Okay, I guess I'm warming up to DiMarzios

[Archer250]

Usually I'm a Duncan guy, but I've been on a DiMarzio binge lately, and after swapping stuff around and trying out different sets... I like these, a lot.

View attachment 425069

Left: Fast Track 1 / Chopper / IGNO
Middle: Cruiser Bridge / Cruiser Neck / Tone Zone
Right: PAF Joe / Super 3

The Fast Track 1 and the Cruiser set, in particular, have become some of my favorite single-coil-sized pickups, up there with the EMG SA.

Especially the Fast Track 1. That's a desert island neck pickup for sure.

Tried a Chopper in the neck before that and I honestly didn't like it as much.

But wow, it's been a trip. Don't think I'm swapping pickups again soon.

 

[Chistopher]

The thing I like about Dimarzio is that a lot of their humbuckers work great in the neck or bridge, and a lot of their humbuckers sound different if you flip them.

For example, a Fred and a Bluesbucker give you 8 equally viable configurations in a Les Paul

 

[jeremy]

the dual resonance thing does give some versatility for sure, i have used some dimarzios and liked em a lot. a fred was my my first aftermarket humbucker, it sounded great. these days, i really like more classic tones, and duncan gives that to me. i got a 36th anniversary from dimarzio a year or two ago, and its a good pup, but doesnt sound anything like a real paf

 

[uOpt]

Never.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I like some DiMarzios too. The D Activator, the AT-1, and the Dominion are standout for me. I also like the Air Norton and the PAF 36th Anni in the neck.

 

[uOpt]

I can't resist mentioning that I boycott DiMarzio because of their legal antics around color trademarks and in the past patents.

/bows out

 

[Chistopher]

I can't resist mentioning that I boycott DiMarzio because of their legal antics around color trademarks and in the past patents.

/bows out

There are certain sentiments that, while on their own are innocuous, are very difficult to impart without sounding mean, but I will do my best to try.

In this world so rich with firey passions and countless opinions, there are many preferences or decisions a person can have that would incite strong emotions or powerful knee jerk reactions. Some ideas elicit no such responses, some ideals people have died over.

That being said, I can be absolutely sure of myself when I say that refusing to buy a spool of wire because the owner got legal protection on the color is the most dull and boring hill a human being has ever chosen to die on.

There is no way to defend your position to a normal person who is not versed in guitar pickups without provoking them to inquire "Why are you telling me all this?". There is no way to make your voice heard on this matter that will garner you any other reaction.

We only have so long on this Earth and you have chosen to harden yourself against plastic.

Go home and think about these words I have said to you

 

[JamesPaul]

I can't resist mentioning that I boycott DiMarzio because of their legal antics around color trademarks and in the past patents.

/bows out

Likely 34% of why I never tried any as replacements. The other 66% is split between Tom Scholz having to route LP Deluxe Gold Tops for Super Distortions to get his preferred tone, and I have never failed to find a tone I sought with some Seymour Duncan's.

 

[jeremy]

There are certain sentiments that, while on their own are innocuous, are very difficult to impart without sounding mean, but I will do my best to try.

In this world so rich with firey passions and countless opinions, there are many preferences or decisions a person can have that would incite strong emotions or powerful knee jerk reactions. Some ideas elicit no such responses, some ideals people have died over.

That being said, I can be absolutely sure of myself when I say that refusing to buy a spool of wire because the owner got legal protection on the color is the most dull and boring hill a human being has ever chosen to die on.

There is no way to defend your position to a normal person who is not versed in guitar pickups without provoking them to inquire "Why are you telling me all this?". There is no way to make your voice heard on this matter that will garner you any other reaction.

We only have so long on this Earth and you have chosen to harden yourself against plastic.

Go home and think about these words I have said to you

choosing to not buy dimarzio pups cause you dont like their business practices has a pretty low impact on damn near everything. i see no harm in it. plenty of other options. i dont go to chick-fil-a, does that impact anything? nope.

 

[Chistopher]

Likely 34% of why I never tried any as replacements. The other 66% is split between Tom Scholz having to route LP Deluxe Gold Tops for Super Distortions to get his preferred tone, and I have never failed to find a tone I sought with some Seymour Duncan's.

It’s Christmas morning in a small, snow-padded town in Anywhere, USA. A young boy, nine, maybe ten,thunders down the stairs before his parents have even poured their first cup of coffee. Under the tree waits a long, unmistakable package, wrapped clumsily in red paper and taped within an inch of its life. A Fender Stratocaster shaped secret with his name on it.

His hands, flushed with cold and excitement, shred the wrapping. The guitar emerges poly sunburst finish catching the soft glow of Christmas lights and he stares at it as though he's just been handed the map to a world no one else has ever seen.

He doesn’t know where this instrument will take him.He doesn’t know about the songs he'll learn in a naive, hopeful effort to impress a girl who will never know he exists.He doesn’t know about the nights he’ll spend hunched over in his room, fingertips raw, sweat dripping on the fretboard as he practices the same riff until it becomes part of his DNA.
He doesn’t know that this will be the guitar he never sells, even when the dream collapses under the weight of bills, and kids, and the kind of life that slowly rearranges a person when they’re not looking. He lifts it with the awkward but reverent arms of a kid who has not yet been met with the malace and jealousy of those who wish they had his talent but never did.

He strums the open strings.

