New Pups for my Strat

[JGuitars]

I have an American Strat and Love it but the stock Pups were extreemly noisy. It really bothered me. I tried to pretend the noise was not there but I just could not do it. I then began a quest for new Pups. Checked out many different Mfrs that claimed noiseless with an Almost Strat tone.
Almost was the case but I wanted STRAT TONE with no noise. Then I played a Strat with noiseless Pups & it lacked that classic Strat Tone I wanted. Then Stephen suggested Kinman Pups from Australia he had heard about. (By the way I was fine with tone till I met Stephen. He turned me into a tone Monster) Anyways, I looked at them and listened to them on their web site but they are EXPENSIVE. I kinda gave up for a few months because of the lack of cash. But every time I played my Strat I was unhappy with the noise.
Then I realized my birthday was a month away. My wife talked some family members into helping out with the Kinmans. I ordered the Woodstock Plus set with the K9 harness. I waited a month for them to come in. (Seemed like forever) I installed them in 45 minutes and plugged in the Strat.
The Pups are absolutely SILENT and the best thing is the tone is perfectly Vintage Strat Tone. I could not believe it! Plus, the K9 Harness has a Push/ Push Pot that gives me many more tone choices.
I highly recommend these Pups if you desire a pure Strat Tone with Absolutely NO NOISE. If you play a lot it is worth the investment!
Check out the Kinman site. You can listen to the tone of each set they sell.
By the way. You Tele players! They sell noiseless Pups for you Tele as well!!!!

Peace

[RipVanWinkle]

Even with noiseless pickups, people consider the sound coming out of my amp to be noise ;)

[stephen]

Yeah, that strat sounds sweet! The look on STRATO's face when we plugged inand I cranked up the amp, well, I wish I woulda had the camera ready, cause you woulda seen a guitarist in 6-string nirvana!

Kinman really does do a nice job. There just a gold brick's price outta my budget range.





edit: Me faled spellin!

[hotraman]

how much do they cost?
I have a custom Strat that i would like to use.
I need better P/Ups and a neck as well.
S

[JGuitars]

Yeah, I've been blessed! I have my Strat for the ultimate in Various tones including Stevie Ray and I have my inexpensive Agile loaded with SD 59's for that Classic Les Paul tone.

Peace

[Jaybo]

Wasn't there something about Dimarzio steeling their design, and using US patent laws to make his Virtual Vintage series?

Congrats on finding pups you like!

[Micter]

Chris

I have a Strat with Kinmann's and it's the only guitar I own with a single coil in the bridge position. I always want to stick a mini 59 in there but never seem to get around to it.

[JGuitars]

The Pups cost $260.00. That is not so bad but I could not resist the K9 Harness that gives you all 5 positions plus a Push Push pot that gives you many more tone choices. The harness is $109.00 (OUCH). Then you have to pay for shipping which I cant remember what that cost was. So, you will spend around 4 bones. I typically pinch my pennies but I got tired of settling for tone I was not happy with. Again, if you play a lot on a worship team or in a band I think it is well worth the investment.
The hardest thing for me to do in the purchase was making a decision on which set to order. I LOVE the Woodstock set! The big difference I notice is befor the Kinmans I found myself not picking up my Strat.
Now I play it 10 times as much and smiling while I'm practicing.
That alone made the purchase worth it. :D

[JGuitars]

Micter, You Said: I have a Strat with Kinmann's and it's the only guitar I own with a single coil in the bridge position. I always want to stick a mini 59 in there but never seem to get around to it.

Does that mean you dont like the Kinman Pup?
Explain :hmm:

[stephen]

I think this is micters way of either saying:

a) I'm a lazy slacker

or,

b) I like the way that Kinman sounds, but I cant admit that I like a single coil pup, so I'l feign that I'm too busy to get around to swapping it out.........

My vote is "B"

[SeanB]

I am very much itching to get a set of these now. Shipping from there is what like 40 bucks?

[stephen]

I dont think its that high, inless you get the insurance and all........


Maybe STRATOPASTOR can chime in, and divulge how much it cost him for shipping?

[SeanB]

There's a dealer in Houston that used to carry them. Maybe I can swing a deal there if he's still got stock.

[JGuitars]

Sean,

The Shipping was $ 45.00

Here is an actual copy of my confirmation from Kinman showing exactly what I ordered and the total cost:

Item: Set of 3 Woodstock Strat pickups
Code: WoodstockSet
Options:
Cover Colour: White [+ US$ 0.00]
Radius: Right Hand [+ US$ 0.00]
Model: Plus [+ US$ 0.00]
NoSolder for Strat: K9 [+ US$ 109.00] For Harness Cable: None [+ US$ 0.00]
Radius - Stagger: Staggered [+ US$ 0.00]
Screw Type: Pan Head [+ US$ 0.00]
Shipping: DHL-US/Pacific [+ US$ 45.00] DNAC: S69ER1AXX
DNAC: S69ER1EXX
DNAC: S86ER1BXX
DNAC: H9XR1X
DNAC: K9WCBB
DNAC: CAW1BX
DNAC: CDW1BX
DNAC: CNW1BX
Price: 1 x = 260.00
Make Model Year of Guitar: American Standard Fender Stratocaster 2005

Maple neck
Why did you buy?: Word of Mouth


------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: 414.00


LIKE I SAID THEY ARE NOT CHEAP BUT NOW THAT I HAVE THEM I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS! JUST TONS OF SMILES!!

[JGuitars]

Sean,

You Said: There's a dealer in Houston that used to carry them. Maybe I can swing a deal there if he's still got stock.

