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Dingwall Owners Club

Using a picture from the listing post... these are the Bartolini pickups on that 20y/o Z1...
And with more staring at your pictures, @AB Nate these still look very different from what's in yours.
Not sure how much of a difference (downside?) having those will make compared to the newer ones with Super Fatties and SF2s... :help:
View attachment 4150526

the electronics are completely different and it will have a very different vibe but it’s not a bad thing. Having gone through quite a few different dingwalls it’s very safe to say they mostly all offer something unique.
The production basses offer a pretty definitive spec but when you get into the variety of Canadian builds they all speak with their own voice. This becomes the problem of having only 1. Or thinking “I’ll just get this one and replace the last one”

I would not think of it as a downside at all. Just a flavor.

I would have sold the Maple 6 by now if it’s voice wasn’t so uniquely different from my other 6er.

Just.... be prepared that this may not be your only/last dingwall
 
the electronics are completely different and it will have a very different vibe but it’s not a bad thing.
...
Just.... be prepared that this may not be your only/last dingwall
I found this post (first response is from Sheldon) which explains a lot, especially why he moved away from the Barts in the first place...
https://dingwallguitars.com/dingwall-media/forum/the-pick-up-story
As for this not staying my only Dingwall... Umm.
Given that I never imagined I'd pay more than a few hundred bucks for a bass (because, hey, it's just a hobby, right? Don't be silly, Dirk), the idea that this might suck me deeper into G.A.S. (instead of solving it) is a bit frightening...
:woot:
 
I found this post (first response is from Sheldon) which explains a lot, especially why he moved away from the Barts in the first place...
https://dingwallguitars.com/dingwall-media/forum/the-pick-up-story
As for this not staying my only Dingwall... Umm.
Given that I never imagined I'd pay more than a few hundred bucks for a bass (because, hey, it's just a hobby, right? Don't be silly, Dirk), the idea that this might suck me deeper into G.A.S. (instead of solving it) is a bit frightening...
:woot:

A677D9A1-4FD9-4A2C-BB6F-37C27B44F632.jpeg
 
I found this post (first response is from Sheldon) which explains a lot, especially why he moved away from the Barts in the first place...
https://dingwallguitars.com/dingwall-media/forum/the-pick-up-story
As for this not staying my only Dingwall... Umm.
Given that I never imagined I'd pay more than a few hundred bucks for a bass (because, hey, it's just a hobby, right? Don't be silly, Dirk), the idea that this might suck me deeper into G.A.S. (instead of solving it) is a bit frightening...
:woot:

Fear not. Life is short - you need not feel guilty over having more than one Dingwall in your life. :)
 
This is not necessarily making me feel better - there seems to be a common theme here that is slightly disturbing. Once you find a great bass you are done, right? Happy, never look back, locked in, not a worry in your world. Right?
RIGHT?


No. NO! Variety is the spice. Quality is addictive!

If it’s any comfort you can think of it as a tangible investment. At the price you bought that for it will not lose value.
:thumbsup:
 
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Given how well I play, that seems quite accurate... but as was discussed in another thread... the expectation (let's call it by its real name: hope) is that this beauty will make me pick up my bass more often and practice more. Which reminds me... I gotta play my Ibanez for a while and stop posting here :-)
 
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Given how well I play, that seems quite accurate... but as was discussed in another thread... the expectation (let's call it by its real name: hope) is that this beauty will make me pick up my bass more often and practice more. Which reminds me... I gotta play my Ibanez for a while and stop posting here :)

My first dingwall did. It shouldn’t be the case but that bass inspired me to play more. Even just listening to the tones coming through my amp was/is addictive. I found the bass itself had a higher BPM then anything else I played with the super fast neck. Maybe that was just the name that made it seem faster. “Afterburner”
 
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Given how well I play, that seems quite accurate... but as was discussed in another thread... the expectation (let's call it by its real name: hope) is that this beauty will make me pick up my bass more often and practice more. Which reminds me... I gotta play my Ibanez for a while and stop posting here :)

My only Axe is an Ibanez EHB right now. But I plan to add a Dingwall ASAP
 
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I think there is a couple very similar to it out there. Would you do it in a 5?
Side note. Have you seen the bass hook for the ampeg 810?

Yeah I’ve seen a practically identical one from a Japanese youtuber a long while back. I was thinking about it for my order of a Z3-6 that’s almost done now. I wanted a bass hook when I first got an 810 but never ended up pulling the trigger. I think shipping to me was ridonkulous at the time.

Different knobs, though I suppose someone could have changed along the way. I'm sure he wouldn't mind the lead even if it is in Australia...

I changed the knobs.
 
Using a picture from the listing post... these are the Bartolini pickups on that 20y/o Z1...
And with more staring at your pictures, @AB Nate these still look very different from what's in yours.
Not sure how much of a difference (downside?) having those will make compared to the newer ones with Super Fatties and SF2s... :help:
View attachment 4150526

I found this post (first response is from Sheldon) which explains a lot, especially why he moved away from the Barts in the first place...
https://dingwallguitars.com/dingwall-media/forum/the-pick-up-story
As for this not staying my only Dingwall... Umm.
Given that I never imagined I'd pay more than a few hundred bucks for a bass (because, hey, it's just a hobby, right? Don't be silly, Dirk), the idea that this might suck me deeper into G.A.S. (instead of solving it) is a bit frightening...
:woot:


Those narrower closer to J-Bass pickups you're seeing on some Dingwalls are the original Super-Fatty pickups. IIRC it was sometime around 2005ish when they became available. Super Fatty pickups in that format were used on Super-J and Z series (I don't remember seeing any Prima Artists with them though), and Sklar signature basses.

