Mechanicsburg, PA  September 8, 2011 - The Perfect 5th Musical Arts Center (P5), a new music school located on the Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg, is holding two contests this month.  They are both meant to bring attention to the center's grand opening at the end of the month, which will be highlighted by the Steve Vai Master Class at the Whitaker Center (9/25). 

Anyone can enter the Perfect 5th DiMarzio Pickup Contest by simply signing up for the P5 email list through the website at ThePerfect5th.com. Individuals can get a second chance at winning by "liking" the school's Facebook page - Facebook.com/ThePerfect5th.  This must be done by Sept. 18th at 11:59pm.  Winners will be announced on Sept. 20th.  Full contest details are on The Perfect 5th website. 

Guitarists are very familiar with the DiMarzio brand.  The company is best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement electric guitar pickups, of which millions have been sold around the world.  For this contest, DiMarzio has graciously supplied several of their Steve Vai Signature items: 

• Grand Prize (2 winners) - Steve Vai Signature Evolution® pickups ($230 value)
• 1st Prize - Steve Vai Signature The Breed™ pickups ($218 value)
• 2nd Prize (2 winners) - Steve Vai Signature Guitar Cable ($125 value)
• 3rd Prize (2 winners) - Steve Vai Leather ClipLock® ($105 value)

Both Steve Vai and The Perfect 5th's director, Eric Wirsing, are endorsed by DiMarzio.  Larry DiMarzio himself contacted Eric as soon as he heard about the school and the master class and offered the above items for this contest. It's also interesting to note that the photo used on the event poster (with Steve sitting in the red chair) was taken by Larry DiMarzio. You can read more about Larry and the company he founded on their Facebook page and at DiMarzio.com.

DiMarzio endorsers Rob Caggiano and Joe Trohman's newest project The Damned Things released a new album last month. Check out their new video.

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DiMarzio endorsers Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan reunite with Mr. Big for a new album and tour. Check out the new Mr. Big video.

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Earl Slick playing his new Framus AZ-10 in Vintage Sunburst. Slick's new band Outliar features Reeves Gabrels on guitar and Sterling Campbell on drums, both of whom have played with David Bowie's band. Outliar just finished up recording at Clubhouse Studios in Long Island. Find more about Earl Slick on his players page: player/earl-slick

photo by Larry DiMarzio

DiMarzio® endorser Ron Thal (aka Bumblefoot) and Guthrie Govan jam at the Vigier Guitars booth at NAMM 2011.

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photo by Peter Hodgson

Chris says of his new axe:

“I love it. It’s great. You can just feel the balance, the way it sits. It doesn’t want to drop at all on its neck. It’s awesome. When I look at the fretboard radius, I know it’s a 12-inch. I love that. I love the curve of a fretboard radius. The quilted maple lining is awesome. Even the way they’ve beveled it from the top into the neck. It almost looks seamless; as seamless as you could possible make it. It’s beautiful. Killer. Can’t wait to play it.”

Broderick played his new guitar for the first time during a Megadeth concert in Anaheim, CA, at the NAMM show.

The guitar is loaded with custom DiMarzio® humbuckers in the neck and bridge.

Congratulations to Lamb of God and Iron Maiden for their recent Grammy Nominations for Best Metal Performance. Best of luck to all the nominees.

Lamb of God (Mark Morton) for "In Your Words" from Wrath

Iron Maiden (Adrian Smith) for "El Dorado" from The Final Frontier

Excerpt from GuitarEdge.com: Helmet guitarist Page Hamilton says people are confused by his journey into rock music. After all, it doesn't seem logical that someone who has studied classical and jazz guitar would end up forming a band like Helmet. But to Hamilton, the progression makes perfect sense. Here, Hamilton talks about working with DiMarzio.
GE: Is there a certain setup that you go for, as far as pickups, amps, and pedals?
 PH: I'm loyal to people who are loyal to me. Steve Blucher and DiMarzio designed these Air Zone pickups for me a million years ago. He would patiently come to my rehearsal space and hear me play, and come back with a new pickup and have me try it again. And these pickups really sound amazing. I play ESP guitars and have for a million years. Fryette amps are fantastic. I use the 100-watt Ultra Lead heads.
GE: Let's talk about your ESP signature guitars.
PH: The first, the ESP Page Hamilton Signature, came out in '06, and I helped design that with the finish and DiMarzio pickups. I moved the knobs to where I like them, which is away from everything.
The other, the ESP Horizon Custom Magenta, came about because I had an original ESP Horizon Custom from the late '80s with a distressed magenta finish. So we released a version of the guitar with a maple neck-through body design, Floyd Rose bridge, Gotoh tuners, and DiMarzio Air Zone pickups designed for me by Steve Blucher. I have my original and one of the newer versions on the road, and they matched it really well.

We first heard about Paul Gilbert in the 1980s. Billy Sheehan told us about an amazing 18-year-old who had recently arrived in California and had blown everyone away with his musicianship, speed, and awesome technical ability in Racer X.

Naturally, we immediately asked Paul to become a DiMarzio^® endorser. It was the start of a great relationship.

Recently, Paul has been heavily into our Area™ pickups. He’s also been playing a lot of Racer X-style instrumentals, so the time was right for signature Paul Gilbert single-coil sized DiMarzio^® pickups. The outcome of our teamwork is the new Injector™ Neck and Bridge Model pickups. The Injector™ Neck and Bridge Models are hum-canceling singles with superior speed, dynamic range and 40% less magnet-pull than standard single-coils for superior pick attack, speed and clarity. Hear both the Neck and Bridge Injector™ pickups on Paul’s latest CD, Fuzz Universe.

photo by Larry DiMarzio

IHG: What was the deal with the one that had the bass neck bolted on it?

BF: Looking back I probably shouldn't have done those things to the guitars I did it to. That one was, I think, a reissue of a 50s Stratocaster. It was a really nice Stratocaster, but the thing would not stay in tune. It was real squealy. The neck was constantly bending all over the place, and to me the value of a guitar comes from how it is in your hands, not the name or the date. So I took the thing and I just chopped it up, and on the bottom horn I took a bass neck, I cut it in half at around the 7th fret, pulled all the frets off and refretted it to have the spacing that would fit a guitar that was starting at the 12th fret. I set it into the bottom horn of that Stratocaster and had a little Badass bridge that I spaced at the right spot, put a DiMarzio Super Distortion in there, and had this little mini guitar sticking out of the bottom horn. Every once in a while I would flick a toggle switch down to it and hit these notes that would just squeal and scream so hard. It was just brutal. Just that tone that would go right through you. I was playing at this place in Brooklyn, and at the end I was using that guitar, and I switched to that neck and was holding this one note, and the whole audience was holding their ears in pain. I was just like, ‘Yeah.’ I was loving torturing everybody. It was cool.

Read the entire interview at iheartguitarblog.com