Kinman Questions/Concerns

[vernschrock]

So, I already have a Seymour Duncan P90 Stack for my build on order. I ordered a Righteous Sound Ninja 90, based on how great the Black Gold build sounds. I realize they aren't the same pickups. Videos I found of the Ninja P90's sounded great as well. I thought I'd give them a shot, to give me more than one option.

As I was researching noiseless P90's and Treble Bleed mods, the Kinman name kept popping up. I searched around, but there's very few references to anyone actually using Kinman P90's. Youtube videos are probably less than a handful, and none of them are exactly well done either. The Kinman Treble Bleed appears to be more popular than the pickups themselves.

I went to the Kinman website. Jeez. It looks like one of those cringy sites from the late 90's that have pages and pages of TRYING to sell you something. If you click on a product option, you once again get a barrage of this, that, and the other. The entire history of how the pickups came to be! I like the customizable options that they have, but their marketing is a HUGE turn-off. Every stage of trying to order, results in more sales nonsense. I'm on the site, just let me buy the damn thing!!! I gave up.

Is the company even legit and operational??? Are they worth the hassle and the cost? A single P90 is easily $50 more than the Righteous pickup.

I also checked out Fralin and Bareknuckle P90's. Customize options are great, didn't care for the sound clips, and demo videos didn't make me scramble to get one right away.

 

[Spud]

How bout you purchase every iteration of noiseless P-90 you can find and report back?

 

[stratamania]

The company is legit and operational. They make very good noiseless pickups. I have some Kinmans in a Strat.

You can also find them on Reverb / Amazon and other music stores.

 

[Spud]

The company is legit and operational. They make very good noiseless pickups. I have some Kinmans in a Strat.

You can also find them on Reverb / Amazon and other music stores.

In fact, they are too legit to quit!

 

[Bruce Campbell]

I've heard good things about the sound of Kinman pickups, especially the more Hendrix-centric Strat stuff. Almost got some myself at one point.

I have come to prefer non-boutique (Duncan, Dimarzio) pickups for a lot of the reasons you generally mentioned as well as better resale value, more readily available 4-conductor options, and often favorable financing.

 

[vernschrock]

How bout you purchase every iteration of noiseless P-90 you can find and report back?

The company is legit and operational. They make very good noiseless pickups. I have some Kinmans in a Strat.

You can also find them on Reverb / Amazon and other music stores.

Ha ha! Thank you Spud, for volunteering me for that assignment. I appreciate the initiative!!!

If you guys say they’re worth it, I’ll go ahead and try it again.

Any other recommendations for a fantastic noiseless P90 (that actually sounds like a P90) without an outrageous price like the Mojotone at $300???

 

[vernschrock]

I've heard good things about the sound of Kinman pickups, especially the more Hendrix-centric Strat stuff. Almost got some myself at one point.

I have come to prefer non-boutique (Duncan, Dimarzio) pickups for a lot of the reasons you generally mentioned as well as better resale value, more readily available 4-conductor options, and often favorable financing.

Thank you Bruce, I appreciate that. You’re right, almost everything I found was about Strat pickups.

I guess since I have the Seymour Duncan’s, I’m looking for something out of the ordinary that I may not even know about.

 

[Rick]

I like rail hammer humcutter neuvo and heavy 90's. They are a very nice p90ish. Sound great.

 

[vernschrock]

I like rail hammer humcutter neuvo and heavy 90's. They are a very nice p90ish. Sound great.

Thanks Rick, I’ll check them out.

Updated:
They look interesting. Unfortunately, all the Railhammer’s I saw only come in a standard humbucker shape, not the regular P90 soapbar.

 

[vernschrock]

I looked on Reverb, Amazon, and a couple of other sellers. They didn't have the Kinman P90's I wanted. Back to the Kinman website, again! I tried on Mac, PC, even my phone. Multiple browsers on each platform. No bueno! It wouldn't finalize the customize options, to allow adding to the cart, in order to checkout. I tried multiple combinations: different pickups, different options, using different guitar makes and models. This went on for several hours!!! Until I was completely frustrated. This realistically shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. I couldn't get it to work.

