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Kinman strat pickups


keith2112

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Keith, Call Ateve Blucher over at Dimarzio and ask him about the Virtual Vintage Single Coils. Id put them up against Kinman any day and theyre half the price..

 

I heard a rumor that Kinman modeled(ripped off the dsign) his pickups after the Virtual Vintage....

 

I have then and they are great sounding!!!

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Originally posted by STEEL KAGE

I heard a rumor that Kinman modeled(ripped off the dsign) his pickups after the Virtual Vintage....

 

 

Or, as Chris himself describes it, typos and all:

 

 

Originally posted by Chris Kinman

The following story is factual and can be easily proved therefore I am not at risk of being sued for libel or slander.


Like many of you I have heard on the Internet Discussion groups and by word of mouth about DiMarzio Corporation suing Seymour Duncan over the double creme humbucker and that they prevented Duncan from making them by what many consider to be unethical means. Judging from peoples sentiments expressed on Internet discussion sites, DiMarzio Corporation's actions did not endear them to many guitar players in America at all. Many of you have also heard that DiMarzio Corporation, in what can only be described as an act of desperation to keep Kinman out of America, threatened to sue me on a Patent Infringement accusation in New York City. I just wanted to be left alone to get on with my passion of making nice pickups but because of this threat by DiMarzio Corporation I had to severely restricted Dealerships in the U.S.A. which hurt my business a lot; this is why Kinman pickups have been difficult to get in America up to date. You probably don't understand how DiMarzio Corporation can get away with this when Kinman was granted a 1996 U.S. Patent and my products are manufactured in accordance with what is disclosed in that Patent.


Three different Patent Attorneys in two countries gave me advise that my pickups do not infringe any of DiMarzios Patents. But DiMarzio Corporation have an agenda to eliminate Kinman as competition in America and deprive American guitar players of an alternate competitive brand in the noiseless single coil arena. I tried to negotiate with DiMarzio Corporation and just when I thought we were getting close to a settlement they came back with even more ridiculous demands. They even wanted me to agree never to sue them on any of my current Patents or any future Patent I might get in the USA. That really says something don't you think? Like- Kinman must have something DiMarzio are scared of. As you can see they made it impossible to reach any kind of solution as there is no way known I would agree to ludicrous demands like that. Reason did not prevail and they went ahead with with their threat of a law suit in New York City. It might have something to do with the fact that to defend myself in New York would have cost me $250,000 in Attorney fees and they knew I wasn't able to raise that kind of cash so the case would be a pushover for them. (My US Attorney quoted me $50,000 just for pre-court preparation) I would have defended myself by correspondence and probably won the case but New York State law does not allow self defense by businesses. New York State law says that I would have to hire a New York registered attorney costing about $350/hour. Clearly that was not an option I could consider. Seems like New York is not the place to defend yourself if you are a small operator.


Because I couldn't raise the cash to defend myself DiMarzio Corporation applied to the court for a 'default judgement' which basically means I got found guilty in my absence. That default judgement, which seeks to deprive American Guitar players of Kinman products, cost DiMarzio Corporation a pittance because there was no court case as such, just some paperwork was all they had to do.


I also suspect that DiMarzio Corporation tried to slow me down by distracting me from my business and making me spend money on Attorney fees with their antics but actually it had the opposite effect. I got really busy and invented, perfected and Patented a new design to deprive them of any opportunity for litigation. Turns out this new deign is a real winner because it allows me to make authentic sounding noiseless Tele pickups as well as some new Strat models, with unaged tone. So thanks Larry, I couldn't do all that with the original design and you are the one who pushed me into it.


I hear you ask "Why did DiMarzio Corporation do this to a small innovative pickup maker on the other side of the world?" Might it be commercial envy? I'm really flattered to think that DiMarzio admitted that sales of their Virtual Vintage products were severely and irreparably damaged by Kinman AVn pickups (DiMarzios own words), especially since I have only sold, to date, a couple of hundred pickups in America. Could it be that my AVn pickups sound and feel better than DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups? Many experienced and qualified players think so (see Reviews page). DiMarzio Corporation obviously are scared of Kinman pickups or they wouldn't have gone to the lengths they did. Meanwhile my products have been enjoying fantastic popularity in England, Europe, Australia and Japan BUT America has been deprived because of DiMarzio Corporations insecurity and bad attitude.

 

 

Draw your own conclusions.

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I put the Hx-85 in my Godin and it really is a good pickup, pretty high output too--I'd buy it again. I'm replacing the neck and middle as I get the funds. Plus as good as it sounds in my guitar (mounted to the wood) I'm sure it sounds even better in a strat.

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Originally posted by Simon Garlick



Or, as Chris himself describes it, typos and all:




Draw your own conclusions.

Thanks for printing this!!! I had no idea, interesting read.

 

In the end, Ill Still take the Dimarzio's, Theyre half the price, American made and sound every bit as good IMO.....

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Originally posted by keith2112

I just listened to the Woodstock pups on the Kinman site. Man they sound great. Who here has them or has heard them? How are they?

 

 

There's defintiely many great p-ups in that price range. But I would suggest Van Zandt single coils. Admittingly I probably wouldn't spend the coin, on a brand new set of any single coil made by any manufacturer, you can find VZ used for a great price and they are built by a small family owned operation. They've been around a long time. Its your ears and your money so buy whatever you want.

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