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Bass designers are trying to hard ...?

#86
El-Bob said:
There are very legitimate reasons why the dingwall looks the way it does.
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Yes. Unlike many instruments out there, Sheldon has taken the time to scrutinize every aspect of an instrument and incorporate his own improvements. From years of repair work to building his own stuff, he's progressed to make basses his way, and to do so wonderfully. I guess it depends upon if something is 'good enough' or if as a designer or builder you want to put your hand at improving what you see as the negatives.

Absolutely none of Sheldon's work is 'designing by looks'. People who don't understand that haven't held or played one of his basses. The real secret is that much of his engineering and refinement is in places that you'll never ever see it on the outside.

kevteop said:
Well, in all honesty, if I wasn't a bass player and I was auditioning bass players and a guy showed up with a Dingwall, it would ring alarm bells.

I would be thinking "This guy is going to want to fit in a slap solo somewhere" or "This guy is going to play harmonics in between all the songs" or "This guy's got a tapping version of the Jetsons theme he's going to try to shoehorn into the set".

Rightly or wrongly, that is what I'd think.
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Then you'll be missing on some really good players, because you've decided judge something musical with your eyes. I have two of Sheldon's wonderful basses and I don't believe I've ever taken a 'slap solo'. I'm also not thumping out quarter notes, which sounds like what you're really interested in.

Bass Viking said:
So people who play Dingwalls are wankers?

Hopefully you'd give him a chance to actually play.
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Some of them are. Some aren't. Right? I mean the same with any instrument player.

benjonesonbass said:
As for companies like Dingwall, aside from the 'fanned' fret design (which is not even Dingwall's design...it belongs to a company named Novax which, incedentally does the same thing for guitars), the instruments produced have their own tone as well. I don't see anyone bitchin about the ergonomic computer keyboards or those silly knee chairs which, (oddly enough), is what Novax was trying to do...make the instrument morecomfortable to play.
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Novax 'borrowed' a design that's been used in fretted musical instruments for centuries. He then got issued a questionable patent upon it, which probably wouldn't have been upheld if someone pushed. That patent has since run out. The fanned frets get all of the attention, but the reality is that Dingwall basses are about a lot more than just compound scale length.

Sonicfrog said:
How about making a fanned fretless!!! :hiding:
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It's an option. :) ...and there are quite a number of them out there.
 
#87
What I have seen is that young bass players, who have not figured out when and where to use "wankery" or "solid four on the floor" tend to think "If I buy this boutique bass, I will feel better about my own playing"...hence, the misconception sometimes of "Wankers always having boutique basses"...

I know this cause I was one of those guys back in the day. I hadn't figured out my own role yet, and wanted a 5-string fretless Pedula b/c the hot cats were using them. It would not have made a difference then...also glad I ended up not buying it and spending the money on lessons instead
 
#92
Perhaps Dingwall is making it look like other builders are not trying hard enough.

IMHO most builders should at least offer as an option the relatively mild Fanning of the Novax neck to increase balance and string tension, especially since the patent has expired and there's no longer a $75 per neck licensing fee.

String manufacturers seem to be more pro-active at coming up with string set solutions for balancing string tension on parallel fretted basses than builders.
 
#93
I prefer fender and fender based basses as far as looks go. There's no real reason, I just do. I also prefer a passive fender jazz for my sound. Now, I've played or at least test drove my fair share of basses (probably not nearly as much as a lot of folks on here) and have liked the sound and feel of a lot of them but they aren't my sound but totally understand how other players could like them. I personally don't like the looks of things like BC Rich and I'm not the biggest fan of single cut basses. If the sole reason for playing basses styled in such away is to be different then who cares, let them be different.

It's all about individual needs and wants.
 
#94
kevteop said:
I don't know who 99% of those people are, but if you're guaranteeing to me that none of them will do anything awful like tapping then I am willing to give them a try.
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You know who Leeland Sklar is, you can't fool me. ;)

Heck, I don't know 99% of the endorsers for most musical products, so I know what you are saying. Still, I find it sad that you think tapping is awful.
 
#95
WoodyG3 said:
I find it sad that you think tapping is awful.
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Not everyone likes Jaco Pastorius either... but who cares? You can't take this stuff too personally or seriously, it is teh internetz after all. A lot of us shed our ignorance filters at the door... take it or leave it.

I would rather live in a world where people can express their opinions on music, even negative ones, than a world where we all have to agree that everything is great. Because it isn't.
 
#97
BurningSkies said:
Then you'll be missing on some really good players, because you've decided judge something musical with your eyes.
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No, it's that I've been conditioned to think that bassists with flashy basses are attention seekers who as such probably won't fit the role of 'bass player' very well.

Similarly, I am wary of BMW drivers on the roads. Not because I think BMWs look wrong, but because I have experience of other BMW drivers.

WoodyG3 said:
You know who Leeland Sklar is, you can't fool me. ;)

Heck, I don't know 99% of the endorsers for most musical products, so I know what you are saying. Still, I find it sad that you think tapping is awful.
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I do know who Leland Sklar is, he's pretty recognisable, but I don't know if I've ever heard him play. I don't think I recognised any of the other endorsers.

As for tapping on bass, it's a matter of taste of course but personally I really don't like it, I think it's one of the worst sounds in music.
 
#99
kevteop said:
No, it's that I've been conditioned to think that bassists with flashy basses are attention seekers who as such probably won't fit the role of 'bass player' very well.
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So, the decision to get a boutique bass has NOTHING to do with better ergonomics, often much lighter, better fret jobs, better low B, a wider arangement of sounds from a single bass? We're all just wankers?
 
#100
It's all a matter of taste...to me the best low B is a low E :) I do the same thing tons of country guys do in Nashville...tune down a 4 string...never liked the tone of anything below low C anyways...and 4 strings look cooler and are easier to play...not to say there's anything wrong with whatever you dig, of course :) I had a really nice Lakland 5 for a minute, as well as a boutique 6, but I just feel weird playing them.
 

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