Home > Products > Guitar > Stratocaster




Base Price :

$160 USD

No ORDER Form on this site. Please place your order on the mobile site :





Big-Nine-O


 

The Big-Nine-0 is one of the few Strat pickup that balances with humbuckers.  The other one is the Kick-in-the-Arse

Brett Kingman enjoys our Big-Nine-O powerhouse

A Big-Nine-0 in an Aged White cover

 

 

There's an Elephant in the room ....... The Big-Nine-O with Kinman's Gen-2 technology

You can expand your sonic horizons with unique new sounds from Kinman, the .........  

The KING of noiseless and the Prince of Expression.

As it is and as it can be: You've got one or two humbuckers in your Strat and the Strat pickup are hopelessly under-powered.  You have had this problem for years because no other Strat pickup balances with humbuckers ..... now here it is …. the second most awesome Strat* pickup ever conceived, the Big-Nine-0This remarkable pickup has the outside appearance of a Stratocaster* pickup with Alnico-K* rod magnets … but as the name implies it almost has the power and sound of a P-90.  Only the Kick-in-the-Arse has more power.

Outstanding sonic characteristicsThe Big-Nine-0 is something of a versatile Chameleon because at room volume it produces a responsive, sweet and pretty sound with some Strat* characteristic but with a darkness unlike any Strat, this is great for low volume smokey Jazz and Blues (with feel).  Turn up the volume to get it cooking and it roars to life like an attacking Tiger.  This is one sweet but brutal high energy pickup.

Recommended for fat, super punchy cleans, natural crunch or extreme gain applications, full on rock, distortion and low volume syrupy Jazz.  Suitable for all 3 positions in a Strat* but especially recommended for the bridge position as the second fattest sounding and second loudest Strat* model we make.

News flash Apr-2021: Now with our new Synergy baseplate that allows switching off Hum Cancelling as well as switching to 'Synergy' mode for those that think hum is part of Fender sound.

Signal chain requirementsAny old cable won't doAs with any pickup it's a good idea to use a low capacitance cable to get the maximum incredible performance of Kinman pickups.

Tech stuffThe Gen-2 models have taller magnets and taller coil with  Kinman's patented magnetic focusing device incorporated.  In concert with a squashed 600 Ohm hum-sensing coil all these new features produces non-aged sound.  Produces a massive inductance of 7 Henrys, more Inductance than most humbuckers or P-90's.  As of 10-Sep-2018 the pickups that have narrow and intermediate magnet spreads incorporate our new Gen-2+ technology which restores the slight but noticeable loss of attack & presence when the magnets are placed closer together.   More technical info below.

The Big-Nine-0 works best with a 500k volume pot which helps it develops top end sizzle & bloom more like real P-90.  It will work with a 250k volume pot but dynamics and high end sizzle are compromised to a noticeable degree.  Works well in a Kinman K9-H Goodbye-Soldering Harness with our Dual Resistive Load 500k/250k innovation.

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

 


Technical & Application info:


 

Under the hood of the Big-Nine-0
but you can't see everything that's inside.

Big-Nine-0 - specification nomenclature.

US Patents 5,668,520   6,103,986   8,791,351 B2
 

The string sensor is taller than our other Strat models so the coil is not compressed.  This design paid off with a massive inductance of 7 Henrys, more Inductance than most humbuckers or P-90's.  The Big-Nine-O has a dark, smoky sound with a surprising amount of twang, deep bass and sweet highs … so sweet it can be used in Jazz at low volume.  But best of all is the HUGE output level, it will hold it’s own in competition with a P-90 and regular Humbuckers … now that’s amazing for a Strat pickup with Alnico rod magnets, with the bonus of Zero-Hum.  One of the amazing new generation hum-cancelling pickups coming from Kinman.
 

Adjustment requirements

The Big-Nine-0 has an advanced magnetic circuit and needs to be adjusted close to the strings to get it's best performance.  You can adjust the neck pickup as close as 1.5mm gap between bottom of E-6th string and top of magnet with string pressed onto the 12th fret.  Adjusted that close it really cooks, is very loud with same door-slam attack and sounds similar to a P-90 .... it's that close. 

NOTE:  If it's authentic P-90 sound with it's top end sizzle & bloom you want then you should buy a P-90 Hx or a P90-Bucker.

Install requirements

At 25mm tall the Big-Nine-0 is 3mm taller than our regular Strat pickups and will fit most modern guitars but might not fit Vintage reissue guitars so check the cavity depth before ordering.  The pickup cavity depth should be no less than 19mm (3/4 inch) deep.  However a shallower cavity might be suitable if you shorten the special long mounting screws by up to 3mm, but some adjustment latitude will be sacrificed in this case.

Covers - included

  • Standard Kinman cover with maximized height extender bushings. 
  • Available in White, Black, Aged White.
  • With and without Kinman logo.
  • Can be tinted with food stains such as Coffee and Tea.
  • Generic covers will not fit Kinman Strat pickups.  We sell replacement covers in three colors.

Connection means available

  • Bare wires for soldering.
  • Kinman connectors for plugging into any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness.

Dimensions

Pot & Capacitor values

  • Best with 500k volume pot to bring out the dynamics and the sting in the plain strings.
  • Many Strat pickups sound best with a 250k volume pot.
    • Our Goodbye-Soldering Harness can incorporate our Auto-Change device which provide both 250k and 500k for either neck middle, bridge ... or any combination when mixing different requirements.
    • If you don't include a Harness, for additional $25 we will include the parts and instructions for our Auto-Change device with your order.
  • Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume but for a little more top end brightness can be 500k, 1meg or a No-Load.
  • Stock pots can actually measure as low as 175k.  Pots in our Goodbye-Soldering Harness are guaranteed to measure no less that 250k.
  • Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF, 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester.  Smaller uF value lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.
  • The voltage rating of Caps is not important but 63 ~ 100 volt have thicker lead wires that result in a neater job.

Magnet spreads we normally ship (ensures magnets align with the strings in each position)

  • Narrow 49.5mm
  • Intermediate 51mm
  • Standard 52.5mm
  • Option to specify your magnet spreads of sets and singles in our 'After-Order Supplementary Questions' email we send you.

Pickup cavity depth:

  • install into stock Fender cavities that are 21mm deep.  Cavities in genuine Vintage models need to made deeper, preferably  to 22mm.

Hook-up cable

  • 2 conductor shielded is standard.  Cut generously longer than necessary for the 3 stock Strat positions.
  • Middle pickups when supplied with a K9 or TK4 harness have 3 conductor shielded.
  • 3 conductor by request with Order.
  • Custom lengths by request with Order.

Output Polarity: 

  • in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
  • in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
  • opposite phase to Fender Strat

Mounting hardware included

  • 2 Pan head mounting screws.
  • 2 Silicon Rubber tube springs.

We highly recommend consulting the Install Guide in the Technical section even if you think you know it all.  Kinmans' require specialized knowledge and sometimes there is updated info.  There is also a handy wiring diagram available.

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

*Stratocaster and Strat are a Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp.  Kinman is not connected to Fender.

** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985.  It 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.