Machines

I think the coincidentally humorous name was not an issue for musicians.

Supply and demand, i.e. D-Rocs are readily available. The Super P is new, more traditional and has sold out immediately, thus price increases are a safe bet for retailers (as well as some of the price increase being at source of production).

I am unsure of the costs of such a system, especially integrating with a guitar hangar ?

The logic behind this was to avoid printing off new label cards every few days, as prices are subject to regular change when price matching with online stores.

Yes, but not a physical store in the UK.

Firstly my sympathies are with any affected staff. However unfortunately I feel it was fairly predictable. I felt their stock was very mainstream and they became box shifters with very little USP. I have fond memories of the old Birmingham store and spent a lot of money there in the 2000s. Unfortunately this is a sign of the times, stores need a specialty and just trying to undercut other retailers is a race to the bottom.

I think they must have locked in a price for the first batch and prices went up following this.

Sounds great @Chadu25, I raised mine a fair bit too, as well as dropping pickups a few mm.

The songs we are playing are in Drop A on guitar (some are F#, where I use a detuner pedal), so for simplicity I just do the same - means I can get the low note in to match the guitar. My other band will be standard tuning.

First outing with a metal band in drop A, next week is a pop rock covers band. Nothing I can complain about - sounded huge.

It's actually Indonesia. Also all import Dingwalls are shipped to Canada for QC and setup before going out to stores.

Impossible to answer, I'd probably expect a smaller margin with little 'bonanza sale' wiggle room.

That EHB will sound VERY different. I've had a bass with those Fishman pickups and could not get on with them - very 'EQ'd' sound, like a more extreme EMG. I would also say the Dingwall quality will exceed the Ibanez.

Summary - I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed with the SP1. The setup was decent but a little 'on the edge' for me, I felt it benefited from lowering the pickups and raising the action a bit (truss relief) to let the strings ring a bit more. Soundwise the P pickup is sublime, fat and with clarity, also the J is definitely not thin (it's actually a 6 string sized pickup from Combustion model). Blended in parallel they give an excellent balanced tone where neither pickup is overpowering, and in series it takes on a totally new character - but without overwhelming the output (which is an issue i've had on ALL Combustion based models). It has the Fender vibe to the looks and tone, but with Dingwall zest, it could easily be a 'one to rule them all' instrument. However as I practice bass polyamory, that won't happen with me. n.b. now features block inlays (Neck Illusions) and Canadian knobs