Fiesta Red '62 with Kinmans (added video clip!)

[RichM]

Hi all,

New to the forum and new to guitar building so the build wasn't 100% without issue but I am happy with the results anyway.  The summary spec of this one is:

Warmoth alder fiesta red strat body
Warmoth Pro standard thin neck with compound radius, indian rosewood and birdseye maple
Kinman Woodstock pickups with K9 switching system
Fatboy relic plastic parts - 62 revibe matt guard and revibe covers, knobs and tips
Gotoh vintage treme with steel block
Gotoh locking vintage style tuners

Some better pictures later on ... plus I've uploaded a video (see my reply below).

 

[RichM]

Sorry ... can't resist.  Couple more pictures that show the birdseye a little better.

ps. I have 7 other Fender Strats and this is sooo much better - I am genuinely surprised.  I don't have a CS but the overall quality and playability is a step up from my 3 US Strats (including an E4 1987 standard), my MIJ ST62G-70TX and my heavily upgraded Mexi strat.

The idea of this project was
1) to see how easy it was - answer: Not bad but I've learned some lessons for sure
2) to get a '62 style strat but to my spec - answer: perfect in this regard

And one more bit of spec I didn't metion - vintage 6230 fretwire - seems rather unfashionable but I have all sizes on my other guitars and I prefer the vintage feel so there you go.

 

[jimh]

Welcome RIch.

How do you like the Kinmans? 

I've got Woodstock Plus's in my Swamp ash with birdseye/birdseye Strat (known around here as the 8-Ball Strat for obvious reasons - Not to be confused with Mayfly's new 8-Ball Tele), and i love em.  Sound really fat.

It's a good looking build you've got.

Keep us updated with your thoughts...

Jim

 

[RichM]

Really pleased with the AVn69 pups.  One of my upgraded mexicans has the AVn62s which I absolutely loved hence I went Kinman again.  The 69's are much punchier and have better dynamics than the Texas Specials in my MIJ strat.  Been looking for my ideal single coils sound for years and now have (in various guitars):

US 57/62s - too weak, lovely for clean but never play clean   Too hollow and feeble for rockier styles.
Fender Texas Specials - lovely bite and attack but very noisy with high gain - currently my favourite noisy sc
Duncan SSL4s (quarter pounders) - these are actually very nice and quieter than the Fenders
Di Marzio Area 58/61 combo - have these on a US standard strat - I wanted to like them but they really won't do - they are silent and sound kinda like a proper single coil pickup should ... but ... they seem sythesised to me - very flat and no attack.  The benefit of no noise is not balanced by the sound of these - I went back to the Texas Specials...
AVn62s - perfect - a little 'vintage' sounding but with a good output and all the attack and dynamics of a sc
AVn69s - again super pickups - more aggressive than the AVn62 and not better or worse, just different.

Kinman make the best single coils (noiseless or not) in my humble opinion.

Rich.

 

[RichM]

Should have also said that shielding still very important with the noiseless pickups.  This Warmoth '62 has a full sized metal guard (an option with the Fatboy pickup guard) and I have shielding the insides with copper tape bought from ebay.  I practised this with my Mexi-strat but it is pretty easy - although I do tend to cut myself quite a bit  ... very thin copper...

How do you fine the PLUS bit of the woodstocks?  I was worried the HX85 might be just a bit too high output and modern ... does it work well with the 69s??

Rich.

 

[jimh]

They work for me.  Pretty balanced across the switch positions.  They are fat but still retain a stratty character which is great for what I wanted.  Dont really know how they compare to regular woodstocks, as I've never tried them.

Mine are not shielded, other than the thin aluminium foil on the back of the guard.  No extra tape or conductive paint or anything.  No noise to speak of other than the low hum from my valve amps.

