The new violet Synergy baseplate – see bullet point on this page

The Gen-3 Kinman Magnum Opus is the new Gold Standard for Strat* pickups.

If you believe your boutique vintage scatter-wound Stratocaster* pickups are the finest vintage pickups money can buy …. think again!

Our new Magnum Opus ‘Perfect Vintage’ set had glassy highs optimized for each of the three pickups (MO ’56’ neck/ MO ’56’ middle and MO ‘MV’ bridge)

Sonic characteristics: if you know genuine ’50’s Stratocaster* sound you’ll immediately understand our Magnum Opus ’56. Super fast attack response (snap) which is great for super fast picking (and yes, even shredders will love it), outstanding presence factor with glassy crystalline pristine highs, low mid scoop and crisp, sharp twangy lows all the way down to the open E-6th. Outstanding clarity and transparency. 3D dynamics and highly touch sensitive. Exceptional note separation and beautifully balanced string levels. Absolutely authentic Knopfler-esque position 2 & 4 sounds ,,,, all of that with absolute Zero-Hum and none of the traditional nasties such as warbling notes, buzzy string crash and icepick and overpowering G-3rd string. In essence, 50’s Strat sound perfected ,,,, what more could you want from a vintage pickup? Hum you say? well, with our Synergy baseplate you can have that too. Be aware the low output MO ’59 produces a very pretty sound, should you want more bite and glassy cut on the plain strings choose our noticeably more powerful MO ’56 model which is the middle and neck pickup in Our Magnum Opus ‘Perfect Vintage’ set. It has our MO ‘MV’ perfect bridge pickup.

The story behind the magic of the Magnum Opus The year is 1959 in England and Hank Marvin of The Shadows was given a ’59 Fiesta Red Stratocaster* by Cliff Richard. Hank and The Shadows went on to become world famous with their brand of instrumental rock and Hank became a living legend because of his distinctive sounds and skills and finesse on lead guitar. Guitar heroes of the caliber of Dave Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, George Harrison and countless others believe Hank is one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century.

Hank’s distinctive twangy sound sprang from his ’59 Stratocaster*, it turned heads at the time, and still does. Hank knows ’59 Strat* sound like the back of his hand -and- he hates mains hum. Although he waited patiently for years, Hank says our Magnum Opus is the finest ‘50’s Stratocaster* pickup he’s ever heard and he and his inner circle now prefer it over any other Stratocaster* pickup regardless of brand or price (noisy or noiseless). That’s because it boasts an incredible list of refinements (see the 9 point list below) including Anti TCS technology (Torn Cone Syndrome) … it’s that horrible shattering of the sound when the low E-6th string is plucked with a strong sharp upstroke, and I guarantee you won’t like what you hear. It’s worse than the sound Joe Bonamassa gets a second into this YouTube …

You will hear a mild version of TCS 2 seconds into the above YouTube.

The Magnum Opus is our Pièce de résistance, our masterpiece; the most memorable accomplishment of one’s career or lifetime, our Magnum Opus of Stratocaster* pickups. Only Kinman has the technical mastery to cram so many refinements and upgrades and darn fine sound into such a small package.

More importantly, listen to this Play List of Shadows tunes and listen to the wonderful sounds of our Magnum Opus ‘59 pickups. There is no greater test for 50’s Strat sounds than Shadows tunes. Since the pickups sound this good in these tunes you can be assured they sound equally great in your guitar for what ever music you play.

Play List of 10 Shadows tunes
NOTE: Only Dance on Peace Pipe are currently working.

These new pickups pass any blindfold test and interestingly, not one critic has disagreed that we have nailed perfection in ’59 Strat* sound. This is quite an achievement for a Zero-Hum pickup and positions the Magnum Opus to be the pinnacle of 50’s vintage Stratocaster sound for many years to come … and quite possibly forever.

Kinman is the King of Noiseless and the Master of 50’s Stratocaster sound.

As if that’s not enough the Magnum Opus also has the following benefits …

Kinman’s advanced technology is the result of Clarke’s second law and is indistinguishable from magic according to Clarke’s third law. Clarke’s second and third law

40% less magnetic string pull. The sound is remarkably clean of string crash and fret rattle and you can adjust the pickup higher to maximize touch sensitivity and dynamic range without the usual dire consequences. Also you’ll have longer sustain and a lower action (string to fret gap).
The rogue G-3rd string, the source of Ice-Pick harshness and the one that usually dominates the sound has been tamed and is balanced with the other 5 strings.
The E-6th string has more snap with a tight twang and can be picked normally with both ‘up’ and ‘down’ strokes without causing severe TCS
Absolute Zero-Hum. 99.8% free of hum. The most silence you won’t ever hear. Typically 5mv** (comparatively dimarzios Area ’58 produces 68mv** of hum when compared under identical test conditions)
All 6 strings sound loud, clear and balanced on all 3 pickups regardless of bridge spacing (wide Vintage and narrow Modern). Super pristine Fender sound with clarity and presence that makes all other Strat pickups sound ordinary and vulgar in actual side-by-side comparisons.
The best test is clean, un-distorted sound where you can hear the piano mid-tones and the bite and the marvelous twang …. listen to the play list of Shadows Tunes and pristine 50’s Strat* sound from bottom to top with no evidence of TCS on Dance On and Peace Pipe and others. Brands such as Mojotone Quiet Coils and regular models, Duncan Classic Stack, Zerhyr & their regular models, dimarzio’s Area & their regular models, and even Fender claim their Gen-4 noiseless are great but try achieving a sound like these demos with any of them and you’ll quickly hear they’re not what they are claimed to be! Not one of them cuts it like the Kinman, and according to customer Stuart from England that’s also true of Bare Knuckles Apache and 63 Veneer Board pickups and all other copies of the original 50’s Fenders.

The Kinman name, and that says it all. Chris Kinman has single handedly done more to improve Strat pickups than all the others put together and has been awarded 7 Patents with more coming along soon. Come out of the dark ages with these technical and sonic Masterpieces … our Magnum Opus.
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.

Synergy baseplate. All models in the Alchemy group have a Violet Synergy Gen-3 baseplate that allows hum-cancelling to be switched off as well as switching to Synergy mode for a noticeable extra magic, also it’s phase reversible. Synergy is a non-noiseless mode that enhances the sound of the pickup in a general way, thus it has “extra magic”. It is a very noticeable change, but so too is the hum level more noticeable than non-noiseless mode. Good only for clean room-volume playing. We feel that Violet implies the electric vibrancy of the Magnum Opus.
There are three Alchemy symbols printed on the basplate, these translate to “Equal to or greater than Gold”. Magnum Opus is an Alchemists term for Masterpiece of beyond excellence, an event so rare it occurs only once or twice in a lifetime.

Other Zero-Hum Magnum Opus models in the line up which sprang from the Gen-2 Impersonator models are …

Magnum Opus ’56 set
A Hank Marvin model and our equivalent of, but better than, Fenders CS54 definitive 50’s twangy Strat pickup.
Bonza Massa ’55 set
Authentically replicated without the nasties, Joe’s ‘Bonnie’ 1955 pickup sound.
Magnum Opus ’56 set
Our equivalent of, but better than, genuine ’56 Strat with bell ring with glassy bite and chunky girth
Magnum Opus Perfect Vintage set
Higher output MV model for the bridge so it balances volume-wise with the neck and it avoids the nasty Ice-Pick while still sounding vintage and glassy … mixed with MO 56 middle and neck with their glassy trebles. Position 2 still has a much vaunted Knopfler-esque quak.
Magnum Opus Texas-J set
Even higher output model for the bridge mixed with MO 56 & 55, thicker sound

*Stratocaster is a registered Trade Mark of Fender Musical Instrument Corp. Kinman is not associated with Fender but they kindly allow us to refer to their Trade Mark names

** our hum measuring apparatus amplifies hum by a factor of approximately 100 so in reality our measured 6mv is inaudible. But 68mv is audible and by our standard where we think anything over 15mv is unacceptably noisy and not really fully hum cancelling.