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Dingwall Owners Club

How do you guys find the Payson strings? I was looking at them but the shipping to Canada was pretty rough. I just ended up getting some dingwall 6 string sets since they didn't have the 5 string sets in stock which also wasn't ideal haha.

I kill strings pretty hard though so I needed something. My current set is getting pretty dull.
Check out newtone strings, cheap shipping to Canada.
 
More interested to check out their string offering. The basses are nice, but not really my thing, and these pretty much look like the rest, but with a long scale fanned neck. Always up to suss out what other makers are doing on strings, especially if they've been designed for the longer fan. If it's LaBella, I wonder if they'll get some fanned flats in their rotation more regularly.
 
In the meantime, give the ones you have a soak in denatured alcohol (not rubbing alcohol which has water). A quick overnight soak, wipe 'em off and let the alcohol evaporate off the strings then put them back on. They'll be about 90% of the new feel.

I buy in bulk from Dingwall for strings I prefer Sheldon's nickel/steel on my fretted basses. When I did some shopping around, I found that when I bought between 5-10 sets at a time with the shipping cost and exchange rate it was the same or less than other retail options and I'd rather have more of my $$$ go to the HQ in Saskatoon.

I have a set of Payson flats on the fretless, which has been something to get used to. They're much quieter and 'deader' and higher tension but you can just do stuff with flats that you can't with rounds.

Yeah I know about the denatured alcohol trick. It's almost impossible to find up here in Canada unfortunately. It's not even called denatured alcohol here. It goes by the name methylated spirit and It's heavily regulated up here so only a few specialty shops carry it and it's crazy expensive. It's like 60$ for a quart of it. It would be cheaper for me to just buy a bottle of everclear and use that haha.

Most hardware and paint stores here only carry methyl hydrate which is a methanol based solvent. I've heard it doesn't work as good and it's a lot more poisonous so I don't know how I'd feel about soaking strings in that and then touching them with my fingers.
 
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Yeah I know about the denatured alcohol trick. It's almost impossible to find up here in Canada unfortunately. It's not even called denatured alcohol here. It goes by the name methylated spirit and It's heavily regulated up here so only a few specialty shops carry it and it's crazy expensive. It's like 60$ for a quart of it. It would be cheaper for me to just buy a bottle of everclear and use that haha.

Most hardware and paint stores here only carry methyl hydrate which is a methanol based solvent. I've heard it doesn't work as good and it's a lot more poisonous so I don't know how I'd feel about soaking strings in that and then touching them with my fingers.

That's too bad, around here not only is it readily available at most hardware stores, you can buy it in up to half gallon containers pretty cheaply. I've been using it for years.
 
Yeah I know about the denatured alcohol trick. It's almost impossible to find up here in Canada unfortunately. It's not even called denatured alcohol here. It goes by the name methylated spirit and It's heavily regulated up here so only a few specialty shops carry it and it's crazy expensive. It's like 60$ for a quart of it. It would be cheaper for me to just buy a bottle of everclear and use that haha.

This is denatured alcohol by another name Link Removed
You can also buy denatured alcohol cheaply at farm stores ;)
 
That's too bad, around here not only is it readily available at most hardware stores, you can buy it in up to half gallon containers pretty cheaply. I've been using it for years.

Yeah I did some googling and apperently it used to be more widely available in Canada but they changed the regulations about denatured alcohol some years ago.

I was bummed cause I remember hearing about the denatured alcohol trick from Talkbass a long time ago and figured that would be a good route to take since dingwall strings aren't as easy to get a hold of as regular bass strings are.
This is denatured alcohol by another name Link Removed
You can also buy denatured alcohol cheaply at farm stores ;)

Oh wow thank you so much! I was googling up and down trying all the different names it can go by here in Canada. It's also known as marine stove fuel and since I live right next to the ocean and there's lots of boat stores around I thought that route might be the best bet but nothing was available to me locally.

The nomenclature of this stuff is so confusing up here.
 
Yeah I know about the denatured alcohol trick. It's almost impossible to find up here in Canada unfortunately. It's not even called denatured alcohol here. It goes by the name methylated spirit and It's heavily regulated up here so only a few specialty shops carry it and it's crazy expensive. It's like 60$ for a quart of it. It would be cheaper for me to just buy a bottle of everclear and use that haha.

Most hardware and paint stores here only carry methyl hydrate which is a methanol based solvent. I've heard it doesn't work as good and it's a lot more poisonous so I don't know how I'd feel about soaking strings in that and then touching them with my fingers.
Here in Germany it’s called Brennspiritus. It took me forever to find it, but it’s actually sold as a cleaning product in super markets
 
Yeah I did some googling and apperently it used to be more widely available in Canada but they changed the regulations about denatured alcohol some years ago.

I was bummed cause I remember hearing about the denatured alcohol trick from Talkbass a long time ago and figured that would be a good route to take since dingwall strings aren't as easy to get a hold of as regular bass strings are.


Oh wow thank you so much! I was googling up and down trying all the different names it can go by here in Canada. It's also known as marine stove fuel and since I live right next to the ocean and there's lots of boat stores around I thought that route might be the best bet but nothing was available to me locally.

The nomenclature of this stuff is so confusing up here.

I've been using it to clean strings for decades now. I didn't make a fancy hanging tube or any of that stuff. I just use a round glass 'tuperware' container and coil them with twist ties. I have a few containers, all marked on the lids per bass. Most often I keep two sets of strings in rotation, one set on the bass, the other being soaked. After a handful of cleanings when I feel like they've lost some of the tensile flex/strength of the strings, I get rid of 'em and grab a new set.

