Kinman Inc.

Paul Sellick

AUSTRALIA

16-Sep-2019

I am a senior professional musician, a qualified sound engineer and I play smooth jazz guitar. I wanted new pickups for my Japanese Ibanez AS200 slimline hollowbody guitar, as I couldn't quite achieve the levels of inspiration I was seeking from the tone I was getting from my guitar. I play a lot in the lower and mid registers but always found that conventional PAF's lacked the tonal clarity I was desiring in those registers. I came to Kinman with a list of characteristics I was looking for in my tone, and to be frank, looking through the well laid out catalogue on the website , I was like a kid in a candy store! There are so many models of pickups in the Kinman range that would have been excellent choices, but I had to pick just one set, and that was the hardest part. With Joe's knowledgeable and patient guidance, I investigated the P90-Bucker set, which piqued my interest, as P90's have delicious tonal characteristics that I love, yet the humbucker tone is synonymous with jazz, so I simply HAD to have a set. I am also fussy about my guitars presentation, and there is a great selection of options to get an eye catching custom styled look. My order was completed, and I had the pickups in my hands just a couple of days after they were shipped. When I opened up the beautiful cases that the pickups are presented in, I could see nothing but precison and quality. These are indeed the finest engineered pickups I have ever seen.

Normally,hollow body guitars present time consuming problems for pickup change overs, but Kinman have a solution. An accessory they call their Easy Install Kit for f-hole guitars. It simply solders into the guitars wiring without removing the entire wiring harness and pots. The P90-Buckers have the matching plug fitted to them and the pickup change over was completed very quickly and easily, instead of the alternate nightmare. I had put up with my old pickups because changing them was a job that I dreaded, but the Easy Install kit is an ingenious solution to the problem.

After the ridiculously simple installation, I strung up my guitar,tunedup and then took it into my music studio to test it through my stage system and with my backing tracks. Oh man! I could not believe how good my guitar sounded! All my performing life I have craved this level detail and character in my guitar. I could hear every note as clear as a piano, right down to the lowest open E. I could not stop playing. There were tonal characteristics I had not heard before from my guitar, and when my ears are happy, that's when the magic happens. I played non-stop for about 5 hours, completely immersed in the music. I have owned this guitar for many years, but this was the most inspired and enjoyable session I'd ever had. What a great choice these P90-Buckers were. Just for fun, I tried some overdriven tones and the definition of each string was truly remarkable. Very versatile. They just feel great to play.

In every field, there is always someone who finds innovative ways to push the boundaries and limitations of conventional designs, and through utter dedication and persistence discovers something new and extremely desirable. For me, these pickups have liberated my guitar, and me at the same time. I can feel and hear how the pickups releases previously hinderedtonalcharcteristics from the strings. A singer needs to relax the areas where there is tension, to allow their voice to be liberated and produce a full, rich and open vocal tonality, with no restrictions. I feel that these Kinmans P90-Buckers do exactly this for the strings. My guitar now has a full, rich and open tonality that I just adore. Without a doubt, switching to Kinman's is the best thing I have ever done for my music since I bought my guitar.

I have just installed a set of PAF's from the KinmanPAF Suite, to my jazz fusion set neck dual humbucker guitar and once again, I am over the moon. I will soon have my Stratocaster and my Telcaster Thinline "Kinmanised". Warning - Kinman's are addictive! I thoroughly recommend that guitarists take the time to familiarise themselves with the Kinman website, study each pickup carefully as you may find the pickup you need is not the one you thought you needed. There is an enormous amount of very useful information for guitarist that will clear up a lot of the myths and mystery about pickups and great guitar tone. Chris Kinman's obsessive passion for pickups, and his scientific knowledge, pushed him to research and experiment to find the answers to the many problems. The amount of energy he has put into the art and craft of pickups could run a small city indefinitely. I am in awe of his commitment, it is so far above what I personally could achieve. He is a very special human being, and a very important one for all tone-seeking guitarists. I tip my hat to you Mr Kinman.

They say that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. So don't just buy yet another set of conventional pickups for your beloved guitar, only to achieve a marginal improvement, if any. Go for the top shelf, you will thank yourself for it every time you play. Here's my little secret for guitar players-

High inspiration levels are where the magic happens.

High inspiration levels come from great tone and feel.

Great tone and feel comes from Kinman.

P90-Bucker pickups