Dimarzio Cruiser Neck Review
- Barış Şahin
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Dimarzio The Cruiser Neck Review DP186
The most important factor that gives Strats their enchanting voice is, without a doubt, their pickups. Who doesn’t love that crystal-clear, magical tone? Some sound more mid-scooped, some carry a bit of “Texas sizzle,” each with its own charm. Still, there’s one drawback that has haunted Strat-style pickups for decades: the infamous 60-cycle hum (50-cycle hum where I live). For some players, this noise is a dealbreaker—and maybe you’re one of them. Especially when recording or pushing beyond light-to-medium overdrive, that hum can be a real mood killer. That’s why the quest for a hum-free single coil has been going on for years, inspiring countless solutions from different companies. One of those “cure approaches” is the “rail hum-cancelling” pickup design. DiMarzio has earned serious fame in this field, and among their offerings, the one they claim comes closest to the classic Strat tone is the star of today’s review: The Cruiser. Let’s find out if that claim holds true…
The Test Guitar
My Cruiser neck sits on my custom fat strat that has an alder body, a custom made Q-sawn one-piece maple neck with a very chunky C profile (> 1” at first fret), rosewood fretboard, Gotoh 510T style stainless steel 2 point tremolo, 25.5” scale, steel frets, Alpha pots, Guyker locking tuners and 009-042 Elixir strings in Eb tuning. The guitar has a Dimarzio PAF 36th in the bridge, Fender Tex-Mex middle. Its primary (unplugged) tone is fairly neutral to warm.
Evaluation
Let’s read the desciption first, as always;
“If you’re a serious traditional Strat® player, you probably won’t want to know about pickups with side-by-side coils. But if you’re the player who’s up for something more modern with no 60-cycle hum, string drop-outs or sustain-killing magnet pull, we designed The Cruiser for you. Harmonic overtones are right where you expect them to be from a “true” single-coil, and the mid-range is open and vocal-sounding. It’s hotter than the traditional single-coil, and the bass strings have a bit more chunk; this is an excellent pickup to combine with medium-output humbuckers, and it maintains its tonal identity with high-gain amps and multiple effects.
The obvious question about The Cruiser is “How does it compare to a single-coil sound?” Our feeling is that the unwound strings (“E”, “B”, and “G”) are very close, and the wound strings (“D”, “A”, and low “E”) are a little fatter-sounding than a true single-coil. This is really effective for getting open-sounding chords, because high and low strings sound more spread out from each other. Having a total magnet pull that's about 40% less than standard single-coils also means The Cruiser can be adjusted much closer to the strings for more power than stock pickups can achieve.”
…And, my measuremens are here;
Dimarzio The Cruiser Neck
Magnet – Ceramic
Advertised DCR: 3.13 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 3.16 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 1.84 K Ohm (Screw Coil)
Measured DCR: 1.32 K Ohm (Slug Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 1.43 H (Series)
Inductance @100Hz: 0.53 H (Screw Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 0.53 H (Slug Coil)
Measured C: -84.6 nF (Series)/ -112.3nF (Screw Coil) / -177.7nF (Slug Coil)
Output: 140mV
EQ (B/M/T) – 5/4.5/8 (old catalogs) – 1/2/3/7 (official website)
Gauss: 420G screw, 420G slug (measured at top center of D&G pole pieces)
Ambient Measurement Temperature: 20oC
Patents: Dual Resonance
Users: Marco Sfogli, Dan Lawson, Jason Lauglin, Steve Smith, Art Rodrigez, Page Hamilton, Bill Hart, Sonny Landreth, Andy Timmons
In the market, these single-coil-sized humbuckers generally fall into two categories: those with screws, like the ones from Duncan, and those with rails, like the ones from DiMarzio. Personally, I find the rail design more appealing visually. The pickup’s DC resistance is surprisingly low. At 3.16K, it’s quite low for both a single coil and a humbucker. Its inductance is 1.43H. For comparison with other Strat neck singles I know the inductance of: Bare Knuckle Irish Tour (2.64H), Duncan Designed SC101N (2.82H), Fender Custom ’54 (2.34H), Fender Fat ’50s neck (2.42H), Fender Texas Special neck (2.57H), Fender Tex-Mex neck (2.75H), Fralin Vintage Hot neck (2.28H), Lollar Vintage Blonde neck (2.20H), Seymour Duncan SSL-1 (2.52H) and SSL-2 (2.63H). As you can see, 1.43H is quite low compared to most other single coils.
The pickup's magnetic flux density is in the range of a ceramic magnet within.
