How much love for Dingwall Basses

[jonunders]

Hi,

I have been thinking about investing in a new bass and quite like the look of Dingwall basses.
Has anyone had any bad/good experiences. Would you recomend them.
This would be a major investment for me, Ofcourse I would try before buying but your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Muzz]

Since I bought mine (ABZ) last year, I've been pretty much GAS-free (apart from the odd side-interest like an 8-string and a Fenderbird build with flats) for the first time in years. Sold the other higher end stuff, not missed them at all. It's the one bass I'd save from a fire. Love the tension of the 36.25" E, I have the P-Tone pickup fitted, love the tone with DR Low Riders fitted. I've tried the higher end ABI and ABII (had an ABI briefly) but they don't suit me any more than the ABZ does. The build quality is as good as anything I've played.

I had an issue with the P-Tone pickup I bought from Bass Direct, I posted on the Dingwall forum about it (I wasn't sure it was the pickup wasn't right or if it was me making a mistake) and Sheldon Dingwall responded the next day and dealt with the issue brilliantly. Excellent post-sales service, I can't speak highly enough about Dingwall.

They're not for everyone, but a visit to Mark at Bass Direct will be enough to tell you if they're for you - he has a large selection - it's a great day out!

Edited February 22, 2013 by Muzz

[iiipopes]

Years before Sheldon developed his Super P and Super J, he fretted a custom "half-fanned" neck for my custom P-J bass which I posted a thread about on this forum. Sheldon is the best. His basses are in the rarefied top eschelon of instruments.

[CPBass]

I love my ABI soooo much and i'd only sell to get myself a more senior model which isn't necessary, just very nice. Check out the Z3s!

Great basses, well built, they are certainly not cheap but I regret nothing from buying mine. Yet to learn their rate of depreciation but Id wager that wont be a problem as they only make 300 basses a year.

Lee Sklar Signature model is incredible ( my only GAS these days )

My advice??

If you can - Get one!

Edited February 23, 2013 by Voodoosnake

[discreet]

I have played several Dingwalls belonging to Basschat's Grand Wazoo (Fran) and my favourite is the Super J 5, even though I don't usually get on with 5-stringers. The others are fantastic as well. The fanned frets actually make them easier to play, the offset bridge and nut gives a better balance across the strings and they sound fantastic. Build quality is second to none.

When I next am in possession of the wherewithal, I will be seriously considering a Dingwall. If you have the opportunity to buy one, I'd say go for it - and I'll be very jealous!

Having said all that, you should still try before you buy and make quite sure that a Dingwall is right for you!

Edited February 23, 2013 by discreet

[bozzie]

was playing mine this week, fantastic bass, very well made, incredibly playable, and the fanned frets are actually easier to play.

As discreet says go and make a trip to bass direct, Mark has several in stock, try one and see how you get on.

if you can get yourself down to London next weekend, I gather Sheldon will be on the Bass direct stand at the Bass Show so you can try and meet the guy behind the basses too, just a thought

Edited February 23, 2013 by bozzie

[Ashborygirl]

I'm gutted to be selling mine. Amazing necks, amazing build & tone to die for, best bass guitar I've played in 30+ years.

[geilerbass]

I acquired an ABZ about 18 months ago, and then an AB1 middle of last year. I was new to Dingwall, but now can't imagine a world without wonky frets!

I'm sure they're not for everyone, but I think few can doubt just how good they sound, even the (relatively) cheaper models.

I would say I've been GAS-free since getting them, but owning one just makes you want more...

[Black Coffee]

Ive owned two of these and they are top class. The fanfrets make it easier to play and the sound and craftmanship are excellent. I bought both mine from mark at bass direct without trying them as i live in Northern ireland. No regrets. In fact im saving and workin towards movin up the range.
Take the plunge. You wont regret it.

Edited February 23, 2013 by bassman344

[jonunders]

Thanks for your replies. I will be at the LBGS on the Saturday where I will be heading to the Bass Direct stand.

[Higgie]

The Fiesta Red Super P 5 Prototype I played in the Bass Gallery this time last year (and met Sheldon in the process - lovely guy) is one of the only basses I've ever played that I would have walked away with right there and then given the cash, no matter how much it cost. Absolutely incredible instrument!

[Grand Wazoo]

This was me 3 years ago:

1 x EBMM Bongo 5HHp
1 x EBMM Stingray 5
1 x EBMM Big Al 5 s/s/s/
1 x EBMM 25th Anniversary 5

then one day... I went to the Bass Gallery in Camden to try a pedal and saw a Dingwall ABZ 5, I tried it and...... took it off them there and then. I went home compared it to my afore mentioned basses and within 2 months I was shot of all 4 of them, selling them here there and anywhere to finance.......



As the others above me have mentioned, the fanned fret feature is not there to make your life more complicated but au contraire, it is a comfort feature, it makes playing bass more natural as the way your fingers fall on the fretboard makes it more natural to the hand as opposed to parallel frets. It will take any unsuspecting bassists all of five seconds to feel immediately at home with a Dingwall bass and I feel I need to add something that all the others above me have failed to mention, and that is the even sound you get across all the strings, the thundering yet very precise low B in the 5 strings models and the fact that your band and your audience, including yourself will be able to hear every note you play in a way you had never experienced before.

I have no brand loyalty to be honest, if I like something that bad I'll buy it and I would only stick with it if it works for me, and in the last 8-10 years I have been burning a hole in my pockets buying several different basses that have all been sold back again. To me sticking with the Dingwalls was a no brainer as like the others have mentioned, once you own one you are in a place where it is difficult to find something better and so you have reached nirvana and you won't go back.

Of course I own other quality "normal" basses as you can see in my signature picture, but whereas a few years back I would be constantly buying and selling this new bass and that new bass, only to be disappointed by it, for me, these last 3 Dingwall wonderful machines have settled themselves nicely and will be near impossible to replace.

[Muzz]

That maple-boarded ABII of Fran's (above) is now just about the only bass anywhere I'd really want. Sadly (or perhaps fortunately) it doesn't exist in a 4, and my finances won't stretch to a custom build by Sheldon. Bah.

[warwickhunt]

Shame you aren't further North, you could have tried my Super-Jazz 4... and it's for sale!

Without wanting this to sound like sales pitch, they are a fabulous bass and the fanned fretting takes ZERO getting used to and as has been pointed out it actually makes playing/fretting/chording easier. The sound is everything you'd expect from a trad Jazz and then some (should have mentioned mine is passive); I've played active basses exclusively for almost 20 years and I thought that the Dingwall would be lacking in top end tone but in fact it lacks nothing. For me the ease of playability just as a bass (excluding the fanned frets) doesn't get mentioned enough; slightly downsized Jazz body, beautiful slim neck but with enough too it that it doesn't feel flimsy with a lovely satin finish, also silly things like the nice rounded finish to the pups which makes finger/thumb anchor a pleasure.

So why am I getting rid of mine if they are such fabulous basses... I'm going back to an old Streamer which is a shape and feel I played for many years and just can't get away from.

[Ashborygirl]

Grand Wazoo makes a great point about the evenness of sound across the strings. It's hard to explain but you don't appreciate how different the B,E & A strings sound to the D&G on a normal bass. With the Dingwall it sounds like every string is being played on the same instrument, same presence punch & sustain. What I appreciate most about this is that eq'ing the amp stops being a compromise between tight enough to make the lower register sound clean but no so tight as to make the high register sound nasal.

Oh, & Sheldon Dingwall seems to be a top bloke. It would be very easy for anyone making such a great product to disappear up their own arse about it but he seems totally grounded & interested in what all his customers have to say.

[XB26354]

Just to add a bit of balance to all this Dingwall love - I was very close to buying an ABZ 5 but decided against it in the end. I've also tried everything from Combustions to a Prima Artist and without exception they're beautifully made, and the ABZ are the most lightweight 5/6 string basses I've ever tried. However (IMHO)...
I don't like fanned frets and dispute that they take very little getting used to. They most certainly do not make the bass easier to play - the idea is there purely to even out tension across the strings. Try chordal playing at the top of a 6 - not an everyday example of bass playing, but whilst not impossible, it's harder than playing on parallel frets. Low octaves across the B and A string are pretty tough without large hands. I've heard equally good B strings on 34" scale basses so am yet to be convinced about the tonal benefits of fanned frets.
I also do not the the selector switch. Some combination of the pickups and electronics give a curiously plasticky tone on both bridge and neck settings. I also couldn't find one eq setting on the ABI or ABII electronics that I really liked. I like a bit of growl and the Dingwalls I've tried have sounded rather sterile.
Finally, I can't recall the neck profile on the more expensive models but didn't get on with the profile on the ABZ.
There's nothing wrong with Dingwall Basses, but they didn't do it for me both tonally and feel-wise. They are also horrendously expensive in the UK now (but what exotic bass outside of Europe isn't?)

