[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Hi newbie here.  I am trying to find some advice on the Dimarzio DP155 pickup.  I have two - one is brand new, 17k ohms and just fitted to replace an older DP155 which only had 8.5k ohms across both coils. 

Both are clearly stamped with DP155 and Dimarzio on the baseplate. 

I was wondering if Dimarzio revamped the pickup at some point, nearly doubling its resistance ?

Many thanks

The Tartan Blues Warrior

[marcwormjim]

I couldn’t dig up any model other than the Tone Zone being associated with that model number. Are you certain you’re not getting half the Ω reading due to a short or the coils being in parallel?

[buddroyce]

How old is the older one?

Also, do the pickups look any different from each other? I get this feeling you have a short in one of the coils.

[darkbluemurder]

Did you try the 8.5k pickup in a guitar, and if so, did you get a lot of hum? If the answer is yes, then the pickup is a Tone Zone with one coil shorted.

Cheers Stephan

[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Thanks.

I too thought it was a coil short in the older pickup.  It's wired for coil tap (4 wires) and each coil measures about 4.3k.  I'm not sure how old it is.  The adjustable screws on the top of the pickup coil are far broader than I have seen on any pickup.

And yes the 8.5k pickup was in a guitar, but no real hum.  Just very toppy in the bridge position.

[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Here are some photos of the pickups.  Older one is first





And the new one





Thanks

[marcwormjim]

The real question is whether Dimarzio ever used yellow wires.

If I had to guess, your mystery pickup simply had the Dimarzio baseplate swapped onto it. Whether it was to fit in a guitar routed for the triangular mounting tabs, or for counterfeiting reasons, I can’t say.

[corypheus]

There's a slim chance it's OEM (Fender) Paf PRO (as they came with adjustable+slug instead of two rows of hex) with baseplate swapped for ToneZone's, however just like in the other thread in my knowledge, Paf PRO was never released with three hole on front bobbins, and tbh the screws look totally funky,

I'd agree with marc here, I think it's not a real DMZ at all, but another neck pickup altogether.

[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Well spotted with the yellow wire, but its not coming from the pickup itself.  The pickup has the standard Dimarzio red/white/black/green/screen wiring.  When I bought the pickup the wires out were only about 2 inches in length, so I added a 4 core extension - but I could only get that in red/white/black/yellow/screen.  So the yellow wire is mine (on the extension), not from the pickup.

[darkbluemurder]

With the DC coil readings, it is definitely not a Tone Zone, but some other pickup on a Tone Zone base plate. And the likelihood that both coils have a short in the exact same way is about zero.

Those screws do not look like anything DiMarzio ever made but they could have been exchanged as well.

But what model it may be I have no clue unfortunately.

Cheers Stephan

[buddroyce]

As mentioned a few posts above, the likelihood of both coils shorting is fairly low. The screw coils are waaaaay bigger than any that I've ever seen on a DiMarzio pickup. Coupled with the three holes on the bobbins which I've also never seen on a DiMarzio, I hate to say it but I don't think that's an actual DP155 or a DiMarzio product to begin with.

[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Thanks.  Its certainly unusual and I had my doubts about it being a Dimarzio unless it was a special model of some sort.

But you are wrong about the 3 holes in the bobbins.  I have a good number of older Dimarzios from the 1970s and early 1980s and all have 3 holes in the bobbins. 

[buddroyce]

They did? I haven't had too many of the really old ones come my way.. well that and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have paid much attention to the holes since they would have been on client guitars.

Got any pics of the older DiMarzios in your collection that feature the 3 holes?

[TARTANBLUESBOY]

Yes of course

Here's an old SDHB



and two old PAFs



and an old "Dual Sound" (SDHB with 4 core cable)

[darkbluemurder]

Apart from the screws, the pickup bobbins looks like DiMarzio bobbins with that matte finish.