$189 USD

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ThickMaster - thick n dynamic modern sounds

Covers without Logo are an option when ordering White, Parchment, Aged White & Black

NEWS: J Mascis himself loves our ThickMaster and now has 13 sets in his guitars, he must like them a lot. 

Now with reduced height for easy install into extra shallow cavities.

ThickMaster is designed for a syrupy, soulful jazz sound with a thick, juicy bite.  Much better sound than original noisy pickups is a J Mascis Jazzmaster.

The difference is the ThickMaster has better dynamic range and aliveness.  Can be used in the bridge position with a FatMaster Extra or SurfMaster Extra in the neck if a thick bridge sound is required, however this changes the middle switch position (both-on-together) sound to a significant degree since the ThickMaster will tend to dominate the mix and produces a distinctive cluck as distinct from quack.  Cluck is the new rage and we are good at it.

UPDATE:  12-July-2018  A mixed set of 2 ThickMasters should be composed of ....

• ThickMaster (usually for neck position)
• ThickMaster Extra (new model and usually for bridge position)

The ThickMaster Extra is a new model with improved balance with the neck pickup (tonally and loudness-wise) which means the neck pickup can be adjusted higher to get all of it's tone and both pickups have the same volume. 

The 6 rod magnets are Kinman's proprietary Alnico-k** magnets which deliver cleaner sound devoid of string crash and pitch warble.  Supplied with your choice of White, Parchment or Black covers.  Original Fender covers are generally not suitable should you want other colors but Aged White and Cream covers without magnet holes are available on eBay.  Use a brad point drill bit to drill the holes to suit the magnet spreads we offer.

US Patents 7,022,909 & 8,791,351

Technical & Application info:

Laser engraved identity nomenclature so you'll never forget, and it looks cool too.

Some people will call these noiseless Jazzmaster pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as Zero-Hum Jazzmaster 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

Kinman pickups for Jazzmaster are direct replacements and no modification to the guitar is required. 

Number of parts in this pickup: 28
Number of parts in regular single coil: 11
Number of parts in other brand noiseless: There are no other singular coil noiseless Jazzmaster pickups with Alnico rod magnets.  Kinman is the only one and that makes it the coolest Jazzmaster pickup available.

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

Cavity depth

• 12mm (1/2") standard cavity depth, plenty of height adjustment.

Connection means available

• Single wires for soldering.
• also available with Kinman connectors for plugging into a Kinman Strat, Tele or KHP-90 Goodbye-Soldering Harness. 
  • We can make harness for some Jazzmasters upon request.

Hook-up wires

• 3 single hook-up wires, color coded and facilitates series switching as well as phase reversing. 
• Cut generously longer than necessary for the 2 stock Jazzmaster positions. neck 37cm & 32cm bridge.
• Custom lengths by request with Order.

Output Polarity: 

• Can be phase reversed to match that of any other pickup.

Pot & Capacitor values

• 500k Ohm or original Fender 1 Meg for Volume & Tone is recommended.  250k volume pot compromises the dynamic feel to an extent.
• Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume pot.
• Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF / 63 ~ 100 volt.  Smaller value lessen the severity of Treble cut and requires some experimentation.

Magnet spreads

•  52mm, 50mm & 47.5mm depending on type of bridge.
  • Narrow versions incorporate our unique Coil Spread Compensation Technology which restores performance lost when magnets are spaced closer together.

Magnet Staggers

• Suitable for Right and Left hand instruments (The Install Guide tells you how)
• Normal improved Stagger to suit 7-1/4" ~ 9-1/2" inch uniform radius fretboards.
• Flat Stagger for specific compound radius fretboards (eg Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch compound and Fender Deluxe Compound Radius)
• Option to indicate your fretboard radius is in our 'After-Payment Additional Questions' email we send you.

Mounting hardware included

• We now include 2 different our own specially made mounting screws that suit Asian and American models. 
• 4 Silicon Rubber tube springs are included.

Covers

• Available in White, Parchment, Ivory* & Black. (*Ivory is similar to Aged White)
• With and without Kinman logo.
• Original Fender covers are suitable only for 52mm magnet spread, NOT for our 50mm and 47.5mm neck magnet spreads.
• Ask for bridge and neck with 52mm magnet spreads if you intend to fit Fender covers, but only for vintage bridges.
• Aged White and Cream covers without magnet holes are available on eBay.

We highly recommend consulting the Install Guide in Tech Info even if you think you know it all.  Kinmans' require specialized knowledge and sometimes there is updated info.

We also highly recommend consulting the Adjust & Set-up page in the Technical section so you get the best out of your Kinman pickups.

** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985.  It is Alnico-5 but has 40% less string pull than Alnico-5 so sustain is longer and there is much less clatter from string crash and no Strat-itis string warble.

* Fender and Stratocaster and Strat are registered Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp, Inc.  Kinman is not associated with FMIC but they kindly permit us to refer to their Trade Marks to describe our products.