59+ LPS Pickups

I have a beautiful, stunning 2004 ’59  Les Paul Standard Reissue, in many ways it is a great creation and it looks and feels right and I love this about it.  But, I was not happy with the jagged sound of it’s Burstbucker pickups so I replaced them, 4 times in fact with some high end boutique brands.  First with Curtis Novak’s vintage humbucker.  That was a nice sounding pickup but it too didn’t do it for my LPS and then with Lollar Imperials.  The Lollars were decent enough but far too bright and they also did not bring my Standard to life so out they came.

After two more expensive boutique brands I became despondent thinking the guitar somehow lacked what I expected from it and decided to sell it.  I already had it listed for sale when I received an email from Chris Kinman asking if I would like to try his 59 LPS humbucker.  Now I know Chris to be a great innovator, I have his Strat Impersonator 54 and honestly I think they are the best Strat pickup I’ve ever had the pleasure of using, they really hit the spot for me.  Chris told me some stuff about his 59 LPS humbucker and it got me thinking, if true, might save my beautiful Les Paul Standard so I said yeah, let's give it a shot.

I installed the pickups and right away I heard the tone and detail I craved, even though I was sick at the time and my hearing was a little off.  Even after recovering I continued to discover more subtle nuances and my level of enjoyment and satisfaction increased to the point that I decided against selling the guitar.  One thing that struck me is the low notes on the low E string have more tone and these notes do not turn to toneless mud like every other humbucker I have tried.  I have no idea how you succeeded when all others have failed Chris, and now your wonderful 59 LPS have found a home in their namesake Gibson Les Paul, fulfilling the purpose of that re-issue in recreating gorgeous 59 Les Paul tone.  Another thing I found is even though the sound is alive I have not been able to get them to feedback, either the high pitched squeal or the kind of uncontrolable low frequency howls, and I use a lot of pedals and copious amounts of gain, amazing.

This is a fitting end to an almost lost cause, you saved my 59 Reissue Les Paul Standard with your 59+ LPS pickups (a match made in heaven), thank you and thank you again.

I am indeed grateful for your wonderful creations Chris, Dom Polito

 

Playing my Musicman Reflex with your PAF 59LPS suite is incredible. The first thing l noticed straight away is how responsive l could pick out a melody from cord progressions, the tones are indeed beautiful, it sounds fantastic, l have done very well with the new sounds. l have been looking for sounds that shine out for me. Man these 59lps pickups have given the reflex such a beautiful, beautiful tone. The bottom end is defined and punchy and the highs do not get ice-picky, in fact l could turn my treble up a little. The stock Dimarzios sounded nasal and the Seymour Duncan's were spikey and shrill. The tone of these 59lps sits right next to you the whole time, it's like your best companion. Man! my Reflex sounds wonderful so thank you plenty much for your great pickups, all the best for the future,

Hey Joe, I have had more time playing the Reflex, funny, for a while l was stuck on the logo of the guitar as the Music Man Reflux. Haha! How glad l am this isn't the case. I just wanted to say l am very happy with my choice of Kinman 59LPS pickups. When l emailed music man support, l mentioned what it was l intended to do, that was to push the Reflex into improved sonic territory. There are no doubts at all, l have such a better sounding guitar, it is night and day. Would you be kind enough to thank Chris for me. Thank him for sharing his gift, that has been creating and rethinking ways, all the improvements to manufacture the wide range of fantastic pickups. When people ask me about the wonderful tones that sing from the guitar, l tell them they are from the Kinman pickups! Best regards, Marts.

Hey Chris, Hope all is well. My 59+ LPS set are in a 90's Gibson "The Paul" which has a fantastic unplugged tone, very bright, resonant & punchy. The 59+ LPS set sound fantastic, quite different to the PAF Astound/PAF+ set in my SG but equally versatile. I think as my rig is primarily digital with some Ana pedals via a looping system the most important thing is that the Pu's are super-quiet & have real dynamics & fidelity. That allows me to virtually dial-in anything I want & it just works......the advantage of using Kinman PU's becomes apparent if I try to use something else.....it's as thought immediately there's something missing & the quality of where things were at sonically, had taken a downturn. So, bright & clear, oh yes. Able to do shimmering cleans or absolute dirt & grind, yes again :)

The 59+ LPS has some of the best cleans I've ever heard and that's why I love them so much.  But they are very versatile too and are right at home in country, funk, jazz, jangly as well as rock n roll and the heavier guitar arts.  There are my favorite humbuckers.

I’ve got the 59+LPS in one of my f-hole guitar’s and they’re definitely the best set of humbuckers I’ve ever owned.  Amazing dynamics and touch responsiveness. Still definitely a humbucker but with lots of nice single coil characteristics blended in.  There's a lot to love about these remarkable humbuckers.

Thank you, Joe, for your help. With your good description I finally got it right now. If you visit Berlin give me a call and we might go to our HAUSBAR next door having a Lagavulin 18 Years.

The 59+LPS sound great on my Reussenzehn EL34. The Sound is loud, mighty, full of juice, can be fine, is always singing on my old Ernie Ball Music Man Reflex. This is a really good guitar now.

Thanx again, Michael

These Kinman 59 LPS ESSC** and PAF Plus ECCS** humbuckers sound PHENOMENAL!  I've picked up my SG several times today already.  What a difference compared to the Gibsons.  Just a fantastic job on the coil splitting, it's brilliant.  Sounds better than a Gibson p90 SG to me.  And the humbuckers aren't dull in comparison either. Best sounding Humbuckers I've ever played. thanks for the extra time you put in.

Rory

** Enhanced Split Single Coil

 

ED: Thanks for your high praise Rory.  Boss Chris and the team here at Kinman have spent countless hours over years developing these ESSC** humbuckers and we couldn't have done it without Boss Chris's patented invention that extracts sonic magic from coils and magnets. It's very gratifying to hear how happy and satisfied you are, makes it all worthwhile for us.