Dingwall Owners Club

[graphics1988]

Good question they're asking by the way : "Is anybody using a humidifier to store their bass?"
I usually see people having problems with too much humidity for instruments (or gear in general), but not enough .. ?
Will the wood develop problem if the atmosphere is too dry ? And if yes what is too dry, then ?

Pretty sure it was Sheldon himself that mentioned 40-45% humidity is perfect - i keep a small humidifier in my music room - set it at 40% - i refill it when it blinks - usually every week to two weeks - seasonal. I have an array of acoustic guitars that my grandfather hand built plus all my gear - so i try to keep it constant as best i can - to eliminate acoustic wood cracks and fret sprouts - i don't think much happens bodywise with electric instruments - just fret/necks - and that itself is minor if ya keep an eye on it.
My most tinker-less necks are my Dingwalls, my Wal...and believe it or not...my uber cheap Yamaha that i bought to practice refinishing on - that i can't bring myself to do now. lol

 

[ThisYouCanTrust]

Hmm ok interesting, thanks for the answers guys.
I have 40-45% basically all year round here, sometimes a bit more during summer - once I've seen almost 60%, a rare exception.
That's without any humidifier or dehumidifier, just heating during winter and mechanical ventilation.

 

[BurningSkies]

Yeah, for me it's less 'keep things at a precise humidity' and more about balancing out the extremes. We'll get down around 30% in the winter and in the summer up in the 75-80% range. Luckily my music room is basement level and about half underground which balances pretty well itself for temp and a bit for humidity. I end up applying dehumidifier(s) in the summer to keep things in the 45-55% range and its more about the basses I'm not currently using that are racked there. I have a couple of units. One is a larger one that pipes into a drain and at the peak of summer I have a second unit that I put at the other end of the space and run that's a tank unit.

The reality of playing out is that your instruments will never know perfect conditions. Trailers, vans, hotel rooms, venues are all widely divergent no matter what the season.

 

[seedokebass]

I always babied my basses as much as possible at gigs in the winter or outdoor summer gigs if temperatures were extreme. Sometimes though you just have to deal. The worst was keeping 2 basses in a hot car at a summer 2 day gig. My P bass was fine but the neck on my Thumb freaked out and had a massive bow in it. Thankfully it just need a big crank on the trussrod, but at 20 years old with my first Warwick I was pooping bricks!

 

[Razman]

...exits 'lurk' mode...

Greetings Earthlings, I so wish that I could have hung on to my Voodoo fiver that I owned about 15 years ago - I see Nolly's for sale in the same price range that I bought/sold it for and it make me . I miss it.

Well, not too much, as I have begun amassing a small collection again (and one is a nice, custom fiver that plays and sounds great despite being 34" scale and parallel frets) so my needs (and some wants) are covered to the point of not being able to justify the investment again (now THAT'S a hotly debated topic here).

Perhaps one day I'll be able to join the club again but for now I think I'm OK. I'm going to keep telling myself that every time I run across one in the classifieds. Hopefully that helps.

Peace,

Raz

...lurk mode resuming...

 

[BurningSkies]

...exits 'lurk' mode...

Greetings Earthlings, I so wish that I could have hung on to my Voodoo fiver that I owned about 15 years ago - I see Nolly's for sale in the same price range that I bought/sold it for and it make me . I miss it.

Well, not too much, as I have begun amassing a small collection again (and one is a nice, custom fiver that plays and sounds great despite being 34" scale and parallel frets) so my needs (and some wants) are covered to the point of not being able to justify the investment again (now THAT'S a hotly debated topic here).

Perhaps one day I'll be able to join the club again but for now I think I'm OK. I'm going to keep telling myself that every time I run across one in the classifieds. Hopefully that helps.

Peace,

Raz

...lurk mode resuming...

Hey man, good to see you after so long. I have news for you...You never left the club. You're still here. And I'm sure you'll find another one of these minutes. But yeah, old pricing compared to new pricing is quite a thing, right? I personally like it because there's still some Dingwalls that are give or take not much more than I paid for my first new one (My WPB AB1) but the rest have 'matured' in their monetary value. People would be stunned to know what the end price on the Rastaburst custom was, or even what I paid for my used Voodoo Prima.

