DiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. (original name: DiMarzio Musical Instrument Pickups, Inc.) is a United States manufacturer best known for its direct-replacement guitar pickups.[1] The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.
Private | |
Headquarters | Staten Island, New York , USA |
Products | Guitar pickups |
Website | DiMarzio.com |
DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after-market replacement guitar pickup. It was introduced in 1972 [2] and is still one of the most popular models.
The Super Distortion pickup produced a higher electrical output than the pickups normally fitted as standard to guitars at the time. It has around twice the output of a PAF-type pickup, and stronger ceramic magnets. This drove the input stage of guitar amplifiers with roughly twice as much voltage as a PAF pickup, so that an overdriven distorted sound was easier to obtain.
Two of the technologies that they are known for are:
- their Dual-Resonance design which uses different size wire gauges to produce a different resonant peak for each coil, providing unique sounds.
- their Airbucker™ design which reduces string pull and increases sensitivity and sustain.
Notable users past and present
- Buckethead (X2N, Air Norton, ToneZone)
- Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders (Ionizer 8 Neck, Ionizer 8 Middle, Ionizer 8 Bridge)
- Jason Becker (PAF Pro, HS-2, Tone Zone)
- Jake Bowen of Periphery (band) (Titan, LiquiFire and Crunch Lab)
- Chris Broderick of Megadeth (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck, D Activator 7 Bridge, D Activator 7 Neck)
- Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (Tone Zone, Chopper)
- Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and The Damned Things (Tone Zone, Humbucker From Hell, Air Norton, FRED)
- Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, Last in Line and Dio (band) (Super distortion, Super 3)
- Manny Charlton of Nazareth (Super Distortion)
- "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead (X2N, SDS-1, Super Distortion)
- Kurt Cobain of Nirvana used a Dimarzio Super Distortion and a Dimarzio PAF in both of his 1965 Fender Jaguar dual humbuckers.
- Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Super Distortion, Super 3)
- Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins uses DiMarzio pickups, and his signature stratocaster uses DiMarzio pickups as standard.
- J.D. Cronise of The Sword (Super Distortion)
- Dave Davidson of Revocation used DiMarzio D Activator Bridge, Liquifire neck and Super 2 neck pickups previously and now uses his signature Imperium pickups.
- Tom DeLonge of Angels & Airwaves and formerly Blink-182 used an X2N in a heavily modified Fender Stratocaster on Blink-182's album Cheshire Cat.
- Al Di Meola (Super Distortion pickups in the 1970s, and signature model neck (DP201) and bridge (DP202) pickups from the DiMarzio Custom Shop)
- Ace Frehley of KISS (Super Distortion, PAF)
- Jerry Garcia (SDS-1, Super 2, Dual Sound)
- Paul Gilbert (PAF Pro, Super Distortion, Humbucker From Hell, Air Classic Neck & Bridge, Tone Zone, Area 67, The Injector)
- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (FS1)
- Page Hamilton of Helmet (Air Zone)
- Jeff Hanneman of Slayer (Super Distortion in early Gibson Les Paul for neck position)
- Terrance Hobbs of Suffocation (band) (Super Distortion (bridge))
- Josh Homme of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age (Super 2 in his Ovation Ultra GP)
- Greg Howe (Air Norton S Neck and Custom GH5 Bridge)
- John Five (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck)
- Eric Johnson (EJ Custom, HS-2)
- Ehsan Keramati (Tone Zone, PAF)
- Kerry King of Slayer (Super Distortion in early BC Rich Mockingbird)
- Richie Kotzen (Chopper T, Twang King) [3]
- Herman Li of DragonForce (Evolution, Blaze, Fast Track I, HLM)
- Steve Lukather (Transition)
- Yngwie Malmsteen (previously used HS3 and HS4, FS1)
- Hank Marvin of The Shadows (FS-1 fitted to his Fender Stratocasters throughout the 70's and 80's and used in the bridge position in his Signature Stratocasters)
- Steve Morse (Steve Morse Model)
- Mark Morton of Lamb of God (band) (Dominion Neck and Dominion Bridge)
- Dave Murray of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion, PAF DP-103 (neck))
- Noodles of The Offspring (Tone Zone)
- John Norum of Europe (FS1, HS3, Super Distortion, Super 3)
- John Petrucci of Dream Theater (Humbucker From Hell, Tone Zone, Air Norton, Steve's Special, Custom Modded Air Norton and Steve's Special, D-Sonic, LiquiFire and Crunch Lab, Illuminator, Sonic Ecstasy, Dreamcatcher, Rainmaker)
- Randy Rhoads (Super Distortion, PAF)
- Michael Romeo of Symphony X (Tone Zone, X2N)
- Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi used a DiMarzio PAF Pro humbucker in his now discontinued Fender Stratocaster signature model.
- Joe Satriani (PAF Joe, PAF Pro, FRED, Mo' Joe, Pro Track, Satch Track Neck)
- Billy Sheehan (Model One, Model P, Will Power)
- Tom Scholz of Boston (P-90, Super Distortion)
- Chuck Schuldiner of Death (band) (X2N)
- James "Munky" Shaffer of Korn (Blaze)
- Dave Sharman (The Tone Zone, Super Distortion)
- Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio and Blink-182 is known to use Dimarzio PAF pickups occasionally
- Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion)
- Mark Speer of Khruangbin
- Bernard Sumner of Joy Division used DiMarzio humbuckers in his modified Shergold Masquerader.
- Andy Timmons (AT1 Custom (bridge), Cruiser (middle), Cruiser (neck))
- Sam Totman of DragonForce (Evolution, HLM)
- Pete Townshend of The Who (Dual Sound)
- Steve Vai (PAF Pro, The Breed, Evolution, Evo 2, Blaze II, Gravity Storm, Dark Matter 2, Utopia)
- Eddie Van Halen (Super Distortion, custom humbuckers on his Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar).
- Leslie West of Mountain (Megadrive, Fast Track II)
- Frank Zappa (used Dimarzio pickups in the Les Paul that he used in the 80s although it was later outfitted with Carvin and later Seymour Duncan pickups, thought to be a Super Distortion and PAF or PAF Pro but never confirmed).
- Chris Goss of Masters of Reality (X2N)
Patents
Lawrence P. DiMarzio holds following US patents:
- US patent 4133243, DiMarzio, Lawrence P., "Electric pickup", issued 1979-01-09
- US patent 4227434, DiMarzio, Lawrence P., "Adjustable soundhole mount for a musical pickup", issued 1980-10-14
- US patent 4320829, DiMarzio, Lawrence P.; Altilio, Daniel, "Merchandise display container", issued 1982-03-23 — a special container for merchandising pickups.
- US patent 4442749, DiMarzio, Lawrence P.; Blucher, Steven L., "Electrical pickup for a stringed instrument having ferromagnetic strings", issued 1984-04-17
References
- Guitar World Magazine May 1994
- DiMarzio Super Distortion Specifications
- "DiMarzio Twang King Neck & The Chopper T Bridge Pickups for Richie Kotzen | DiMarzio". www.dimarzio.com. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
Further reading
- Guitar World Magazine, "The 100 Most Important People In Guitar", San Francisco, CA, May 1994.
External links
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