You'll note that there's rectangular shelled Dingwall pickups that are the same dimensions as the Barts, those are the original shells for the FD1 and FD3's. They too lasted until sometime around middle of the two thousands before the ends of the pickups became radiused. The radius is a design change rather than a spec change in that the pickups are still usually FD-3's, or now FDV, and P-Tone.

...at some point in time they also stopped branding the pickups the same way. The originals say 'Dingwall' in large font across the whole pickup shell while later ones have the branding smaller and in a corner.

You'll also see some Dingwalls with EMG shaped pickups. They were used on the earlier runs of Combustion & NG import models as well as the ABZ, though now they're all the same 'modified' Bartolini dimension shells with the curved ends.

There are a few more differentiation points as well...again in the mid 2000's the pickups went from being 2-lead to 4-lead pickups. That meant you could easily add parallel/series switches for each pickup. For a while the guys were pulling their pickups open to desolder the spool leads to do this as a DIY mod. Probably better that the shop decided to do this (then denoted as FD-3-4L). Many of the basses that were built between 2001 and maybe 2006ish came with the pickup coils in parallel by default.

I've had one bass with Bartolini's in it...my Voodoo Prima (dates to ~1993), it was one of a handful built with perpendicular rather than angled pickups and the barts are actually 4-string shell sized. To me they're a different sound. Not a bad one, but a different one. And as someone who'd had several other FD-3 Dingwalls I decided to change out the pickups. It was a head scratcher and after a big Sheldon realized that it had 4-string sized pickups in a 5 string...and he kindly found a set of the old rectangular large-logo pickups in the shop. To me they're a bit wider-smoother sounding without some of what was coming across as mid-snarl in the Barts.

Also, note that not all basses use the same size shells. The bridge pickup for my Super-P is longer than the regular 5-string FD's that I have.
 
Those narrower closer to J-Bass pickups you're seeing on some Dingwalls are the original Super-Fatty pickups. IIRC it was sometime around 2005ish when they became available. Super Fatty pickups in that format were used on Super-J and Z series (I don't remember seeing any Prima Artists with them though), and Sklar signature basses.

You'll note that there's rectangular shelled Dingwall pickups that are the same dimensions as the Barts, those are the original shells for the FD1 and FD3's. They too lasted until sometime around middle of the two thousands before the ends of the pickups became radiused. The radius is a design change rather than a spec change in that the pickups are still usually FD-3's, or now FDV, and P-Tone.

...at some point in time they also stopped branding the pickups the same way. The originals say 'Dingwall' in large font across the whole pickup shell while later ones have the branding smaller and in a corner.

You'll also see some Dingwalls with EMG shaped pickups. They were used on the earlier runs of Combustion & NG import models as well as the ABZ, though now they're all the same 'modified' Bartolini dimension shells with the curved ends.

There are a few more differentiation points as well...again in the mid 2000's the pickups went from being 2-lead to 4-lead pickups. That meant you could easily add parallel/series switches for each pickup. For a while the guys were pulling their pickups open to desolder the spool leads to do this as a DIY mod. Probably better that the shop decided to do this (then denoted as FD-3-4L). Many of the basses that were built between 2001 and maybe 2006ish came with the pickup coils in parallel by default.

I've had one bass with Bartolini's in it...my Voodoo Prima (dates to ~1993), it was one of a handful built with perpendicular rather than angled pickups and the barts are actually 4-string shell sized. To me they're a different sound. Not a bad one, but a different one. And as someone who'd had several other FD-3 Dingwalls I decided to change out the pickups. It was a head scratcher and after a big Sheldon realized that it had 4-string sized pickups in a 5 string...and he kindly found a set of the old rectangular large-logo pickups in the shop. To me they're a bit wider-smoother sounding without some of what was coming across as mid-snarl in the Barts.

Also, note that not all basses use the same size shells. The bridge pickup for my Super-P is longer than the regular 5-string FD's that I have.

Excellent summation. :)
 
Excellent summation. :)

At this point I've had FD-3, FD-3/4L, P-Tone (neck), FDV (bridge, SuperP size), P-Tone (bridge, Super-P size). I'm trying to remember the story on the FD-3 Mach II, which I think was just the higher output FD3, possibly used in bridge location(I may or may not have/had them)? I'm getting old and my rememberies are going... And I haven't had any Super Fatties to try (either v1 or v2). I was offered the option of the originals on the Rastaburst build in 2005 but we decided to stick with the FD's.

I didn't love the P-Tone in the neck slot of my NG3, but I may at some point go back and try it again...I really like it in the Super.

I have not had a Prima Artist in my hands to see what the FD3.9 pickups are all about.
 
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