He doesn’t know what the sounds mean yet, only that they mean something bigger than what his small-town words can hold.

In some quiet corner of his mind, the one that still believes in destiny he feels it: this guitar is his chance. His way out. His way up. His future.

He strums again, harder this time. Something surges in him
a purpose? a calling? and with all the fervor of a prophet receiving revelation, he cries out






Let's stop right there. Do you think at any point in this kids first formative guitar experience he dreamed of one day debating intellectual property law on the internet?

No he did not

He just wants to play his instrument

Shame on you both

 

['59]

I don't care for dimarzio's ip stuff either, but they are good pickups.

Much like my thoughts on chickfila, we must have run out of things to say a long time ago if I start talking about them.

There's easily a hundred things Id want to talk about first before I'd let the conversation veer towards white collar law

 

[jeremy]

i dont believe anyone is stopping the kid from enjoying the new guitar. hell, most of us were that kid. though i did sell that guitar

 

[uOpt]

There is no way to defend your position to a normal person who is not versed in guitar pickups without provoking them to inquire "Why are you telling me all this?". There is no way to make your voice heard on this matter that will garner you any other reaction.

Actually a "normal" person is usually puzzled either by the fact that there are color trademarks in the first place or how trivial a patent can be and still be enforceable.

 

[donaldr]

John Deere has a trademark on green and yellow agriculture equipment...
Velcro and Aspririn are also trademarked.

Seymour Duncan has patents to protect its IP by the way. Why Dimarzio cannot?

 

[superpete]

i've found buying used dimarzios is an easy way around supporting the company while getting a sweet double cream super distortion in a les paul. of course i don't have a problem with them in the first place. the AT-1 and Super 3 are awesome humbuckers and the Twang King neck is amazing.

 

[uOpt]

John Deere has a trademark on green and yellow agriculture equipment...
Velcro and Aspririn are also trademarked.

Seymour Duncan has patents to protect its IP by the way. Why Dimarzio cannot?

I don't mind all trademarks and patents DiMarzio holds or held. Just the utterly trivial ones that shouldn't have been granted in the first place.

Can you name a SD patent that is as trivial as putting together two coils with different wire gauge?

 

[Butch Snyder]

I just buy and play what I like. I do have a guitar, my PRS Swamp Ash Special SE that has DiMarzios. Air Zone in the bridge, Chopper in the middle, Air Norton in the neck position. Air Zone and Air Norton are one of the best pickup combos I have ever used.

 

[Masta' C]

I don't mind all trademarks and patents DiMarzio holds or held. Just the utterly trivial ones that shouldn't have been granted in the first place.

Honestly, it sounds like you have an issue with the patent office, rather than DiMarzio.

You might find this helpful:

Contact us

Phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact information for USPTO offices and business centers

www.uspto.gov

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I think the Air Norton is a fantastic neck pickup under tons of gain and/or ran through 1M pots. Clean, it's kinda dull, but the higher value pots help with that a bit. But it really shines distorted because even if it's smooth, its low end is not really deep, so it just sounds full without sounding muddy.

The PAF 36th Anni is just kinda the middle ground between that and a Duncan '59 or something.

I think for me, DiMarzio pickups in the neck position work great in general. I kinda like that better than overly bright and attacky neck pickups.

 

[JamesPaul]

It’s Christmas morning in a small, snow-padded town in Anywhere, USA. A young boy, nine, maybe ten,thunders down the stairs before his parents have even poured their first cup of coffee. Under the tree waits a long, unmistakable package, wrapped clumsily in red paper and taped within an inch of its life. A Fender Stratocaster shaped secret with his name on it.

His hands, flushed with cold and excitement, shred the wrapping. The guitar emerges poly sunburst finish catching the soft glow of Christmas lights and he stares at it as though he's just been handed the map to a world no one else has ever seen.

He doesn’t know where this instrument will take him.He doesn’t know about the songs he'll learn in a naive, hopeful effort to impress a girl who will never know he exists.He doesn’t know about the nights he’ll spend hunched over in his room, fingertips raw, sweat dripping on the fretboard as he practices the same riff until it becomes part of his DNA.
He doesn’t know that this will be the guitar he never sells, even when the dream collapses under the weight of bills, and kids, and the kind of life that slowly rearranges a person when they’re not looking. He lifts it with the awkward but reverent arms of a kid who has not yet been met with the malace and jealousy of those who wish they had his talent but never did.

He strums the open strings.

He doesn’t know what the sounds mean yet, only that they mean something bigger than what his small-town words can hold.

In some quiet corner of his mind, the one that still believes in destiny he feels it: this guitar is his chance. His way out. His way up. His future.

He strums again, harder this time. Something surges in him
a purpose? a calling? and with all the fervor of a prophet receiving revelation, he cries out






Let's stop right there. Do you think at any point in this kids first formative guitar experience he dreamed of one day debating intellectual property law on the internet?

No he did not

He just wants to play his instrument

Shame on you both

I lived through the 80's; still wearing plenty of shame!

There is a Super Distortion in my Destroyer, which I kept. Know I have admitted a few times on here, it would have improved my technique to adapt and play through the Evolution that was in my Lead II.

As for Patents, they expire and one has to invent something better.

I just struggle with the concept of a Trademark on some irrelevant feature, bobbin color, of a transducer. Always have and likely always will.