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DiMarzio DP186 The Cruiser Neck
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DiMarzio DP186 The Cruiser Neck
Hatsubai Hatsubai

« Single coil vibe without the noise »

Published on 03/24/11 at 12:53
The DiMarzio Cruiser Neck was invented for those who were looking for a single coil or P90 kinda vibe but with the benefits of a humbucker. This is like a more modern single coil for today’s world. It features blade rails like so many other DiMarzio pickups, four conductor wiring and a ceramic magnet.

The Cruiser Neck has a very strong single coil/P90 vibe going on. Most of those pickups have this “vowely” quality going on, and this does that in spades. However, unlike a normal single coil, this pickup is not overly bright. It does have some pronounced treble, but it’s not piercing like so many other single coils can get. The bass and midrange are just enough to where it would be perfect for the neck. If you’ve ever heard Andy Timmons’ tone, you’ve heard this pickup being used in action.

Split tones sound great, as do parallel tones. The noiseless benefits are a welcome addition. So many other single coils have so much noise that they’re almost unusable. The unwound strings have this really fat sound going on that helps make it sound bigger than a normal single coil, but the unwound strings still retain a nice sparkle that many famous single coils deliver.

This works in most any wood, but I tend to recommend it with woods like mahogany as they help beef out the low end and midrange. The treble in this is still fairly pronounced, so if you’re looking for a pickup that is super fat, you might want to try something else. This is also a very medium output pickup, so it tends to work best in the neck and/or middle position. It just lacks the oomph needed for most situations in the bridge, which I guess is why they added the word “neck” in the name.