Twang Blaster (Gen-2) - TWANG with a Capital 'T'
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Incredible Twang and top end bloom ... just amazing! |
Just had to have a Paisley Tele here - lovely isn't it !!! |
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A partnership in sonic Nirvana with a Twang-Bucker
in the neck.
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You will get the sharpest and Twangiset TWANG of all with this Gen-2 Tele bridge pickup. Gen-2 is generation two, a new design. This is the first true non-aged sound Tele pickup from Kinman and supercedes the THx-85 which is now discontinued.
Louder than most other Tele bridge pickup with Alnico magnets (Bridge Blaster excepted) so it is a viable alternative for use with a low output neck humbucker (such as the Kinman Twang-Bucker) for when a twangy Tele bridge sound is desired. Also good for replacing a Texas Special.
Twang and top end bloom like you wouldn't believe, actually better than non-noiseless bridge pickups. The coil of Fender's 51 ~ 64 bridge pickup had the potential to be the biggest, fattest, juiciest, twangiest Tele pickup ever made but the Kinman actually achieves that and is louder too. The plain strings have 100% of the bite and sonic authenticity of original non-noiseless Tele bridge pickups. Genuine Fender 52 Tele pickups sound a little on the squarky side in comparison, the Kinman has a full rich, airy sound. Remains well defined under high gain amp distortion and actually there is more detail and harmonics present.
Designed especially for Nashville sets with 2 x Impersonator A56 Strat pickups -or- for neck Humbuckers like our amazing Twang-Bucker.
A compatible Tele neck pickup is the AVn-48n. It balances best in terms of Sonic character as well as loudness.
Info about pot values and more in the section below.
This pickup has Kinman's propriety Alnico-K low strength magnets, like all our Fender type pickups, so string pull is minimized, sustain is longer and there is less rattle and buzz from the strings crashing into the frets from excessive magnet pull.
Balanced 3rd string loudness, Alnico-K** rod magnets for low string pull and no pitch warble (Strat-itis). No Ice-pick.
Zero-Hum and wax potted for Zero microphonic screech. However, be aware that magnetic steel bridges compromise the hum cancelling ability of our Tele bridge pickups. The solution is a non-magnetic Stainless Steel bridge made by Glendale Guitars in Texas. They make 4 different kinds of Tele bridge with various Cut-Aways designed for comfort. Highly recommended. https://glendaleguitars.com/stainless-steel/
Best in a Kinman TK3 or TK4 Goodbye-Soldering Harness.
Some people will call these noiseless Telecaster pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as Zero-Hum Telecaster 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
Patents 7,022,909 & 8,791,351 B2
** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary Alnico 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 Telecaster and Tele 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 reference our products.
Technical & Application info:
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Laser engraved info so you'll never forget. |
The Impersonator 52 bridge requires no modification to the pickup cavity in your guitar. Like old fashioned Tele bridge pickups the 3 mounting screws provide grounding to the bridge & strings. This means the phase is not reversible.
Mixing and matching with other Tele pickups
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Our Impersonator 52n neck model is compatible. For Nashville sets our Impersonator A56 Strat pickup has enough power to balance.
Mixing and matching with a neck humbucker
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A great companion neck humbucker is our amazing Twang-Bucker.
The Twang Blaster has a very well defined chunky twang with a 250k volume pot. With 1Meg the twang is still there but significantly less chunky. An easy solution is to wire one end of a 500k fixed resistor from the switch terminal that is the hot for the bridge pickup and the other end of the resistor to ground. This will resolve the resistance of the 1Meg volume pot to 360k when the bridge is selected and at that resistance the twang sounds significantly more chunky.
Adjustment requirements
The Twang Blaster has an advanced magnetic circuit and needs to be adjusted close to the strings to get it's best performance. You can adjust the pickup as close as 1.5mm gap between bottom of E 6th and top of magnet with string pressed onto the 12th fret. It really cooks, is very loud and sounds similar to a P-90 .... very close. The Twang Blaster sounds best with a 250k volume pot and develops more high end sizzle and dynamics, more like real P-90. It will work with a 500k volume pot but punch is compromised to a noticeable degree.
Connection means available
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Prepared bare wires for soldering.
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Kinman connector for plugging into any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness.
Hook-up cables
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Prepared and cut generously longer than necessary for Telecasters.
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Custom lengths by request with Order.
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2 conductor shielded. The 3 mounting screws provide a ground link to the bridge/strings.
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NOTE: the 3 mounting screws provide grounding to the bridge & strings (like old fashioned Tele bridge pickups). This means it's phase is not reversible.
Dimensions
Output Polarity
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in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
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in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
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opposite phase to Fender
Pot & Capacitor values
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Bridge pickup is best with 250k volume pot. Sounds OK but develops less low down grunt with 500k.
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Our Goodbye-Soldering Harness can incorporate our Auto-Change device which provide both 250k and 500k for either neck or bridge or both.
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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.
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Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume but for a little more top end brightness can be a 500k No-Load.
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Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF in 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester. Smaller value reduces the severity of Treble cut, larger values increase it.
Magnet spread
Magnet Staggers
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Normal improved Stagger to suit 7 ~ 14 inch uniform radius fretboards including USA Custom Guitar Compound 7-1/4" ~ 9-1/2
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Flat Stagger for specific compound radius fretboards (Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch and Post 2010 Fender Deluxe 9 ~ 14")
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Option to choose the magnet stagger of sets and singles in our 'After-Order Supplementary Questions' email we send you.
Mounting hardware included
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3 Pan head mounting screws 6-32 UNC x 21mm
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3 Silicon Rubber tube springs.
Covers
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Tele bridge pickups don't have covers, the top coil is bound with Black cotton twine and wax potted for protection.
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Upon request we can fit a decorative top plate for a modest cost. Available is Pearl White, Cream, Aged White, Green and Blue.
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With and without Kinman logo.
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. There is also a handy wiring diagram available.
We also highly recommend consulting the Adjust & Set-up page in Tech Info so you get the best out of your Kinman pickups.
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