Dingwall Owners Club

[AB Nate]

Thank you, Sheldon, for your response.
The initial problem wasn’t the cable because I tried several with the same result (Livewire, Fender Professional, Mogami and Pig Hog). The problem was the screws that secure the input jack cup mount weren’t screwed all the way in and restricting complete engagement of the plugs& jack. The plug would make contact but not enough to have the tip lock-in, so after a sort time it would pop out. I can see how it was missed buy your staff and The Vibrato Bar as I could play it for a few minutes before it would disconnect.
I didn’t discover this until i had removed the jack several times. It appears the mounting holes weren’t drilled deep enough to have the screws go all the way in. It took some major effort to get them in completely.
It was after this, when I took it to a gig, that it shut down with a crackle and pop after 3 notes. Now I get nothing. I’m hoping the parts that are coming will do the trick.

For the past 30 years I’ve done all of my own work including rebuilding basses and repairs for myself and friends/fellow musicians. From what I understand this is a pre-wired unit with only the ground wire needing to be soldered. If that’s the case I’m more than capable of doing that while saving you some $$$. If you would still prefer I find a guitar tech, just let me know and that’s the route I’ll take.
I have an outdoor concert next Saturday, July 19th and hope it’s up and running prior to that date. The parts are due here on Wednesday afternoon so that means the earliest I can get it to a tech would be Thursday and I doubt it will be completed by that gig.

Thanks again, Sheldon. I’ve seen some of your custom work and it’s quite impressive.

Pep (Duke)

One thing that just popped into my head….

Can you share a pic with us of the jack? Is there any chance that the tapered mounting plate needs to be threaded a couple more rotations clockwise(I believe) onto the jack body itself?

 

[geggy spoiger]

I appreciate that! I'm glad to hear you've been able to recovery and continue to play. It's encouraging to hear you've been able to continue playing dingwall 5s and 6s without issue since. Was the tenosynovitis in the left or right hand? I've had ongoing nerve issues in my hands for about 4 years (potentially spinal) but recently had a bad flareup that meant dropping gigs and being unable to play or even type for about 2 weeks. I've opted to take a break from gigging indefinitely and from playing until the custom gets here this fall.

Thank you! Oops yeah the issue was in the right hand. Plucking fingers were fine but any side movement of the wrist sent lightning through my thumb, so braced it up and packed in playing until the inflamed tendons calmed down. That was after the stretching and steroid shot didn’t stop the locking in place of my thumb.

Yours doesn’t sound like such a simple method to heal I’m sorry to hear, and being forced to give up what you love doing for the time being always makes it harder.

Truly hope things start to turn around for you, and that your upcoming Dinger hits the spot!

 

[Sheldon D.]

Thank you, Sheldon, for your response.
The initial problem wasn’t the cable because I tried several with the same result (Livewire, Fender Professional, Mogami and Pig Hog). The problem was the screws that secure the input jack cup mount weren’t screwed all the way in and restricting complete engagement of the plugs& jack. The plug would make contact but not enough to have the tip lock-in, so after a sort time it would pop out. I can see how it was missed buy your staff and The Vibrato Bar as I could play it for a few minutes before it would disconnect.
I didn’t discover this until i had removed the jack several times. It appears the mounting holes weren’t drilled deep enough to have the screws go all the way in. It took some major effort to get them in completely.
It was after this, when I took it to a gig, that it shut down with a crackle and pop after 3 notes. Now I get nothing. I’m hoping the parts that are coming will do the trick.

For the past 30 years I’ve done all of my own work including rebuilding basses and repairs for myself and friends/fellow musicians. From what I understand this is a pre-wired unit with only the ground wire needing to be soldered. If that’s the case I’m more than capable of doing that while saving you some $$$. If you would still prefer I find a guitar tech, just let me know and that’s the route I’ll take.
I have an outdoor concert next Saturday, July 19th and hope it’s up and running prior to that date. The parts are due here on Wednesday afternoon so that means the earliest I can get it to a tech would be Thursday and I doubt it will be completed by that gig.

Thanks again, Sheldon. I’ve seen some of your custom work and it’s quite impressive.

Pep (Duke)

Thanks for the update. I appreciate your experience and offer to do the work yourself, but that's not an option at this point.

Once we get into replacing parts, it needs to go to a qualified tech with a business license and business liability insurance for a variety of legal reasons including not voiding your warranty. We are happy to cover shipping the bass to our most trusted tech who knows our basses inside and out.

