What are the characteristics of the different Dimarzio pup eras?

Hamer Dave

Hamer Dave

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Trying to understand the timeline on the earlier Dimarzio pickups. Like what years they used the braided ground wrap, when the mounting ear shape changed from being square, bobbin colors, flat head/hex, posts, etc.? Hoping someone here has the smarts on these. Or if this has been nicely illustrated on a website? I ask so I can better determine correct pickups in guitars of the late 70's, early 80's, etc. Thanks!

Dave

 
DP103 was introduced in 1974. Basically custom orders for friends of Larry and limited production runs throughout the year.

The earliest 1974 models had unstamped brass baseplates and sometime during the year DiMarzio adopted a "DIMARZIO PICKUPS" stamp that they used on the baseplate throughout 1975 and into 1976.

All 1975 and earlier DP103s had long legs and braided one conductor cable and the aforementioned stamp.

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Sometime in 1976 or 1977, short legs and black coaxial two conductor cable appeared. DiMarzio also switched to the present "DIMARZIO PICKUPS MADE IN THE USA"

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Hamers made in '77 and '78 have these early DP103s that had the new logo stamp, short legs and 2 conductor cable.

Sometime in 1980 or 1981, the feet changed from square to triangular.

The Super Distortion went through similar changes although it is still being made today and is the same pickup... you can apply the logo stamp, feet and conductor changes of the DP103 to the DP100.

DiMarzio doesn't make the DP103 anymore... the 36th Anniversary PAF replaced it and is a different pickup even though the materials and DC resistance are nearly identical. The coating on the wire is probably different... the neck and bridge models are also wound differently today and the earlier DP103s had very similarly wound necks and bridges. Here is a DP103 in it's last incarnation with the new flush slugs with the circular markings on them (appeared sometime in the 90's, I'm kind of foggy on what actual year). The slugs started out as sort of concave and went to flat sometime in the early 80's and then changed to a different slug alloy all together with a tighter and more flush fit.

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I think you're off by a year or two. Braided leads remained until early 1979 on Hamers that I've seen. Plastic wrapped leads (grey or black) appear mixed with braided leads in Sunbursts (one pickup each on my mid-1979 one). You have the right years for the large "Dimarzio Pickups" stamp. There was a year (78-79) with the braided leads and smaller logo with "Made in USA" I believe. Been a while since I've consulted my stuff on that(!).

Beveled edge slugs remained until 1982/83, then flat topped slugs until 85 or so when the slugs are flat and appear milled. At least this is true for Hamer Slammers. Earliest Slammers have the beveled slug mags and "Hamer Guitars" stamp.

I'll have to look at my 76 Standard again-been years since I looked under the hood, but I think that both pickups were short legged. Not 100% by any means, but one of the pickups has Gibson coils and a Dimarzio baseplate.

 
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serial said:
There was a year (78-79) with the braided leads and smaller logo with "Made in USA" I believe. Been a while since I've consulted my stuff on that(!).
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That must be the deal with the pickup that I had... it had heat shrink tubing over a braided cable and was 9K yet had short legs and the new logo.

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The sad thing about it is that you are only gonna get the info here from idiots like me who have owned over a dozen PAFs and guys like Serial who has owned dozens. The dolts over at the DiMarzio forum don't have this info. Steve Blucher is always happy to answer emails and though, he's really nice.

serial said:
Not 100% by any means, but one of the pickups has Gibson coils and a Dimarzio baseplate.
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Yeah, I've got a curious short legged older DP103 with T-top bobbins and always wondered what the hell that was all about. lolz

 
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The PAF and Superdistortion were both un-potted in the beginning as well. I don't know when they started potting their pups, anyone know?

I've had early Superdistortions and Super 2's were the magnets were sittting in white residue on the baseplate, a big white shunk of some rubber like paste. It was not sticky, but probably was when applied - then dried quite quickly. The magnets on these pups are not possible to change unless you unscrew both bobbins and use a screwdriver or similar to bend the magnet loose. The bobbins are also sitting glued to this residue.

The Dimarzio pafs in my 1986 Sunburst both seem un-potted. So I guess they started potting their pafs quite late. The Superdistortions probably a lot earlier.

 
Brilliant history! Never seen a long leg DMZ.

