DiMarzio Forum
DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: Egrove on May 09, 2016, 06:59:50 AM
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I've just received through Amazon a pair of what were advertised as Dimarzio Titan humbuckers. They looked fine, great packaging etc, just over $210 USD for the pair but... I'd ordered the gold covers, and on one of them the "gold" seems to be a yellowish dye which started coming off within the first minute. i.e. just wiping off a fingerprint with a soft dry tissue smudged/wiped off much the yellow to leave bare chrome, or faintly yellow chrome, behind. Now it's a hotch-potch of bright chrome, bright gold, and lemon-tinted silver. Strangely the other one has remains "gold", but obviously if it's the same there's no way it's going to age like the rest of the gold hardware. Would I be correct in assuming they must be fake and real Dimarzios would have an actual gold plating of some sort?
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what's on the bottom baseplate?
can you post photos of everything going on? the packaging? any literature in the packaging? the top of the covers you are talking about? the baseplates, including any stamp into the baseplate and the small sticker that should indicate the pickup model? etc., etc.?
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Thanks Phineas, - will take the photos and post later tonight (the time difference here means I've just woken up and have to get out the door to work)
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I can't seem to upload photos - the forum says the upload file is full, - but links to them on google photos are below,- hopefully they work, - I'm not the most computer savvy. The humbucker on the left is, obviously, the one where the gold/dye is rubbing off
https://goo.gl/photos/Rnobo4cG3SKD66M99 (https://goo.gl/photos/Rnobo4cG3SKD66M99)
https://goo.gl/photos/S3kADr31KJagtjnt6 (https://goo.gl/photos/S3kADr31KJagtjnt6)
https://goo.gl/photos/mvk7KzaHgXrinbHg8 (https://goo.gl/photos/mvk7KzaHgXrinbHg8)
https://goo.gl/photos/tm2qbKb7213Gys6H6 (https://goo.gl/photos/tm2qbKb7213Gys6H6)
https://goo.gl/photos/3WZsV8Q84AaxWYYS6 (https://goo.gl/photos/3WZsV8Q84AaxWYYS6)
https://goo.gl/photos/YgyLbbKEc3Ncn6R28 (https://goo.gl/photos/YgyLbbKEc3Ncn6R28)
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I can't see what is stamped into the baseplate well enough to say one way or another. Dimarzio Breeds have black baseplates like that. I've never seen gold pickups where the gold wipes off though. That seems fishy to me. Were the boxes sealed? Contact Dimarzio and ask about the gold colored plating, whatever it is.
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Thanks Greenlion, - yes, all sealed, lots of paperwork with each pickup, - the vendor was a largish seeming US retailer, but I'm not sure if they have a bricks and mortar store so it could just be a guy in a basement anywhere in the world.
I've bit the bullet and sent a query to Dimarzio.
I've also done a check for any source of replacement gold 12-hole humbucker covers, and the only source I've found, strangely, specifically says they are "Dimarzio size" then expressly notes that the "Gold" covers do not contain real gold, which is giving me that sinking feeling that Dimarzio may have switched away from gold plating. See:
http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Humbucker-Cover-German-Silver-Nickel-12-Scre-p/lpc026dm.htm (http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Humbucker-Cover-German-Silver-Nickel-12-Scre-p/lpc026dm.htm)
I'm hoping what I've got are fakes, rather than genuine Dimarzios, because I'm rather set on Dimarzios for an early 80's glam/super-strat build, but fake gold just won't cut it.
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Yeah, man, everything about those appear to be the real deal.
Definitely go with waiting to hear back from DiMarzio.
Another question...have you had any issues before with any such covers or other "colors" on guitars...be it tuners or trems or any sort of gold or chrome or nickel parts?
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No, although I've only ever had (and still have) one prior guitar with gold hardware, which is a Fender Strat, and on it it is everything but the pickups which are gold plated, - and are all solid as a rock. Chrome hardware, - no real problems aside from sometimes a tiny bit of bubbling/corossion with age, and one Godin where the covers had some god-awful black/oil-sheen effect over chrome which wore off pretty quick, and bare nickel covers which have gone a bit green. Even with these humbuckers, it's only one which the gold color has come off on!
If these are genuine Dimarzio's, my only gripe is that they should say in advance what the gold coating is, - plate or something else, because if these are genuine, I'm probably looking at having to either strip them down and have them gold plated, or trying to return them and looking elsewhere. I kind of wanted to be at least semi-authentic for an early 80s build, I know Dimarzio was doing gold-bolt humbuckers in the late 70s, and six hole gold covers; I'm not too sure if Dimarzio was actually doing 12 hole gold covers at the time, - and strictly speaking the pickups should be something like Super Distortions, but overall I figured the Titan's were a good nod towards authenticity while otherwise being what I wanted.
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I don't doubt that, if they are real, DiMarzio will take care of it. Their CS is excellent.
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6 days and no response from Dimarzio tech support yet to my email >:(
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Try calling after 1pm EST.
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It turns out the pickups are genuine, and the coating is apparently gold plate, - no idea why it has come off just one of the pickups so quickly, and Dimarzio did offer to replace the cover. I've got to get some other parts plated anyway, and now I know there's no odd coatings/dye to deal with will just get the plating beefed up with further plating to avoid problems down the track; So, in summary, Dimarzio did offer to come through with a replacement so I can't fault them at all, and I'll chalk this up to a one-off manufacturing oddity in the finish :).
Ed
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Dimarzio representatives might take a while to reply, but when they do they are right on the point. Fantastic support : to the point and very technical. That's why it takes so long to respond. EMG responds with no valuable info, and SD not at all.