DiMarzio Air Norton, Analysis and Review

[antigua]

www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/air-norton



The DiMarzio Air Norton has a resonant peak of 2.33kHz, that puts it between the neck and bridge DiMarzio 36th Anniversary pickups, though the inductance is quite a bit higher than either, at 6.2H, than the 36th's bridge at 5.6H. According to LC resonance theory, that would suggest that the Air Norton achieves lower capacitance in the coils. 

The Air Norton also features mismatched coils, one with 42 AWG and one with 43 AWG, both having a similar number of winds for a similar inductance. In the picture at bottom, you can see that the coils have very different thicknesses. It's not clear what benefit that has on the tone, as it has very little effect on the LC resonance of the pickup, and the physical layout is a typical PAF footprint. Since it's an "airbucker", it lacks a metal retaining bar between the magnet and fillister screws.


DiMarzio Air Norton DP193

Series resistance:      12.07k ohms
 screws (green & white): 5.21k ohms
 slugs (black & red):    6.66k ohms
Series inductance:      6.231H @ 120Hz
 screws (green & white): 2.609H
 slugs (black & red):    2.764H

Gauss: 280G slug, 310G screw

Unloaded:                V: 5.8dV f: 6.43kHz (black)
screws (green & white):  V: 5.9dV f: 9.37kHz (green)
slugs (black & red):     V: 6.8dV f: 8.95kHz (gray)
Loaded (200k & 470pF):   V: 1.2dV f: 2.33kHz (red)


Bode plot:





Pictures:





Mismatched coils:




Info on how these tests are conducted guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/7723/measuring-electrical-properties-guitar-pickups

[straylight]

The slugs are also machined down at the bottom and have little plastic spacers between them and the magnet.

[jaymenon]

A beautiful in-depth analysis.


Do you have similar data from its most commonly paired bridge pickup, the Tone Zone please...?

[antigua]

Jan 20, 2022 15:53:42 GMT -5 jaymenon said:

A beautiful in-depth analysis.


Do you have similar data from its most commonly paired bridge pickup, the Tone Zone please...?

I don't have a Tone Zone, unfortunately. I've never been into high inductance pickups. It even took me a long time to get a JB in hand.


It looks to me like the Tone Zone is just DiMarzio's version of a JB. The specs they provide are really close, and it came out in 1991, they say, a time when the JB was getting a lot of attention.