DiMarzio
®
Area™, HS™,
Virtual Vintage
®
and similar models
Please Note—If you have no previous experience with wiring or if you feel uncertain how to proceed, we recommend that a professional do the pickup installation.
IMPORTANT—Area T™ owners see Special Notes on other side before installing pickups.
General Instructions
•
Some DiMarzio® pickup models are supplied with a BARE or
GRAY ground wire. This wire MUST be connected to the instrument’s common ground connection, usually on the back of a control. Bare ground wires must not touch other connections or terminals. Pickup models that are not supplied with a separate ground wire do not require one.
•
If you have purchased our pickup to replace one that is currently in your guitar, remove your old pickup carefully.
Installing your new pickup will be much easier if you unsolder your original pickup cleanly, rather than cut its wires. Make a note of exactly where the old pickup was connected as, in most cases, the new one will connect to the same points.
•
Use a soldering iron with a fine tip (25 to 45 watts) and thin rosin core solder for all connections.
•
If you intend to use a miniature switch with the pickup, try to be as clean as possible with the solder connections to avoid short circuits or damage to the switch. DiMarzio® offers two Push/
Pull Potentiometers, the EP1200PP (250K) and the EP1201PP
(500K) with double-pole, double-throw miniature switches built in. The switches perform exactly like separate miniature switches, and we recommend them in situations where you do not want to drill extra holes in the face or pickguard of your instrument.
Standard Series Hum Canceling Wiring
IMPORTANT: Although other brands of pickups may have the same color wires as DiMarzio®, the connections are not necessarily the same. For our pickup to function properly, you
must follow these instructions.
BLACK WHITE
The wires on all DiMarzio® hum canceling models are red, black, green, TOP
COIL
BOTTOM
COIL and white. The actual arrangement of the coils is shown at right. RED GREEN
The BLACK and WHITE wires of some models have already been soldered together for you. This connects the two coils in hum canceling series mode, which is the standard operating mode for all of these models. If your pickup came with long black and white wires and you intend to use the pickup only in standard mode, you should cut the leads to a length of 2-3” (5-7cm) and carefully strip 1/4” (5 mm) of insulation from the ends. NOTE: Do not tug on the wire when you strip it; this could damage the pickup. If you might want to do coil splitting or other wiring options at some future time, leave the black and white wires full length. Twist the stripped ends of the BLACK and WHITE wires together, solder and insulate the connection so it does not touch any other part of the circuit. Solder the RED wire to the hot connection in the guitar’s circuit. In most cases where you are replacing a pickup, the RED wire will be soldered to the same place as the hot wire of the original pickup. The GREEN wire is soldered to ground. This ground connection is usually made to the back of a control.
If you install this pickup in a guitar with other pickups and find the pickups to be out of phase when they are played together, solder the RED wire to ground, and the GREEN wire to hot.
Parallel Wiring
Because of the way these models are constructed, parallel (dual sound) wiring is not a useful option and is not recommended.
Single-Coil Switching (Coil Splitting)
Single-coil mode will produce a slightly brighter and louder sound than series hum canceling mode, as long as the coil closest to the strings (the one with red and black wires) remains on. Singlecoil mode is not hum canceling. We do not recommend using the bottom coil by itself under any circumstances, because the sound will be extremely weak.
To turn the bottom coil off, you can use the same type DPDT switch as is used for phase switching, a simpler SPDT switch, or a push-pull pot. This diagram shows the SPDT type:
BLACK &
WHITE
TO GROUND
The RED wire is the hot output. The GREEN wire is soldered to ground. Carefully remove the insulation from the black/white connection and solder a single wire to the connection. This will be the coil-split wire, which will connect to the split switch. Be sure to insulate this connection. As only one side of the DPDT mini-switch is used, you may choose to have two pickups go from double- to single-coil on one switch, like this:
BLACK &
WHITE
TO GROUND
BLACK &
WHITE
Again, the GREEN wires from both pickups go to ground. The
RED wires on both pickups are the hot outputs.