For me, the most confusing aspect of the Cruiser in terms of tone was this: in the older catalogs it was characterized as B/M/T = 5/4.5/8, but later it changed to 1/2/3/7. In DiMarzio’s EQ revisions, I hadn’t come across such a drastic difference with other pickups I was familiar with. So, before actually trying the Cruiser, this inconsistency had left me quite puzzled. I thought it was worth noting here.
In terms of tone, these kinds of pickups can truly be described as a middle ground between humbuckers and single coils. Some lean more toward the humbucker side, while others are closer to the single-coil side. Even the ones that are very close to the HB camp (like the Air Norton S, Super Distortion S, etc.) don’t quite reach the full character of a full-sized humbucker. The same goes for the ones leaning toward single coils. The Cruiser fits right into this pattern.
This brings us to the main question, one that DiMarzio themselves highlight in their catalog: “How does it compare to a single-coil sound?” Well, it’s very single-coil-like, but notice my wording: -like, not truly a single coil sound. And that’s exactly why my feelings about the Cruiser are a bit mixed. On one hand, I really enjoyed it—especially in moments when I needed a clear humbucker-like response, it was wonderful. But whenever I needed an unmistakable, authentic Strat tone, I found something missing. Something just felt… “different.”
What did DiMarzio say about the wound and unwound strings? “Unwound strings are very close, wound are a little fatter-sounding than a true single-coil.” Is that accurate? Yes, very much so. To my ears, the unwound strings are indeed close, though not identical—they sound more round compared to true single coils. The same applies to the wound strings, and the difference is even more noticeable there, even “looser”. Under drive, this roundness can be quite sweet, but when you’re after clean and sparkling tones, you begin to miss a bit of that crystalline clarity.
The lows are clear but not particularly strong. There are times that i say wish that Cruiser neck could have tighter lows. The mids are present but not dominant. The highs are noticeable yet not sharp—more on the soft side. Maybe it would perform better in the bridge position, but in the neck, where the tone is already round by nature, that extra roundness may not suit everyone.
In terms of dynamic range and compression, the Cruiser can’t be considered as “compressed” naturally. Very dynamic as you may expect from a single coil variant.
For the output, i would put the Cruiser in the low output category.
Normally, in that part, i tell you the clean tones of the pickups. Conversely, i’ll tell you how it reacts under higher gain. First of all, the Cruiser is very quiet. That’s the most significant advantage to the true single coils. So the Cruiser Works pretty well under high gain. For this reason, if the music you play regularly lives in the realm of serious overdrive and higher gain levels, then yes—the Cruiser will serve you quite well.
I used The Cruiser with PAF 36th in the bridge. But i’m very sure it fits very well with those PAF variants like Pearly Gates, Modded V7, Lollar Imperial and high wind imperial,
Conclusion
The DiMarzio Cruiser Neck is an interesting design that lives between worlds. It offers the quiet operation and smoothness of a humbucker while still retaining some of the sparkle and response you’d expect from a single coil. Its rounded highs, softer mids, and somewhat loose low end make it unique—sometimes inspiring, sometimes leaving you longing for the unmistakable clarity, sparkle, 3-D deph and brilliance of a true Strat pickup.
If you’re a player who spends a lot of time in higher gain territories and needs hum-free operation without losing too much of the single-coil feel, the Cruiser can be an excellent partner. But if your musical voice relies heavily on pristine, bell-like Strat cleans, you may find yourself missing some of that raw brilliance. In the end, the Cruiser is a versatile, noise-free option that rewards players who are looking for something a little different from the ordinary Strat formula.
So, is the Cruiser staying in my guitar or is it leaving? Luckily, since I recently added a new HSS Strat to my gear list, I can say the Cruiser will stay in the game for a while longer. Actually, if I had the chance, I’d really like to try DiMarzio’s Area series. There are a few noiseless models I’d love to test in the neck position. Maybe I’ll give them a shot sometime in the future.
Pros
Hum-cancelling design delivers single-coil character without noise
Clear, round, and smooth highs – especially pleasant under overdrive
Low DC resistance & inductance → dynamic response and open character
Very usable with overdrive and high-gain tones
Balanced mids, with lows that are clear and controlled
Rail design can be visually more appealing for many players
Cons
Not as bright or cutting as a true Strat single-coil
“Single-coil-like” but doesn’t fully capture authentic single-coil tone
Unwound strings sound “round,” wound strings “fatter” → can feel lacking in brilliance on clean settings
If you’re after a pure Strat tone, it may fall short of expectations
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