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Dingwall Owners Club

#40,121
BurningSkies said:
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.
Click to expand...
Somebody (not pointing any fingers)should map this time line out so it could be a cut and paste. Lol.

add a few little details like there have been some primas with the SF shells, the RARE FDVs with exposed pole pieces(maybe prototypes? That were in a gold AB1 5 string @MDBass perhaps had , the switchblade system that I think made it into about 12? Basses. The different pre amps and such, the blue cube, Aggie, glock 2 and 3 bands, DG, what else am I forgetting?
I guess it could be aged with different woods apex’s throughout the years no longer used. Bubinga, walnut necks, mahogany....

the cello hip and how it popped up for a couple in the last few years.(NAMM and flotsam and jetsam IIRC)


Side note: the pick up vary in size from the medium to long scale due to the 19mm to 18mm string spacing when comparing a 5 to a 5


Lol. So is SOMEONE writing all this down for the newer dingwall members in the group. I know between a solid group of members here we could come up with a pretty thorough dingwall archive
 
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#40,122
geggy spoiger said:
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.



I changed the knobs.
Click to expand...

too bad about the shipping. My wife got me one for Christmas one year.
I think it was about $40. very cool.

I’ve since sold my ampeg but kept the hook. I can find use for it in the odd situation but now that I’m going to class D heads I can’t even rely on putting big heavy boxes on top of it to hold it down.
 
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#40,123
AB Nate said:
Somebody (not pointing any fingers)should map this time line out so it could be a cut and paste. Lol.

Lol. So is SOMEONE writing all this down for the newer dingwall members in the group. I know between a solid group of members here we could come up with a pretty thorough dingwall archive
Click to expand...
Well, I don't think I'm doing this justice at all, but here is a very rough, likely completely wrong first draft of the Dingwall Club Wiki.

I'm happy to try to maintain it if people think this is useful. Feel free to either edit it in the wiki, or send me updates / corrections and I'll add them.
 
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#40,124
AB Nate said:
Somebody (not pointing any fingers)should map this time line out so it could be a cut and paste. Lol.

add a few little details like there have been some primas with the SF shells, the RARE FDVs with exposed pole pieces(maybe prototypes? That were in a gold AB1 5 string @MDBass perhaps had , the switchblade system that I think made it into about 12? Basses. The different pre amps and such, the blue cube, Aggie, glock 2 and 3 bands, DG, what else am I forgetting?
I guess it could be aged with different woods apex’s throughout the years no longer used. Bubinga, walnut necks, mahogany....

the cello hip and how it popped up for a couple in the last few years.(NAMM and flotsam and jetsam IIRC)

Side note: the pick up vary in size from the medium to long scale due to the 19mm to 18mm string spacing when comparing a 5 to a 5


Lol. So is SOMEONE writing all this down for the newer dingwall members in the group. I know between a solid group of members here we could come up with a pretty thorough dingwall archive
Click to expand...

There's been some oblique mapping out over the years... but it's somewhat of a fool's errand for a few reasons.

One being a specific point on the timeline...October 18, 1996. That was the fire that burned down the original Dingwall facility and is the 'void' in the actual timeline. It destroyed the records and hardware previous to that point. There is also some amount of flex since serial numbers didn't run chronologically for at least a handful of basses. So it's down to features to figure out where a bass fits in the timeline during that era.

The other thing is that there's been this feature and model evolution that makes it hard to really map models and specific features. Original ABs? 1pc neck, 3pc neck, 5pc neck? Soft maple body or Alder? AB2s... solid body mahogany, or walnut with pomele bubinga...or chambered bodies, etc. Then the ABHS comes out and it's basically an AB2 from the 'old days' with more options. ;)

We could get fussy, like the details on the Dingwall made knobs. There are 3 versions as far as I know. The early narrower diameter, later wide diameter and then the rubber 'D' logo ones. ;)
 
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#40,125
BurningSkies said:
There's been some oblique mapping out over the years... but it's somewhat of a fool's errand for a few reasons.

One being a specific point on the timeline...October 18, 1996. That was the fire that burned down the original Dingwall facility and is the 'void' in the actual timeline. It destroyed the records and hardware previous to that point. There is also some amount of flex since serial numbers didn't run chronologically for at least a handful of basses. So it's down to features to figure out where a bass fits in the timeline during that era.

