$385.00
Converge-3
The Kinman ‘Converge 3’ is our Magnum Opus of humbuckers. It’s our Piece de résistance, a masterpiece; the most memorable accomplishment of one’s career or lifetime, our Magnum Opus ….. and look mum, no battery.
Main Points: It’s a variable humbucker where three different Zero-Hum sounds converge and all have similar loudness. The caricature sound of a great ’59 Gibson humbucker as well as optional P-90 sound -or- the scooped sound of a Gen-2 Tele* 60’s Custom bridge … all from one passive, switchable pickup.
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Description
Converge-3n … great Humbucker + Zero-Hum Fender / P-90 sonic dimensions
Why are there three different guitars here?
…. because this remarkable new Multi-Sound Converge-3 humbucker makes sounds similar to any two of these guitars at once.
Realistic Fender or P-90 split single coil sound plus a variable humbucker sound at the same volume in one pickup, and Zero-Hum from all.
The Kinman ‘Converge 3’ is our Magnum Opus of humbuckers. It’s our Piece de résistance, a masterpiece; the most memorable accomplishment of one’s career or lifetime, our Magnum Opus ….. and look mum, no battery.
Main Points: It’s a variable humbucker where three different Zero-Hum sounds converge and all have similar loudness. The caricature sound of a great ’59 Gibson humbucker as well as optional P-90 sound -or- the scooped sound of a Gen-2 Tele* 60’s Custom bridge … all from one passive, switchable pickup.
The variations for the humbucker happen on a small preset trim pot mounted on the Push\Push splitting control. The sounds range continuously variable from close to a fat single coil to a typical humbucker with the fattest low E string.
More info in the Technical tab, above to the right ….
* Tele and Telecaster are a Trade Marks of Fender Musical Instrument Corp. Kinman is not associated with Fender**
Technical Stuff
Laser engraved identity info so you’ll always know.
Direct replacement for conventional humbuckers such as Gibson, Duncan, EMG etc. However, some PRS cavities may require a little bit of deepening, there may be others. It is difficult to specify a cavity depth because it depends on the pitch angle of the neck in relation to the body. Perfect for project guitars where you can specify the cavity depth.
Also, some guitars (a few Ibanez, some Fender Strats, some Musicman and one or two others) have pickups with excessively rounded corners. If a pickguard is fitted (for example Fender Strat Deluxe) a small modification to the pickguard opening to accommodate a Kinman humbucker is well worth the effort since Kinman’s sound so much better. The cavity in the body is suitable as it is.
The Split Single: the one producing the Fender sound has fixed rod magnets (like in the pictures above). The split single P-90 version has 2 rows of adjustable screw poles and is designed to install so that the split single is closest to the neck, not the bridge.
- Distinctively Fender twangy Telecaster split coil sound with great twang on the low wounds and Fender crystalline plain strings.
- P-90 sound that is remarkably similar to an actual P-90, you know, stellar highs, luscious lows, focused growl and great dynamic response.
Splitting Controls: This unique humbucker is necessarily supplied with our special combined Push/Push control with integral DPDT Push/Push switch that splits the coils and engages the hum cancelling devices … while the rotary part is either a Volume control or Tone control for the pickup or it can easily be reconfigured to a Master Volume or Master Tone for all pickups. There is also available an optional Push/Push Phase Reversing control for the Peter Green sound (RIP). This control can be configured as a Volume control or Tone control for this and/or another pickup according to your requirements. A third option to split the coils is a mini-toggle switch which has the hardware to mount in a 3/8 inch (9.5mm) hole for American pots. The same switching functions happen with both types of switch.
Continuously variable Humbucker Jangle control: Wide open this control allows the full humbucker to produce a lot of fat vibrant single coil character, particular from the low wound strings which is the range where we believe a great 59 humbucker sits. At the other end of the range the low E string gets less single coil and morphs to a typical fat humbucker sound. We found that setting this control to 2 notches back towards wide open sound that a wonderful compromise is struck and the low wounds, while still highly dynamic, retaig a lot of the fatness of a standard typical humbucker … the PERFECT humbucker sound.
