Dingwall Owners Club

[ElMon]

Wading into some deep waters here (37” B-string joke?) so I’ll keep this short.

JOHN TAYLOR FONK STICK


I done seen, the light.
The 2-band EQ with the ‘VTC’, which is closer to my Sadowsky EQ, helped.
I really didn’t mean for this to happen, but here we are. I finally stumbled into this brand, and have visions of Primas with wenge fretboards, dancing in my head. This instrument, is a game-changer for me.
If you want, I made a self-indulgent post about this instrument, with an even more annoying video attached, showcasing some wankster flailing around on this instrument that really did blow his musical paradigm, all the way open.
What a wonderful thing, to have my mind changed, this many years in the game. I look forward to stepping into this thread, and reading the Encyclopedia Brittanica that precedes this post.
Honored to play this bass.

Thread 'DING-DING DINGWALL!!! When GAS Came a Knocking'

Nov 26, 2025

In addition to what’s in the video …

I just stumbled into this instrument.
I experienced some GAS-related mania a while back.
It had me swapping, buying, and getting over-extended.
It involved this primal urge to go back to the ‘pure concept’ of the 4-string Fenders I was weaned on.

‘I’m just a P-Man Folks’
- ElMon​

Please consider everything I’ve ever posted, from that lens.
I’ll leave that convoluted GAS-mania out of this tale, but … shortened version … I realized (again) that (for me) the 5-string bass guitar, is the ‘complete instrument’ of what we call...

• ElMon
• dingwall dingwall done found me john taylor 5 many basses will be for sale once you go extended scale sydney sweeney
• Replies: 25
• Forum: Basses [BG]

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[Selta]

I know we talk strings a lot in here, and a common complaint about Dingwalls is "lack of choice".
My newest Z of course came with standard Dingwall strings on it. I have been on the Payson train for awhile, going back to the prototype F# string development.
Pretty sure I'm converting back to these Dingwall strings though. Holy moly they're good. Great, even. I play mostly in full-step-down tuning, and they just feel wonderful to me. Even when I drop the low A to G. Ended up ordering a bunch of sets from John Fox to re-string my main players with them.

 

[Scott McArron]

I know we talk strings a lot in here, and a common complaint about Dingwalls is "lack of choice".
My newest Z of course came with standard Dingwall strings on it. I have been on the Payson train for awhile, going back to the prototype F# string development.
Pretty sure I'm converting back to these Dingwall strings though. Holy moly they're good. Great, even. I play mostly in full-step-down tuning, and they just feel wonderful to me. Even when I drop the low A to G. Ended up ordering a bunch of sets from John Fox to re-string my main players with them.

Glad they’re working for you!

I recently recorded a couple song for the band in drop G with DW standard SS. I struggled on the faster stuff with the tension being a bit too loose, particularly on speed thumbing. Adjusting by playing further back towards the bridge helped a bit.

I just invested in a couple of sets of Payson Drop G sets to see if they’d work better for the next recordings. Will have to string them up soon…

 

[nickodocious]

Really wanting an sp1 sibling with rounds on it to live with my my vintage burst 5 with ti flats.
Could cover pretty much anything I need to with those.

But man the prices right now are brutal.

Do you wait and maybe foolishly hope for the best?
Or do you bite the bullet now before the prices possibly continue to increase.

The dilemma.

 

[Selta]

Glad they’re working for you!

I recently recorded a couple song for the band in drop G with DW standard SS. I struggled on the faster stuff with the tension being a bit too loose, particularly on speed thumbing. Adjusting by playing further back towards the bridge helped a bit.

I just invested in a couple of sets of Payson Drop G sets to see if they’d work better for the next recordings. Will have to string them up soon…

Oddly enough, and this goes pretty counter to what I thought I knew, higher tension was more fatiguing for me. When I got my new Z, I was ready to toss on heavier gauge, which I run on my other Dingwalls. But I spent a couple days playing it first, and it just felt like a weight was removed from my left hand especially. Right hand does take adjusting, especially triplets, quintuplets, and sextuplets at 140bpm, but I found that was a pretty easy adjustment overall.

 

[CoolUsername]

Here's mine.

