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Dingwall Owners Club

ABZ%204%20Passive%20Trans%20Redburst%20Wenge%20Wenge%20Pearloid%20blocks%20Hipshot%20e.jpg

Another ABZ+ (although more upgrades than most) ;) Wenge/Wenge on ash, passive, pearloid blocks, lumilay dots, D-tuner, (i forget the pickup names - they seem to change names to often for me to remember) but OMG THUNDEROUS!!!..
 
As a new owner, I have a question about your right hand movement on these multi scale basses.

Does your plucking hand move perpendicular with the strings (yellow) or in the direction of the bridge (red).
50249F87-3927-418E-8F0F-A0A4A8B61F8F.jpeg


If your movement is like the yellow arrow, the string tension and tone will change.

Making my hand move like the red arrow is difficult for me as I have a natural tendency (bad habit) of my hand actually moving in the opposite direction and drifting towards the bridge on a standard bass.
 
@ThisYouCanTrust I can't say I've seen it get any worse, but I assumed with how my basses were packed and shipped it was possible the strings got rubbed into the frets. Glad I'm not the only one!

@graphics1988 that thing is smokin!

it’s completely normal fretwear. With that do not be alarmed by it and know that you will get many many many hours of play time before refretting is even a consideration. years.

What happens is as the initial wear becomes visible the continual use on it creates what is termed as “fret hardening” and the wear quantity significantly decreases.
 
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Have a bit of a dilemma. I have a chance to pick up a Sklar or a Z2 for roughly the same price. I’ve read about the differences but don’t have both to compare side by side. Am I missing something or is the Sklar basically a Z2 with a few different features?

I think the 2 main differences are
Pick ups and frets.

stock the SKLAR will have Super Fatty 2s (SF2) and the mandolin frets(smaller)

I also believe the body wood of the sklar is a different spec’d combo. I want to say it’s Ash/Alder but don’t quote me on that part. Edited:correction mentioned by @pbass6811 below.

the Z2 can be spec’d however, aside from the Mando frets. That is exclusive to the solar is my understanding.
 
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As a new owner, I have a question about your right hand movement on these multi scale basses.

Does your plucking hand move perpendicular with the strings (yellow) or in the direction of the bridge (red).View attachment 3757379

If your movement is like the yellow arrow, the string tension and tone will change.

Making my hand move like the red arrow is difficult for me as I have a natural tendency (bad habit) of my hand actually moving in the opposite direction and drifting towards the bridge on a standard bass.

I tend to stay perpendicular, unless I'm intentionally plucking towards the neck for tonal reasons. It hasn't been noticeable to me in a mix when I'm recording unless it's a quiet part where the bass pokes out a lot more.
 
As a new owner, I have a question about your right hand movement on these multi scale basses.

Does your plucking hand move perpendicular with the strings (yellow) or in the direction of the bridge (red).View attachment 3757379

If your movement is like the yellow arrow, the string tension and tone will change.

Making my hand move like the red arrow is difficult for me as I have a natural tendency (bad habit) of my hand actually moving in the opposite direction and drifting towards the bridge on a standard bass.
IMO. Get in the practice of floating your hand all over between the bridge and onto the neck.

you’ll find all kinds of useful Timbres, especially on the Dingwalls. These instruments are so responsive that you can create a lot of different character in your playing by exploring this area.

on a fretless it’s a mandatory technique IMO
 
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I think the 2 main differences are
Pick ups and frets.

stock the SKLAR will have Super Fatty 2s (SF2) and the mandolin frets(smaller)

I also believe the body wood of the solar is a different spec’d combo. I want to say it’s Ash/Northern ash but don’t quote me on that part.

the Z2 can be spec’d however, aside from the Mando frets. That is exclusive to the solar is my understanding.

Sklar's are Ash/Alder.
 
IMO. Get in the practice of floating your hand all over between the bridge and onto the neck.

you’ll find all kinds of useful Timbres, especially on the Dingwalls. These instruments are so responsive that you can create a lot of different character in your playing by exploring this area.

on a fretless it’s a mandatory technique IMO
What Nate said...
I like to wander up and down the strings, in front, behind, & on top off, the active pickup(s). With both pick and fingers. Mostly in an effort to compliment the dynamics of the song. Plenty of variations of tone and volume in there.
 
As a new owner, I have a question about your right hand movement on these multi scale basses.

Does your plucking hand move perpendicular with the strings (yellow) or in the direction of the bridge (red).View attachment 3757379

If your movement is like the yellow arrow, the string tension and tone will change.

Making my hand move like the red arrow is difficult for me as I have a natural tendency (bad habit) of my hand actually moving in the opposite direction and drifting towards the bridge on a standard bass.

Count me in with @AB Nate & @johnsonabq, I play everywhere and all directions. Definitely not going to limit myself to one method of getting my job done and trying to make the song sound good...:thumbsup:
 
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As a new owner, I have a question about your right hand movement on these multi scale basses.

Does your plucking hand move perpendicular with the strings (yellow) or in the direction of the bridge (red).View attachment 3757379

If your movement is like the yellow arrow, the string tension and tone will change.

Making my hand move like the red arrow is difficult for me as I have a natural tendency (bad habit) of my hand actually moving in the opposite direction and drifting towards the bridge on a standard bass.

I follow red line as much as possible, it became second nature over time. For whatever reason, my SPJ5 was much more sensitive to this than my SJ5XXX, in other words, the SJ5XXX is more forgiving. Particularly regarding volume, despite PUP height adjustments, I had to pluck the D-G harder to equalize volume on the SPJ5. Just my experience....
 
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Noticed something interesting today when watching the videos Lee Sklar just posted on YouTube. The blue bass that appears t be his main axe these days is a Z2 and not a sig model.

That blue bass in the video he just posted is almost assuredly a Sklar. It looks like the one he's fondly caressing on the Sklar landing page on the Dingwall website, albeit without the sticker...;)
 
Not sure if anyone mentioned this above but I’ve noticed the pickups are often raised up way higher than necessary on these which can make the output hot.
Check your pickup highest with this video
That along with managing your input gain should be helpful


After a visit to the Dingwall shop, I was pretty confident myself and most bassists set their pickups way too high. I had brought my Carvin in years ago and Sheldon and crew hooked it up to some sort of machine which visualized output. They lowered my pickups to the optimal height, which was way lower than I had it or would have expected it to be. I was pretty surprised.
 
the quilt option became available after 2019 with the 10th anniversary model, the DG model, the new truss rods.
I believe the quilt is an upgrade of about $100. I think due to its popularity as such an inexpensive up charge it’s something most dealers have opted for.

personally I like both and would be happy with either top and a killer burst option if I was looking at a combustion.

indigo,
Amethyst,
Black
or whale pool...

They are all really sharp.

If you have patience you could place your own order with a dealer.
I ordered a 10th anniversary indigoburst 3X Combustion with pau ferro fretboard last January (2019). Still waiting for it. Yup. A "mass produced" Chinese bass. Over $2k. 15 month wait. Good thing I drank the Dingwall Kool-Aid (which is delicious, by the way, and would you like some?).

Seriously, I am down to about a month wait now.

You (meaning anyone reading this) should be able to shop around and find a dealer that has one on hand or in queue at this point. Hopefully, nobody else will have to wait over a year for theirs. :-)