DiMarzio Forum
DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: BluesJam on May 08, 2019, 10:51:31 PM
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DiMarzio’s selection if single coil pickup models are very limited. FS1, Dark Matter, SDS, Red Velvet and True Velvet. I’m surprised that they cannot advance a single coil pickup design any further than what is out on the market. I’m surprised they did not invent technology that will advance single coil pickups.
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Well - they have with their Area series. All the single coil tone you would want but none of the hum. You even could say that the Area series is the hardest competitor to their non-humcancelling single coil pickups.
Cheers Stephan
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What exactly do you want that you cannot get?
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What exactly do you want that you cannot get?
This.
They have 32 variants of Strat pickups, but yes, only 7 of those are standard single-coils. But even the standard sc's have varying degrees of output, up to the point of the Dark Matter and SDS, when the they are high-output and the treble starts rolling off. There is more variety in their noiseless Strat pu line.
Personally, I wish DiMarzio would do some Area Jazzmaster sets. That (noiseless JM pu's) is still a market share with few players.
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I wish they did an Area P90.
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I’m a single coil guy, and I do like the FS1 and ordered it. I wish DiMarzio pushed other pickup options for true single coils, to include P90’s. They need improvement in this area. I get the hum-cancellation singles, but they are not better than true singles, imho...ymmv. Put some A2, various over wounds, mixed magnets combinations in the catalog. Most small winders have more models of single coils than DiMarzio. How ironic. Seems like DiMarzio does not want to actively complete in the single coil replacement pickup market.
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How do you “advance” a single coil? What are you going to do to it?
Single coils are extremely simple pickups. And people that want single coils generally want a vintage reproduction.
DiMarzio did come out with overwound single coils with ceramic magnets and stuff back in the 70s.
I think they are more focused on noise canceling pickups. And some of their noise canceling pickups are very good, like the Virtual Vintage pickups.
That’s where the future is. Noise canceling pickups that sound like real single coils.
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I’m a single coil guy, and I do like the FS1 and ordered it. I wish DiMarzio pushed other pickup options for true single coils, to include P90’s. They need improvement in this area. I get the hum-cancellation singles, but they are not better than true singles, imho...ymmv. Put some A2, various over wounds, mixed magnets combinations in the catalog. Most small winders have more models of single coils than DiMarzio. How ironic. Seems like DiMarzio does not want to actively complete in the single coil replacement pickup market.
That’s Duncan’s market. Would DiMarzio even sell any?
I’m a pickup maker. I’ve mostly made bass pickups, and for those no one wanted real single coils, like Jazz Bass pickups. They wanted all the other stuff I make, which are hum canceling.
The small pickup makers all make the same stuff over and over again. How do you pick one over the other?
The other thing about DiMarzio is they make a lot of pickups for Ibanez and Ernie Ball. DiMarzio is not a huge company. I think they have all the orders they need.
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That’s Duncan’s market.
Agreed.
SD has a 'custom' page/link where you can go in and spec something to your heart's content, although their stock offerings cover a lot of ground.
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I’m a pickup maker. I’ve mostly made bass pickups, and for those no one wanted real single coils, like Jazz Bass pickups. They wanted all the other stuff I make, which are hum canceling.
From my perspective of both playing both instruments and of watching the musical instrument market, bass players are different. The average bass player is far less vintage and a lot more function oriented than the average guitar player.
Cheers Stephan
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I wish they did an Area P90.
Right?!?! They must not have that one figured out yet from a technical perspective.
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Well - I guess so. Looks like that humless P90s are difficult pickups to make and the effort to get that to the level they achieved with the Area strat and tele type pickups is not worth going for given that the guitars with strat and tele type pickups outnumber those with P90s.
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I think that manufacturers can improve upon single coil technologies. Lace Sensors are one that comes to mind. DiMarzio has patented the “Air” Humbucker and I’m surprised that there is no “air “ single coil model that has less magnetic pull on the strings. The FS1 does not have much hum, which is a great improvement in of itself. Maybe DiMarzio needs to think outside the box in their single coil line.
