The official Kinman pickups thread

[Larry Mal]

A question for anyone with Kinman Jaguar pickups.

What pot value are you using?

Thanks.

They are humbuckers, so I used values appropriate for those, 500k and so forth.

On my Jazzmasters I use the stock electronics, though.

[Telliot]

I don't know if it applies to Jags, but I was told by Kinman to use the stock pot values on my JM.

[JSett]

Jaguar I used the stock 1Meg pots but in my JM I used a 500k.

[Embenny]

I'm also using the stock 1M pots, because I consider the prominent resonant peak to be an essential part of the Jaguar sound.

My Mustang and Strat will be getting 250k pots, because the lower resonant peaks are a traditional part of those sounds.

[Ozone7]

Thanks all.

My Surfmaster Jazzmaster has 500s and sounds great and chewy.
Closer to P90 than strat.

My Jaguar has 250s as advised by Kinman.
I think it’s a bit on the dark side still.
Tried 500s and didn’t like them.

So I’m just wondering if I should go with the 1M’s I’ve since bought.
Probably end up going back to Blues Jag at that point - now I’ve been round the houses with other Kinman Jag models.

I fitted a set of Kinmans to a strat and the top end is significantly more present than my Jaguar.

Which doesn’t feel right.

[Embenny]

Thanks all.

My Surfmaster Jazzmaster has 500s and sounds great and chewy.
Closer to P90 than strat.

My Jaguar has 250s as advised by Kinman.
I think it’s a bit on the dark side still.
Tried 500s and didn’t like them.

So I’m just wondering if I should go with the 1M’s I’ve since bought.
Probably end up going back to Blues Jag at that point - now I’ve been round the houses with other Kinman Jag models.

I fitted a set of Kinmans to a strat and the top end is significantly more present than my Jaguar.

Which doesn’t feel right.

Which differe Kinman Jaguar pickups have you tried? I'd love to compare notes once I get my others installed!

Just like Fenders, Kinman Jaguar pickups are essentially electrically identical to some of his Strat pickups, so the longer scale will make the Strat sound brighter unless you use 1M pots to sort of compensate for the short scale.

But I also generally like 1M pots on anything except a long scale with single coils. For shortscales and humbucker equipped guitars, they open up the top end as much as possible, and you can always dial that resonant peak right back down with a 10-20% drop on the tone knob.

I know he recommends 250k pots on Jags, but he's a Strat/Tele guy and not an Offset guy, so I get why that would sound right to him. It sounds wrong to us OSG types, though, who are used to the way Jags normally sound.

Oh, and my Jaguars also have the vintage "mystery" resistor in the circuit. Just like with single coils, I have no idea what it actually does, but I don't want to fuck with it and find out

[Ozone7]

Yep, the Jag’s got the Marr wiring so with the vintage 56k ohm in there for Scooby Doo’s.

I’ve got a Surf Jag in the neck and a Jalapeño hot in the bridge.

It sounds a bit “blunt”, if you know what I mean?

I have Kinman PAFs in my V and they’re brighter.

Think I should try the 1M pots.

[wooderson]

Whoa, just got my JM w/ Fatmasters, these are legit. It's been a while since I had a humbucker guitar but I think they're even quieter than PAF-style pickups but definitely all Jazzmaster.

I've got a Telecaster coming, may have to look at the Kinman Broadcaster set for it down the road.

[Embenny]

Yep, the Jag’s got the Marr wiring so with the vintage 56k ohm in there for Scooby Doo’s.

I’ve got a Surf Jag in the neck and a Jalapeño hot in the bridge.

It sounds a bit “blunt”, if you know what I mean?

I have Kinman PAFs in my V and they’re brighter.

Think I should try the 1M pots.

I'd definitely start with 1M pots and then go from there.

Whoa, just got my JM w/ Fatmasters, these are legit. It's been a while since I had a humbucker guitar but I think they're even quieter than PAF-style pickups but definitely all Jazzmaster.

I've got a Telecaster coming, may have to look at the Kinman Broadcaster set for it down the road.

Nice, glad to hear you like them as well. Kinmans are humbucking as well as shielded (pickup plus cable), so they're crazy quiet. All my stock Gibsons came with totally unshielded cavities and uncovered pickups and yeah, they were much noisier than Kinmans.

[atomicwash]

Has anyone compared the surf-jag to the mod-jag (previously blues-jag)? Differences? Thanks!

[Embenny]

Has anyone compared the surf-jag to the mod-jag (previously blues-jag)? Differences? Thanks!

I've got Surf Jags coming in the mail, so I'll hopefully be able to help in a few weeks.

[patski]

I've been wanting a Stratocaster for a while. Part of me wants to bite the bullet and get a much cheaper model (I've been eyeballing Japanese/US models) just so I can buy Kinmans and have them installed.

[surfin_bird]

Has anyone compared the surf-jag to the mod-jag (previously blues-jag)? Differences? Thanks!

I've got Surf Jags coming in the mail, so I'll hopefully be able to help in a few weeks.

Would be interested to hear how you like these. I consider getting these for my Raven Jaguar.
It has only one original pickup and bad electronics, so I assume it would be forgiven to have one "vintage" jaguar with kinmans.

[Embenny]

Has anyone compared the surf-jag to the mod-jag (previously blues-jag)? Differences? Thanks!

I've got Surf Jags coming in the mail, so I'll hopefully be able to help in a few weeks.

Would be interested to hear how you like these. I consider getting these for my Raven Jaguar.
It has only one original pickup and bad electronics, so I assume it would be forgiven to have one "vintage" jaguar with kinmans.

Yeah, don't feel guilty. My refin '62 had (rewound) original pickups before getting the Blues Jags, and my refin '66 has original pickups, but will be getting the Surf Jags.

Neither one had original solder joints, so there's nothing being lost that couldn't be restored. I'm storing the pickups in a safe place in case I ever want to put things back or sell them.

The Surf Jags are at the mercy of the Royal Mail system, which apparently is in shambles at the moment, so they're going to take their sweet time. I'll definitely post about them when I can.

[Ozone7]

I got my Jag back with 1M pots last night.

Much better balanced against other guitars now.

So I have:
Jag with Surf-Jag Neck and Texas Jalapeño Bridge 1M (Blues Jag set in a box)
Jazzmaster: Surfmasters 500K
SG: P90Hx (Neck only) 500K
Flying V: PAF 59LPS 500K
Strat: AVN62 / SCN Blues set 250K

The Jazzmaster and SG sound similar in the top end - chewy but sweet.
The Jaguar sounds closest to the Jazzmaster but with less bass and more HF, with a pronounced peak in the upper mids
The V on the neck is similar to the SG P90 with less definition
The Strat is the shrillest of them all, with what feels like a mid-range scoop

I'd guess, as Embenny says, that the 500K pots are why the Jazzmaster, SG and V are in a similar ballpark.
I could go back to 500K on the Jaguar to get it closer to these guitars, but I think I like the more top end now. Closer to a strat which works for me. I don't really think the 250K pots do them any favours on the Jaguar.

Only drag now is that the 1M pots roll the volume and tone off really sharply off the full setting, which the 250 pots didn't (and none of my other guitars do). So I'm slightly scratching my head as to why that should be as they're audio/log pots from Fender.
Sigh. Never finished.. oh, and series setting is broken now so taking back to the tech on Monday.

On a Jag specific note, the bridge Texas Jalapeño, which was advised as a hotter match for the neck, still is quieter even with that pickup racked up and the neck PU screwed down.