[Ashborygirl]

Compare the price of a Super P4 with a Fender Pino or a Super J4 with the price of a Sadowsky Will Lee. For a bespoke Canadian made bass with a custom made bridge, pickups & electronics (i.e. no bulk purchasing of established parts), Dingwalls are more than reasonable.

[Grand Wazoo]

It goes to show that there will always be the 1 out of 20 people that will not get on with a Dingwall but you can't really nag about the prices when Ashborygirl rightly pointed out that most other basses are also highly priceds and I am talking about bog standard Sandberg for example, or Lakland that can be as expensive if not more than a Dingwall.

But hey, we can't all like them so it' ok. But I assure you that playing them is not by any means more difficult than parallel frets and more often than not, that concept is all in your head.

[discreet]

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1361734392' post='1990105']
...playing them is not by any means more difficult than parallel frets and more often than not, that concept is all in your head.
[/quote]

I can only speak for myself, but it took me less than five minutes to get used to the fanned frets. Obviously YMMV and so on.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1361738141' post='1990166']
I can only speak for myself, but it took me less than five minutes to get used to the fanned frets. Obviously YMMV and so on.
[/quote]

8 people tried my Dingwall at a recent local (mini)bass bash, ranging from a teenager (IIRC 'just' a teenager) to a pensioner (need to confirm that the Bassdoc has his free bus pass) and not one of them couldn't play it perfectly normally in the space of minutes. The caveat being that my Super-Jazz is 32"-34" scale/fanned fret.

[oggiesnr]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1361744301' post='1990276']
8 people tried my Dingwall at a recent local (mini)bass bash, ranging from a teenager (IIRC 'just' a teenager) to a pensioner (need to confirm that the Bassdoc has his free bus pass) and not one of them couldn't play it perfectly normally in the space of minutes. The caveat being that my Super-Jazz is 32"-34" scale/fanned fret.
[/quote]

I'm one of those who tried it and if I'd had the money it would have gone home with me .

Steve

[Bigwan]

I'll act as pusher too! I love my Dingwall Afterburner 5 but can't justify it when I'm not gigging and have baby no 2 due at the end of the month. It's in the for sale section... sob...

[Arpy]

Jon,

I saw your thread while searching for a used Dingwall Lee Sklar, Z3 or Prima. I own an Afterburner II I purchased new in Denver, CO in 2005 to replace my old Yamaha BB-5000. I tried Roscoe's, Ken Smiths, and just about everything else I could get my hands on. The ABII was an impulse buy, from the standpoint that I could not leave the store without it. I have plenty of basses, '61 Precision, '65 Precision, '64 Epiphone Embassy Deluxe (Thunderbird everything, but Epi bodyand built in the Kalamazoo factory)... The collect dust. I love 'em all, but the ABII is the shiite. It is all I play. Truly the best instrument I have ever owned, and I'll always keep this one. Other than an itch for something colorful (hence the Lee Sklar urge), this is all I need.... Your money will be well spent.

[MaGrOtTeN]

[quote name='Ashborygirl' timestamp='1361703106' post='1989352']
It's hard to explain but you don't appreciate how different the B,E & A strings sound to the D&G on a normal bass. With the Dingwall it sounds like every string is being played on the same instrument, same presence punch & sustain. What I appreciate most about this is that eq'ing the amp stops being a compromise between tight enough to make the lower register sound clean but no so tight as to make the high register sound nasal.
[/quote]

Very insightful, thanks.

I've just bought one here without ever trying fanned frets previously.

After reading up a lot about user's experiences with them, it seems that the verdict is about as unanimous as you can get on Dingwall, which says a lot when you consider how different they are to "normal" basses.

Whether or not it's true that string tension was the catalyst for fanned frets, it doesn't and shouldn't undercut the conclusion that these things are very intuitive and natural to play.

If fanned fret design pre-dated normal fret design, it would be at least as difficult to transition to normal fretboards, so the question of 'how long does it take to get used to' for me is not as important as 'how do they feel once you are totally used to them' or 'how consistent are they compared to "normal" basses of similar cost.'

Maybe I should report back once I play the thing for the first time!

Edited February 10, 2014 by MaGrOtTeN

[Gazza 2905]

[quote name='MaGrOtTeN' timestamp='1392041446' post='2363883']
I've just bought one here without ever trying fanned frets previously.
[/quote]

Spacecowboys Combustion II I believe?

You won't regret it!