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Dimarzio has patented the “Air” Humbucker and I’m surprised that there is no “air “ single coil model that has less magnetic pull on the strings.
Because the marketing isn’t the tech. Putting a plastic spacer between the rods and winding in a single coil for the sake of making it weaker isn’t as simple a means of achieving that end as swapping the material of the spacers in a humbucker is. Even if it was, the limited demand for weaker single coil pickups is already focused in the “vintage” market, which is anti-innovation. On the other end of the spectrum, Dimarzio’s passive Area series is the closest they come to competing with Fishman’s hum-free Fluence model (which gives you the selection between hot/weak).
No prospective buyer is going to overlook any of that for the sake of the “lower magnetic pull” marketing from the early 90s. Without even engaging the truthfulness of that marketing, it’s just not a detail you see at the forefront of advertising anymore. The closest I’ve seen to it is Lace’s Alumitones, and they didn’t exactly set the world on fire (or last long in my guitars, for that matter). I’d be surprised if Dimarzio dipped their toe into that pool any time, soon.
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I bet Duncan and DiMarzio both have single coil and Humbucker models with the same exact winds but they modified/lowered the magnetisms which created a different pickup model. Wills Easy Guitar (You Tube) recently had a video “dummying down” a single coil pickup to change the tone and output. It only took a rare earth magnet and a few seconds of time. When the rare earth magnet repelled against the top of the pickup the output decreased and tone got thicker. When the rare earth magnet was flipped over the pickup got more powerful and brighter. Pretty impressive video.
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I bet Duncan and DiMarzio both have single coil and Humbucker models with the same exact winds but they modified/lowered the magnetisms which created a different pickup model. Wills Easy Guitar (You Tube) recently had a video “dummying down” a single coil pickup to change the tone and output. It only took a rare earth magnet and a few seconds of time. When the rare earth magnet repelled against the top of the pickup the output decreased and tone got thicker. When the rare earth magnet was flipped over the pickup got more powerful and brighter. Pretty impressive video.
Will also used to have a video “debunking” the effect of magnetic pull on strings by holding industrial magnets near the strings and A/Bing note sustain. I’m not claiming to take one side or another - It just puts the other video in a different perspective.
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Will is a very intelligent guy. With the proper earth magnets, people can alter their pickups at any given time. To go to a hot to vintage pickup by gaussing and de-gaussing is an interesting concept. Magnets are very cheap, and to be able to alter your pickups for $10 is a great concept.
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Wow! I can remember when the list was much lower than what was quoted in this thread. I just put a Heavy Blues II in the neck of one of my axes. After playing it for two hours, I thought to myself how far noiseless single coil pickups have come. I can find no fault at all with this pickup. I can remember when the noiseless line consisted of the hs series and that was it...period...
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I well remember when the HS series came out. Liked the sound of the HS-1 but they were very very very very low output - much lower than a regular single coil. Switched then to the Duncan Vintage stack (STK-1) which restored the output to normal vintage single coil level but sacrificing the tone IMHO. Then tried a set of Kinmans (the Hank Marvin set) - loved them in the shop guitar but when they were installed in my guitar I just hated them. The first pickups I found that fulfilled both requirements to a satisfactory extent were the Wilde by Lawrence. I preferred the L-200s over the L-280s but I have happily gigged with both. But now the Areas are my favorite, especially the strat style pickups and the tele bridge pickups. For noiseless tele neck pickups I prefer the Lawrence L-202TN over the Area T neck though. Never was into the EMG stuff.
But I fully agree - noiseless pickups have come a long way, and I also agree on the VV HB2 - this is a great fat strat pickup for the neck position - great complement for a guitar with a H-S or H-S-S pickup configuration.
Cheers Stephan
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Never tried the duncan stacks and don't have a lot of experience with Kinmans or Bill Lawrence with the exception of borrowing a friend's guitar for a gig one night that was loaded with l500s. I really dug how they sounded and cleaned up with the volume. I might have to take a look at their singles.