Shootout - Weddington vs. Weddington
Comparing the stock DiMarzio pickups in the red Yamaha Weddington Custom against the Wagner Custom Rewinds Darkburst/Crossroads in the blond Weddington Custom.
Back when I bought my first Weddington Custom, almost two years ago, I didn’t spend much time with the stock DiMarzio pickups. DiMarzios, after all, get slammed by so-called cork-sniffers because they often considered just shredder pickups and aren’t boutique. I scoured The Gear Page to find what was the “best” vintage flavored humbuckers on the market. Wagner Custom Rewinds (WCR) seemed to be all the rage. In short order, I pulled out the stock DiMarzio bridge and aftermarket Benedetto neck pickup and replaced them with a WCR Darkburst (bridge) and Crossroads (neck) combo. And I called myself happy.
When the new Weddington arrived last month, I figured I would keep the stock pickups in for a little while, but swap them out if I kept the guitar. After playing the guitar for a couple of weeks, I have to say I’m impressed. Here’s why:
To me, the DiMarzios have a sweeter top end than the Darkbursts. Compared to the DiMarzio bridge pickup, the Darkburst seem to have more top-end bite and almost a sizzle on the G string. I’d say the DiMarzio top-end is closer to the Crossroads overall—sweet and smooth. Compared to either the Darkburst or Crossroads, the DiMarzios are tighter and more articulate in the bottom end—more percussive if that makes any sense. I guess this might make them more “modern” sounding so some, but I think they’re still more vintage than modern.
The DiMarzios are, however, more powerful (~12.6kohm). This was apparent at lower gain amp settings; the DiMarzios would drive the amp to overdrive a bit sooner and I would have to roll of the guitar volumes to get the sound cleaned up. A more noticeable difference was in the coil split position—the DiMarzios were more aggressive than either WCR. Combined with the tighter low end, came across as a bit more steely. Tone is very subjective, but I think this yielded better single-coil tones than the WCRs. (Okay, maybe this isn’t a “true” single coil sound, but I thought it was a better tone.)
I was impressed with how these sounded. They really seem to work well in this guitar, so much so that I’m not rushing out to track down replacements from a boutique vendor, and I may even try DiMarzios in some other guitars.
For anyone who may be interested, I contacted DiMarzio asking about the stock pickups. They were custom-wound for Yamaha were never available separately. According to DiMarzio, the closest pup they currently make is the F-spaced Norton (DP160F).