To wire a split switch to a reverse-phase model using a SPDT switch (or one side of a DPDT switch), solder the RED wire to ground and wire the switch like this:
BLACK & WHITE GREEN
HOT OUTPUT
TO PICKUP
SELECTOR
Phase Switch
Phase switching can only function in an instrument with two or more pickups. The effect will only occur when both pickups are on, and will be most obvious when the pickups are at approximately the same volume. Only one of the pickups should be wired to the phase switch, and it makes no audible difference which pickup you choose. The switch is a double-pole, doublethrow type: DPDT (DiMarzio® catalog number EP1106) or pushpull pot (EP1200PP or EP1201PP):
RED
HOT OUTPUT
GREEN
GROUND OUTPUT
Component Values
All models were designed to work with 250K controls. For a brighter overall sound, try 500K controls (EP1201).
For even more highs and overall ‘cut’, try a 500K volume with a 1
Meg tone pot. If you’re mixing these pickups with standard humbuckers, it’s usually best to use the higher resistance control value. For the tone controls, we recommend a capacitor value of .022 µfd or .033 µfd. The .033 value will roll off more high frequencies than the .022.
Treble Compensation
Many players notice a loss of high frequencies when the volume control is turned down. To avoid this, install a 560 pF capacitor alone or with a 300K ohm resistor (270K or 330K will also work) in parallel across the two “hot” legs of the volume control, as shown in the drawing. Try to solder these components cleanly to the legs of the volume control, without breaking the solder connections that are already present.
RESISTOR
Height Adjustment
CAPACITOR
Height adjustment is a matter of personal preference, and the following distances should only be taken as recommended starting points.
Most of these models have Alnico 2 magnets with low magnet pull, and can be adjusted relatively close to the strings. At the highest fret (usually the 21 st
or 22 nd
), the closest recommended distances from the top of the magnet to the bottom of the string are: neck and middle pickups low E 3/32” (2.4 mm), high E
1/16” (1.6 mm), bridge pickup low E 1/16” (1.6 mm), high E
3/64” (1.2 mm). These settings will provide a lot of presence and attack. For a more open 1950s sound, try adjusting the pickups
1/32” (0.8 mm) further from the strings.
The Virtual Solo™ and HS™ models use alnico 5 magnets with higher magnet pull. The closest recommended distances are: neck and middle positions low E 1/8” (3.2 mm), high E 3/32” (2.4 mm), bridge position low E 3/32” (2.4 mm), high E 1/16” (1.6 mm).
Special Note for Area T™ Bridge & Area Hot T™
Some older Telecaster
®
guitars and vintage reissues do not ground the bridge assembly with a wire. The grounding was accomplished via a metal plate on the bottom of many Tele bridge pickups. The Area T™ does not have this plate, but it is still important that the bridge be grounded to eliminate noise. If there is no independent ground wire running from the underside of the bridge to the control assembly, you must run an insulated wire from the back of the volume control through the bridge pickup cable exit and strip 1-2 inches (3-5 cm) of insulation from the end. Place the bare portion of the wire between the bridge and the face of the guitar so it is held securely when the bridge is screwed back to the guitar body after the new pickup is installed.
Special Note for Area T™ Neck
The mounting dimensions of this model are based on U.S.-made
Fender Telecasters
®
. Some pickguards from other sources may have a slot for the neck pickup that is too narrow to fit this pickup.
The recommended width for the pickguard slot is .610” (15.5 mm). If the slot is too narrow, it should be widened with sandpaper or a file prior to pickup installation. Do not force the pickup through the slot if the slot is too narrow.
Additional Notes
Wiring diagrams and technical information may be found on our website: www.dimarzio.com
All DiMarzio® pickups have been potted in an exclusive penetrating formula to eliminate squeal and subdue extraneous noise. For further noise reduction, we recommend shielding the entire guitar internally with DiMarzio® Shielding Tape (EP1000).
This will eliminate stray hum fields from the circuitry of your guitar.
If you have any problems or questions, please call our tech line,
(718) 816-8112 between 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM Eastern Time or visit www.dimarzio.com for our FAQ, wiring diagrams and tech support by email.
Fender® and Telecaster® are registered trademarks of Fender
Musical Instrument Corp., with which DiMarzio, Inc. is not affiliated.
1388 Richmond Terrace
P.O. Box 100387
Staten Island, NY 10310 USA
Tel (718) 981-9286 Tech (718) 816-8112
Fax (718) 720-5296 www.dimarzio.com