I really like the look and feel of this bass. I really like the option to use both pickups in series and parallel.
Only the carbon-look pickguard was not really my thing... I much prefer a "classic" look.

This new pickguard really makes the bass more complete and suits the gold finish and maple neck imo.

 

[Selta]

Very classy look, I like it

 

[Element Zero]

So this came home with me today. I’m quite smitten.

Gotta mess with strap height to get it just right. But man oh man. That neck pickup in passive is the bee’s knees as is the bridge and neck position boosting the low end. Unbelievable how articulate this bass is.

 

[macribas]

So this came home with me today. I’m quite smitten.
View attachment 7380897

Gotta mess with strap height to get it just right. But man oh man. That neck pickup in passive is the bee’s knees as is the bridge and neck position boosting the low end. Unbelievable how articulate this bass is.

Took you long enough! Congrats!

 

[Element Zero]

Took you long enough! Congrats!

Guess I had to play a factory fresh one to “get it”. The first and only Dingwall I had played was set up awkward and had a modified/replaced nut which both I didn’t know about or realize until yesterday playing a brand new OOTB version. My previous understanding and perception of how one is supposed to play and feel vaporized the instant I held this in my hands.

NBD post incoming.

 

[warptheory]

Got my SP1 5 String a while back, love playing it.

As sacrilege as this may be to Mr. Dingwall, I am curious though about swapping the rotary selector for a standard volume volume tone setup and swapping the current 500k volume/tone pots to standard 250k's. It's a pretty bright bass and I think that lowering the pot values might darken it down a bit. I did this before on a Sandberg with great results. With regards to Series/Parallel, I'm fine with sticking with Parallel, like a normal PJ/Jazz bass. I rarely use series anyways. I prefer to run the neck about 75%, and bridge about 25%, that mix really sounds good to my ears.

Is there any issue with moving to 250k pots?

Can the pickups be wired as volume volume tone? Would the Red and Black wires be "hot" and everything else goes to ground?

 

[Scott McArron]

These Nova bridges look pretty cool. They get the string alignment right, they use the screw saddles similar to DW keeping with OEM styling (particularly the ABs), and they don’t hang off the back. All while being cheaper than other aftermarket bridges.

I’m seriously considering one for my older Dingwall (or might just sell it and get a new one with the Minimalist bridge and be done with this upgrade thing…)

What do you guys think?

 

[Challanger2]

Would those work for a d roc or d bird?

 

[Scott McArron]

Would those work for a d roc or d bird?

Not sure. Here’s the description:

“Fixed bass bridge for electric bass guitar, 4, 5 and 6 strings, for fanned / multiscale by Nova Guitar Parts for Dingwall Retrofit.

- Material: Aluminum
- Color: Black Anodized
- 4 strings 19 mm spacing
- 5 strings 18 mm spacing
- 6 strings 18 mm spacing”

 

[AB Nate]

Looks good. Don’t appreciate the logins but

The machining looks clean AF thou.

 

[dazmond]

I have a nova fanned bridge that I bought for project I'm building. Can't speak to how it fits as a retrofit, but it seems to be very nice quality at a good price.

 

[gustobassman]

Nice bridge but it does look like you have to completely remove the string to access the saddle lock screw.. seems like an extra step for no real reason.

 

[Scott McArron]

Nice bridge but it does look like you have to completely remove the string to access the saddle lock screw.. seems like an extra step for no real reason.

Good point. Nice observation

 

[Element Zero]

These Nova bridges look pretty cool. They get the string alignment right, they use the screw saddles similar to DW keeping with OEM styling (particularly the ABs), and they don’t hang off the back. All while being cheaper than other aftermarket bridges.

I’m seriously considering one for my older Dingwall (or might just sell it and get a new one with the Minimalist bridge and be done with this upgrade thing…)

What do you guys think?

View attachment 7382539View attachment 7382540

Rad color!!!

 

[Element Zero]

I’m REALLY diggin on the pickup position 3 J Bass setting on the NG3. Boosting just a bit of low end really nails that active Fender slap tone especially. Take the lows back to flat and boost the mids and high mids makes it nice and pokey.