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johnnysomersett wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:19 pm

I have Fatmasters in my JM. They sound extremely accurate to AV65 JM pickups but a teeny bit hotter.

Definitely worth the money and sounds like a JM still.

If you say "extremely accurate to AV65 JM pickups" .. they are like 150 bucks.
If they're so close in tone I wonder if they're worth the extra money

To me Kinman pickups sound as good or better than Fender pickups, and also in my opinion the noiseless quality of them makes the value happen.

Exactly, you're not paying for magical tone. You're paying for good single coil tone to be generated noiselessly, which takes a lot more engineering.

No regular single coil's tone is objectively better or worse, just different. The Fender PV65 pickups are an excellent value. No boutique winder makes a "better" Jazzmaster pickup than that, just ones you might personally like better.

But they sure are noisy compared to Kinmans, and some people are much more bothered by that than others. Everyone here who bought Kinman pickups did it because they were OK with paying extra for noiselessness.

echoplex wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 28, 2023 1:34 pm

johnnysomersett wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:19 pm

I have Fatmasters in my JM. They sound extremely accurate to AV65 JM pickups but a teeny bit hotter.

Definitely worth the money and sounds like a JM still.

If you say "extremely accurate to AV65 JM pickups" .. they are like 150 bucks.
If they're so close in tone I wonder if they're worth the extra money

You're not paying for better tone, you're paying for better signal-to-noise ratio.

After installing my first set of Kinmans the silence spoke volumes. Yes, they're expensive, but it's a luxury commodity.

johnnysomersett wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:19 pm

You're not paying for better tone, you're paying for better signal-to-noise ratio.

Yeah, you're right. One pays for the noiselessness.
Last but not least: does anybody know what's the difference between Kinman Thickmaster and Thickmaster v2?
Just saw there was an updated v2 version of these.

Kinman regularly iterates on his models, some strat pickups are on "version 2" of "generation 3" and whatnot.

Whenever he updates the design, it's because he found a new tweak that he's pleased with, generally meaning it's either slightlt quieter, slightly higher output with the same tone, or a slightly more single-coil like tone with the same amount of noise.

I wouldn't expect to be able to pick subsequent versions out in a blind test. They'll be just about identical.

Embenny wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:11 pm

Whenever he updates the design, it's because he found a new tweak that he's pleased with, generally meaning it's either slightlt quieter, slightly higher output with the same tone, or a slightly more single-coil like tone with the same amount of noise.

In some cases they are physically closer in size to the pickups they replace, when I looked into his P90s, some of his earlier soapbar models were deeper than actual P90s and in some cases with some guitars you had to route the guitars deeper.

Obviously that's an impediment to sales but it seems he was worked that out.

I got my Twang-Buckers, they look like this inside.

tammyw wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:39 am

I got my Twang-Buckers, they look like this inside.

Interesting, looks like a XII pickup. I imagine each half of the pickup is RWRP from other. The copper slugs look to be earthing the pole pieces and acting as a Tele base plate would.

Doesn't look like there's much magic going on here, but a well thought out and designed pickup. It may be down to the humbucker casing having more space to fit in a 'Z-coil' arrangement to create a noiseless single coil, whereas in a single coil casing it requires a bit more thought.

There's a lot to process in that picture

The Punk-Tang pickups are very good. They have all the hallmarks of Kinman pickups in with deep bass and these particular pickups have great, open, chiming high end. All around winners, uncompressed, very dynamic. It would be hard to imagine what would be better than these.

The bridge pickup does get a little harsh, but I find most bridge pickups do that, so I rarely use them on their own. I might be able to dial it in a little better with some pickup height adjustment, though.

Anyway, these are Kinman's very low wind Strat type single coils, and if you want some fantastic, noiseless all around good pickups that do the Fender sound, this is that.

Damnit, I was hoping I'd get mine installed before you, since they arrived before you even ordered yours. Oh well. Glad you're pleased with them! How do they compared to the Wildes? Which models did you have in there again?

My Stewmac order finally arrived, so I have all the parts to get started on my installs. Going to start with the Mustang.

Embenny wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:15 pm

Which models did you have in there again?

I have the L280s pickups, but only the neck and bridge since I wasn't actually putting them in a Strat. Do you have any interest in them?

The Wilde pickups have a kind of metallic edge to them.

I didn't dislike the Wilde pickups or anything, so I'm glad I feel so good about the Punk-Tangs. I think you will love them. There's a warmth and higher output to the Kinmans, it feels like they aren't working as hard somehow. But it's not at the expense of any high end.

I think you are really going to love them.

I've actually got the 280s already, they're quite good if not a bit non-traditional sounding.

Kinman, of course, manages to be good and traditional sounding, and I'm looking forward to getting my Punk-Tangs installed. Even if they're completely different from yours, I have trouble imagining that they'll be anything other than good or great.

Punk-tang???

I know the Kinman pickup naming scheme has been derided before, but this one is extra tragic. I wish someone would get in Mr Kinman’s ear about this, to at least come up with slightly less cringeworthy names.

Yeah, i know it’s about the sound etc….but still, punk-tang???