HANK PICKUP WIRING(KINMAN FV-HMS)

[marvinisking]

Hi,
Please,can anyone tell me if Hank's FV-HMS pickups were uncoventionally wired to give him a unique sound???

Cheers
Keith

[ianrigby]

If you mean, are the hooked up differently. No.

Ian

[Tone]

Hi Keith

Hank's personal Strats (which are the Signature model) originally had Seymour Duncan SSL1 pickups in the neck and middle positions and a DiMarzio FS-1 at the bridge. They were wired so that pulling up the second tone knob brought in the neck and bridge together and this configuration applied to all the Signature, Autograph and 40th Anniversary models released for public sale although the 40th Anniversary has the first series of Kinmans. However, I don't know for sure if Hank retained that configuration when he changed to Kinmans on his own Signatures.

For further information on Hank's Custom Shop Strats please refer to Scouser Joe's stickied thread on this board.

Cheers.

Tony

[rogercook]

Mar 10, 2012 15:00:18 GMT arnulf said:

Hi Keith!

This is from Kinman's web site:

... Created especially for Hank in 2001 and used ever since by the legend himself. Hank also used this set exclusively during the final Farewell Shadows tour in 2004 where he played old and new tunes with the legendary Hank Marvin sound (without the mains hum). This set creates Hanks modern Gypsy Jazz sound, authoritive with excellent projection and clarity not possible with regular single coil pickups...

I can't see how Kinmans create Hank's Gypsy Jazz sound which after all is acoustic and is down to a Maccaferri style guitar.

I've heard it suggested (but can't confirm) that a circuit similar to this -- www.glguitars.com/schematics/Legacy_schematic_blockdiagram.pdf -- with bass and treble controls may have been used.

[Tone]

Hi Steve

The first series of Hank Custom Shop Strats was issued in 1990 and had Fender Gold Lace Sensor pickups. However, these guitars (around 20 of them) were released prematurely without Hank's final approval and he didn't like the sound from those pickups. Hence, Fender recalled the guitars but by then a few had been sold and they may well still exist in private hands. They are rarer than the proverbial hens' teeth and are known as "The ones that got away."

When the "approved" version of the Signature was issued in 1992 it had the SD and DiMarzio pickups as described in my first post and that configuration was continued on the subsequent Autograph version issued in 1995.

Hank fitted Kinmans to his Signatures around 1997 and I have heard nothing to suggest that these guitars were fitted with anything other than the original SD and DiMarzios prior to then.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Tony

[Deleted]

Hello Keith (who made the original enquiry) and also Steve and Ian

I confirm 100 per cent what Tony has said. I have no doubt that Hank might well have experimented with different pick-ups (as we all have done) but much of this would probably have been done 'unofficially'. None of it ever found its way onto the 'official' Fender produced Custom Shop Signature models which Hank endorsed.

When we put together the Custom Shop Guitar Fact Sheet - which can be downloaded as a PDF from elsewhere on this site - I went to a lot of trouble to obtain the precise specifications for all Hank's official Fender Custom Shop guitars. I came across a lot of heresay about what had or had not been done but found no hard evidence or reliable documentation to support many of the theories that were presented to me. I published only the information which I had evidence to support.

What you see in the fact sheet in relation to the Signature/Autograph series is what I received from Fender directly. The 40th Anniversary Specification came from Flying Pig (who commissioned the run), and the 50th Edition ( which was the replica of the 1958 original 34346 Strat) was supplied by Howard Gllespie at Oasis Music who planned, commissioned and sold the entire run. In addition, I personally had owned each of these models at some point in time, so was able to confirm the facts with which I was presented by others with my own personal findings obtain from a detailed examination of the instruments themselves.

The Signature, Autograph and 40th Anniversary Strats all had an additional push-pull feature added to a tone control which provided an additional mixed pick-up selection. In the case of the 40th Anniversary each tone control had an additional function. One was to operate the LED markers in the neck, and the other operated as an additional pick-up selector for the Kinmans which were fitted during manufacture.

Tony (Tone) will confirm this one way or the other, but I think this was probably the K9 switching system referred to later in this post). However, as Hank was involved with Kinman it is open to speculation what other systems (possibly K7) might have been installed on his own guitars.

This probably goes some way to answering Keith's question - which is 'yes' you can have Kinman's with a different switching configuration. But we can never be sure exactly what Hank used personally, we only know what he endorsed on the Custom Shop models sold by Fender.

I quote the following from the Guitar Technology website which explains the set up as well as I could :

"Chris [Kinman] also devised a couple of switching/mixing options, the K7 and K9 controls, to extend the tone of the instrument. The K7 provides a simple way to use the lower tone control to fade in the neck pickup, regardless of which other pickups are active. This modification, already popular amongst Strat players, increases the tonal range. The more ambitious K9 system employs a push switch, built into the lower tone control, that switches from the usual Strat switching setup (and Chris claims the K9 offers more easily available, usable sounds than Fender's new S1 switching arrangement) to a novel system that provides a series configuration when it is switched to the mid/neck combination. It delivers a sweet, punchy tone, not unlike that from a P90 pickup and fading in the neck pickup makes a further tone available."

Best Wishes,

Ian

[abbeyroed]

Hi to ALL: Can someone tell me what PUPS Hank used on the Shads FINAL TOUR gigs, and has he changed since that tour? Thanks, Ed!!

[mickhunt]

Hi all I know this is an old topic but can any one tell me on the K7 Kinman harness there's a mini switch on the tone section one setting is HD and the other 0.22 does anyone know what would be the best setting, I have just received the new Kinman shadows
Thanks for any help
Mick