Impersonator 52b

Technical Stuff

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 canceled 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 its best performance.  You can adjust the pickup as close as a 1.5mm gap between the bottom of E 6th and the top of the 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 the punch is compromised to a noticeable degree compared to a 250k volume pot.

Connection means available

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

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

• Click on the dimensions page

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.
• The 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 than 250k and 500k, respectively.
• Normal tone cap value of 0.022uF in 63 ~ 100-volt Polyester.  Smaller value reduces the severity of the 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 the 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 are not associated with FMIC but they kindly permit us to refer to their Trade Marks to reference our products.