Kinman AVn Woodstock Regular Set

Pickup features: Single coil, Passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender USA strat custom
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: fender noiseless
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: vines guitarist
You musical style(s): rock/funk/blues/jazz
Reason for pickup change: To get rid of my annoying hum and to have that classic 60's/70's tone.

Perceived output level: Slightly more output than my previous p.up's. The bridge is a bit weak compared to the neck though.
Tone: A vast improvment over my previous p.up's. Very nice in positions 2 + 4. not balanced, but I don't think the original 60's are either. Bridge is just too weak for me!
Sonic evaluation: I am using my strat into a Traynor YCV 40 with modified speaker and tubes... Also a Cornford. Very dynamic, sweet.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: I've been playing for 20 years and have tried various p.up's for strats including Duncan's, Fralins, Original 50's/60's/70's, Fender, Lawrence. These would be on par with the Fralins. The reason I gave an Overall 6 was that the Customer Service could have been better, otherwise I would have scored them a 9 on pick-ups alone. My advice would be to buy from a dealer or if you can, second hand.

Pickup features: 3 single coils - passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: American Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: EMG DG20 (Active)
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Mainly blues, some classic rock
Reason for pickup change: EMG's were flat in mids

Perceived output level: Normal (of course less than the active EMG's)
Tone: BALANCED
Sonic evaluation: Strat into Delta Blues 30w Tube amp (12AX7's & EL84's).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Very good for raw Hendrix style & blues in general

Comments: Definetely replace if destroyed or stolen. I've been playing for 17 years and I am completely satisfied with the tone of these pickups. I compared it to Fralins, DiMarzio & SD similar pickups. When installing, make sure you use your second tone knob as a "blend" to get the full tonal range. If blues (ala SRV, Trower & Hendrix) are your thing, then try these out. I doubt you would be disappointed.

Pickup features: Passive Stacked Single Coils
Impedence or other specs: Don't really care

Model of guitar or bass: Warmoth Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, Pop
Reason for pickup change: Jusy wanted to try them.

Perceived output level: Never used single coils before, so I can't make any comparisons. They seem to have enough beef for the music I play.
Tone: Nice bottoms with cutting highs.
Sonic evaluation: I am using Vox Valvetronics which has many amp sims. I normally use UK 70s that is supposed to be a 70s Marshall copy. I set the amp clean and plug through a series of pedals including Rat, Boss Blues Driver, Line6 Modulation box, Vox wah, and Digitec Whammy. These PUs still sound alive after going through these pedals, and that is really important to me.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I think these PUs can cover a wide variety of music.

Comments: If it were destroyed or stolen, would you buy it again. Maybe I'll try Hx-85 for the bridge position since my Strat is made with all maple and has very edgy tone. I often have to roll off the tone control when I play with the bridge PU alone. Soloing with the neck PU driven is just addictive. It screams with a lot of juice. Positions 2 and 4 give nice hollow sound that many players are in love with. Also good for rhythm for funk music since articulation is really effortless with these PUs. I am going to put 9, not 10, because they are a little too expensive. Mr. Kinman provides the explanations for this and I thoroughly understand, but still...you know? Oh, almost forgot to mention that these PUs are very silent. I usually play in front of a computer for DTM. They never gave me a noise problem.

Pickup features: Noiseless Single Coils
Impedence or other specs: same as other reviewers stated here

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Hwy 1 Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock pickupes
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): rock, surf, ambient
Reason for pickup change: stock pickups are noisy, have very low output, and have terrible tone

Perceived output level: Compared to the stock Fender pups, these things are very hot compared to any standard single coil, almost as much output as a humbucker. I had to turn down the gain setting and back the pickups waaay off the strings in order to avoid rattling the windows.
Tone: Bridge pickup is balanced. Neck and mid can get really bassy if you get them too close to the strings, so adjust with care
Sonic evaluation: Line6 PodXT for amp simulation through roland KC-100 amp--my all puporse gig-rig. Fender Twin is my preferred setting for this guitar. These are the greatest pickups I have ever used, hands down. They are absolutely dead silent, even under fluorescent lighting. They are more responsive to playing dynamics than any other "noiseless" single coil made--PERIOD. The tone would make Jimi weep with joy and give every surf guitarist something to wriote home about, too.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play all sorts of styles, but I can't think of anything this would be inappropriate for, maybe very traditional jazz.