You're right, it's not likely going to happen in time for your gig on the 19th, but IME it's way better to do things right than rushed.

AB Nate has a good point. The jack should be threaded into the back of the jack cup as far as possible. This means that when viewing the jack and cup from the outside, the jack does not sit flush in the bottom of the cup, it actually protrudes out of it by at least 1/8". This allows the plug to fully engage in the jack with lots of clearance between the plug, cup and screws.

 

[Pep]

Thanks for the update. I appreciate your experience and offer to do the work yourself, but that's not an option at this point.

Once we get into replacing parts, it needs to go to a qualified tech with a business license and business liability insurance for a variety of legal reasons including not voiding your warranty. We are happy to cover shipping the bass to our most trusted tech who knows our basses inside and out.

You're right, it's not likely going to happen in time for your gig on the 19th, but IME it's way better to do things right than rushed.

AB Nate has a good point. The jack should be threaded into the back of the jack cup as far as possible. This means that when viewing the jack and cup from the outside, the jack does not sit flush in the bottom of the cup, it actually protrudes out of it by at least 1/8". This allows the plug to fully engage in the jack with lots of clearance between the plug, cup and screws.

Thanks Nate and Sheldon.
No problem with having a tech do it. I just don’t know anyone I would trust to do it. The bass is boxed up so if you’d like for me to ship it to your preferred tech, I’d be more than happy to do that.
Since the parts are on the way to me I’ll cover the cost to ship them to the tech.
Just send the shipping label for the bass and I’ll go ahead and get it out.
Thanks!

 

[BGroovy]

This just showed up about 10 minutes ago...

 

[Pep]

This just showed up about 10 minutes ago...

View attachment 7273771

That’s beautiful. What dealer did you get it from?

 

[Pep]

One thing that just popped into my head….

Can you share a pic with us of the jack? Is there any chance that the tapered mounting plate needs to be threaded a couple more rotations clockwise(I believe) onto the jack body itself?

Nate,
Great suggestion, but there’s no problem with the jack not being threaded deep enough into the cup mount. I checked it with the jack pulled out and the tip contact was securely in the groove of the plug tip.

 

[BGroovy]

That’s beautiful. What dealer did you get it from?

Vibrato Bar!

 

[silky smoove]

Put a new electronics package in my Super J.

Signal path from front to back:
3X SF2 pickups
Series/Parallel switches
Dingwall D-Roc switch
StellarTone ToneStyler Bass 10
Nordstrand 2B+3A 2-band preamp

The big change was removal of the Glock preamp and replacement with the Nord and the ToneStyler. The Nord is a boost only circuit that Carey described as being similar to a classic Sadowsky preamp. To my ears it lands sonically between the classic Sadowsky thing and a Stingray’s preamp. The ToneStyler is a stepped passive tone control that has more favorable top end roll off compared to a typical passive tone control to my ears. The Nord is a wonderful sounding circuit that somehow sounds great and not at all bloated and overly bright with both controls fully boosted. The specs would make me think the opposite, but it sounds great. That setting on the preamp tempered by the ToneStyler on setting 7 or 8 along with the pickups in bridge-middle parallel, the bridge in parallel and the middle in series is just wonderful.

My custom order SJ5 has a Neve which is a similar 2-band boost-only design and a passive tone control. I suspect it will be very similar. I’ll likely throw a ToneStyler in that one when it arrives as well. Hopefully that one shows up sometime in the next decade

 

[MascisMan]

Put a new electronics package in my Super J.

Signal path from front to back:
3X SF2 pickups
Series/Parallel switches
Dingwall D-Roc switch
StellarTone ToneStyler Bass 10
Nordstrand 2B+3A 2-band preamp

The big change was removal of the Glock preamp and replacement with the Nord and the ToneStyler. The Nord is a boost only circuit that Carey described as being similar to a classic Sadowsky preamp. To my ears it lands sonically between the classic Sadowsky thing and a Stingray’s preamp. The ToneStyler is a stepped passive tone control that has more favorable top end roll off compared to a typical passive tone control to my ears. The Nord is a wonderful sounding circuit that somehow sounds great and not at all bloated and overly bright with both controls fully boosted. The specs would make me think the opposite, but it sounds great. That setting on the preamp tempered by the ToneStyler on setting 7 or 8 along with the pickups in bridge-middle parallel, the bridge in parallel and the middle in series is just wonderful.