Don't be such a stranger.

 

[xnewyorka]

Hmm ok interesting, thanks for the answers guys.
I have 40-45% basically all year round here, sometimes a bit more during summer - once I've seen almost 60%, a rare exception.
That's without any humidifier or dehumidifier, just heating during winter and mechanical ventilation.

That's darn impressive -- where do you live, and what heating method do you use?

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Generally, you want to try and keep your instruments between 40-60% humidity with no big swings in either direction, but it's really a much bigger deal for acoustic instruments than our solid body basses. Mostly we just see neck movement and fret sprout on our basses. With acoustics, super low humidity can cause the wood to dry out and body to crack. I suspect all those amazing and expensive veneer tops Dingwall have stored in that room are susceptible to the same issues i.e. if they dry out they will crack and become unusable.
In the winter it wouldn't be unusual to have around 15-20% inside in Saskatoon which is pretty low, welcome to Canadian weather

Yup, we're borderline a desert in this neck of the woods. We do have sand dunes around here but they are pretty far north, not sure if they can be found elsewhere in Canada.

 

[Razman]

Hey man, good to see you after so long. I have news for you...You never left the club. You're still here. And I'm sure you'll find another one of these minutes. But yeah, old pricing compared to new pricing is quite a thing, right? I personally like it because there's still some Dingwalls that are give or take not much more than I paid for my first new one (My WPB AB1) but the rest have 'matured' in their monetary value. People would be stunned to know what the end price on the Rastaburst custom was, or even what I paid for my used Voodoo Prima.

Don't be such a stranger.

Hey BurningSkies!! Thanks for the reply. Yep, still here in spirit. I'm hoping that one day I'll find that used pre-fire Prima or Voodoo around again when I have the $$$ (or have something to trade for one) so we'll see. I think a six string would be what I get next. I like those older ones. "Stormy Monday Blue" is probably my favorite color.

I'll try to pop in more frequently.

 

[ThisYouCanTrust]

That's darn impressive -- where do you live, and what heating method do you use?

I live in Alsace, the land of Riesling and Gewürtztraminer
We have a heat pump, underfloor heating and humidity-controlled ventilation (one-wav only unfortunately).
But mostly I think the house was well built at the time (right after ww2).

 

[TheOriginalName]

Hey y’all, hoping I’m not intruding here, a friend of a friend said this was the place to be for all things dingwall.

just wanted to ask a quick question. Seeing as I think I’m probably gonna go Dingwall next, do any of you know the starting price for a custom Z or Afterburner? Also, does the semi-hollow nature of the ABII make it less rugged at all?

 

[BurningSkies]

Hey y’all, hoping I’m not intruding here, a friend of a friend said this was the place to be for all things dingwall.

just wanted to ask a quick question. Seeing as I think I’m probably gonna go Dingwall next, do any of you know the starting price for a custom Z or Afterburner? Also, does the semi-hollow nature of the ABII make it less rugged at all?

Greetings and welcome. No intrusions at all!

On your last question, no, the semi-hollow doesn't make it less rugged, and I've never since it was introduced seen a report of problems due to the chambering or top.

On pricing, I haven't seen the most up-to-date pricelist, but it's worth reaching out by email to [email protected] they can provide the most recent price & options list for you. If not them, whoever is your regional dealer can help.

 

[TheOriginalName]

Greetings and welcome. No intrusions at all!

On your last question, no, the semi-hollow doesn't make it less rugged, and I've never since it was introduced seen a report of problems due to the chambering or top.

On pricing, I haven't seen the most up-to-date pricelist, but it's worth reaching out by email to [email protected] they can provide the most recent price & options list for you. If not them, whoever is your regional dealer can help.

Okay, good to know, I was thinking about getting an ABII but admittedly was worried that it wouldn’t handle an accidental drop as well as a solid body. I’ll make sure to reach out to the sales email ASAP, hopefully later today. Thanks for the reply man!

