Kinman AVn-48n AVn48b

Stacked Humbucker with no ill effects from being stacked. Sounds like a single coil with no hum! From my understanding this is the slightly hot Broadcaster pickup. If you want that Roy Buchanan sound with no hum then this is it. I have to say that I have just surfaced after installing these pickups and haven't eaten or been involved with the human race since these pickups hit my Chinese Squire! I would challenge anyone with an early Broadcaster to come close to the utter beauty, clarity and definition that the Kinman gives you! I also installed the Kinman wiring harness with the addition of a phase switch.

I bought the pickups off eBay (the guy who sold them has since been committed) complete with the harness and cover plate.

I intended to install them into a back route Tele but as the Kinman harness has a printed circuit the distance between the pots can't be changed and my rear route had a different distance between the pots so I couldn't install the harness in this guitar. This is a word of warning to those of you that have rear routed Teles as the harness doesn't allow for any variation whatsoever. Check before you buy the harness!

That said I now had to buy another guitar to take the harness and thus the Kinmans. As I already had two rear route Teles I thought I would go cheap and see what the Kinmans could do for a Chinese guitar. I went into a pawn shop and found a Chinese Squire and guess what? It was a front route!! Yellow as well so I could feel the Roy thing coming on.

I immediately stripped the Squire down in preparation for the complete make over. First hurdle I had to overcome was the neck pickup was body mounted and I wanted pickguard mounted. I wanted the flexibility of adjusting the pickup's height without removing the pickguard. I thought "a couple of holes in the pickguard" and that will sort it. Guess what? The body route is done to save costs and strip less timber! The screws hit the body with the pickguard still a couple of mms (sixteenths for you yanks) off the body. I had to drill some holes for the screws to go into and this sorted it out.

I also installed a micro switch to change the phase of the neck pickup. This was easy to do even within the confines of the harness. If you want details email me.

I have been lost in the land of tonal bliss since installing these pickups! I literally have forgotten to eat and if it wasn't for the dog reminding me that it should be fed then I would still be in that beautiful playground that is sonic heaven now! And, if I had died, I would have been a truly happy and fulfilled person.

The tone of the Kinmans is something that you have to experience to fully appreciate. This is a Tele as it should be. And guess what? No noise! No reduced noise, little noise, undefinable noise; NO NOISE! I am in a room with two CRT monitors a big voltage reducing transformer and various other bits of electrical equipment and I still can't hear hum!!! I think I have died and gone to guitar heaven!

To me a Tele is a truly sacred instrument and I don't think I will ever install another pickup on a Tele. I play everything from classical to heavy heavy metal, but am mainly a blues player. In the last 8 hours I have subject the Kinmans to all and sundry I could think of and they not only survived but exposed new horizons. Could you imagine a Tele doing thrash metal? Have all the feel and dynamic response to express everything a blues player wants. Do some Dylan folk? and all and sundry in between? Just remember these went into a cheap Chines Squire and it is now my favourite guitar (I own a 30 year old Gibson)! I really don't want to sound like an ad but if you want the clarity of a single coil with no hum then this is the pickup you want.

The harness is great too as you can put the pickups in series which has balls and will blow off any humbucker. I think the phase switch (my mod) is the icing to give you some useful sounds for heavier playing but that is a personal preference.

If someone stole the guitar or the Gods of guitar vaporised them I wouldn't hesitate! I would just get some more. No questions asked.

I have been playing over thirty years and personally discount all reviews by people with under 10 years playing experience. I hate the "I have been playing 2 years and these things suck" reviews as it is like listening to a 3 year old kid describe his holiday in the Amazon; "I saw some big trees". I have no loyalties except to those of the Muses and other Gods of sound and I can say that Kinman make the best pickup I have heard ever. No hum with no compromise on sound. Lash out and try them unless. You won't be sorry.

passive single coil

I built up a T-style guitar using a swamp ash body, and a one piece birdseye maple neck. I installed a set of AVn-48s in the bridge and neck position, using the Kinman no-solder harness. I also have a 1988 American Telecaster made of alder, but always thought that something was missing from its sound. The pickups I ordered came well packaged, and took about a half hour to install.

The output is much stronger than stock Tele pickups. I like to play mostly electric blues, and the 4-way switch opens up more tones than the trditional 3-way. It takes a little time to tweak the pickup height, as the tone is sensitive to small adjustments. These pickups offer better sustain, and much more clarity in the higher registers. Runs are much clearer, and distinct in nature. I can honestly say I hear notes playing, that used to go undetected. Played through a Fender Blues junior, they can cover the gambit on varius blues tones, as well as getting that Tele twang if need be. Depending on your guitar and amp setting, These can sounds clea and chimey, or crunch depending on how hard you attack the strings.

If these were lost, or stolen, Id find some more. I've been playing for 30 years, and just can't tolerate cheesy soundy instruments. I also play a 65 strat, and am not looking to replace the pickups in that, as they have THE sound, but if were building a guitar, then would try a set of kinman strat pickups. The only downside, if any, was that the tubing that came with the neck pickup, could have been a little longer, as the tubing that came on the bridge pickup, was fine