Comments: I would hunt down whoever stole them. Definitely worth the cost of replacement, and I'm getting another set oh Kinman's for my G&L. I've been playing ten years, and I have never been happier with a guitar-related purchase. Compared to every other single coil noiseless, (like the active EMGs), Kinman's are the king of the hill. Can't think of anything to hate about them. Kinman is a class act all around. Great website with helpful info, helpful and quick responses from the staff, the order was shipped in five days (from Australia!), the workmanship is outstanding (beautiful wiring and shielded leads on everything), and they look snazzy, too. But the tone! I finally found that golden tone I wanted without the hum! I cannot say enough good things about these pickups. Hats off to the aussies.

Pickup features: Set of three noisless pickups Avn69 (x2) and Avn 69b
Impedence or other specs: 6.6K-ohms; Resonance 4KHz; Inductance 3.1H

Model of guitar or bass: Fender '57 reissue Strat (early 90's)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Rio Grande muy grandes
Other pickups on guitar: n/a
Artists using this pickup: Unknown, except for me...
You musical style(s): metal to country to jazz to rock
Reason for pickup change: Rio Grande's are way too noisy, even after shielding.
Stock pickups sound like poo.

Perceived output level: Far more presence than stock. See below.
Tone: Very responsive to pickup height. Very. You can go from super thin to mega bass with several turns of the screws. That also includes output level. I find they are able to cut through a mix VERY well. I love them.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Mesa Maverick (2x12), a fender deluxe (1x12) and a Marshall half stack, with a replex, '69, '70, tc chorus etc...

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This pickup has enough beef and soul to play anything except the hardest of the thrash metal out there.

Comments: I would have to buy these again. I am definately putting some Kinman's in a Tele I'm building. I started playing the banjo in 4th grade, I'm 32 now - been playing almost all of recorded history (mine, anyway) I own way too much gear.
All in all, this is the best single coil sound I have ever heard. The fact that it is also noise-free is simply a bonus for me.
Make sure you wire the controls to allow for a blending of the neck pickup (bottom left diagram in the wirogram) My strat can sound like a tele in the middle. Pretty cool...
Wish they were just a bit cheaper, as I see a lot of expenses in the near future replacing all my single coil pickups.

Pickup features: Noiseless single coil, passive, stacked humbucker design. From examining the patent, what apparently sets them apart from Dimarzio's and Seymour Duncans is that Chris Kinman uses a mu-metal magnetic shield to separate the main coils from the humbucking coils underneath. This reduces mutual inductance, improves the sound, and makes for a more compact pickup.
Impedence or other specs: : 6.6 k-ohms, resonance 4 kHz (similar to old Fender single coils), inductance 3.1 H.

Model of guitar or bass: Custom ESP maple strat with maple fingerboard, Floyd Rose tremelo.
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: EMG S (neck), EMG S (middle), EMG SA (bridge)
Other pickups on guitar: What, aren't three enough?
Artists using this pickup: Dunno. These have only been on the market a month or so.
You musical style(s): Blues, rock, funk, country, jazz, some metal.
Reason for pickup change: Had difficulty getting good string balance with EMG's. This guitar has a compound radius neck, with radius about 16" at the bridge. This results in some attenuation of the high and low "E" strings.

Perceived output level: A little less output than the EMG's, but not a surprise as the EMG's are active pickups and Kinmans are passive. I had to turn up the gain just a little on my amps to get the same volume and overdrive characteristics that I had before with the EMG's, but that's what volume knobs are for.
Tone: When I installed the Kinmans, I took the time to clean up the rats nest that ESP had left and I put in a nice neat cable-tied harness with star grounding (see guitarnuts.com). As a result, the guitar now has ABSOLUTELEY NO HUM, even when sitting in front of my computer. Even the EMG's had a little hum, probably from the sloppy wiring job. The output of the Woodstocks is very well balanced across all strings, much better than the EMG's in this guitar. The Woodstocks can cause some "stratitis" (choking strings), but only if you put the pickups closer than 2 mm to the strings, against the advice in the instructions. The tone is bright and warm, but not as bright as the EMG's, which I think do a reasonably good job of emulating the traditional single-coil sound. In terms of brightness, I would rate these pickups about midway between the traditional single-coil strat tone and the sound of the PAF's in my 1968 Gibson ES-335.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Mesa Nomad 55 with a Mesa Traditional 4 x 12, and an old Lab Series L5. The Woodstocks sound really good for overdriven and distortion sounds through the Mesa. They also sound great for Surf style music through the Lab Series on clean settings. The in-between positions on the 5-position selector sound good too, with some nice "quack." The pickups lack a little bit of the top-end "air" and glassiness of the EMG's, but nevertheless sound great.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pups work well for most styles of music. In my opinion they also work well for metal, with more mids and low-end oomph than traditional single coils, and plenty to drive an amp into distortion.

