The Ding's the thing - in praise of Dingwall basses

[franzbassist]

My wife got me a Dingwall for Christmas. Not just any Dingwall mind you, but one of the original, limited edition of 82 John Taylor "Rio Dream Bass" signature basses.

 

 

And what a lovely bass it is.  Light at 8.5lbs, with wonderful even string tension across the board, and the Neve preamp is terrific too.  It's superbly put together, and the fretwork is some of the best I've seen.  I really am delighted with it.

 

 

But, you mainly play 5s I hear you cry, so what to do?  Well, Andertons had a very nice Combustion NG2 on sale, so I bought that. Same low weight (bang on 9lbs), high quality.  I'm less enamoured with the Darkglass preamp in this, but that said it's perfectly usable.  To top things off I decided to go all in and add the third pickup, also swapping the (ugly IMHO) NG pickguard for a Dingwall tortoiseshell and fitting Dunlop Straplocks. The bass now gives off lovely vintage meets modern vibes.

 

 

 

So, couldn't be happier with these basses.  I know they aren't exactly cheap for a Chinese made/Canadian finished instrument, but they really are top notch.  Oh, and the gig bags are very nice too!

Edited 22 hours ago by franzbassist

[JazzyJ]

My NG3.

Replaced the smoked chrome hardware for matt black and added a new pickguard and six position pickup switch.

I have a JT4 in Seafoam Green on order, may sell the NG3 when it eventually arrives.

Love the neck profile/feel on these basses.

[DG5]

@franzbassist the bridge on the JT looks like this new bridge they’re putting on NG, JT and Canadian afterburners. Do the ball ends go into a slot in the bridge or do you have to pull the string through the bridge like on old Fenders?

[franzbassist]

1 minute ago, DG5 said:

@franzbassist the bridge on the JT looks like this new bridge they’re putting on NG, JT and Canadian afterburners. Do the ball ends go into a slot in the bridge or do you have to pull the string through the bridge like on old Fenders?

 

Yes, it's the "minimalist bridge", and yes, there are slots inside to put the string through.  No ball ends showing at all!

[JapanAxe]

I’m not going to disagree with you @franzbassist, I’m the happy owner of 2 great Dingwalls too!

[police squad]

Those Rio basses are beautiful

[mikebass456]

21 hours ago, franzbassist said:

My wife got me a Dingwall for Christmas.

I got slippers and a toblerone......

[franzbassist]

3 minutes ago, mikebass456 said:

I got slippers and a toblerone......

It's the thought that counts.

[MichaelDean]

I'm still loving my Combustion after nearly 6 years. It is so resonant, you just feel it in your hands and body while you play, which I love. It's like a cat purring. And the fretboard edges are just so comfy. I remember reading that Sheldon designed it like skate ramps in the way it curves in. It's starting to get some wear on the fretboard where I've pressed too hard and some little marks on the back of the neck, plus the maple is getting darker, but it's just acquiring mojo. I've modded it a little by moving the neck pickup back to the middle and adding a tone control. I'm starting to wear the black chrome effect on the bridge to shiny chrome in places where I'm doing a lot of palm muting in my current band too.

 

Whalepool burst wouldn't have been my first choice at the time, but it was the one that was available. Bass Direct got a shipment in and my wife bought it for me as a birthday/engagement present (gender equality for the win) as soon as it went live on the website. It is a bit hard to photograph, but it is lovely in person.

We've just put our house on the market and they took an artsy photo of it with my Mustang and rig.

[80Hz]

That Rio is dooooope. It answers the question - why have a restrained aesthetic on a bass as futuristic as a Dingwall?