- DiMarzio
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DiMarzio, Inc. (original name: DiMarzio Musical Instrument Pickups, Inc.) is an United States manufacturer best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement guitar pickups.(Guitar World Magazine May 1994) The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.
DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after market replacement guitar pickup. It was introduced in 1972 [1] 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 impedance of a PAF type pickup, and a stronger ceramic magnet. 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 patented Dual-Resonance design which uses two asymmetrical coils tuned to different frequencies to produce unique sounds.
- their Airbucker (tm) design which reduces string pull and increases sensitivity and sustain.
Contents
Notable users past and present
- Kurt Cobain of Nirvana used a Dimarzio Super Distortion and a Dimarzio PAF in both of his 1965 Fender Jaguar dual humbuckers.
- Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins uses DiMarzio pickups, and his signature stratocaster uses DiMarzio pickups as standard.
- Eddie Van Halen (used on his discontinued Ernie Ball signature series guitars. Now produced as the Axis and Axis Super Sport. These pickups are custom made for Ernie Ball only).
- Dave Sharman (The Tone Zone, Super Distortion)
- Steve Vai (PAF Pro, The Breed, Evolution, Evo 2, Blaze II)
- Billy Sheehan (Model One, Model P, Will Power)
- Andy Timmons (AT1 Custom (bridge), Cruiser (middle), Cruiser (neck))
- Joe Satriani (PAF Joe, PAF Pro, FRED, Mo' Joe, Pro Track)
- Eric Johnson (EJ Custom, HS-2)
- Greg Howe (Air Norton S Neck and Custom GH5 Bridge)
- Paul Gilbert (PAF Pro, Super Distortion, Humbucker From Hell, Air Classic Neck & Bridge, Tone Zone, Area 67, The Injector)
- Steve Morse (Steve Morse Model)
- David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (FS-1)
- Sam Totman of DragonForce (Evolution, HLM)
- Herman Li of DragonForce (Evolution, Blaze, FS-1, HLM)
- 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)
- Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and The Damned Things (Tone Zone, Humbucker From Hell, Air Norton, FRED)
- Ian MacKaye of Fugazi (Super Distortion)
- Randy Rhoads (Super Distortion, PAF)
- Jerry Garcia (SDS-1, Super 2, Dual Sound)
- Jason Becker (PAF Pro, HS-2, Tone Zone)
- Ace Frehley of KISS (Super Distortion)
- Pete Townshend of The Who (Dual Sound)
- "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead (X2N, SDS-1, Super Distortion)
- Leslie West of Mountain (Megadrive, Fast track II)
- Buckethead (X2N, Air Norton, ToneZone)
- Frank Zappa
- Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion)
- Dave Murray of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion, PAF DP-103 (neck))
- Chuck Schuldiner of Death (band) (X2N)
- Chris Broderick of Megadeth (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck, D Activator 7 Bridge, D Activator 7 Neck)
- John 5 (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck)
- Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (Tone Zone, Chopper)
- Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Super Distortion, Super 3)
References
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
James Munky Shaffer (Korn)
Offline sources
- Guitar World Magazine, "The 100 Most Important People In Guitar", San Francisco, CA, May 1994.
External links
Categories:- Guitar pickup manufacturers
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