Dimarzio Norton or Air Zone with Ceramic?

[devastone]

Well I ordered a bunch of 5-40 hex screws from Axerus UK and their diameter is too small to screw them into the bobbins of my Dimarzio pickups to replace the pole pieces. Pretty much the same with the Duncan Full Shred.
I agree that 5-40 are suitable to replace Duncan pole pieces but they just slip through in the Full Shred.
The right screws seem just a tad bigger.

Weird, I thought all of them were 5-40 except the DiMarzios that use set screws which are much bigger. The next size screw is a 6-32, might try to find one of those and see if it fits, but I've never seen anything but 5-40s. Are you sure you didn't get 4-40 screws? (not being an a$$, just asking)

 

[Mr. Lime]

It's only a very small difference, hardly to see but the 5-40 (the ones i bought and the Duncan pole piece) won't fit as replacement for Dimarzios. I triple checked it. Left is the one from the Full Shred..

 

[alex1fly]

I've been playing with mags the last few days and landed with an A8 in my Air Zone. Air Zone is already voiced fat/sweet, A8 just enhanced those qualities but still screams for high gain. It's in a mahogany super strat and very nearly has me convinced it's a Gibson set neck. Other pickups in this guitar have leaned the tone more towards the Fenderey side (JB with all the magnets, stock 85/15). Could be a little thuddier with palm mute chuggage, but with a Floyd Rose bridge it may never be as precisely articulate as I want. Still a nice improvement over the stock Air Zone for what I was looking for in this particular guitar.

Norton was in this guitar briefly and it was similar to the stock Air Zone but a bit chimier. Now the Norton is in an SG and it's fat, warm, and brutal. It ends up that the Norton in the SG sounds very similar to the A8 Air Zone in the mahogany super strat, with small differences in articulation and compression that I think are due mostly to the differences in the guitars themselves (SG is loud and articulate, super strat is spongier)

 

[Mr. Lime]

Have you tried a ceramic magnet in a Norton or have you compared ceramic with A8 in your Air Zone?

 

[alex1fly]

Have you tried a ceramic magnet in a Norton or have you compared ceramic with A8 in your Air Zone?

Neither. Norton is pretty darn aggressive and articulate as is. I would've tried a ceramic in the Air Zone in this round of tinkering, but in this batch of magnets I ordered the ceramic magnets are really weak - they have less pull than everything except for A3. This seemed wrong so I didn't give them a serious go.

 

[devastone]

It's only a very small difference, hardly to see but the 5-40 (the ones i bought and the Duncan pole piece) won't fit as replacement for Dimarzios. I triple checked it. Left is the one from the Full Shred..

Might try shooting DiMarzio an e-mail, they are usually pretty helpful.

 

[devastone]

Neither. Norton is pretty darn aggressive and articulate as is. I would've tried a ceramic in the Air Zone in this round of tinkering, but in this batch of magnets I ordered the ceramic magnets are really weak - they have less pull than everything except for A3. This seemed wrong so I didn't give them a serious go.

You got the Norton installed? What did you think other than aggressive and articulate? Meaning did you like it?

 

[alex1fly]

You got the Norton installed? What did you think other than aggressive and articulate? Meaning did you like it?

It's gorgeous. Fat, chimey, split sounds great. Lots of harmonic content so it's quite pleasing to the ear. In the SG the cleans remind me of 2000s radio rock which I love. It'll stay in there a good while.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Might try shooting DiMarzio an e-mail, they are usually pretty helpful.

Well I did but got no response..


Currently I put an OFR with big brass block in my Jackson Soloist to see how the ceramic Norton works out and I think I like the change. The difference doesn't feel that big as with the TB-6 previously and I still get decent highs out of it. Anyway I would like have a brighter sound so I will try 1meg volume and tone pots. The Bluesbucker neck PU might profit from this too..

 

[Mr. Lime]

Has anybody tried a thick ceramic magnet in a Norton?