My custom order SJ5 has a Neve which is a similar 2-band boost-only design and a passive tone control. I suspect it will be very similar. I’ll likely throw a ToneStyler in that one when it arrives as well. Hopefully that one shows up sometime in the next decade

I dont think the Neve is boost-only. The controls have center detentes.

 

[Sheldon D.]

Thanks Nate and Sheldon.
No problem with having a tech do it. I just don’t know anyone I would trust to do it. The bass is boxed up so if you’d like for me to ship it to your preferred tech, I’d be more than happy to do that.
Since the parts are on the way to me I’ll cover the cost to ship them to the tech.
Just send the shipping label for the bass and I’ll go ahead and get it out.
Thanks!

 

[Sheldon D.]

Sounds great. Someone from our team will reach out to you on Monday.

 

[silky smoove]

I dont think the Neve is boost-only. The controls have center detentes.

Yep, I see that it’s now listed as +/-12db. The original marketing for it was listed as +4db on each control which always felt like a very low boost level. Hopefully it sounds as good as the Nordstrand. If not I’ll just pull it.

 

[Selta]

Yep, I see that it’s now listed as +/-12db. The original marketing for it was listed as +4db on each control which always felt like a very low boost level. Hopefully it sounds as good as the Nordstrand. If not I’ll just pull it.

Well, you know, once my Z3 shows up, you can play that with the Neve at least to get a feel for it. You, me, @alembicbones and any other Seattle-ish Dingwall friends could hang out for an afternoon. We'll have... nearly every model covered? SJ, AB, Z, Prima Artist...

 

[BGroovy]

Anyone tried Pure Blues on their Super P? They’re my go to 5 string rounds and wondering if I should let these Dingwall strings break in or order my usual.

 

[Pep]

Sounds great. Someone from our team will reach out to you on Monday.

Thanks Sheldon!

 

[Pep]

Put a new electronics package in my Super J.

Signal path from front to back:
3X SF2 pickups
Series/Parallel switches
Dingwall D-Roc switch
StellarTone ToneStyler Bass 10
Nordstrand 2B+3A 2-band preamp

The big change was removal of the Glock preamp and replacement with the Nord and the ToneStyler. The Nord is a boost only circuit that Carey described as being similar to a classic Sadowsky preamp. To my ears it lands sonically between the classic Sadowsky thing and a Stingray’s preamp. The ToneStyler is a stepped passive tone control that has more favorable top end roll off compared to a typical passive tone control to my ears. The Nord is a wonderful sounding circuit that somehow sounds great and not at all bloated and overly bright with both controls fully boosted. The specs would make me think the opposite, but it sounds great. That setting on the preamp tempered by the ToneStyler on setting 7 or 8 along with the pickups in bridge-middle parallel, the bridge in parallel and the middle in series is just wonderful.

My custom order SJ5 has a Neve which is a similar 2-band boost-only design and a passive tone control. I suspect it will be very similar. I’ll likely throw a ToneStyler in that one when it arrives as well. Hopefully that one shows up sometime in the next decade

Another happy Stellartone Tonestyler 10. I’ve been using the first about 8 years and have the in 7 basses.

 

[AB Nate]

Nate,
Great suggestion, but there’s no problem with the jack not being threaded deep enough into the cup mount. I checked it with the jack pulled out and the tip contact was securely in the groove of the plug tip.

Gotcha. Well it’s all in the works for you it sounds like and will get resolved to a great final solution we all hope.

I will mention, sometimes sharing some pics can be very helpful.
There are more than a few sets of eyes that follow this thread that are incredibly familiar with these basses and may be able to pick up on something regarding the issue.

Sometimes not and it sounds like you are very comfortable with the technicals But, sometimes those familiar eyes can stop recognize an easy oversight. I’ve learned a lot on this thread for sure.

 

[alembicbones]

Well, you know, once my Z3 shows up, you can play that with the Neve at least to get a feel for it. You, me, @alembicbones and any other Seattle-ish Dingwall friends could hang out for an afternoon. We'll have... nearly every model covered? SJ, AB, Z, Prima Artist...

A Dingwall afternoon would be very fun. Let's make it happen.

Bones

 

[mellobud]

Had a nice but sweaty gig out with my dingwall and the originals band last evening. No complaints.
We even had a few compliments on our sound .