The other thing is that there's been this feature and model evolution that makes it hard to really map models and specific features. Original ABs? 1pc neck, 3pc neck, 5pc neck? Soft maple body or Alder? AB2s... solid body mahogany, or walnut with pomele bubinga...or chambered bodies, etc. Then the ABHS comes out and it's basically an AB2 from the 'old days' with more options. ;)

We could get fussy, like the details on the Dingwall made knobs. There are 3 versions as far as I know. The early narrower diameter, later wide diameter and then the rubber 'D' logo ones. ;)
Click to expand...
Write it down @dirkhh lol.

next topic! Combustion truss rods. Single acting to dual!
 
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#40,127
Information that's structured I'll be happy to add.
For several of the things listed above it feels like I'm missing context, like I don't know enough to add it to the page I created...
I don't even know the difference between a single action and dual action truss rod :-)
Equally hard are things that are phrased as questions (clearly with the assumption that the reader of course knows the answer... which usually I don't).
 
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#40,128
BurningSkies said:
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.
Click to expand...

And let's not forget those lovely Super Fatties with a P pickup crammed inside. Oh wait, I believe there's only one of those in existence...neh-vur-mind.

PJFull_zps100eecb0.jpg

Baby Photo in Back Yard - 2011
 
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#40,129
AmazingMumford said:
And let's not forget those lovely Super Fatties with a P pickup crammed inside. Oh wait, I believe there's only one of those in existence...neh-vur-mind.

View attachment 4151034
Baby Photo in Back Yard - 2011
Click to expand...

And the somewhat rare matching headstock carve-cut...
 
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#40,130
AB Nate said:
too bad about the shipping. My wife got me one for Christmas one year. I think it was about $40. very cool.

I’ve since sold my ampeg but kept the hook. I can find use for it in the odd situation but now that I’m going to class D heads I can’t even rely on putting big heavy boxes on top of it to hold it down.
Click to expand...

OK, so you've covered the Ampeg, floor stand, Christmas tree, and hallway mirror hooks. Have you considered branching out? Clothes rod hook, floor lamp hook, La-Z Boy stand, rear-view mirror hook, shower caddy hook....
 
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#40,131
AB Nate said:
Somebody (not pointing any fingers)should map this time line out so it could be a cut and paste. Lol.

add a few little details like there have been some primas with the SF shells, the RARE FDVs with exposed pole pieces(maybe prototypes? That were in a gold AB1 5 string @MDBass perhaps had , the switchblade system that I think made it into about 12? Basses. The different pre amps and such, the blue cube, Aggie, glock 2 and 3 bands, DG, what else am I forgetting?
I guess it could be aged with different woods apex’s throughout the years no longer used. Bubinga, walnut necks, mahogany....

the cello hip and how it popped up for a couple in the last few years.(NAMM and flotsam and jetsam IIRC)


Side note: the pick up vary in size from the medium to long scale due to the 19mm to 18mm string spacing when comparing a 5 to a 5


Lol. So is SOMEONE writing all this down for the newer dingwall members in the group. I know between a solid group of members here we could come up with a pretty thorough dingwall archive
Click to expand...

Great memory!

That gold AB was actually a NAMM show bass, but my own white AB at the time ended up with those same prototype exposed pole FDV’s shortly after for more beta testing.
 
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#40,139
dirkhh said:
Information that's structured I'll be happy to add.
For several of the things listed above it feels like I'm missing context, like I don't know enough to add it to the page I created...
I don't even know the difference between a single action and dual action truss rod :)
Equally hard are things that are phrased as questions (clearly with the assumption that the reader of course knows the answer... which usually I don't).
Click to expand...

Well since your serious about this, and I think it’s RAD that your doing it, here is some recent history and about all I can muster for this eve.


Dingwall

Est. 1988
Multi scale bass construction began 1994

2020
-Ghost blocks/speedos added to options.

2019
-July 2019 D roc Custom 4 and 5
-Aug 2019 D roc standard

Jan 2019
-5 string custom D bird
-Quilted maple top and Pau fuerro on combustion’s
-10th anniversary amethyst burst combustion
-Carbon fibre reinforcement on combustion necks.
-2 way truss rod on combustion necks
-Lee sklar 2 with 3x pick ups.
-Limited edition RVDL 5 string hellboy


2018
-The D bird standard 4 string
-Combustion/NG.6
-Lefty combustion
-NG(3)
-DG 10th anniversary(celebrates the 10th anniversary of Darkglass Electronics)
-New shop for combustion production

2017
-New hipshot/dingwall saddles
-Rounded pups in combustion’s/ABZ
-Due to CITES ABHSs stop using bubinga and switched to hard rock maple.

2016
-Prototype FDVs
-4 string combustion’s
-D bird custom
 
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