The Impersonator E69

If you want the sounds of John Mayers PRS Silver Sky, that is without a shiny aggressive top end as Mayer himself describes his preference in this YouTube .... but you want it without mains hum, without fret-crash and without string warble from strong Alnico-5 magnets then you are on the right page.

John Mayer demos his own personal Silver Sky showcasing his favorite sounds.

You have to agree there is no mistaking the sounds of our Impersonator E69 below as being near identical to Mayers sound.

 

Only passive Kinman pickups with our parallel Baseplates will fit your Silver Sky because the pickups cavities are routed to suit it's pickups and they have parallel sides, not the usual Strat offset squashed triangle.  When ordering for a Silver Sky be sure to specify our exclusive Parallel Baseplate ... it is also a natural for replacing EMG's that also have parallel baseplates.

John Mayer likes a Strat sound that is without a shiny aggressive top end and that's the sound PRS designed his pickups to produce.  We like that sound too and we designed our Zero-Hum Impersonator E69 to also produce it. 

Additionaly these pickups will deliver all the sound you want with all the amazing benefits that only Kinman can deliver.  For a start our low strength Alnico rod magnets promote sustain by reducing magnetic string pull -and- simultaneously reducing string crash which also shortens sustain by robbing energy from the vibrating strings when they crash into the frets.  This also makes the sound cleaner with less string buzz and clatter.  And the best of all is Zero-Hum (noiseless).  These are the reasons Kinman Strat pickups are the Pure Musical Energy pickups.

Signal chain requirements for best tone and dynamic performance:   Like any pickup it's not a bad idea to use a low capacitance cable to get the incredible performance of these pickups and hear all the nuances you and your guitar can muster.  Learn why here Any old cable won't do.

Special note for Silver Sky owners since there is no electrostatic shielding:  Some people will call these noiseless Stratocaster pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as Zero-Hum Stratocaster pickups.  That's because there are 2 types of noise, Hum which is cancelled in the pickup and Buzz which can only be minimized by shielding the wiring cavities (refer to >Technical >Perfect Guitar >Shielding for newer guitars
 

*Stratocaster and Strat* are a Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp.  Kinman is not connected to Fender.

** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985.  It has 40% less string pull than Alnico-5 so sustain is longer and there is much less clatter from string crash and no Strat-itis string warble.
 

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Technical & Application info:

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  This is our Parallel Baseplate that fits the Silver Sky cavities.

Covers

• Standard Kinman cover (without height extender bushings included). 
• Available in White, Black, Aged White.
• With or without Kinman logo.
• White covers can be tinted with food stains such as Coffee and Tea.
• Generic covers will not fit Kinman Strat pickups.  We sell replacement covers in three colors.

Connection means available

• Bare wires for soldering.
• Kinman connectors for plugging into any Kinman Goodbye-Soldering Harness.

Dimensions

• click for dimensions page

Pot & Capacitor values

• Best with 250k Ohm (measured minimum) volume pot.  Less punch and more bright with 500k.
• Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume but for a little more top end brightness can be 500k, 1meg or a No-Load.
• Stock pots can actually measure as low as 175k.  Pots in our Goodbye-Soldering Harness are guaranteed to measure no less that 250k.
• Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF, 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester.  Smaller uF value lessen the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.
• The voltage rating of Caps is not important but 63 ~ 100 volt have thicker lead wires that result in a neater job.

Magnet spreads we normally ship (ensures magnets align with the strings in each position)

• Narrow 49.5mm
• Intermediate 51mm
• Standard 52.5mm
• Option to specify your magnet spreads of sets and singles in our 'After-Order Supplementary Questions' email we send you.

Magnet Staggers

• Normal improved Stagger to suit 7" ~ 14 inch uniform radius fretboards including USA Custom Guitar Compound 7-1/4" ~ 9-1/2
• Flat Stagger 14" ~ 20" for specific compound radius fretboards (Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch and Post 2010 Fender Deluxe 9 ~ 14")
• Option to choose your magnet stagger for sets and singles in our 'After-Payment Supplementary Questions' email we send you.

Hook-up cable

• 2 conductor shielded is standard.
• Middle pickups when supplied with a K9, TK4 or TK9 harness have 3 conductor shielded.
• 3 conductor by request with Order.
• Custom lengths by request with Order.

Output Polarity: 

• in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
• in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
• opposite phase to Fender Strat

Mounting hardware included

• 2 Pan head mounting screws.
• 2 Silicon Rubber tube springs.

We highly recommend consulting the Install Guide in the Technical section even if you think you know it all.  Kinmans' require specialized knowledge and sometimes there is updated info.  There is also a handy wiring diagram included.

We also highly recommend consulting the Adjust & Set-up page in the Technical section so you get the best out of your Kinman pickups.