With 5 Dingwalls on hand, and at the rate I was gigging before, I kept a pretty good stockpile on hand. This is my current pile, though I do need to grab some of the Super-series strings sometime soonish.

IMG_0183.jpg


Guitar strings for the Tele, NYXL's for the Steinberger.
 
Yeah I did some googling and apperently it used to be more widely available in Canada but they changed the regulations about denatured alcohol some years ago.
The nomenclature of this stuff is so confusing up here.

I haven't looked into it properly but there doesn't seem to be any significant restrictions really: 5-1-1 Denatured Alcohol and Specially Denatured Alcohol - Canada.ca & Denatured and Specially Denatured Alcohol Regulations
I suspect the retailers just have to be specific as to the intended use so they cannot be accused of selling it as a beverage. Plus 'denatured alcohol' is just a catchall term for ethanol that has other stuff dumped in it in order to denature it, so they may have to be specific there as well.
 
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I've been using it to clean strings for decades now. I didn't make a fancy hanging tube or any of that stuff. I just use a round glass 'tuperware' container and coil them with twist ties. I have a few containers, all marked on the lids per bass. Most often I keep two sets of strings in rotation, one set on the bass, the other being soaked. After a handful of cleanings when I feel like they've lost some of the tensile flex/strength of the strings, I get rid of 'em and grab a new set.

With 5 Dingwalls on hand, and at the rate I was gigging before, I kept a pretty good stockpile on hand. This is my current pile, though I do need to grab some of the Super-series strings sometime soonish.

View attachment 4129008

Guitar strings for the Tele, NYXL's for the Steinberger.

Holy smokes that's a lot of strings! I don't think I've ever had a stockpile that large at one time. Most I've ever had on hand was 5 sets before I was heading in to the studio to record an album with my band.



I haven't looked into it properly but there doesn't seem to be any significant restrictions really: 5-1-1 Denatured Alcohol and Specially Denatured Alcohol - Canada.ca & Denatured and Specially Denatured Alcohol Regulations
I suspect the retailers just have to be specific as to the intended use so they cannot be accused of selling it as a beverage. Plus 'denatured alcohol' is just a catchall term for ethanol that has other stuff dumped in it in order to denature it, so they may have to be specific there as well.

Hmm yeah I don't know. During my googling a few days ago the most common thing that was popping up was people asking where the hell they can buy denatured alcohol in Canada and then other people saying to just use some methanol based solvent because they are easier to come by and pretty similar.

Guess I didn't do enough digging haha. My local Canadian Tire has some of that biofuel you posted so I'll be picking some of that up tonight. You're a real MVP with that tip!
 
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Sounds like a band name. Canadian Secrets, the first single "We're not actually sorry EH”
FTFY

I've been using it to clean strings for decades now. I didn't make a fancy hanging tube or any of that stuff. I just use a round glass 'tuperware' container and coil them with twist ties. I have a few containers, all marked on the lids per bass. Most often I keep two sets of strings in rotation, one set on the bass, the other being soaked. After a handful of cleanings when I feel like they've lost some of the tensile flex/strength of the strings, I get rid of 'em and grab a new set.

With 5 Dingwalls on hand, and at the rate I was gigging before, I kept a pretty good stockpile on hand. This is my current pile, though I do need to grab some of the Super-series strings sometime soonish.

View attachment 4129008

Guitar strings for the Tele, NYXL's for the Steinberger.

ready for the apocalypse with that stash. No wonder everyone else is having a hard time finding strings.....;)
 
FTFY



ready for the apocalypse with that stash. No wonder everyone else is having a hard time finding strings.....;)

I luckily picked up most of these before the big shortage...but I've been keeping my mouth shut while the hunt's been on since there's no good reason to tease people over it. Now that they're making it back out to retailers, no worries. I truly am more than happy with the nickel/steel (as you can tell) though I'm still looking for best options for flatwounds for the fretless.

I was riding the nickel steel Dingwall strings for a good time then I realized how much easier it is to play flats and do more of the 'fretless' stuff on them. The problem is that they really 'deaden' a bass both in acoustic volume but also feel. I wish I could find something that fit and was closer to the tone & tension of regular strings.
 
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I luckily picked up most of these before the big shortage...but I've been keeping my mouth shut while the hunt's been on since there's no good reason to tease people over it. Now that they're making it back out to retailers, no worries. I truly am more than happy with the nickel/steel (as you can tell) though I'm still looking for best options for flatwounds for the fretless.

I was riding the nickel steel Dingwall strings for a good time then I realized how much easier it is to play flats and do more of the 'fretless' stuff on them. The problem is that they really 'deaden' a bass both in acoustic volume but also feel. I wish I could find something that fit and was closer to the tone & tension of regular strings.

what strings are you using on those recordings you just posted? Sounds great btw....

I’ve added to my iTunes. Dont be mad. Lol. I really wish you had more albums released. I’ve called this one the fretless album.


I’m sure you’ve played long enough with your Payson flats but I’ve found them getting better with age on my fretless. They have gained some slink
 
what strings are you using on those recordings you just posted? Sounds great btw....

I’ve added to my iTunes. Dont be mad. Lol. I really wish you had more albums released. I’ve called this one the fretless album.


I’m sure you’ve played long enough with your Payson flats but I’ve found them getting better with age on my fretless. They have gained some slink

It's strung with standard Dingwall Nickel/Steel strings on that. I didn't move to flats until recently. Interested to see if La Bella does any other runs of flats (they've done at least one already) and if there's any other options out there.

Totally not mad. Have at that. I wouldn't have put it up on my Google Drive if I minded people having it. One of the local 'acoustic only' radio shows' hosts asked me for something that he could play more than the single song off the first album that fit his format, so I provided that recording...so bits and pieces of it have been broadcast.
 
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