I'd be very careful buying these from someone who says they are a Kinman Dealer because on Kinman's site it says that (They have NO Dealers in the USA) You have to buy direct.
Plus Chris Kinman said if someone has a used set of Kinman Pups that they are selling you could get an OLD set that would sound different than a brand new set because Chris said he is always improving the tone on his pickups. Plus Kinmas has many different sets to choose from that give different tones.

Just thought I'd let you know!

Peace

[stephen]

Oh, the shipping was for the assembled pups/pickgaurd! that would be an oversized shipping and all, so yeah, I can see 40 + bucks.

Good to know too about there are no Kinman dealers out there!

Some peoples kids.........

[SeanB]

Sean,

You Said: There's a dealer in Houston that used to carry them. Maybe I can swing a deal there if he's still got stock.

I'd be very careful buying these from someone who says they are a Kinman Dealer because on Kinman's site it says that (They have NO Dealers in the USA) You have to buy direct.
Plus Chris Kinman said if someone has a used set of Kinman Pups that they are selling you could get an OLD set that would sound different than a brand new set because Chris said he is always improving the tone on his pickups. Plus Kinmas has many different sets to choose from that give different tones.

Just thought I'd let you know!

PeaceYeah, I caught that on the page, and if you read down to the bottom there is a list of kinman certified installers, who, at one time, were selling the merchandise for Kinman. That's all I was suggesting, that maybe I could call there. Doesn't really matter, I'll get them when I have the cash anyway. I've ordered material from Hillsong before, so I have already felt that shipping bite. ;)

[JGuitars]

Sean,

I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion on the Kinman's.
I hope you won't have to wait as long as I did. :pray: Over a year.
But it was worth the wait.

Peace

[Micter]

Micter, You Said: I have a Strat with Kinmann's and it's the only guitar I own with a single coil in the bridge position. I always want to stick a mini 59 in there but never seem to get around to it.

Does that mean you dont like the Kinman Pup?
Explain :hmm:

I like the Kinmans it's just that a humbucker in the bridge is more my style.

Sorry, I forgot about this thread. Been bizzy with the new job etc.

[stephen]

Sorry, I forgot about this thread. Been bizzy with the new job etc.

slacker

[SeanB]

Sean,

I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion on the Kinman's.
I hope you won't have to wait as long as I did. :pray: Over a year.
But it was worth the wait.

Peace


Hey, if Glen uses them, they must be good. That's a myspace joke,..sort of dry I guess. ;)

I may have to wait a while, but that's ok too. You wouldn't believe how long I had to wait to even get my strat. Now the Taylor, that's a whole other story. :D

[Structo]

If Kinmans are just too much $$ you should check out the DiMarzio new Area noiseless pups.
That's what I'm putting into my new strat build.
I'm putting the Area 58's in neck/ middle and the Area 61 in the bridge.
Price ranges between $60 - 70 depending on the dealer and color option.
Supposedly plenty of quack and spank. The 61 is just slightly more gain but all are down in the vintage resistance range.
The sound clips I have heard are good and the reviews even better. :)

[prscustom24]

I highly recommend these Pups if you desire a pure Strat Tone with Absolutely NO NOISE. If you play a lot it is worth the investment!
. . .You Tele players! They sell noiseless Pups for you Tele as well!!!!

Peace

The stock pickups (Lace Sensors) are long gone from my Strat Plus and so are the pups from my Am Std Tele. Kinmans exclusively. Sweet.

[MDK2323]

I'm glad that you are happy with your choice Stratopastor. I recently purchased some Bill Lawrence noiseless L-200 pickups for the neck and middle in my Carvin Bolt(strat copy) and I love them, they can get that great strat honkyness to them and sound excellent in the neck/middle position too.

I could handle the 60 cycle hum at home from the old singles, but when I played at church with the dimmer packs in the lighting system, forget it, I had to make a change to noiseless.

They cost about $80 for the both of them, with about 5 bucks shipping from California to the Hawkeye state. They were well worth it IMHO.

Noiseless is a great way to go.

[SAguitar]

How did I miss this thread for so long! I'm like a Chris Kinman fanatic! Yeah, they are a fair chunk o' change, but a few years from now you won't hardly remember the price, and you'll still be gettin' that stoopid grin on your face every time you plug in and turn it up! :yeah:

I first took the plunge about 3 years ago, and sent Chris the money for a Strat Blues Set, and since then I have a hard time playing through any others, with the exceptions of my Gold Lace Sensors or my Carvin set of singlecoils. I don't own any stock Fender pups anymore, period. Kinmans just give me all of the Strat tone I originally fell in love with, and almost zero noise, even under the worst circumstances.

I have four sets of Chris' pups now, two Strat sets and two Tele sets. Matter o' fact, if you'll look up there at the top of the page, you'll see a set of Chris' Tele pups in peekin' out at ya from Ashley's pretty face.

Kinman ships the K9 wired harness in a small box, without the pickguard. You supply the scratchplate, but it's a super-cinch to wire up, a no solder situation. I bought one set of Woodstock Plus pups with the harness, just to see if it was worth it. For my money, I'll just wire up my own from now on, that's cheaper, and I never did get used to his control configuration. I have another favorite that I use for Strats.

Congratulations, Stratopastor, and welcome to the Kinman Club! I only wish you would have given us a plug here at our forum as a recommendation instead of just sayin' "word of mouth." Years ago, I plugged another Fender forum that I still moderate at, and Chris not only came by there and checked it out, but he put our link up on his website! He's a great guy! :cool:

[stephen]

.............. Years ago, I plugged another Fender forum that I still moderate at, and Chris not only came by there and checked it out, but he put our link up on his website! He's a great guy! :cool:

Hmmmmm? Maybe somebody needs to shoot the link to this thread over to Mr. Kinman so he can see some good positive talk about his pups (though he's gettin ton's of great comments already)?

[Kebmel]

I'm with Stan on the Kinmans, great tone and noiseless to boot.