How many strikes is that against Kinman??? I don't know, I lost count. Kinman is out.

With that option dead in the water, I decided to add two non-noiseless P90's to the mix. Soooo... NOISY P90's? Probably not good marketing! I went with Lollar's Standard P90, and a Wolfetone MeanerP90. That brings the total up to four. I'll stop there. I think that's enough to pick one out of. In some ways, I'd like it if one stands so far above the others, that it's really not a contest. I could simply move on to the next thing.

But who am I kidding??? It's more likely that I'll decide one is not quite as good as the other three. Then I'll spend an ungodly amount of time splitting hairs going back and forth between the remaining three, without ever coming to a definitive conclusion and a clear winner!!! Then I'll just end up picking one.

This will probably be the sequence of events:
*When it gets to that point in the build, I’ll put these pickups through a series of tests to determine which one I feel is “the best”.
*Results will be attained in a purely subjective, yet hypercritical, manner.
*I will then share my findings as if it’s definitive proof of the inherent properties of each given pickup.
*My findings will then color my opinion of each pickup from that day forward.
Sound good?

Before I forget, I need to give a shout out to the most expensive P90 I ran across during my limited research. That award goes to the Ron Ellis P90. Coming in at a whopping $375, for a single pickup!!! I’m not sure what they’re made of; possibly gold dust , butterfly wings, and unicorn tears??? I have a hard time believing they’re 2-3 times as good. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, they are the very thing that would set the soul of the guitar free, soaring into the heavens. A single note would leave the burliest of men weeping uncontrollably at the sheer beauty!

I guess we all pick and choose what’s worth paying extra for, and what isn’t.

I'll update my build thread to include all the pickups, which can be found here if interested;
V-locity build | Unofficial Warmoth Forum

 

[TBurst Std]

I have Lollar P90s in a guitar and they sound great. Noise isn’t that bad.

 

[rockandroller]

I currently have a guitar equipped with a set of Kent Armstrong humbucking P90s and they are exceptionally nice.
They sound like real P90s, and provide very usable tonality in either series or parallel mode ( they are 4-wire, I have a pullpot on each )
I have also used several different models of the Kinmans in the past - including his first P90 - and liked them a lot. I used to deal with Chris Kinman on a monthly basis in the early 00s when I was operating theguitarcustomshop.com out of Moscow

 

[mayfly]

lollar is a solid choice for P90s.

 

[vernschrock]

Thanks for all your responses, I really appreciate it.

If I do ultimately end up going with either the Lollar or Wolfetone, I figure I should be able to mitigate most of the noise should I find it bothersome. At this point, I only play at home for the sheer joy of it. Through a Fractal FM3, which is an awesome device.

 

[TBurst Std]

You’re on a FM3 your noise gate will handle all the noise from a Lollar

 

[TBurst Std]

Off topic and a side note: I’ve never concerned myself with hz cycle hum. I always use a volume pedal and shut myself down when not playing. Maybe I’m just so old and ingrained that what little hum comes through when I’m playing I just ignore.

 

[vernschrock]

You’re on a FM3 your noise gate will handle all the noise from a Lollar

Exactly. I was thinking I shouldn’t need more than adjusting the gate.

 

[stratamania]

@vernschrock here is another possibility for you to check out.

JBE Soapbar Black Beauty

The JBE Soapbar Black Beauty Set!

jbepickups.com

 

[aarontunes]

Exactly. I was thinking I shouldn’t need more than adjusting the gate.

I've used an FM3 for gigging and recording for a long time. Every single patch I create, the first thing in line is a gate. I never even think about hum anymore. Sometimes I almost forget there is a difference between humbuckers and single coils. LOL.

 

[vernschrock]

@vernschrock here is another possibility for you to check out.

JBE Soapbar Black Beauty

The JBE Soapbar Black Beauty Set!

jbepickups.com

Thanks. I actually did check them out. The only reason I didn’t consider them further, was that I already have two noiseless. I think it’s a personal thing to limit myself to only four pickups. Otherwise I’d probably go overboard and get stupid with testing 20 pickups in order to find that “special one”.