DIMARZIO STORIES

Billy
Sheehan
DiMarzio’s work with Billy Sheehan
spans over 40 years, from the original
double cream DiMarzio Model P®
pickups that Billy started with in 1978,
to his Will Power™ pickups, to our newly
engineered Relentless™ pickups.

We recently sat down with Billy to

discuss his hands-on approach
to pickup modifications.

Text by Larry DiMarzio and Eric Kirkland

Photography by Larry DiMarzio
 DIMARZIO STORIES

Larry DiMarzio: Hi Billy. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
You’ve been modifying the shape of your bass pickups for years and
there were several incarnations before we created this new set.

Billy Sheehan: I know. It was early on in my original P basses, before I

put in my first set of DiMarzios. My stock pickups buzzed every time that
I touched the pole pieces; the same sound you hear when you ar-
en’t holding the strings or touching any other metal on the bass. Oc-
casionally, I even heard it when I was playing. I checked a few other
basses to see if that was the case and apparently, they all kind of did
that to one degree or another.

So I screwed the pickup down and out of the way, far enough that my
fingers couldn’t hit it and create that buzz. But then I discovered that I
couldn’t play the same anymore. [Clarification: he couldn’t play be-
cause he sometimes rests his fingers on the pickup.] My solution was
to screw the pickups down but build them up with epoxy, artificially
raising the pickup surface and creating a place for my fingers to rest.

I didn’t realize that my fingers resting on top of the pickup were serv-
ing the same purpose as when a standup bass player is playing over
the fingerboard, rather than the gap between the strings and body; it
keeps your fingers from overshooting and grabbing too much or un-
dershooting and not grabbing enough. That same approach became
really essential to my style.

When I installed the first set of DiMarzios, they offered me several ad-
vantages, one of which was those hex screw poles that I could screw
down. But I still wanted a specific shape under my fingers, one that
essentially followed the radius of the neck and strings.

Larry: You also rest your thumb on the edge of the pickup, right? I think
that you had even built some sort of a ramp over the pickup mounting
screw on the “G” string side, so that you wouldn’t feel that hard corner
hitting against your finger.

Billy: Right. I like to anchor my thumb on the edge and, after playing
so much, I would naturally round down and wear off the edges of the

2 Billy with his heavily modified Yamaha BB bass, c. 1995.

 DIMARZIO STORIES

mounting tang. Then, when I would change the pickups,

the new edges would tear me up. So, I started modifying
that part of the pickup as well.

I like my bass to always feel like an old, comfortable pair

of shoes.

I recently performed my pickup modifications for a friend

of mine who is a well-known bass player. He picked up
my bass and commented on how much better it played
than his, even though we play the same model bass. I
explained that it was the pickup shape and once I mod-
ded his like mine, he told me that it was life-changing.
Now, with these new pickups, everyone will be able to
benefit from the increased playability and I think that it’s
going to be a game changer for a lot of players.

Larry: You’ve been showing me your modifications for

quite some time and my initial take away was that I didn’t
know how to incorporate them into a production version.

Spring forward to NAMM, two years ago. You

showed me a pair of hand-machined plastic pick-
up covers which included a lot of the modifications that
you’ve been doing through the years — dropping the
angles and rounding over the corners. I looked at them
and flipped! I thought they were the most beautiful, well
thought out update that I’d seen.

I definitely wanted to build you a new set of pickups using

all your improvements. Every time a design goes from the
initial concept to a finished pickup it presents challenges.

I sent your covers to the NYC team and we started mak-

ing a few more improvements.

One of the important initial steps was to determine

which material would be best for the cover. My New York

Backstage on the Mr. Big tour, City and venue, 1997. 3

 DIMARZIO STORIES

team suggested metal, and I thought, not only can we consistently Billy: Yeah, that’s really a significant amount of noise reduction. And I
fabricate the right shape with metal, but it will also offer the added think that the circuit board is a great move. You can just run the traces
advantage of extra shielding. you need to the outputs. It fits perfectly and it’s much more stable than
a little chunk of wire coming out of the plastic.
After receiving the first set of drawings, I realized that we needed to get
this design down to the bare essentials. You had already reduced the Larry: We really sealed these pickups tight, too. As with all DiMarzio
screws mounted as low as possible with the plastic covers and when I products, we try to make them as bulletproof as possible.
looked at the new drawings, I said, “Just eliminate them completely.”
We can build the pickup on a 1/8-inch circuit board and that becomes Billy: Right on. That’s a factor for me too. I used to smear epoxy down
the mounting system. I think we then sent you the first set of new pickup into the bobbins and coils, just to make sure that they were sealed from
prototypes. any moisture. When I’m playing in the summertime, outside, or in a hot
club, there’s a steady stream of sweat coming from my chin that hits
Billy: Yes, just before 2020 NAMM. But you didn’t show them to every- the instrument. It eventually takes a toll on potentiometers, wiring, and
one because you wanted me to give them a thorough road test. everything else. So I’m really excited to see that this new design seals
them to an even greater degree.
Larry: What was your initial impression of the Relentless™?
Larry: That’s the beer test. If you can pour a beer on it and it still works,
Billy: Well, I was a little concerned because all the pickups I had were then you know it will survive the road. I always wanted to shoot a video
either covered in plastic or epoxy. If the strings or my fingers hit them, of a DiMarzio pickup at the bottom of a glass of beer, then take it out
they didn’t make any sharp or bright sounds through the amp. So I and show that it still works.
was a little worried that the metal would create an audible clink or
clank sound. But, as soon as I put them in, there were no extraneous When I designed the original DiMarzio Model P®, I had this idea of
sounds. It was totally dead, completely quiet! I’m not sure what you creating a P Bass pickup that was significantly louder … I don’t know,
used to fill them up but it worked out great. And it’s better now, be- probably two to two-and-a-half times louder than a stock Precision
cause that metal is not going to wear down like my old plastic and Bass pickup.
epoxy mods.
Billy: They’re easily that much louder!
Larry: The way we implement the metal covers also really quiets the sys-
tem down from a standpoint of radio frequencies, microphonics, and Larry: But I also but reoriented the magnetic field so that the entire
general room hash. Using your cover shape, I’m planning to create field shape is much more efficient than what Fender did. Theirs was like
three new Precision replacement pickups: a vintage early 60s style, a shotgun mic with a very narrow focus, whereas my design spread
your model, and an updated version of my original DiMarzio Model that field out, which is part of the reason that when you play the Di-
P® that I invented in 1976. Marzios soft, they’re quieter and when you hit them hard, there’s a
huge dynamic response. But, then I heard you play them and I said,
I remember telling you that I anticipated these to be much quiet- “Oh my God, I never thought that they could sound that good!”
er but they really exceeded our expectations. We measured about
6db less noise. That means more perceived signal from the bass, great- Billy: The increased output and dynamic range are really the goals.
er dynamic range, and improved dimensionality. And the sound I get with them prompts a lot of people to ask me if my

4
 DIMARZIO STORIES

“
Pickups are the
gateways to your
signal path, like the
microphone in front of
a vocalist. Why not
make sure you have the
best initial sound?
—Billy Sheehan

5
 DIMARZIO STORIES

bass is active. They don’t believe that it’s entirely passive. For a long
time, it fooled engineers. Even Mick Guzauski, who is one of those en- FENDER® VS. DIMARZIO® MAXIMUM OUTPUT
gineers with a golden ear — one of the best in the biz, period — he’s 4.0V
done records for Mariah Cary, Amy Winehouse, Usher, etc. This is back
3.5V
in the 70s when he was still in Rochester, New York.  He built a preamp
for me. (I sure wish I still had it!) 3.0V

2.5V
He would tell me, “Don’t worry about clipping the input.” And I would
say, “Um, well, watch this!” I would play a couple notes, and sure
2.0V
enough that clip light would go on instantly. I always thought it was
a great advantage to have that much output and I still do. Pickups 1.5V

are the gateways to your signal path, like the microphone in front of
1.0V
a vocalist. Why not make sure you have the best initial sound and the
strongest signal level? 0.5V

Larry: So active pickups were never your thing?

FENDER® PRECISION BASS® 2.29v DIMARZIO® RELENTLESS™ 3.18v
Billy: No. For me, they just open up a whole new set of problems. I always
make a joke about it when I do a clinic or a seminar. One of the ques-
tions I get a lot is, “Why don’t you use active pickups?” I tell them that
when you’re on stage, all kinds of things can and will go wrong. Maybe
the monitors are feeding back, the drummer drops a stick, or some-
FENDER® VS. DIMARZIO® NOISE
thing else is wrong and the engineer is giving you a dirty look. Some-
0.8dB
where in the back of your mind, no matter whose fault it is or what the
problem is, there’s this nagging little question: “Is it the battery?” 0.7dB

You always have to put in a new one, and maybe it was bad 0.6dB

when I it came out of the box. Either way, it’s a weak link in the chain
0.5dB
that can cause trouble. So the active thing was never for me. Some
guys do it; they love it; it’s their thing and God bless them. That’s cool. 0.4dB
But from the time that I got my first set of double cream DiMarzios from
0.3dB
you, there was plenty of output and I didn’t have the concerns of
phase issues and dynamic limiting. 0.2dB

0.1dB
Larry: Do you recall when you came to DiMarzio?

Billy: Oh, man it was definitely the late seventies. In fact, it had to
be seventy-eight because I just looked at some photos with the original FENDER® PRECISION BASS® .68dB DIMARZIO® RELENTLESS™ .18dB

6
 DIMARZIO STORIES

DiMarzio pickups in my bass, and I was wearing the

pants I bought when I went to London to work with
Michael Schenker.

I first called DiMarzio after seeing an ad in Guitar Player

magazine about a direct replacement pickup that would
give me more of everything. We came from a generation
of inquisitive, hands-on kids, so pulling out the old pickups and
trying something new made complete sense to me. We’d take the
screws off just about anything and look inside to see what was going
on in there, start poking around, and then maybe change something
to see what it did. I think Ed Van Halen was the same way. I don’t think
that kids are doing that so much anymore, but they need to. I know
there are musicians who are ready to retire and they’ve never even
looked inside their instrument. Not every great race car driver has to
be a superior mechanic, but it’s nice if they at least understand how
the car works, so that they can tell the mechanic what the car
needs. This understanding is really essential to me. I believe it was the
same spirit that prompted you to start the replacement pickup boom.

Larry: Well it’s funny that you mention that. I didn’t have money grow-
ing up, but I had that same mindset. If I wanted something, especially
if it was pricey, I would try to figure out what made it work and build it
myself, sometimes improving it. That’s really how I ended up designing
the original DiMarzio Super Distortion®. I saw a way to improve upon
an old design and give players the sound that they wanted. From that
first pickup to these new modern designs, it all stemmed from a natural
curiosity and my approach to innovation.

Billy: We’ve both been fortunate to have a lot of success as a re-

sult, but I try to tell people that success comes in many forms. It’s not
always about a hit record or a sold-out show in front of a thousand
screaming fans. It’s really about personal satisfaction, which is honestly
what still drives me to work so hard every day.

Larry: Thank you, Billy. As always, it’s been a pleasure.

Billy: Thank you for everything, Larry.

7
 FRONT VOLUME FRONT TONE REAR VOLUME
500K CUSTOM TAPER PULL = HIGH CUT PULL = STEREO
POT 500K PUSH/PULL POT 500K PUSH/PULL POT
EP1201 EP1201PP EP1201PP

FRONT PICKUP BARE

RELENTLESS™ NECK DP295 GREEN
WHITE
BLACK .047µF .01µF
RED CAPACITOR CAPACITOR
BARE EP1047 EP1010

GREEN

WHITE

BLACK

REAR OUTPUT
SWITCHCRAFT®
REAR PICKUP BARE OUTPUT JACK

RELENTLESS™ MIDDLE DP296 RED (2-CONDUCTOR)

EP1301

FRONT OUTPUT
SWITCHCRAFT®
OUTPUT JACK
(2-CONDUCTOR)
EP1301
TO BRIDGE GROUND

Relentless™ Billy Sheehan STEREO WIRING

Wiring This wiring designed by Billy Sheehan allows 2 individual outputs. For a complete wiring kit including all the hardware in
the diagram above, click here.

DiMarzio, Inc. 1388 Richmond Terrace, PO Box 100387, Staten Island, NY 10310 • Tel. General: (718) 981-9286 • Toll Free: (800) 221-6468 • Tech Support: (718) 816-8112 • Email: [email protected] • www.dimarzio.com
©2020 All rights reserved. The information contained in this drawing is the sole property of DiMarzio, Inc. Any reproduction in part or as a whole without the written permission of DiMarzio, Inc. is prohibited.
 GREEN
BARE

WHITE VOLUME TONE

500K CUSTOM 250K CUSTOM
TAPER POT TAPER POT

BLACK EP1201 EP1200

BARE .033µF
RELENTLESS™ MIDDLE DP296 RED CAPACITOR
EP1033

OUTPUT
SWITCHCRAFT®
OUTPUT JACK
(2-CONDUCTOR)
EP1301
TO BRIDGE GROUND

Relentless™ Middle P-Bass

Wiring The standard install diagram for Relentless™ Middle in any Precision Bass. For a complete wiring kit including all the
hardware in the diagram above, click here.

DiMarzio, Inc. 1388 Richmond Terrace, PO Box 100387, Staten Island, NY 10310 • Tel. General: (718) 981-9286 • Toll Free: (800) 221-6468 • Tech Support: (718) 816-8112 • Email: [email protected] • www.dimarzio.com
©2020 All rights reserved. The information contained in this drawing is the sole property of DiMarzio, Inc. Any reproduction in part or as a whole without the written permission of DiMarzio, Inc. is prohibited.