I just won a Kinman Thickmaster.

[Larry Mal]

Kind of put a low-ish bid out there and won. Not all that sure what I'll do with it. It's in the neck position.

Anybody use one?

[Larry Mal]

I guess no one wants to talk about my Thickmaster.

[Embenny]

I'll bite. If that's what you're into.

Sounds like you've got an assortment of interesting single noiseless pickups building up there. You could always stick that fralin noiseless alnico P90 in a JM cover to pair with this, that might work well.

My impression has been that even the "surfmaster" from kinman was thicker sounding than a regular JM pickup, so this thickmaster (jeez does he need a better marketing guy) might be pretty dark for a neck pickup. I might try it in the bridge with that Fralin in the neck position. Which guitar are you thinking of putting this in?

[Larry Mal]

I'll probably sock it in to the neck position of my AVRI Jazzmaster, although I do have an MIJ that I could use it in, also.

The MIJ has some vintage spec handwound pickups in there from these nice people , and they are good pickups. So I guess I would be quicker loath to pull those.

What I think I will do is pull the neck pickup on my AVRI and put the Thickmaster in. This is kind of a proof of concept sort of thing, an easy way to see if I like the Kinman thing without having to drop $300. I only spent $70 on the Thickmaster.

I spent about the same on the Fralin alnico noiseless P90. That's also kind of a proof of concept thing, if I like what I'm hearing there I'll go a little further. I'm more kind of looking for good high end response, an uncompressed sound with a good dynamic range and all that.

I'll keep the AVRI pickup for now and sell the set to fund another Thickmaster if I like it. I don't know that I will. It's kind of a high gain sounding thing and they talk a lot about J Mascis using them. I like J Mascis, but I emphatically don't want to sound like him.

[Embenny]

Yeah, the kinman JM pickups didnt really appeal to me because his site kept talking about how his pickups "dont try to recreate a traditional Jazzmaster tone" and how they're "thicker" which is "better."

It all kinda sounds to me like, "I couldn't match the high end response the way I felt I could with strat and telecaster pickups, so I'm going to pretend it's a feature and not a bug by telling you how bad regular jazzmaster pickups are."

I hope you're happy with it. Let me know how it goes. Maybe the dynamics are there even if the high end isn't.

[Larry Mal]

We'll see. As you know I'm kind of exploring noise-free options and trying to learn what works and what doesn't, which is hard to do since I can't get any first hand experience and they cost a lot of money. It's quite a leap of faith.

In the case of the Fralin noise cancelling pickup, I guess I could just sock in it my Firebird and try it out there. That guitar is wired pretty crazily, though- all kinds of push/pull knobs and coil tapping and shit. What I really need to do is a gut rehab on it and get all that stuff out of there and put in new pickups (and seven way switching) at the same time.

But the Gibson P90s sound great, just too noisy. So in that guitar I would want to preserve the P90 sound as much as possible. I'll get a little idea if Fralin can do that based on the Alnico magnet pickup, and who knows, it might blow my mind and I go with that all the way around. You never know.

[Embenny]

Yeah, fair enough. I'm also slowly working my way around the noiseless pickup world and I agree, some of the options are way too expensive to try on a lark. Going with ebay auctions is a good approach, you should easily be able to get your money back out of that fralin and kinman if you don't like them.

[seawalker]

I will be interested to hear how this turns out. I am interested in pickups with noiseless operation and am not totally devoted to a 100% vintage sound, I just want nice cleans with good dynamics.

[Larry Mal]

Me too- let's see if I get it. I have to say, though, that the name "Thickmaster" isn't really encouraging me to think I'll get strong cleans here. I have a feeling it'll sound more or less like a good PAF.

I would love to be wrong.

[tdbajus]

I am very curious to hear how this works out. I was thinking about trying out some Fatmasters, as I am putting together my old purple Mascis, and it would seem to go with the theme. I'd love to have noiseless pickups I like.

That said, I have enjoyed my Mojo WRHB in the Jazzmaster pickup shape. Actually sounds sweet split- sort of like a jaguar, which is swell as far as I am concerned. I have one in the bridge of my Costello, and the neck version should be here in a week or so, so I wanted to wait and see if I just wanted to get another pair of those.

Larry, if you could post some before and after clips, I think we'd all be grateful.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, maybe I'll order the bridge position "Thickmaster Plus" and really just do it up right.

[tdbajus]

Yeah, maybe I'll order the bridge position "Thickmaster Plus" and really just do it up right.

Maybe you should see if you like the neck first?

It would be fun to have a lending library of pickups.

[Larry Mal]

I feel that if I add the neck position Thickmaster then I will blow the reverse wind/reverse polarity in the guitar, and even if I don't (too lazy to look it up) then it will probably be way out of whack with the stock AVRI bridge pickup. It seems like I'll more or less have a one pickup guitar.

I kind of don't know what I was thinking. Sort of an impulse purchase. Regardless, if I have a full set then I can always sell them.

[tdbajus]

I feel that if I add the neck position Thickmaster then I will blow the reverse wind/reverse polarity in the guitar, and even if I don't (too lazy to look it up) then it will probably be way out of whack with the stock AVRI bridge pickup. It seems like I'll more or less have a one pickup guitar.

I kind of don't know what I was thinking. Sort of an impulse purchase. Regardless, if I have a full set then I can always sell them.

But it would let you know if you think the neck sound is busted, before you invest in the whole thing.

Of course, you are right- no doubt someone around here would snap up the set.

I'm kinda bummed, because my set of Lollar P90 for jazzmasters seems to have gotten lost in the move back to the East Coast. They would have been nice in the Mascis. Looking forward to hearing what you think of your pickups.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, if I get the set then I could just sell them if I don't like them. J Mascis uses them... someone will want them.

Might as well jump in. I can always keep the AVRI pickups.