Pickup adjustment

As with all Kinman Gen-2 pickups they are very sensitive to height adjustment.  A good starting point so the basic balance is with the two E strings fretted at the 15th fret, adjust as follows ... and after listening further adjust to your personal taste.

• bridge pickup so the string-to-magnet gap is 1.25mm for both E strings
• neck pickup so the string-to-magnet gap is 1.5mm for both E strings

Installation

When replacing an original Gibson 480 two new screw holes must be drilled in the floor of the cavity because our 580 has the mounting screws of a P-90.  Cavity for original Gibson 480 is suitable, no modification required.  We use fixed Alnico-K** rod magnets, not individually adjustable Alnico-5 blocks as the 480 has.

But, consider including our optional non-magnetic mounting plate kit, it makes install fast n easy because you don't have to drill holes in the precise position for the pickups mounting screws.  Do NOT use original Gibson mounting plates, being magnetic will dramatically compromise the hum cancelling ability of the P-90 Hx.

Epiphones

Kinman’s will bring your Epiphone to life because they achieve the maximum sonic potential of the guitar, and are easier to install than practically all other brands too because of our Easy Install Kit for f-hole guitars.  Comprehensive, easy to do step-by-step instructions provided.  Refer to the Overview Tab >Epiphone f-hole talk.  More in Pole Spreads, next item ....

Connections

• Bare wires for soldering.
• Kinman connectors for plugging into a Kinman Strat, Tele or KHP-90 No-Soldering harness.
• Gibson 2 wire & 5 wire Quick Connect circuit board connectors shown below.

Output Polarity: 

• in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
• in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
• opposite phase to Fender Strat
• Fender pickups have opposite output polarity so consider Kinman's Strat models which have same output polarity.

Pot & Capacitor values

• Best with 500k Ohm for Volume.  Many Gibson's have 300k which makes a darker, less dynamic sound.
• Normal Tone pot is 500k however to maximize clarity use a No-Load or alternatively a 1 Meg Ohm tone pot.
• Normal tone cap value of 0.022µF in 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester.  Smaller value lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.

Cavity depth

• No need to deepen the pickup cavity in ANY guitar that has flat bottom cavities for P-90's.  Click Install Requirements to discover requirements for pickup cavity.
• Click this for the Install requirements for the original version, now discontinued.

Pole spreads

• 53mm pole spread for bridge position of Stratocasters or with any bridge having saddle spread of 54+mm.
• 50mm for Gibsons or bridges having saddle spread of 50mm ~ 54mm.
• 47.5mm for neck position of Gibson and Epiphones (NOTE: not all Epiphones have 47.5mm neck pole spread, please measure it).

Covers

• 'Universal' soapbar covers in genuine Gibson Cream, Warm White, Ivory and Black, click the option when ordering.  A must for Gibson guitars!
• Gibson replica hand buffed Nickel-Silver Soapbar covers in 47.5mm, 50 and 53mm.
• Generic Plastic Soapbar cover available for 47.5mm, 50 and 53mm pole spreads available in Black, & Cream only.
• Plastic generic Soapbar covers with 50mm pole spread available in White, Black, Cream and Chrome.
• Dog-Ear covers (Nickel-Silver) with hole spread of 50mm & 47.5mm to suit Epiphones.

Hook-up cable

• The P-90 Hx has 2 conductor cable. 3 conductor optional.
• Length is 380mm / 15".

Mounting hardware

• 2 Long mounting screws.
• 2 Silicon Rubber tube springs.
• handy drill guide template for positioning the screw holes in the virgin floor of the pickup cavity of a project guitar or guitars with freshly deepened cavities.
• OPTIONAL extra:  Soapbar cavity mounting plate, including all screws and springs.  It's non-magnetic and won't interfere with hum cancellation.
• OPTIONAL extra:  Bracket for mounting under Dog-Ear covers in Arch-top f-hole guitars.  It's non-magnetic and won't interfere with hum cancellation.

The upgrade v3 Hum sensor was launched May-2021: