I’ve toyed with guitar since I was a kid but until the last few years I didn’t really make a serious effort to learn to play. I’ve been studying on my own for about three years and while I’m no virtuoso at least I have some basic skills. I wish I’d started this as a teenager, I’d be a pretty good player by now.

I have three guitars - a Mexican Strat, a Vantage DL205 Les Paul clone, and a Fernandez Nomad travel guitar.

Kinman Pickups

The Strat is my favorite, and I’ve upgraded the stock pickups to Kinman AVN Blues. The Kinmans are noiseless and they sound great but I don’t think they sound as Fendery as the stock pickups. They have much more high end and pick up a lot of subtle sounds that the cheap stock pickups miss. The bridge especially is very fat and rich sounding. I like the Kinmans but I have to admit I expected more for $360 Cdn - they were almost as much as the guitar !

Check out my homemade tube amps and my Tube Amp Prototyping Box - click on the left