DiMarzio, Inc. announces the release of the Relentless and Sixties PJ pickups for 4-string basses.
The inspiring new Relentless pickups combine ceramic (Relentless P) and Neodymium magnets (Relentless J), producing a better balance and up to 70 percent more output than traditional passive pickups. And best of all, these titans of teeth-rattling tone are dead quiet. Expanded mid-range punch, snappy highs, and precise lows are hallmarks of the Relentless J, while the Relentless P pickups sound simply massive, offering impressive output levels, beefy lows, growling midrange, and crispy highs that sing with superior string definition. All Relentless pickups are fully potted and include our new comfort-sculpted metal covers with foil-shielded cables, along with a broad magnetic field. There are no limitations here, just high-powered tone.
Relentless pickups will breathe new life into any bass, increase playability, and work well for any style of music from Motown to metal.
DiMarzio’s Relentless PJ pickups are made in the U.S.A. and may now be ordered for immediate delivery. Suggested List Price for the Relentless PJ is $310.00 (MAP $219.99).
Dimarzio continues that tradition with the new Sixties PJ set, a rumble-and-roar replacement designed to satisfy those with a vintage soul and a fervent heart. The Sixties PJ pickups revitalize time-honored tones, utilizing keenly-applied technology and artist-tested ingenuity. Both pickups use a fully humbucking coil design with sculpted metal covers. Our potted coils connect to the electronics with foil-shielded cables, keeping the system incredibly quiet with a tone-forward sound. The Sixties PJ has an impressive 3db of noise reduction over stock PJ sets.
DiMarzio, Inc. announces the release of the Sixties PJ (DP306) pickups for 4 string basses.
DiMarzio invented replacement pickups in the early 70s, and guitar builders and custom shops soon recognized the improvement that adding DiMarzio pickups made to their instruments. This started a trend, where bass players and manufacturers began combining our P Bass and J Bass models in one instrument, creating the enduring, eponymous PJ Set. Builders like Jackson and Charvel began using PJ combinations instead of the more traditional pickup configurations.
It’s not just the lower noise floor that enlivens these pickups’ character. Their Alnico 5 magnets follow the arch of the chic metal covers, ensuring a more even, immediate, and balanced response from each string. Player comfort is also optimized, thanks to borrowed improvements from the Relentless pickups’ rounded edges and curved top shape, co-designed with the legendary Billy Sheehan. All these innovations deliver increased headroom, improved dynamics, and a more detailed response.
The Sixties PJ pickups also feature the same circuit board mounting system, which lowers the height adjustment screws so they are below the pickguard, removing any obstruction to right-hand techniques.
All Sixties P and Sixties J pickups are handmade in New York City, tested, and matched for quality control.
DiMarzio’s Sixties PJ pickups are made in the U.S.A. and may now be ordered for immediate delivery. Suggested List Price for the Sixties PJ is $310.00 (MAP $219.99).
For more information, please visit our website at dimarzio.com.
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Keeley Octa Psi Transfigurating Fuzz Pedal with Polyphonic Pitch Shifting
Meet the OCTA PSI Transfigurating Fuzz – The Ultimate Combination of Pitch-Shifter, Octave Generator, and Tri-Voiced Analog Fuzz! Key features include: Instant Effect Order Switching, Flexible Output Configuration, Momentary or Latching Octave/Pitch, and more! Each pitch shift mode includes an up, down, and dual setting, resulting in 24 different modes.
Neil’s brother-in-law Billy’s Ovation, before Neil’s repairs.
Reader: Neil Crump
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Guitar: King of the Road
My brother-in-law passed away in March. He was a talented keyboardist and, in his heyday, played in bands that toured internationally. As a musician, he naturally had a guitar—a 1974 Ovation—and a “friend” put an unauthorized abstract paint job on it. That guitar had an extremely hard life: Its top was broken and the frets were completely worn out. As an aspiring luthier, I took the guitar to repair it then pass it on to his daughter. This proved to be a challenging task as I had never done anything more complicated than a basic setup before and I had few luthier tools.
A heat gun and thin spatula knife worked fine to remove the top and the bridge. I did my best to glue the new top halves together—but that left a visible seam, so I put a herringbone center strip over it (to match the purfling I would install later). I had no radius board, so I just clamped the pre-radiused braces I bought and was quite pleased that the new top did have a radius! Once I felt the bridge was sanded perfectly, I glued it down. I then replaced the plastic nut and saddle with bone. A hot soldering iron got the old frets out without damaging the fingerboard. (That said, next time I will clean those slots out better before installing new frets!)
“This proved to be a challenging task as I had never done anything more complicated than a basic setup before and I had few luthier tools.”
I was happy with my progress until I started routing the purfling channel. I had no workbench, and the concave Ovation body made things a bit awkward. While basically “bear hugging” the body with one arm and holding the router with the other, I heard a faint “pop.” The edge of an X-brace had come loose. I was able to squirt glue into the void with a syringe, but the concave guitar body made a brace jack useless (without fabricating a complicated caul). I removed the phono jack and jammed a pencil into the brace, keeping pressure on it with a rubber band. It worked!
Neil gave the Ovation a new lease on life with his extensive repairs, the end result of which can be seen here.
I also learned the importance of channel depth with purfling—I did lots of scraping to get everything flush. I am pleased with the finished product and my niece is so happy! I also put a new label inside the guitar body, with a dedication to her father on it.
Overall, there are multiple wins on this project. I gave tribute to my brother-in-law, made his daughter happy, and learned enough to build a guitar from scratch.