 

[RichM]

I find that they are perfectly noiseless when touching the strings (and using your body as a shield) but when you let go of the strings with high gain I get some noise without extra shielding.  I guess this isn't a big deal but it was bothering me ....  :confused4:

 

[Tonar8352]

Very tasty vintage look.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Mor Paul]

although I do tend to cut myself quite a bit 

We'll get you help, Rich.
While you're working on that problem, I can take care of that excellent looking guitar you have there.

 

[RichM]

One of my many issues I'm afraid  :icon_jokercolor:

In the attempt to upload a vaguely good unblurred picture - a better one is attached.

Rich

 

[Unwound G]

Very nice and vintage looking.  I see that you prefer to use plain Kinman covers which actually suit the guitar more.

 

[RichM]

These are the Fatboy relic "revibe" covers and are aged somewhat - they only cost £6 or something (in the UK) and give a more worn in feel.  I definitely prefer keeping my guitars clean of the extra branding - have a bunch of spare DiMarzio covers also

By the way I broke my original neck pup as non-Kinman covers aren't a great fit and the Kinmans do seem rather fragile - beware!!  I also have a Kinman-SCn which I broke in a similar way ... you'd think I'd learn.  ???

Rich.

 

[Kostas]

...Di Marzio Area 58/61 combo - have these on a US standard strat - I wanted to like them but they really won't do - they are silent and sound kinda like a proper single coil pickup should ... but ... they seem sythesised to me - very flat and no attack.  The benefit of no noise is not balanced by the sound of these - I went back to the Texas Specials...
AVn62s - perfect - a little 'vintage' sounding but with a good output and all the attack and dynamics of a sc
AVn69s - again super pickups - more aggressive than the AVn62 and not better or worse, just different.

Kinman make the best single coils (noiseless or not) in my humble opinion.

Rich.

I agree both about DiMarzio & Kinmann. I have played only humbuckers from DiMarzio and they sound synthesized to me. I also don't agree with their policy not letting their US dealers sell international so I have stopped considering their products for future builds. I have the Blues in my strat and I have played with the Marvins too. Both are excellent strat pickups with no noise at all.

 

[RichM]

Never played a DiMarzio humbucker but sounds like a family trait then!!

My Ibanez RG550 has Duncans - an SH4JB and a SH2n - and I'm quite happy with them - although I am a single coil man really.

How do you find the lollars compare with the Kinmans?  Clearly different but with this guitar I was deciding between Lollar, Fralin and Kinman - however the noiseless Kinman swung it.

Rich.

 

[Kostas]

...How do you find the lollars compare with the Kinmans?  Clearly different but with this guitar I was deciding between Lollar, Fralin and Kinman - however the noiseless Kinman swung it.

Rich.

I have not played with Lollar strat pickups. My thinline has a tele bridge and a P90 neck. The P90 has a very round & sweet sound, really great cleans too. The bridge pickup is trebly when I play clean but I have a 500k volume pot. I will change the wiring eventually because it doesn't work good. If you want to experiment with single coils try Suhr & Van Zandt. I like all pickups of these companies.

 

[RichM]

I put up a quick and fairly dirty (in many ways!) clip on YouTube which gives a good idea of the bite of the Kinmans on my Warmoth.  Volume seems very low but if you wack it up it seems to work okay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Uwv-IFkrM

Rich.
(oops link edited - wrong vid)

 

[-CB-]

Quite a nice looker

 

[Unwound G]

I thought you were a Hank Marvin kind of player until I watched your clip.  Good playing.

 

[RichM]

Thanks Unwound G.  Yeah, was even thinking of getting the gold hardware  :glasses9:

Couldn't get more different I guess - as you can see from the vid, I'm more aiming at a Malmsteen/Moore hybrid ... after 20+ years of doodling I'm still trying to decide if that works or not  :toothy10:

:rock-on:

ps. I've added annotations to both my vids so you can see when I am selecting which pickup.

 

[Justinginn]

Sweet guitar. Sweet playing, though it's hard for me to fully appreciate anything in that genre. If you've still got your camera out, you mind posting a clean/lower gain video for the rest of us non-metalheads?  :laughing7:

Love the guitar, man.