$189 USD

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'580' ..... the Concert Grand Piano of the pickup world

580 Alnico

NEWS Flash 18-August-2022:  We now supply our new 'Universal' soapbar covers in genuine Gibson Cream, Warm White, Old Ivory and Black, click the option when ordering.  A must for Gibson guitars!

The 580 has the juiciest sound of all Kinman pickups, it's the Master Grand Piano of the pickup world.  

Outstanding sonic characteristics:  Expression through EXTREME Dynamics is the 3rd Dimension and this pickup has it in spades.  The sound is Extreme Fender, like no Strat could ever sound like; it has that typical Fendery clang and has amazing prominent piano mid-tones in the low wound strings plus it has P90-like whack attack plus a huge warm lush and sensual bottom end and brilliant highs that have a nice sweet harmonic bloom.  Mounted in an all Mahogany guitar the overall sound is a true cross of Fender (with beyond excellent note separation) -and-  a P-90 (with it's airy extreme dynamic range, touch sensitivity and it's lush, sensual feel)

Matching Bridge Version:  The 580 Extra is the new matching bridge pickup, it sounds a little heavier than the 580 neck model and it balances perfectly volume-wise with the normal 580 in the neck position and both-on-together gives a surprising huge 'c-luck' with extreme dynamic range.  Yup, a pair of these will definitely put you in Sonic Nirvana, you really should try these wonderful pickups.

Additional benefits:  Both versions are highly resistant to mushing and blurring on the low wound strings when played hard, especially in chord formation. 

We are pretty sure it'll put a big grin on your face.

Suitable for Soap-bar covers (included) and for use under existing Dog-Ear covers.  See "Covers" below in the Technical section.

Recommended especially for neck position of Les Pauls* and any guitar with P-90's when a bright, dynamically expressive, clean tidy sound is required -and/or- the bridge position for country or instrumental & Surf Twang. 

Signal chain requirements:  Any old cable won't do.  AS with any other pickup it is highly recommended to use a low capacitance cable to get the incredible performance of this pickup.

The 580 is a Zero-Hum soapbar pickup.  Some people will call these 'noiseless' 480 pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as 'Zero-Hum' 480 pickups.  That's because there are 2 types of noise, Hum which is cancelled in the pickup.... and Buzz which can only be minimized by shielding the wiring cavities  Refer to >Technical >Perfect Guitar >Shielding for newer guitars

Introduced July-2015

*   Les Paul is a Trade Mark of Gibson, Inc.  Kinman is not associated with Gibson,Inc.
** Alnico-K is Kinman's proprietary low strength Alnico-5 rod magnet

Technical & Application info:

Pickup adjustment

As with all Kinman Gen-2 pickups they are very sensitive to height adjustment.  A good starting point so the basic SurfMasters (tapped coil) balance is with the two E strings fretted at the 15th fret, adjust as follows ... and after listening further adjust to your personal taste.

• bridge pickup so the string-to-magnet gap is 1.25mm for both E strings
• neck pickup so the string-to-magnet gap is 1.5mm for both E strings

Installation

When replacing an original Gibson 480 two new screw holes must be drilled in the floor of the cavity because our 580 has the mounting screws of a P-90.  Cavity for original Gibson 480 is suitable, no modification required.  We use fixed Alnico-K** rod magnets, not individually adjustable Alnico-5 blocks as the 480 has.

But, consider including our optional non-magnetic mounting plate kit, it makes install fast n easy because you don't have to drill holes in the precise position for the pickups mounting screws.  Do NOT use original Gibson mounting plates, being magnetic will dramatically compromise the hum cancelling ability of the P-90 Hx.

Epiphones

Kinman’s will bring your Epiphone to life because they achieve the maximum sonic potential of the guitar, and are easier to install than practically all other brands too because of our Easy Install Kit for f-hole guitars.  Comprehensive, easy to do step-by-step instructions provided.  Refer to the Overview Tab >Epiphone f-hole talk.  More in Pole Spreads, next item ....

Connections

• Bare wires for soldering.
• Kinman connectors for plugging into a Kinman Strat, Tele or KHP-90 No-Soldering harness.
• Gibson 2 wire & 5 wire Quick Connect circuit board connectors shown below.

Output Polarity: 

• in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
• in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
• opposite phase to Fender Strat
• Fender pickups have opposite output polarity so consider Kinman's Strat models which have same output polarity.

Pot & Capacitor values

• Best with 500k Ohm for Volume.  Many Gibson's have 300k which makes a darker, less dynamic sound.
• Normal Tone pot is 500k however to maximize clarity use a No-Load or alternatively a 1 Meg Ohm tone pot.
• Normal tone cap value of 0.022µF in 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester.  Smaller value lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.

Cavity depth

• No need to deepen the pickup cavity in ANY guitar that has flat bottom cavities for P-90's.  Click Install Requirements to discover requirements for pickup cavity.
• Click this for the Install requirements for the original version, now discontinued.

Pole spreads

• 53mm pole spread for bridge position of Stratocasters or with any bridge having saddle spread of 54+mm.
• 50mm for Gibsons or bridges having saddle spread of 50mm ~ 54mm.
• 47.5mm for neck position of Gibson and Epiphones (NOTE: not all Epiphones have 47.5mm neck pole spread, please measure it).

Covers

• 'Universal' soapbar covers in genuine Gibson Cream, Warm White, Ivory and Black, click the option when ordering.  A must for Gibson guitars!
• Gibson replica hand buffed Nickel-Silver Soapbar covers in 47.5mm, 50 and 53mm.
• Generic Plastic Soapbar cover available for 47.5mm, 50 and 53mm pole spreads available in Black, & Cream only.
• Plastic generic Soapbar covers with 50mm pole spread available in White, Black, Cream and Chrome.
• Dog-Ear covers (Nickel-Silver) with hole spread of 50mm & 47.5mm to suit Epiphones.

Hook-up cable

• The P-90 Hx has 2 conductor cable. 3 conductor optional.
• Length is 380mm / 15".

Mounting hardware

• 2 Long mounting screws.
• 2 Silicon Rubber tube springs.
• handy drill guide template for positioning the screw holes in the virgin floor of the pickup cavity of a project guitar or guitars with freshly deepened cavities.
• OPTIONAL extra:  Soapbar cavity mounting plate, including all screws and springs.  It's non-magnetic and won't interfere with hum cancellation.
• OPTIONAL extra:  Bracket for mounting under Dog-Ear covers in Arch-top f-hole guitars.  It's non-magnetic and won't interfere with hum cancellation.

The upgrade v3 Hum sensor was launched May-2021