Here are Kinman pickups we have been excited with the unfolding advent of our Gen-2 products. The Gen-2 story actually started in 2009 with the introduction of our P-90 Hx, you know the one ,,,, the world beating collection of 206 parts that culminated in the most stimulating pickup known to creativity. Yup, the P-90 Hx was our first Gen-2 product although at the time we didn't call it a Gen-2 design but that's what it was. The Gen-1 version was never sold because we felt it lacked a certain something that we had our hearts set on ,,,, that certain something was vitality, dynamic range, aliveness, expression. It was 9 years before boss Chris invented the solution and Patented it.
That one invention was a game changer. We think it's one of "the most important" invention ever seen for pickups for it solved problems that Seth Lover discovered in 1955 and bought the P-90 Hx to life and opened the doorway to another technological universe that ultimately led to new Strat models, Jazzmasters, improved humbuckers, Jaguar and a bunch of other revolutionery pickups.
With the stunning success of the P-90 Hx it wasn't long before boss Chris began wondering what that wondrous device could do for Strat pickups so he began experimenting, low key at first because early failures kicked the enthusiasm out of him. See this device is so powerful it requires different thinking about coil design and that frontier soaked up lots of time. Still he persevered and eventually after 12 months he started getting a feel for coil designs that worked with it. And as with anything totally new and different the knowledge and expertise came slowly and built up over time.
The first Gen-2 Strat pickup was the Impersonator 54 which was prompted by a request from Hank Marvin for a silent pickup that produced his 60's Shadows instrumental sound. Next came the Impersonator A56 because Chris's favorite Strat pickups are the much revered circa 1956 ones. Those had bell, chime and ring to a bigger degree than all other Strat pickups. He worked tirelessly for months perfecting that model and it became a game changer because hum-cancelling Fender type pickups finally broke free of the noiseless stigma to the extent there was no argument about our accomplishment. Up until the advent of the Impersonator A56 it was considered impossible for a so-called noiseless pickup to produce the alive, twangy and snappy sound of a '56 pickup when it was new (before the coil aged).
Slowly but surely Chris perfected more and more pickups using the wonderful technology that he invented to bring the P-90 Hx to life. Take a look at our Products page and you'll see Humbuckers, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang and the Gen-2 Telecaster pickups, all of which were made possible by his wonderful little invention that focuses the magnetic field into the coil space with stunning consequences.
The Gen-2 story hasn't come to a halt though. Soon we will release our Gen-2 humbucker, the Converge-2 Les Paul/Strat binary humbucker. In another stunning world first Chris has come up with a splittable humbucker that produces loud authentic Fender sound (Impersonator A56) as well a decent humbucker sound, both with Zero-Hum. How's that?