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Well worn 1952 Black Guard Tele.

You will get Zero-Hum 1952 Esquire Tele sound with this amazing Gen-2 Tele bridge pickup.  Gen-2  is generation two, a new design.

The sound of Alnico-2 magnets with a fat coil, like the genuine article made in 1952. 

Old world Tele sound, clear and not too bright.  Less sharp attack and a full bottom end.  Remains well defined under high gain amp distortion.

This pickup has Kinman's propriety Alnico-K low strength magnets, like all our Fender type pickups, so string pull is minimized, sustain is longer and there is less rattle and buzz from the strings crashing into the frets from excessive magnet pull.

Zero-Hum and wax potted for Zero microphonic screech.  However, be aware that magnetic steel bridges compromise the hum cancelling ability of our Tele bridge pickups.  The solution is a non-magnetic Stainless Steel bridge made by Glendale Guitars in Texas.  They make 4 different kinds of Tele bridge with various Cut-Aways designed for comfort.  Highly recommended.  https://glendaleguitars.com/stainless-steel/

Balanced 3rd string loudness, Alnico-K** rod magnets for low string pull and no pitch warble (Strat-itis).  No Ice-pick.

Best in a Kinman TH3 or TK4 Goodbye-Soldering Harness (or a TK3/1 Esquire harness with 3 sounds).

 

Laser engraved info so you'll never forget.


 

Some people will call these noiseless Telecaster pickups but Kinman prefers to describe them correctly as Zero-Hum Telecaster 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

Patents 7,022,909 & 8,791,351

The Impersonator 50b bridge requires no modification to the pickup cavity in your guitar.  Like old fashioned Tele bridge pickups the 3 mounting screws provide grounding to the bridge & strings.

Mixing and matching with other Tele pickups

Impersonator 52n is the companion neck pickup

Adjustment requirements

The Impersonator 50b has an advanced magnetic circuit and needs to be adjusted close to the strings to get it's best performance.  You can adjust the pickup as close as 1.5mm gap between bottom of E 6th and top of magnet with string pressed onto the 12th fret.  It really cooks, is very loud and has some characteristics of P-90.  It will work with a 500k volume pot but punch is compromised to a noticeable degree compared to a 250k volume pot.

Connection means available

Hook-up cables

  • Prepared and cut generously longer than necessary for Telecasters.
  • Custom lengths by request with Order.
  • 2 conductor shielded.  The 3 mounting screws provide a ground link to the bridge/strings.
  • NOTE: the 3 mounting screws provide grounding to the bridge & strings (like old fashioned Tele bridge pickups). 

Dimensions

Output Polarity

  • Phase reversible so can adapt to any companion pickup

Pot & Capacitor values

  • Great Tele sound with 250k volume pot.  A 500k volume pot makes the twang sharper.  Both are good.
  • Tone pot is usually the same value as the volume but for a little more top end brightness can be 1meg or a No-Load.
  • Stock pots can actually measure as low as 170k and 350k.  Pots in our Goodbye-Soldering Harness are guaranteed to measure no less that 250k and 500k respectively.
  • Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF in 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester.  Smaller value reduces the severity of Treble cut, larger values increase it.

Magnet spread

  • Standard vintage 55mm only (slanted mount resolves to 53.5mm)

Magnet Staggers

  • Normal improved Stagger to suit 7 ~ 14 inch range uniform radius fretboards.
  • Flat Stagger for specific compound radius fretboards (Warmoth 10 ~ 16 inch and Post 2010 Fender Deluxe 9 ~ 14").
  • Option to specify the magnet stagger in our 'After-Order Supplementary Questions' email we send you.

Mounting hardware included

  • 3 Pan head mounting screws 6-32 UNC x 21mm
  • 3 Silicon Rubber tube springs.

Covers

  • Tele bridge pickups don't have covers, the top coil is bound with Black twine and wax potted for protection.
  • Upon request we can fit a decorative top plate for a modest cost.  Available is Pearl White, Cream, Aged White, Green and Blue.
  • With and without Kinman logo.

We highly recommend consulting the Install Guide in Tech Info 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 available.

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

** Alnico-K is a unique proprietary Alnico rod magnet developed by Kinman in 1985.  It is Alnico-5 but 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.

* Fender and Telecaster and Tele are registered Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp, Inc.  Kinman is not associated with FMIC but they kindly permit us to refer to their Trade Marks to reference our products.

Brett rekons the BlackGuard set is pretty darn nice, big bottom end