Available in three pole spreads …
- 53mm bridge position with vintage Strat bridge (56.4mm)
- 50mm bridge position with 52mm Tune-O-Matic bridges also neck position on Stratocasters
- 47.5mm exclusive neck position with 52mm Tune-O-Matic bridges on Gibson’s and others
The Converge-3 is suitable only for guitars with the same number of Tone controls as there are Converge-3 pickups that you want to install, I.E. some guitars such as PRS have only one Tone control so only one Converge-3 Humbucker can be installed, the other can be a Kinman Gen-1 humbucker in the bridge position such as the wonderful Twang-Bucker Whopper or P90-Bucker Heavy that are not splittable.
Strats and Les Pauls** and similar will accept two Converge-3 humbuckers.
Replaces standard size humbuckers in all guitars but it’s not suitable for modern Gibson Les Pauls that have controls mounted on a circuit board unless you ditch the Gibson harness and replace it with a Kinman KHP-90 Goodbye Soldering Harness. Also Gibson SG, ES-335 or other thin body guitars require the optional mini-toggle switch switch to be utilized because the standard PushPush splitting switch requires a minimum 35mm control cavity depth.
Inclusions
- Includes Push/Push splitter switch with combined Tone control for the pickup.
- or optional min–toggle switch as specified in the order form.
- Mounting hardware – see Mounting hardware below.
Dimensions
- 28mm deep(from top of D magnet to bottom of pickup)
- 7mm deeper than a standard humbucker
- Width 38.3mm x Length 70mm (standard humbucker size)
Cavity depth
- 30mm measured from the underside of the E-1st string (fretted at the 14th) to the cavity floor.
Options
- Phase Reversing Push/Push control that can be configured as a Tone or Volume control for this pickup or other pickup(s) or as a Master.
Hook-up wires
- 6 or 7 core shielded cable made in-house. 380mm / 15″ long for neck pickups in Les Pauls and shorter lengths for Strats. Ask for your own lengths. Bare ends wires for easy connection to the splitting Push control.
- Other brands of guitars which have comprehensive shielding in the wiring tunnels and control cavities. can have 6 or 7 un-shielded colored single wires.
Connection means available
- 6 wires connected to the Splitting control have optional …
- two 3 pin plugs that connect easily to the three screw-down connector blocks. Requires adequate diameter wiring tunnels.
- bare wires that will pass easily through small diameter wiring tunnels.
- from the splitting control to the guitars existing volume control.
- 2 or 3 bare wires for soldering to your existing harness.
- 2 pin plug for connecting to a Kinman harness.
Pot & Capacitor values
- Best with 250k Ohm for Volume for both full humbucker and split single coil modes. Many Gibson’s have 350k which is fine. 500k volume pot causes excessive presence on the high plain strings which some players will find harsh. We include a fixed resistor with each Converge-2 that renders a 500k pot to 250k.
- Tone pot can be 250k or 500k, not a lot of difference.
- Normal tone cap value of 0.022µF in 63 ~ 100 volt Polyester. Smaller value lessens the severity of Treble cut, higher values increase it.
Control Cavity depth
- Minimum 38mm for the splitting and jangle control
Pick Cavity depth
- With our hum sensor attached the inclusive height is 4mm taller than a regular humbucker which is 22mm making total height 26mm. Most pickup cavities are deeper than required so in reality the Converge-3 may very well install without deepening the cavity.
Output Polarity
- in-phase with all other Kinman pickups
- in-phase with Gibson and Copy humbuckers
- opposite phase to Fender
- Phase Reversing control available (Push/Push)
Pole spreads for perfect string-over-pole alignment
- 47.5mm especially for neck position of all guitars that have bridge saddle spread of 54mm or less.
- 50mm bridge position in guitars with a bridge saddle spread of 54mm or less.
- 53mm for bridge position ONLY in Stratocaster with 56.4mm vintage bridge.
Mounting hardware
- Mounting options: We supply the Converge with 3 point mounting adjustment so you can Tilt and Slant at will. This is highly desirable to fine tune and balance the humbucker sound with the Fender / P-90 sounds. The two 4-48 UNC bass side mounting screws are 8mm apart (you can drill two holes in the existing mounting ring or buy a suitable replacement mounting ring and drill that one). However, the Converge-3 can be used with the conventional 2 screw mounts but we recommend 3 screw mount so you get the very best and adjustable balance of split single and full humbucker sounds.
