I've had a CS Journeyman Strat for a good while now and have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it, as I usually do with Strats. I love the airy highs and and overtones you get when using a bit of dirt, some delay and the whammy bar, but get really tired of the noise and the lack of grunt. The Journeyman Strat has a pretty decent bridge pickup - the set is signed Josefina on the back. The neck pickup is just ok - a bit dark.
So I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Kinman Woodstocks for it. I was a bit nervous because I did like the stock pickups, the Kinmans are stupid expensive and his copy on the website is cringey. The website in general is cringey! But I had tried Woodstocks a long time ago when they first became available and liked them. These Woodstocks are a new version and the bridge pickup is automatically more powerful - they don't do a "standard" set any more. So I was worried the bridge pickup might have been too obnoxiously powerful.
Well I'm still getting used to the new Woodstocks but they seem very good. The neck pickup is fantastic - a huge improvement. It's warm and woody but still bright and clear enough to be extremely useful. I can see myself actually using it a lot for jump blues T-Bone Walker kinda stuff. The bridge pickup is slowly endearing itself to me. It's not too powerful at all, but has a great midrange for that howling sound with a little gain. It still sounds plenty Stratty but not irritatingly thin. The in-between sounds are fine, but I rarely use them. I feel I'd want to add some brightness somewhere if I was to use them clean at all.
The astounding thing which I had forgotten is just how quiet they are. There is some guitar noise if you use a lot of gain; noise which disappears if you roll down the volume on the guitar. I suspect it's not the pickups but the wiring between the pickups because I haven't shielded the guitar. It's the same amount of noise I get with a Les Paul or any other HB guitar, so nothing which really bothers me. The other thing I notice is how much easier the guitar feels. There is no pull from the pickup magnets which makes the whole guitar feel silkier and freer - hard to describe, but really cool. No Stratitis at the top of the neck either.
So overall I am delighted with the new Kinmans. They have actually exceeded expectation and i can't stop playing the Strat. I'm not really a typical Strat player but this is way more fun than a typical Strat. The pickups respond to every criticism you might have about regular Strat pickups and actually improve the feel of the guitar, so that's no small feat. I just don't want to amplify that because Kinman has already rammed it down our throats!
If you want some Strat pickups which will work ridiculously well with effects these are them. Even without effects these are them. I'm getting more chunk from a SC Strat than I ever have before. But I still have the airiness and gorgeous overtones. If anything these new pickups are slightly brighter than the stock CS pickups. Crazy!
Anyone else tried Kinmans?
So I finally bit the bullet and bought a set of Kinman Woodstocks for it. I was a bit nervous because I did like the stock pickups, the Kinmans are stupid expensive and his copy on the website is cringey. The website in general is cringey! But I had tried Woodstocks a long time ago when they first became available and liked them. These Woodstocks are a new version and the bridge pickup is automatically more powerful - they don't do a "standard" set any more. So I was worried the bridge pickup might have been too obnoxiously powerful.
Well I'm still getting used to the new Woodstocks but they seem very good. The neck pickup is fantastic - a huge improvement. It's warm and woody but still bright and clear enough to be extremely useful. I can see myself actually using it a lot for jump blues T-Bone Walker kinda stuff. The bridge pickup is slowly endearing itself to me. It's not too powerful at all, but has a great midrange for that howling sound with a little gain. It still sounds plenty Stratty but not irritatingly thin. The in-between sounds are fine, but I rarely use them. I feel I'd want to add some brightness somewhere if I was to use them clean at all.
The astounding thing which I had forgotten is just how quiet they are. There is some guitar noise if you use a lot of gain; noise which disappears if you roll down the volume on the guitar. I suspect it's not the pickups but the wiring between the pickups because I haven't shielded the guitar. It's the same amount of noise I get with a Les Paul or any other HB guitar, so nothing which really bothers me. The other thing I notice is how much easier the guitar feels. There is no pull from the pickup magnets which makes the whole guitar feel silkier and freer - hard to describe, but really cool. No Stratitis at the top of the neck either.
So overall I am delighted with the new Kinmans. They have actually exceeded expectation and i can't stop playing the Strat. I'm not really a typical Strat player but this is way more fun than a typical Strat. The pickups respond to every criticism you might have about regular Strat pickups and actually improve the feel of the guitar, so that's no small feat. I just don't want to amplify that because Kinman has already rammed it down our throats!
If you want some Strat pickups which will work ridiculously well with effects these are them. Even without effects these are them. I'm getting more chunk from a SC Strat than I ever have before. But I still have the airiness and gorgeous overtones. If anything these new pickups are slightly brighter than the stock CS pickups. Crazy!
Anyone else tried Kinmans?
Not sure I could go back to regular single coil Strat pickups now. I hated the Mojo Quiet Coil Strat pickups - just awful. These are an entirely different story.