs when you roll back the volume pot. He'll charge you as soon as you make the order, which is kinda a non-issue because of the fast delivery. One more thing- he managed to sneak them into Kanada without drawing the attention of our fine customs officers, who always add a handling fee and a 15% tax to anything I've ever brought in from the USA.

 

[Scottone]

Originally posted by drolling
One more thing- he managed to sneak them into Kanada without drawing the attention of our fine customs officers, who always add a handling fee and a 15% tax to anything I've ever brought in from the USA.

I was appreciative of that as well. Great pick-ups + not getting hosed by customs...all around good experience.