DiMarzio

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DiMarzio HS-3 -stack single coils on electric guitar.

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.

DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after-market replacement guitar pickup.^{[citation needed]} 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,^{[citation needed]} 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:

• Dual-Resonance design which uses different size wire gauges to produce a different resonant peak for each coil, providing unique sounds.
• Airbucker™ design which reduces string pull and increases sensitivity and sustain.

Notable users past and present[]

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• Buckethead (X2N, Air Norton, ToneZone)
• Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders (Previously used Ionizer)
• Jason Becker (PAF Pro, HS-2, Tone Zone)
• of Periphery (band) (Previously used Crunch Lab and LiquiFire, now uses his signature Titans)
• Chris Broderick of Megadeth (D Activators, now his own custom pickups)
• 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 (Super Distortion, PAF)
• Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Super Distortion, Super 3)
• Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins (Previously used DiMarzio Tone Zone S, The Chopper, Air Norton S, and his signature DiMarzio BC-1 and BC-2)
• J.D. Cronise of The Sword (Super Distortion)
• of Revocation (Previously used DiMarzio D Activator Bridge, Liquifire neck and Super 2 neck pickups, now uses his signature Imperium pickups)
• Tom DeLonge of Angels & Airwaves and formerly Blink-182 (Previously used X2N)
• Al Di Meola (Super Distortion pickups in the 1970s, and signature model neck (DP201) and bridge (DP202) pickups from the DiMarzio Custom Shop)
• The Edge of U2 (FS-1)
• 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, PG-13 mini humbuckers)
• David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (FS-1)
• Chris Goss of Masters of Reality (X2N)
• Page Hamilton of Helmet (Air Zone)
• Jeff Hanneman of Slayer (Super Distortion in early Gibson Les Paul for neck position)
• Tim Henson of Polyphia (Air Norton, Gravity Storm, his signature Notorious mini humbucker and lipstick single coils)
• Scott LePage of Polyphia (D Activators, True Velvet single coils, his signature Igno humbucker)
• Terrance Hobbs of Suffocation (band) (Super Distortion)
• 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 Activators)
• 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, his signature custom Strat loaded pickguard)
• Rocky Kramer (Air Norton, Tone Zone & Super Distortion in Fender Stratocasters & Telecasters)^[3][4][5]
• Herman Li of DragonForce (Evolution, Blaze, Fast Track I, HLM)
• Steve Lukather (Transition)
• Yngwie Malmsteen (previously used HS3 and HS4, FS-1)
• 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) (His signature Dominion pickups)
• Dave Murray of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion, PAF)
• Noodles of The Offspring (Tone Zone)
• John Norum of Europe (FS-1, HS3, Super Distortion, Super 3)
• John Petrucci of Dream Theater (Humbucker From Hell, Tone Zone, Blaze, 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, Satchur8)
• Billy Sheehan (Model One, Model P, Will Power, Relentless)
• 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)
• Bernard Sumner of Joy Division used DiMarzio humbuckers in his modified Shergold Masquerader.
• Andy Timmons (The Cruiser single coil sized humbuckers, His signature AT1 humbucker)
• Sam Totman of DragonForce (Evolution, HLM)
• Pete Townshend of The Who (Dual Sound)
• Steve Vai (PAF Pro, The Breed, Evolution, Evo 2, Blaze, 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).

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[]

Further reading[]

• Guitar World Magazine, "The 100 Most Important People In Guitar", San Francisco, CA, May 1994.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to DiMarzio.

• DiMarzio official website
• The DiMarzio Forum
• DiMarzio Magazine
• DiMarzio Gallery
• NY Entity Information^{[permanent dead link]}