 

[BurningSkies]

Okay, good to know, I was thinking about getting an ABII but admittedly was worried that it wouldn’t handle an accidental drop as well as a solid body. I’ll make sure to reach out to the sales email ASAP, hopefully later today. Thanks for the reply man!

I don't believe the hollowing is so extensive as to make it fragile like an acoustic guitar, though I'd also suggest that dropping any bass including a Dingwall (which IS an investment) is a bad idea. It's why they come with strap locks, and bad drops can do things to even solid body guitars. I've had one or two of mine tipped off the stand on stage by careless techs or other band members and been lucky not to have any real damage.

 

[TheOriginalName]

I don't believe the hollowing is so extensive as to make it fragile like an acoustic guitar, though I'd also suggest that dropping any bass including a Dingwall (which IS an investment) is a bad idea. It's why they come with strap locks, and bad drops can do things to even solid body guitars. I've had one or two of mine tipped off the stand on stage by careless techs or other band members and been lucky not to have any real damage.

Yeah I figured it would be a bad idea lol, I try not to do it but ever since I dropped my first one I’ve been a bit paranoid. So I try to take measures to 1)not do that, and 2) make sure if I do the bass isn’t completely lost (which meant generally being preferential to solid instruments). But it’s good to hear it isn’t as fragile as the acoustic guitar you mentioned.

 

[BurningSkies]

Yeah I figured it would be a bad idea lol, I try not to do it but ever since I dropped my first one I’ve been a bit paranoid. So I try to take measures to 1)not do that, and 2) make sure if I do the bass isn’t completely lost (which meant generally being preferential to solid instruments). But it’s good to hear it isn’t as fragile as the acoustic guitar you mentioned.

IIRC, the body starts life as a solid then has a decent sized chamber routed in the top bout but it still has pretty thick side walls, etc. Since the shop uses extremely high tolerance CNC production for such things there's no variance in the thickness of the wood left from bass to bass. Also, knowing Sheldon over the years if there was anything that could be perceived as a design flaw in durability, it wouldn't remain in the lineup...he's a pretty particular guy no matter how laid-back he seems on the outside. I would buy with confidence. And maybe a nice Hercules stand for it while you're at it. I have 3 or 4 of those.

 

[TheOriginalName]

IIRC, the body starts life as a solid then has a decent sized chamber routed in the top bout but it still has pretty thick side walls, etc. Since the shop uses extremely high tolerance CNC production for such things there's no variance in the thickness of the wood left from bass to bass. Also, knowing Sheldon over the years if there was anything that could be perceived as a design flaw in durability, it wouldn't remain in the lineup...he's a pretty particular guy no matter how laid-back he seems on the outside. I would buy with confidence. And maybe a nice Hercules stand for it while you're at it. I have 3 or 4 of those.

I suppose in that case, I’ll probably be looking for an ABII lol. I’ve watched a few interviews with Sheldon in them. He seems like a chill guy, always good to hear a man values his craft as well. I’ll have to buy some stands for my other basses too, getting tired of packing them back into their cases and moving them around when I don’t play them, a stand would be convenient.

 

[howardf]

Hey y’all, hoping I’m not intruding here, a friend of a friend said this was the place to be for all things dingwall.

just wanted to ask a quick question. Seeing as I think I’m probably gonna go Dingwall next, do any of you know the starting price for a custom Z or Afterburner? Also, does the semi-hollow nature of the ABII make it less rugged at all?

I have a recent price list. Street on a Z ranges from $4590 to $4965 depending on string and pickup count. Afterburners range from $2640 to $3835. ABIIs specifically range from $3330 to $3835. These are all base prices, so options are all extra.

 

[TheOriginalName]

I have a recent price list. Street on a Z ranges from $4590 to $4965 depending on string and pickup count. Afterburners range from $2640 to $3835. ABIIs specifically range from $3330 to $3835. These are all base prices, so options are all extra.

Oh sweet, thank you man, I guess I’ll have to start planning out my desired specs and ask for a quote.

 

[Waltsdog]

Oh sweet, thank you man, I guess I’ll have to start planning out my desired specs and ask for a quote.

You should still email Dingwall for the price list as the prices vary by region. The ones quoted above look like USD but that’s just a guess.