I won't buy a Dimarzio...

[guitarded]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

I prefer the way Duncan pickups sound - more pickups to choose from with the vintage tones that make my guitar sound like an old familiar friend.

When I think of Dimarzio I think of buzzy modern rock tones and I don't want to sound like that.

Gibson Guitars is a bigger problem for me because I like Gibson guitars and play one. But now that I know who Gibson donates money to I will resist ever buying a new Gibson guitar again.

You should go and revisit..... I favor neither brand in general..... but Dimarzio offers a lot more than High Output Pups. I have had very good luck with both Duncan and Dimarzio (In the same guitar on a couple) They are both very high quality tones.

 

[guitarded]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

DiMarzio Pickups are the shiiiiit, DiMarzio Super Distortion,(in my opinion) is one of the best pickups to have ever been made on the face of this earth. It screams, and when you slide is has a siick electrical, beautiful sound, plus it really does fell the whole room with wall of sound. Mix it with a the Seymour Duncan JB being at 3/4 volume and the DiMarzio Super Distortion being at full volume and you get the best sound and feel to have ever been thought about. Thank Me later

Agreed.... It sounds pretty good clean as well.. Not great but good enough not to have to split the coils.

 

[Gypsyblue]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

You should go and revisit..... I favor neither brand in general..... but Dimarzio offers a lot more than High Output Pups. I have had very good luck with both Duncan and Dimarzio (In the same guitar on a couple) They are both very high quality tones.

Nah. I'm no longer a pickup or gear junkie. Found what I was looking for a while back and now it's all about making music for me. Sold off all the unnecessary crap I'd accumulated. My favorite players seem to have done the same thing and learned that lesson before I did. Eric Johnson, for example, hasn't changed guitars or pickups in 20 years - not really.

If you're a musician and not a wannabe I think you just settle on some gear that works and then spend your time making music.

I don't mean "you" in particular - I mean all musicians.

BTW, I like alnico 2 vintage output humbuckers and alnico 2 or 5 single coils.

 

[guitarded]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Nah. I'm no longer a pickup or gear junkie. Found what I was looking for a while back and now it's all about making music for me. Sold off all the unnecessary crap I'd accumulated. My favorite players seem to have done the same thing and learned that lesson before I did. Eric Johnson, for example, hasn't changed guitars or pickups in 20 years - not really.

If you're a musician and not a wannabe I think you just settle on some gear that works and then spend your time making music.

I don't mean "you" in particular - I mean all musicians.

BTW, I like alnico 2 vintage output humbuckers and alnico 2 or 5 single coils.

I am a musician and enjoy improving my playing but it is the engineer part of me that goes nuts with pedals and tubes and pickups :14:

The musician and the engineer often have time conflicts

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Just a little background on DiMarzio's trademark. The way they got it is that they filed an application and an affidavit with the US Patent and Trademark office that said they had achieved something called "acquired distinctiveness" by being the only company to sell double cream pickups during a five year period. The only problem is that we were selling double cream pickups during that period. So were Bill Lawrence and Mighty Mite.

BTW, DiMarzio's lawyer also represents WD Music Products and got them a trademark on the lipstick tube pickup by using the same argument. WD's so-called five years of "exclusive use in commerce" were 1995 to 1999, the same years that lipstick tube pickups were being sold by Seymour Duncan, Charvel, Ibanez, Chandler, Jerry Jones and (literally) boat loads of Danelectros.

You can order a SD pickup with a loosely attached cover in double cream as a floor shop custom with no worries.

Actually, that's not true. You can't specifically order a double-cream Seymour Duncan humbucker in any format because of DiMarzio's trademark.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Just a little background on DiMarzio's trademark. The way they got it is that they filed an application and an affidavit with the US Patent and Trademark office that said they had achieved something called "acquired distinctiveness" by being the only company to sell double cream pickups during a five year period. The only problem is that we were selling double cream pickups during that period. So were Bill Lawrence and Mighty Mite.

BTW, DiMarzio's lawyer also represents WD Music Products and got them a trademark on the lipstick tube pickup by using the same argument. WD's so-called five years of "exclusive use in commerce" were 1995 to 1999, the same years that lipstick tube pickups were being sold by Seymour Duncan, Charvel, Ibanez, Chandler, Jerry Jones and (literally) boat loads of Danelectros.



Actually, that's not true. You can't specifically order a double-cream Seymour Duncan humbucker in any format because of DiMarzio's trademark.

Vow!

Didn't know of that lipstick tube thing!

That's simply insane!

B :lame:

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Didn't know of that lipstick tube thing!

That's simply insane!

Unfortunately, the trademark process allows for these types of abuses. Some consumers don't care what business practices or legal maneuvering companies engage in to achieve competitive advantages. But some customers do care. I'm one who cares.

 

[uOpt]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

DiMarzio Pickups are the shiiiiit, DiMarzio Super Distortion,(in my opinion) is one of the best pickups to have ever been made on the face of this earth. It screams, and when you slide is has a siick electrical, beautiful sound, plus it really does fell the whole room with wall of sound. Mix it with a the Seymour Duncan JB being at 3/4 volume and the DiMarzio Super Distortion being at full volume and you get the best sound and feel to have ever been thought about. Thank Me later

What is it with 5 post count members bumping month old threads? Happens surprisingly often to anything Dimarzio, no?

