This is a great video of different Dingwalls played with clean tones.
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Dingwall: More than Metal
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
This is a great video of different Dingwalls played with clean tones.
As someone who played Dingwalls before Nolly - Yes, we Dingnuts knew this. I am sure the Nolly relationship and horde of players after that time have done great things for the Dingwall business but now people are making videos to prove that one of the more flexible sounding bases with tons of clarity can do more than metal. Could be worse.
There's a music store in Wilmington, NC that's a Dingwall dealer. It's about a half hour drive from our place at the beach. One of my goals this Summer is to find something awesome for my women to do for a couple of hours and go in there and spend some uninterrupted time with a Dingwall 5. If you recall, I started a thread sometime back asking if anyone plays a Dingwall in a weekend warrior, or "dad band", setting. I'm very interested in trying one out. If I like it I'll plunk down for them to order the color/model I want right then and there.
It's always been my hunch that these things aren't just metal basses. But I need to feel/hear for myself how they react to my (somewhat physical) style of playing.
Another great link and interesting topic, Doc!
It's always been my hunch that these things aren't just metal basses. But I need to feel/hear for myself how they react to my (somewhat physical) style of playing.
Another great link and interesting topic, Doc!
There's very little metal in the construction, it's mostly wood.
Very versatile instruments.
I use mine to play several genres.
I use mine to play several genres.
Sklar plays one and let's just say he isn't metal. Of course he has a sig series.
Your hunch is correct - not just for metal. They are hugely popular in the current metal genres (too many to recall - I'm a 54 year old dad whose reference points for metal are Priest/Maiden/Sabbath), particularly due to the need to go way below low B - the 37 inch scale on the lowest string (along with bridge cable thick strings) makes that really work. So yes the vast majority of videos (and marketing) are targeted to those players.
I play Funk/Soul/R&B and my Combustion and its the best bass I've ever had (replaced my beloved Modulus). The 3 pickup models in particular give a very wide range of tones. Back in the 90s when Dingwalls first started showing up (and were all custom/handmade), I saw them played by session guys and non-metal players exclusively. In fact when I left my 9 piece soul/funk band in the later 90s, the cat who replaced me played a custom Dingwall.
Worth a test run for sure
J
Yes, just flesh & bone like the rest of us.
Every time I see a thread about multi scale basses, I imagine personnel in the R&D department of string makers in meetings discussing all the time & money they spent optimizing strings for 34” scale basses and now all the time & money they will have to spend optimizing strings for multi scale basses….
It is refreshing to hear Dingwalls being played using something other than that hyped, metal sound.
Even after watching some, but not all of this video, I still feel the same way about Dingwall basses. Meh. 
They sound great. I just don’t see me ever playing one.
They sound great. I just don’t see me ever playing one.
I had aluminum necked Kramers, and didn't play metal - at least not what the kids today call metal.
Tone is in the fingers - if you want to play metal, you need metal fingers.