But missed the way that in the 90s they switched the plastic coils from 3 little holes (for the hook-up wire and base screws) to just the two for the base screws. Check your newer pickups and you will see the outer hole has gone! The one above is a bit weird with a 2 and a 3 small hole coil.

I also think that the slugs (flat, not domed) increased in diameter very slightly in 83 or 84.

 
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Andrew said:
Brilliant history! Never seen a long leg DMZ.

But missed the way that in the 90s they switched the plastic coils from 3 little holes (for the hook-up wire and base screws) to just the two for the base screws. Check your newer pickups and you will see the outer hole has gone! The one above is a bit weird with a 2 and a 3 small hole coil.

I also think that the slugs (flat, not domed) increased in diameter very slightly in 83 or 84.
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That's a more accurate description of what I was trying to say. The slugs look "flatter" and possibly because they're a bit wider. Subtly, but looking at them, it's noticeable.

 
While any and all sources of Info certainly assist in your pursuit, using any one particular guitar Mfrs' production year(s) for accurancy of DiMarzio feature changes could be misleading as large quantities of pups were probably ordered (for a price discount) by Mfrs. so it could have taken two or more years to use up their pup inventory before re-ordering, and DiMarzio may have changed features within that time. And previous/custom pup features could have been requested by the Mfr. to continue to be used even after DiMarzio changed features in their regular production.

DiMarzio print ads in various old magazines (Guitar Player, etc.), old DiMarzio catalogs, and former and current DiMarzio employees would probably be more accurate sources of reference.

 
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Not really when it comes to DiMarzio's track record of OEM pickup manufacturing. A lot of my information comes from emailing Steve Blucher and from just buying a lot of them and talking with the owners about when they were purchased.

The production information is not something that you can easily find in any of the catalogs, price lists or brochures. Pickup leads are frequently wound up underneath a pickup for photographs and lighting and camera angles don't always show the exact shape of the slugs.

I think we are trying to create a timeline of when the slight changes took place as far as when they appeared on the market in a consistent fashion. If you took the timeline that I gave with Serial's corrections, you've got a definitive sort of look through the years at the DP103 and it's changes... whether or not the coating on the wire changed or the wind differed throughout the years is not something that we have even begun to figure out. I assume that all of the magnets were polished A5 but again, Serial and I didn't take the pups apart often if ever so there could have been magnet differences. DiMarzio prolly doesn't even keep those records as they are a forward looking company unlike SD who cherishes most of their popular early designs.

Stuff like when the logo stamp changed and whatnot is pretty easy to figure out.

Steve's knowledge of DiMarzio PAFs is legendary... Andrew is an actual historian... DIsturber and I are total DiMarzio nerds (Disturber gets more credit 'cause he lives in Scandinavia).

There are soooo many DiMarzio nuts on this site, probably more diehard DiMarzio fans here than at their fanclub site.

Hopefully anyone with any more corrections to make to the timeline can come forward so we can make this as good as possible.

 
We missed that during the 1980s they kept swapping between black and clear tape on the bobbins in a pattern I have never made sense of.

 
I ordered my first Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup by cutting out a tiny ad/coupon from the back of Guitar Player magazine in 1978. I put the pickup in the bridge of my Ibanez Iceman IC100.

 
I've seen some Dimarzios from around 1980-ish with a grey plastic conductor cable. Is the grey cable original, and was it only used during a limited time, or only on OEM versions, or what?

Any one know, or have seen this grey plastic cable I'm talking about?

 
sonic1974 said:
So with these changes, did the sound of the pickups change a lot through the years?
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Not so much from the late 70's to early/mid 80's that I've tried. I have never swapped 'em out in the same guitar so I can't say for 100%, but the sound characteristics are the same in the different guitars I've had them in - great that is.
 
Andrew said:
Andrew said:
sonic1974 said:
So with these changes, did the sound of the pickups change a lot through the years?
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Who cares about the sound?
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/emoticons/default_tongue.pngI was joking, but my opinion is that Dimarzios (PAFs) from the late seventies and early eighties are quite variable so you can't quite pin-point a specific sound. I have had newer ones and they seem a bit more consistent.
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That would make sense, probably standardized manufacturing methods. I have a 79 Sunburst which sounds really good, but I've never checked to see exactly which pickups are in it.

 
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