Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

[Franknfilms]

If I'm going to split a Norton, which coil should I split to? I'm thinking the tone zone would be wound hotter, does anyone know which which coil is the tone zone? I would assume that the tone zone, being a pickup with adjustable pole pieces, is the screw coil and the fred is the slug coil.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

I think it's got one 5K 42 or 42.5 coil (Fred) and one 7K 43 (TZ) coil, measure them out, black/white will be the slug coil. I think one of them is visually fatter, that would be the Fred coil.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

I know that the website's write-up states that the pickup has qualities of the Tone Zone and FRED.

Frank Falbo states on the DiMarzio forum a couple or a few years back that he thinks that it could be the PAF Pro coil from a FRED and a Tone Zone coil.

Frank Falbo posting in the DiMarzio forum on July 14, 2010

"That's pretty much right. Any pickup with that references 4501185 is already a hybrid of sorts. I've personally made a TON of hybrids over the years and it's pretty fun. One of my favorites was a Fred coil/Tone Zone coil hybrid which turns out to basically be the Norton, so basically I found out I like the Norton that way, but I've never actually purchased one."

Frank Falbo posting in the DiMarzio forum on July 15, 2010

"The Fred is a hybrid of one PAF Pro coil and what I call the "Fred coil". If it were the weaker coil, it would be a PAF Pro coil. I can't remember the Zone coil, but I thought at one point I confirmed it was the Fred coil. To answer those of you wondering if it's exactly the same wind or just "within range" my experience pulling hundreds of pickups apart leads me to think it's more likely to be "the same as" but I have to be careful with my words. And let me be clear, even if its the exact same coil, there's nothing bad about that. As others have said, the Custom/59 hybrid is of course exactly the same coils because that's how the forum guys make theirs. But if I had to venture a guess, I'd guess that:
The Megadrive was a PAF Pro coil and an X2N coil
The Fred is a PAF Pro coil and a Fred coil
The Norton is a Fred coil and a Tone Zone coil (I'd guess the quieter one)
The Steve's Special is a PAF Pro coil and a Tone Zone coil (the louder one)
A lot of their new pickups seem totally unrelated to these old standbys."

I tend to think that the outer coil would from a TZ and the inner from a FRED or PAF Pro (but if we take the weaker coil from a FRED which is supposedly PAF Pro and the weaker coil from the Tone Zone which allegedly is the FRED coil... wouldn't we have just made a screw and slug FRED?).

Has any of this been confirmed aside from Frank's statements and the speculation with the write-up on the website?

[Franknfilms]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

Thanks for all the info, I guess there are no easy answers to this one!

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

wouldn't we have just made a screw and slug FRED?

No, there is no 7K coil in a Fred, the TZ is a 10K coil and a 7K coil.

[Franknfilms]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

Well, I'm just going to split to screw coil for now, they always sound better to me. unfortunately, triple shots are not an option for this particular tele unless I felt like buying and installing a new bridge (I don't)

[shredgd]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

Hi,

for those who might be interested, my Norton measures 7.20k at the slug coil, 5.66k at the screw coil.

Giulio

[Ayrton]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

Thanks Giulio and welcome to the forum

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

Seems it might be beefier to split to the slug coil then- stronger wind as well as more amplitude in the string vibrations.

[dean701701]

Re: Dimarzio Norton: which coil is Fred? Tone zone?

...and an Eddie Van Halen axis/evh bridge pickup is 2 tone zone 8.5k screw coils put together. Secret revealed.

props to http://www.dimarzioforum.com/forum/i...c,3710.15.html