DiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. (original name: DiMarzio Musical Instrument Pickups, Inc.) is an American manufacturer best known for its direct-replacement guitar pickups.[1] The company also produces other guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.

Type | Private |
---|---|
Headquarters | , 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 considered one of the most popular models.
The Super Distortion pickup produced a higher electrical output than most 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:
- 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
- Buckethead (X2N, Air Norton, ToneZone)
- Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders (Previously used Ionizer)
- Jason Becker (PAF Pro, HS-2, Tone Zone)
- Jake Bowen 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)
- Dave Davidson 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)
- Jim Martin of Faith No More
- 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 (X2N, 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
- Guitar World Magazine May 1994
- DiMarzio Super Distortion Specifications
- "Meet Pearl, My Brand New Custom Fender Stratocaster". www.twitter.com. 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
- "Fender Telecaster meets Dimarzio Pickups". www.youtube.com. 2017-12-10. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
- "Rocky Kramer Guitars". www.equipboard.com. 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
Further reading
- Guitar World Magazine, "The 100 Most Important People In Guitar", San Francisco, CA, May 1994.
External links
