Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
I finally got my Al Di Meola bridge pickup installed in my EVH 78 Eruption. I had to custom order it with nickel poles and non-trembucker spacing. Unfortunately I neglected to order the EVH baseplate, meaning I had to drill into the body and it will never fit in a Wolfgang.
I really like the sound of it. Most people I've seen describe it as a Tone Zone Lite or a dark fat PAF. I can understand both interpretations, but compared to the EVH Wolfgang (CC clone) it replaced, the most immediately noticeable EQ differences were it had more sparkle and firmer bass. The mids were less nasally. It kinda feels like a Custom Custom and a P90 had a kid.
The biggest thing that makes this pickup worth it is the dynamics. I have never heard a pickup respond in such a varied manner depending on where you pick and how hard you pick. I can go from dark cleanish pseudo-neck tones to barking crunchy bridge sounds without touching any controls. If you were to have a single pickup guitar, I'd say this is the one. It would probably do well with a Bluesbucker in the neck if you care for a neck pickup though.
Back to the spacing. As you can see in the picture, the polepieces don't line up under the strings at all. This is the same spacing as stock, and a F-Space or Trembucker won't fit unless you route out the body a little bit. It doesn't make too huge a difference for string to string balance.
I really like the sound of it. Most people I've seen describe it as a Tone Zone Lite or a dark fat PAF. I can understand both interpretations, but compared to the EVH Wolfgang (CC clone) it replaced, the most immediately noticeable EQ differences were it had more sparkle and firmer bass. The mids were less nasally. It kinda feels like a Custom Custom and a P90 had a kid.
The biggest thing that makes this pickup worth it is the dynamics. I have never heard a pickup respond in such a varied manner depending on where you pick and how hard you pick. I can go from dark cleanish pseudo-neck tones to barking crunchy bridge sounds without touching any controls. If you were to have a single pickup guitar, I'd say this is the one. It would probably do well with a Bluesbucker in the neck if you care for a neck pickup though.
Back to the spacing. As you can see in the picture, the polepieces don't line up under the strings at all. This is the same spacing as stock, and a F-Space or Trembucker won't fit unless you route out the body a little bit. It doesn't make too huge a difference for string to string balance.
As for me, my journey with the DP201 and DP202 is still going strong. They're both still installed in my guitar. In fact, I have a few pickups I need to test and write reviews about, but honestly, I’ll try them on another guitar because I really don’t want to mess up the ADM set. The only thing I occasionally wonder is whether the neck version could maybe have just a tiny bit more pronounced treble 
