wavemaker

I fully agree. Doesn‘t help that there’s less contours and the edges are less radiused / more angular than on ABs. I‘d be pleasantly surprised if these were revealed to be hollow builds weighing in at 2.x kg - otherwise, I don’t really see a reason why these exist, except everyone and their mum urging Dingwall to come out with a headless.

I have no horse in this race as I don’t do headless basses any more. I‘d like to correct two points made before, though: I‘ve had Afterburners clocking in at 3.4 kg that were perfectly balanced. I also own one of eight "Afterburner Heavy Solids" / ABHS weighing 5.5 kg and while it certainly is more stone than feather, it feels lighter than most Les Pauls on a strap. Like it or not in terms of its aesthetic - but ergonomically, the AB design is perfect. (I‘ll give you the first few frets being hard to reach if you’re of smaller limb but that’s what the reach reducing pin is for.) Also, Strandberg basses were released in February 2019, not 2007.

And Graphite, which is a really nice silver grey that works very well with the texture as well as with the black neck and pickguard: I honestly think the SUB line is about the least aesthetically pleasing thing to ever leave San Luis Obispo but if one can look past that, they are fantastic. Also, being face to face with these really helped me appreciate their utilitarian approach - you won’t ever spend a second thought on dings & scratches with this finish. As I personally seem to have quite a thing for Sterlings-without-contours (I have accumulated three over the past 11 months), my SUB certainly did scratch the itch and kept me from buying a third Classic Sterling. And while prices are indeed starting to get into stupid territory, you simply won’t get a better deal on a US Music Man (I paid 800€ for the one above because I wanted the rarer Sterling in this colour specifically and it was in excellent condition. Around here, 600-700€ seems to be standard for a well-worn SUB Stingray). Even cooler if you’re into the Classic line - surprising, really, how there’s a budget friendly alternative to these rare birds. Also, I saw somewhere on here an example of a stripped neck with an intact black "matching headstock" (front) and found that to have been a rather great call:

Counterpoint: Tort is a lovely way of visually rooting a rosewood board in a black body - otherwise, the reddish browns of rosewood tend to clash with black finishes, imho. (And I‘m really not a big tort guy, I‘ve gone decades without it!) All that said, the gold really is on another level.

I‘m absolutely happy for you! I myself, however, was absolutely unconvinced to exchange money for the Fretless Z7-4 I received yesterday and re-packaged it within 23 hours. Part of it may have been that I was on the fence whether I actually want / need a fretless, part of it that I would have had to sink further money into a new preamp as I‘d want a classic 2-Band circuit and to do something about the awful pickguard. But what genuinely disappointed me was the neck. It was my impression that Sire built their reputation with these and their "edgeless" quality, in particular? I was just not impressed, at all: The glossy fretboard was continuously rippled, not evenly plane. The bone nut was filed not low enough so that open notes sounded jarringly un-fretless - first time I’ve ever experienced this on a fretless, across various price points between Warwick "Rockbasses" up to a Fender Tony Franklin. The neck was not sanded properly, with multiple rough spots on the back and the sides of the neck. Shocking, really. All of this to say: Quality control seems mixed, unfortunately.

More pictures here.

Last November, I couldn’t believe my luck to find a Classic Sterling this side of the pond: In May, I found another one - and with a maple fingerboard, to boot: A plan took shape, a deal was made, a beautiful bass received - and two necks were swapped: Such cool basses.

Fiesta Red. What a weird colour. I‘m really surprised by the amount of instruments manufactured and, apparently, being sold in this shade of red. Is it the Pino effect? I don’t know. What surprises me so much about it being so readily available across various price points is not only that it is a deeply weird colour, in my opinion: Is it red? pink? orange? tomato soup? Well … yes, all of the above! But really, in this day and age of buying online based on pictures, there‘s still one problem with digital photography: To accurately capture a particular shade of red is actually really hard for most cameras, at least without careful correction / editing afterwards. Because of this, I‘d assume at least part of the Fiesta Red online buying public might expect a bright red instrument in the mail, only to receive some weird pinkish tomato by courier. I remember aeons ago when I was playing skinny strings, I had a beautifully playing Strat-type with a lovely flamed maple neck and a P90 in the bridge position. Finished, of all things, in Fiesta Red. I abhorred that colour, ultimately let the instrument go because of it and soon after, all other tenors in my collection. So in a way, Fiesta Red might be the catalyst for me growing into my role as a bassist. Possibly. Which makes somewhat a circle with my latest acquisition: A Music Man (US) Classic Sterling in EBMM‘s take on Fiesta, that is Coral Red. (I don’t know if they are the exact same shade of red but they certainly are close siblings.) I bought this bass primarily to switch its maple neck onto my natural Classic Sterling (with a rosewood board), but even after successful surgery, I can’t seem to let it go: That bass, and that colour, are simply too much fun. And you know something else? I actually like tomato soup.

What’s that bridge? Looks just like my cup of tea.

Are you thinking of Zero Mod? https://www.zero-mod.com

I just put my first set of Cobalt Flats on my Classic Sterling because I was curious and … I really kind of can’t believe it: Not only do they have highs (including harmonics Jaco would‘ve enjoyed - we‘ll see how long those last), they also provide an absolutely beautiful rock sound (straight neck, flat action, digging in a bit). What a pleasant surprise.

Glad to be of help! Pretty much, yeah - it’s a rather simple job, really. Google should be able to tell you what to do with which wires pn a Dingwall pickup for the desired result.

Coming from years of experience with other Dingwalls (including Supers), if this is truly the one thing that’s keeping you from bonding with the SP1, I‘d suggest wiring the bridge pickup itself in parallel (I’d assume it’s in series from the factory to be able to compete with the P-pickup - can anyone confirm?) You will lose output, but gain clarity and highs - which I understand is what you’re missing at the moment.

What a fantastic colour. Congrats.

The neck profile is really comfortable, too: Slender side to side, chunky front to back, the latter then again being somewhat remedied by the tiny vintage frets, which I‘ll personally choose over jumbos any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Which it is, and I did, I guess.