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Impersonator 52b (Gen-2) ~ Zero-Hum 50's Blackguard Tele sound


 

 

1952 Black Guard Tele.

You will get Zero-Hum 1952 Esquire Tele sound with this amazing Gen-2 Tele bridge pickup.  Gen-2  is generation two, a new design.

The sound of Alnico-2 magnets with a fat coil, like the genuine article made in 1952. 

Old world Tele sound, clear and not too bright.  Less sharp attack and a full bottom end.  Remains well defined under high gain amp distortion.

NEWS: at last we have a compatible neck pickup, the Impersonator 52n.  It balances in terms of Sonic character as well as loudness.

A good companion neck Humbucker is the Kinman P90-Bucker.

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 any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness (or a TK3/1 Esquire harness with 3 sounds).

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

Technical & Application info:

Laser engraved info so you'll never forget.

The Impersonator 50b 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. 

Mixing and matching with other Tele pickups

The usual Tele neck pickups do not have enough power to balance with the Impersonator 52 Bridge so they are to be avoided.  Our Impersonator A56 and  Impersonator 54 Strat pickups do have enough power.

Mixing and matching with a neck humbucker

A great companion neck humbucker is our amazing P90-Bucker.

The Impersonator 50b has a very well defined mellow 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 from 1Meg to 360k when the bridge is selected and at that resistance the twang sounds significantly more chunky.

Adjustment requirements

The Impersonator 50b 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 has some characteristics of P-90.  It will work with a 500k volume pot but punch is compromised to a noticeable degree compared to a 250k volume pot.

Connection means available

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

Hook-up cables

  • Optional Teflon coated single wires for soldering.
  • Custom lengths by request with Order.
  • Optional 2 conductor shielded.  The 3 mounting screws provide a ground link to the bridge/strings.
  • Available with Kinman Harness plug for connecting to any Kinman harness.
  • NOTE: the 3 mounting screws provide grounding to the bridge & strings (like old fashioned Tele bridge pickups do).  However, unlike old fashioned Tele bridge pickup, when ordered with 3 conductor hook-ups the phase can be reversed.

Dimensions

Output Polarity

  • Phase reversible when specified with 3 single hook-up wires so can adapt to any companion pickups.

Pot & Capacitor values

  • Neck pickup is best with a 500k or 1Meg volume pot.  Sounds OK but will have subdued piano mid tones & twang with 250k. 
  • Most bridge pickup are best with 250k volume pot.  Sounds OK but develops less low down grunt with 500k.
    • Our Goodbye-Soldering Harness can incorporate our Auto-Change device which provide both 250k and 500k for either neck or bridge or both.
    • 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 a 500k No-Load.
  • 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

  • Standard 55mm only

Magnet Staggers

  • Normal improved Stagger to suit 7 ~ 14 inch uniform radius fretboards including USA Custom Guitar Compound 7-1/4" ~ 9-1/2
  • Flat Stagger for specific compound radius fretboards (Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch and Post 2010 Fender Deluxe 9 ~ 14")
  • Option to choose the magnet stagger of sets and singles in our 'After-Order Supplementary Questions' email we send you.

Mounting hardware included

  • 3 Pan head mounting screws 6-32 UNC x 21mm
  • 3 Silicon Rubber tube springs.

Covers

  • Tele bridge pickups don't have covers, the top coil is bound with Black twine and wax potted for protection.
  • Upon request we can fit a decorative top plate for a modest cost.  Available is Pearl White, Cream, Aged White, Green and Blue.
  • 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.

** 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.