Comments: I will give these a 9 out of 10 only because these pickups are just slightly darker than I had hoped. Of course, tone depends on your equipment and playing style, and in the end is entirely subjective. These pickups are completely noiseless, sound great, and Chris Kinman is a pleasure to do business with.
After I placed the order, Chris Kinman telephoned me personally to discuss the sound that I was after, and to make sure that the Woodstocks were the best choice. When the pups arrived, I had to admire the packaging, instructions, the quality of the materials and the workmanship. What really impressed me were the carefully prepared shielded cables. Each cable has a small break in the insulation, with a pre-tinned length of the shielding sticking out. When installed in a typical strat, the pre-tinned lengths from the three pickups all line up perfectly with each other. This makes it really quick and easy to solder the shields to ground, or to the volume pot shell. The shielding continues to the end of each cable, where you connect to the blade switch. Each cable is exactly the right length, with a little bit of extra slack. The shielding goes all the way to the end of the cable, which helps reduce hum in guitars with poorly shielded control cavities. Many pickups makers do not bother to prepare the cables so carefully, or else they strip the shielding off of the last few inches.

Pickup features: Noiseless single coil, passive
Impedence or other specs: na

Model of guitar or bass: Custom Alder Strat with Rosewood Fender Jap (80's) neck
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro
Other pickups on guitar: Nil - all three were replaced
Artists using this pickup: Not sure - this model has only been available for a few days
You musical style(s): Blues, rock, funk, soul - anything really except country
Reason for pickup change: While I was lucky enough to win these pups in a competition, I actually had a set on order. I was looking to get rid of the 60 cycle hum, without any compromise on the tonal quality ... I mean, I wanted my strat "to still sound like a strat". I emailed Chris Kinman some time ago and he suggested the Woodstocks. I'd always been happy with the Seymour Duncans, but the hum was annoying.

Perceived output level: A little more output than the SD Alnico Pro's (which are fairly "normal"), but certainly not "hot".
Tone: These pups are "dead quiet" and extremely well balanced across all strings. The tone is very "bell or piano like" and notes keep ringing without any choking (no "stratytis"; choking strings). I'm able to adjust these pups closer to the strings than any other single coils pups I've ever used, without any effect on string vibration.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Music Man 112RD Combo Amp (this model has EL34 output tubes and an 12" EV speaker). I'm not overly crazy about effects, but use a Mesa Boogie V1 Bottle Rocket and Dunlop Crybaby 535Q. I have two other electric guitars - MJF Custom with SD Alnico II Pro humbuckers (looks similar to a double cutaway Les Paul Jnr - all Honduras Mahogany and a real "tone monster") and De Armond Starfire with USA Goldtone humbuckers. I've tried many single coil and stacked pickups over the years - EMG, various SD and Dimarzio. I really thought that the SD Alnico II Pro's were the sweetest, nicest sounding pups that I was likely to ever find ... until I played the Kinmans. It's not just coz they are free of hum. These pups are beautifully balanced - thumping lows, sweet mids and biting highs, without busting your eardrums. They sound great when cranked too - it's pretty obvious once you play these why they're called "Woodstocks".

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pups are great for most styles of music (except perhaps metal or thrash etc). They sound sensational in all positions (1-5), with positions 2 & 4 retaining the traditional strat "quack" that we all love.

Comments: If these pups were destroyed of stolen, I'd have no hesitation in replacing them. I've been playing on & off for 30 years - I'm certainly not a "great" player (and don't pretend to be) but I know good tone when I hear it. I did a lot of research before deciding on the Kinmans (before the competition). What really impressed me was Chris Kinman's total dedication to "perfecting" a noiseless pup design without ANY compromise to tone (his website says it all; plus the countless reviews on the web). An now that I've got my pups, I'm certainly NOT disappointed. I've only had these a few days so there's still lots to discover yet ...