- mounting screws and silicon rubber tube springs included.
- 3 x conventional mounting screws, standard American thread 3-48 UNC, Philips X drive.
- also available with other stock 3 screw mounting (you specify the distance between the two top screws).
Covers and colors
- Closed top buffed Nickel-Silver and Gold plated covers. Our buffed Nickel-Silver covers have very little impact on sonic performance
- Highly recommended is our Openttop ‘240’ buffed Nickel-Silver, durable black and Gold plated covers. A variety of colored Pearloid top plates as displayed in the Order Channel and in the Whhttp://mobile.kinman.com/whats-new/article.php?title=open-top-humbuckers-with-new-decorative-top-plates&id=15at’s New section.
- Buffed Nickel-Silver has a warm slightly yellowish tinge and is highly polished to a mirror finish. Apply clear liquid guitar polish occasionally to preserve the shine if you do not want it to age rapidly. Easy to relic.
- Premium lines such as Converge-2 and Magnum Opus Strat pickups are not available without Kinman Logo.
- Kinman humbuckers are engineered differently without the less desirable molded Butyrate plastic bobbins that all other humbuckers have. Removing covers will not reveal bobbins or improve the sound and we strongly advise against it because sweat and electrics are not a good mix
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Reviews
Simon Wright
AUSTRALIA | 14-Jan-2022
Hi Joe (and Chris),
It’s finished ! And it sounds magnificent !! (and looks great too)
The whole project was very much a leap of faith, both in my installation ability and in the sound of the pickups, because I really only bought them based on your reputation. But I LOVE the sound ! The clarity and punch is just astounding, and the range of sounds is just what I was looking for. I particularly love the split sound on the neck pickup, which outdoes my strat, but every sound is wonderful, and I’m finding more by playing with the tone knob – which on all of my other guitars only added mud unless left on 10. I guess I will continue to try tweaking a little after I get used to them, to see if I can balance them any more.
I think your pickups are one of my best ever purchases. Thanks so much for a wonderful product and thanks so much for your help during the process.
Best wishes, Simon
I forgot to mention that I used the guitar for a rehearsal last night, and everyone said how much better my sound was :-)
Anyway, I have to go play now….
ED: Simon bought a pair of Converge-3, the neck one has Fender-like split single coil sound and the bridge has P90-like split coil single sound and both are noiseless (Zero-Hum). The neck pickup has our exclusive new 47-5mm pole spread and doesn’t it align with the strings really well !!!
Thanks heaps for your glowing Report Card Simon, and for your confidence in our ability to deliver what we claim. After 4 years of developing the Converge multi-sound humbucker it is indeed very gratifying to hear how pleased you are with your new multi-sound Kinman’s. It makes all the midnight oil and our long hard and often frustrating work all worth while to read your report. And thanks for the photo of your Variax too, looks cool with those ‘Durable Black’ covers and the 3 point mounting.
Glenn Mashford
AUSTRALIA | 26-Dec-2020
Converge HSH, looks amazing. frigging almost equal sound level between Hum and single is amazing. We think this converge-3 is better than the HSS in the Lukather split single coil by itself. Bridge is full enough to feel good but thin enough to sound like a strat with hardtail, it’s punchy and clear, killer strat / humbucker tones
merry christmas guys !!!!! Glenn
ED: Glenn bought one of our pre-release Converge-3 and installed it on his MusicMan Lukather.
Rich Southgate
UNITED KINGDOM | 12-Dec-2019
I had half an hour on my hands today, so I adjusted the pickup heights to suit and tried the jangle control (genius). Didn’t take long at all to decide on the sound I wanted from each pup. I have to say, yesterday’s enthusiasm has actually increased. These pickups are amazing. Cleans are wonderful, even on the bridge pickup, with no hint of harshness. I have three excellent drive pedals from ThorpyFX and I had a quick blast with each of them. On higher gain settings, the previous Gibson bridge pup quickly became harsh (and frankly unpleasant). Nothing like that with the Converge-3. My Les Paul is now addictive in a way that it never was before. If I didn’t have to put my son to bed soon – and actually keep quiet enough for him to sleep – I reckon I’d be playing all night!