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Unfortunately, the trademark process allows for these types of abuses. Some consumers don't care what business practices or legal maneuvering companies engage in to achieve competitive advantages. But some customers do care. I'm one who cares.

Exactly what I am thinking.

B

 

[Ayrton]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Unfortunately, the trademark process allows for these types of abuses. Some consumers don't care what business practices or legal maneuvering companies engage in to achieve competitive advantages. But some customers do care. I'm one who cares.

Evan, knowing all that, can the trademarks not be invalidated, or does the legal cost out weigh the benefit?

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

I'm willing to bet you answered your own question.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Evan, knowing all that, can the trademarks not be invalidated, or does the legal cost out weigh the benefit?

Was curious, and did a search.

That's exactly the case here. Here, check it out:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showpost.php?p=1741724&postcount=56

B

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Here is another interesting stuff to read:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=38341&highlight=trademark

B

 

[Hellion]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

I have a Washburn Falcon (the one with the "coil splitting" pots, which is actually just a different series of resistors) that I switched over to actual coil splitting several years ago. I'm not a big fan of DiMarzio pickups, because I think they're kinda noisy, but was kinda bummed that I couldn't get the dual cream colored bobbins like the guitar had. In the end, I went with the zebra Duncans.

 

[Mosher Zone]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

So, if Charvel were the ONLY company that could offer parts for strats, you´d be okay with that, too? After all, they started the aftermarket parts business by copying strats.

Or maybe if Ibanez were the ONLY company allowed to build a proper Les Paul, Strat, 335, Explorer, Flying V, SG, Firebird, Telecaster, Jazzmaster, Mustang, Melody Maker.... ? After all, they started the ripoff scene by copying Gibson and Fender.

Or if Mike Soldano were the ONLY person legally allowed to build a 1959? After all, he started the boutique amp sector after copying a Marshall.

Because in essence THAT´s what a trademark is, NOBODY else can build one without paying you license fees or getting sued for damages. And in this case, much similar to the theoretical ones stated, the company holding the trademark did zero.nothing to earn it and is damaging everybody else by holding to it.

Maybe i wouldn't go as far as all you're examples but i just think to deny your self to buy a pickup that he obviously wants because of a trademark issue is just stupid.

 

[SAVAGE DISTORTION]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

if you simply wont use the dimarzio brand but really want that pup then get a old mighty mite screamer. same exact pup made by mighty mite and wound by seymour duncan.

 

[uOpt]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Maybe i wouldn't go as far as all you're examples but i just think to deny your self to buy a pickup that he obviously wants because of a trademark issue is just stupid.

You want to reward this kind of behavior?

How would you like it if Seymour would assign MJ and the other people away from winding pickups and asks them to spend all day thinking of ways to hook into loopholes of the US intellectual property law, then have his company live off royalties collected?

So instead of a choice of a SD for $80 and a Lace Sensor for $80 you can only buy a Lace Sensor for $160, $120 of which go to SD, who's only equipment are phones with lawyer's numbers on speeddial. No more pickup winding.

That's how things work right now.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

I just found out the whole story of how Dimarzio trademarked double cream humbuckers so no one else can do it. I understand they did it so people would not buy the competitors pickups, but I still think it's lame. It's for this reason, on principal I will not buy their pickups because that's a greedy punk move they did.

But I still really like the sound of the Dimarzio Super Distortion from the clips I heard. What's a Seymour Duncan that sounds like the Dimarzio Super Distortion, because I will buy THAT pickup.

And please don't say the Custom, because I don't think they sound alike.

Boycotts only work if the business that you are boycotting knows that you are boycotting them and why. Otherwise there's no actionable course for the business you are boycotting. Plans need to be coherently and consistently communicated to expect any chance of success.

 

[tab]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

A happy medium would be to buy used... :beerchug:

 

[Zerberus]

Re: I won't buy a Dimarzio...

Maybe i wouldn't go as far as all you're examples but i just think to deny your self to buy a pickup that he obviously wants because of a trademark issue is just stupid.

Conversely, I consider it the epitome of hypocrisy and stupidity to complain about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket and then to ACTIVELY PAY companies to take it there by purchasing their products despite egregious business practices, bvecause they are knowingly and willfully rewarding the exact conduct that they complain about, SOLELY out of Greed

"Me want cheaper, me no care how many people lose jobs or killed to make me have instant orgasm from getting product. Who cares that me make same product 6 months ago and now made China by company that stole idea" :smack:

Ooga Booga

A happy medium would be to buy used... :beerchug:

THis is a common misconception, however it does not really hold water.

YES, the company isn´t getting your cash, true.

BUT: you are raising the value of the pickup on the used market, whis is a selling point FOR teh company you don´t want to support. It drives the used prices up, giving the impression that the pickups are overall more desirable new OR used, and therby still damages other, less shady competitors while indirectly putting money in the boycotted company´s hands after all.