DiMarzio Norton

The Norton might be one of the more misunderstood pickups in the DiMarzio arsenal. Don’t ask me why, as I cannot figure out why players are not over-the-top for the Norton.

With a 1994 release, the only other humbucker that year is the Super 3. The Evolution is the year before. But 1995 does see the Steve’s Special, the Air Classic, the Air Zone, and the Air Norton. All great options that do their own thing. And from what you can find online from people that actually use the Norton, it’s aces.

Wanting to see what the situation is for myself, I’ve been using one for about a year now. In fact, it pairs so well with the guitar I first tried it in, that’s what it’s been ever since. How about we take a look at what makes the Norton worth your valuable time?

Dual Resonance

Dual Resonance is basically mis-matched coils. It’s common for several pickup companies to allow about a 5% variance. But Dual Resonance is an intentional mis-matching of the coils to produce a specific “tuning” of the pickup’s voice. According to the patent, it is pretty much about putting a similar number of turns on each coil. But with different wire gauges.

Installation

The Norton is in a custom body from Falbo Designs. Consider the ESP Horizon or the late-80s Kramer Stagemaster. Basically the same guitar, as ESP made the Stagey for Kramer. Instead of a neck-thru, imagine a bolt-on design. The back half is mahogany, where the top half is a flame maple arch top. Yes, a thick maple top. Mmmmm… tasty! LOL! This gitfiddle sports a birdseye maple neck has a 24-fret 25-1/2″ scale birdseye maple board. Grover tuners, German Floyd Rose 1984 double-locking tremolo system, and a Pure Tone 1/4″ jack round out the features. Tuning is E standard with 09-42 strings.

Evaluation

Playing the Norton reminds you that a medium-output vintage-hot class pickup may be all you need. Sure, the Norton has all the best qualities of a hot-rod archetype. But it also has a sprinkling of what’s great about a classic humbucker vibe. It has the open voice to sing but with the contemporary grind to push an amp. As common with “dual resonance” models, each coil has it’s own resonant peak that has a deliberate tuning to work with each other in a result that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Arena-shaking open chords have definition and a degree of sparkle to each note. Aggressive riffing gives way to power and precision, blended with a serving a cantankerous grit. The luscious midrange works to allow the lows to have authoritative fidelity while giving the highs room to yield an inviting presence. Pedal note chugging is powerful while remaining clear and free of mud. Squeals and harmonics are effortless, with edge and cut that avoids icepick shrill.

The different coils can be a playground for splitting options on a clean amp channel. Definitely take the time to try to slug coil in a split configuration. However, I am finding that the Norton does very well in series for clean and ambient amp settings. It’s also pretty darned responsive to rolling back the volume pot as well. On the flip side, I’d be flogged if I didn’t mention that you’re going to get some great brown tones out of this bad boy.

Specs

Demo

You probably remember that Evergrey guitarist Henrik Danhage has the Norton is his old Caparison guitars. Here are a few prog metal examples:

If you are keeping your eyes peeled across the Interwebz, you will see that Henrick has a new DiMarzio signature humbucker coming out soon! Looking forward to that one!

DiMarzio artist Llexi Leon, who also uses the Norton, is laying down some screaming notes in this trailer for the Eternal Descent graphic novel:

Conclusion

The Norton humbucker is going to be good for funk, garage, classic rock, heavy rock, fusion, blues rock, punk, grunge, alternative, prog shred, country, hard rock, prog rock, 80s metal, hardcore, prog metal, thrash, alt rock, tech metal, and more. It is available with standard or f-spacing, in over a dozen bobbin colors, nine covers, two type of tops, and three pole piece colors.

For reference, this DiMarzio Norton humbucker pickup evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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