Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

[y2stevo]

Hi Guys,

I have an SSS G&L legacy, bridseye maple neck with kinmans
Bridge:SCn
Middle:AVn-69
Neck: AVn-69

Positions 1-4 (or is it 2 to 5?) sound fantastic and are all very much usable tone-wise!
But the bridge postion (position 1 or 5?) is much too bright. If I roll off the treble on the PTB system so that the bridge sounds good to me, the rest of the positions sound way too dull.

I'd really like to have a bridge pickup that can give me a darker fuller sound but at the same time that it's not overly loud compared to the (What I interpret as ) low output kinmans, to add a bit of versatility to it to cover some classic rock rhythm tones with it, maybe something PAF-ish. I'd like to keep the class strat look if at all possible too but not to worry if not
Looking through the tone charts on the Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio sites it seems dark and low output are mutually exclusive, am I wrong here?

Thanks for any input guys.
Much appreciated.


P.S.
I've attached a pic of the G&L
some silly previous owner replaced the fretboard and "upgraded" it to 24 frets, the last 2 frets are very much inaccessible but at some stage I will be getting the last 2 frets chopped off so I can get the neck pickup back where it belongs. :17:

 

[LReese]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

Looking strictly for single sized? Maybe the little '59?

For the #2 position with that You can wire a resistor & cap in series (must use a 4 pole switch) to thin out the Little '59 so the combo sounds like 2 singles - and its still noise canceling. Or you can just split the pickup.

24 fret conversion - someone went to some trouble for that. I kind of dig it - but I can see what you say about the neck pickup position. Maybe just find a new neck for it?

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

As long as its the bridge position, don't worry too much about a slight output mismatch. You can probably adjust enough with pickup height tweaks.

Now, does the bridge pickup have to be noiseless? If so, you could probably go with a Dimarzio Chopper, or a ProTrack, or Duncan Cool Rails.

If it doesn't have to be noiseless then A2 pro strat bridge or an Antiquity Texas Hot (its not over powering) should do the trick.

 

[scorch]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

I'm in the same boat. I have a set of Kinman Blues. Love the neck and middle and those two w/ the bridge PU. But by itself...too sharp. I think I've come to the conclusion that I just don't like single coil bridge PU's. Short of hogging out the bridge slot with a router for a std. HB I'd be open to impressions of one of the SC sized HB's.

Any thoughts?

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

Looking strictly for single sized? Maybe the little '59?

For the #2 position with that You can wire a resistor & cap in series (must use a 4 pole switch) to thin out the Little '59 so the combo sounds like 2 singles - and its still noise canceling. Or you can just split the pickup.

24 fret conversion - someone went to some trouble for that. I kind of dig it - but I can see what you say about the neck pickup position. Maybe just find a new neck for it?

Cool i'll stick that on the to look at list!

It looks kinda interesting with 24 frets but it's actually near impossible to play those frets without wrapping your arm around the neck :laughing: I've only recently had that neck refretted as the guy who re-done the fretboard done a pretty crappy fret job, but at least I got it at a great price so it wasn't too bad a pill to swallow. the Luthier I got the re-fret done from suggested that he could take the extra 2 frets off, and from the work he's done on my other guitars I'd well believe he'll do a cracking job

As long as its the bridge position, don't worry too much about a slight output mismatch. You can probably adjust enough with pickup height tweaks.

Now, does the bridge pickup have to be noiseless? If so, you could probably go with a Dimarzio Chopper, or a ProTrack, or Duncan Cool Rails.

If it doesn't have to be noiseless then A2 pro strat bridge or an Antiquity Texas Hot (its not over powering) should do the trick.

I'd like to go noiseless especially as the kinmans are too but i'll definitely look into your SC suggestions too

The Chopper is another suggestion i've heard already so I'll get listening to clips of it,
Is there anything to be said for the Dimarzio injector bridge? Gilbert definitely gets some nice classic rock/bluesy rhythm tones from his new guitars but I'm not sure would it be still a tab bright or not in my G&L

Thanks Guys!

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

I'm in the same boat. I have a set of Kinman Blues. Love the neck and middle and those two w/ the bridge PU. But by itself...too sharp. I think I've come to the conclusion that I just don't like single coil bridge PU's. Short of hogging out the bridge slot with a router for a std. HB I'd be open to impressions of one of the SC sized HB's.

Any thoughts?

Hey scorch,

I know what you mean, not liking the bridge in my Legacy with Kinmanson it's own at all.
I have a Stock G&L Legacy special too which will be next on the list, I'm finding the SC sized HB (Power Blade) doesn't quite sound meaty enough for what I want that guitar to do so I'm also considering going with a full sized HB in that guitar

 

[freefrog]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

I've mounted a couple of Kinman sets for me or other people and among the models named above, I'd recommend one of the Duncan Rails too. The Cool Rails has twice the inductance of a Kinman SCN so it will sound noticeably warmer... but according to my own experience, it's voiced in such a way that it would cooperate nicely with the AVn's, IMHO.

Unless you try a Kinman "Big-Nine-O"?

Anyway and FWIW: there's several very simple ways to tame the brightness of a bridge SC or noiseless equivalent. A tone control does wonders, especially if you fit it with a low value capacitor: 2,2n or 3,3n, instead of the usual 22n / 33n / 47n/ 100n. This trick comes from Bill Lawrence and I use it all the time, on push-pull pots (even with my regular Duncan SC's).

 

[scarr]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

The Injector is less bright than most single coils, but it isn't "dark". Assuming you just want to cut out the ear-pierce you often get with a Strat bridge, it's pretty good there, but I wouldn't call it "warm". The Fast Track 1 is still plenty bright in the bridge. The Chopper is a better bet there, but I'd point to the Pro Track if you want something a bit more humbuckery. I'm undecided on the Lil '59 at this point. It seems a bit too midrange-honk-ish (in a Tele), which I don't get from normal SD humbuckers. Those are my experiences.

I think I'm in the "doesn't like Strat bridge singles" camp, but haven't fully accepted it. I've heard some Hot Rails demos on YouTube that weren't nearly as humbuckery as I thought they'd sound. I'll probably try the Kinman Big Nine-0 too, possibly to replace my own SCn in a blues set (in a PRS SE EG). That's where I'm looking for single-sized bridge satisfaction these days.

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

Thanks guys,

I'm going to get myself a pro track and maybe a chopper to try out and see what happens from there!
Cheers!

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

What year is your Legacy?? It looks pretty close to my '96 Legacy! I've got Antiquity Surfers in mine...

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

1996 too! :biglaugh:
They could be close siblings!

I Do really love the tones from all pickup positions except from bridge only,
It's looking like there are no Dimarzio dealers in Ireland so I could be waiting another week or 2 before I get my hands on anything to try out. In the meantime I might wire it for the Treble Tone on the PTB to only affect the Bridge,
But I do still want something a bit beefier in the bridge to do the rock rhythm and lead stuff when needed

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

When I first got my Legacy I fitted a Twangbanger to go with the SSL-1's that were already in it. That might help...

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Darker strat pickup to match Kinmans

Thanks Stevie I'll add it to the ever expanding list of pickups to try out :smokin: