Guitar Wizards Book

A Note from Larry DiMarzio:

Guitar Wizards is a collection of photos that I’ve taken over a ten-year period, ending in 1993.

My adventure in photography started purely by accident. DiMarzio was about to start our 1981 catalog, and my sales manager who had previously handled advertising left the company. The task fell to me, and I was completely out of my depth. Suddenly, I was the advertising director, as well as the head pickup designer for DiMarzio. If that wasn’t scary enough, I had to deliver 100,000 catalogues in 3 months for the winter NAMM Trade Show.

Although I had been involved with our advertising campaigns, this was far bigger than anything I had done. I was suddenly brainstorming with the photographers and trying to come up with something that expressed DiMarzio. The catalog ended up having everything, LOL, probably too many things: a New York skyline, a Magritte guitar workbench, guitar bodies in a Zen sand garden, and an English beauty posed in my Corvette. Little did I know that by the time the catalogue was completed, I would be hooked on photography.

I still take lots of pictures — everything from pickups to switches, album covers, magazine covers, and most of the DiMarzio website. I am grateful to the artists who have allowed these photos to be used in this book. All of them have been extremely kind regarding the images they have allowed me to use, and generous in waiving royalties in the interest of charity. Thank you all. 

All the profits from the Guitar Wizards book were donated to the UCLA Medical Center for Pediatric Kidney Research.

Michael Anthony

Reeves Gabrels

Frank Gambale

Paul Gilbert

Richie Kotzen

Shawn Lane

Yngwie Malmsteen

Steve Morse

Joe Satriani

Billy Sheehan

Steve Vai

Eddie Van Halen

Leslie West