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.

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 two asymmetrical coils tuned to different frequencies to produce unique sounds.
• their Airbucker™ design which reduces string pull and increases sensitivity and sustain.

Notable users past and present

• Tom Scholz of Boston (P-90, Super Distortion)
• Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders (Ionizer 8 Neck, Ionizer 8 Middle, Ionizer 8 Bridge)
• J.D. Cronise of The Sword (Super Distortion)
• Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (PAF, Super Distortion at the bridge of his #1 Les Paul)
• Jason Becker (PAF Pro, HS-2, Tone Zone)
• "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead (X2N, SDS-1, Super Distortion)
• Kerry King of Slayer (Super Distortion in early BC Rich Mockingbird)
• Jeff Hanneman of Slayer (Super Distortion in early Gibson Les Paul for neck position)
• Jerry Garcia (SDS-1, Super 2, Dual Sound)
• Chris Broderick of Megadeth (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck, D Activator 7 Bridge, D Activator 7 Neck)
• 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.
• Dave Davidson of Revocation uses DiMarzio D Activator Bridge, Liquifire neck and Super 2 neck pickups
• Ace Frehley of KISS (Super Distortion, PAF)
• Manny Charlton of Nazareth (Super Distortion)
• David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (FS-1)
• John Five (D Activator Bridge, D Activator Neck)
• Terrance Hobbs of Suffocation (band) (Super Distortion (bridge))
• 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).
• 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)
• Phil Collen of Def Leppard (Super Distortion, Super 3)
• Ehsan Keramati of (Dimarzio/ibz)
• Michael Romeo of Symphony X (Tone Zone, X2N)
• Yngwie Malmsteen (previously used HS3 and HS4)
• James "Munky" Shaffer of Korn (Blaze)
• Noodles of The Offspring (Tone Zone)
• Jake Bowen of Periphery (band) (Titan, LiquiFire and Crunch Lab)
• Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi used a DiMarzio PAF Pro humbucker in his now discontinued Fender Stratocaster signature model.
• Herman Li of DragonForce (Evolution, Blaze, FS-1, HLM)
• Dave Murray of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion, PAF DP-103 (neck))
• Steve Lukather (Transition)
• Mark Morton of Lamb of God (band) (Dominion Neck and Dominion Bridge)
• Ian MacKaye of Fugazi (Super Distortion)^[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)
• Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and The Damned Things (Tone Zone, Humbucker From Hell, Air Norton, FRED)
• Randy Rhoads (Super Distortion, PAF)
• Pete Townshend of The Who (Dual Sound)
• Leslie West of Mountain (Megadrive, Fast track II)
• Buckethead (X2N, Air Norton, ToneZone)
• Dave Sharman (The Tone Zone, Super Distortion)
• Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden (Super Distortion)
• Chuck Schuldiner of Death (band) (X2N)
• Steve Vai (PAF Pro, The Breed, Evolution, Evo 2, Blaze II, Gravity Storm)
• Billy Sheehan (Model One, Model P, Will Power)
• Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (Tone Zone, Chopper)
• Sam Totman of DragonForce (Evolution, HLM)
• Andy Timmons (AT1 Custom (bridge), Cruiser (middle), Cruiser (neck))
• Joe Satriani (PAF Joe, PAF Pro, FRED, Mo' Joe, Pro Track,Satch Track Neck)
• Frank Zappa
• Avadhoot Ket of AdamantiumIndia (Crunch Lab, D-Sonic, D-Activator)
• Kiko Loureiro of Angra and Megadeth
• Page Hamilton of Helmet (Air Zone)

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