Dingwall Owners Club

[warptheory]

now that they have been out a while and the influencer video hype is over… what are we bass players thinking about sp1’s now? i really like the white/red, but ponder just ordering a super p and making it murder black.

I really like my SP1. I play it now over my NG3 and a couple other 5ers. The NG3 has SFII's and is real smooth. The SP1 rocks out harder.

Your choices are white, black, or green. Pickguards can be replaced. I'm glad they are offering at least 1 fun color, but would be nice to have more choices. I really like my green one, but might swap the pickguard to black as @bassman1974 was mentioning.

 

[TTA]

I really like my SP1. I play it now over my NG3 and a couple other 5ers. The NG3 has SFII's and is real smooth. The SP1 rocks out harder.

Your choices are white, black, or green. Pickguards can be replaced. I'm glad they are offering at least 1 fun color, but would be nice to have more choices. I really like my green one, but might swap the pickguard to black as @bassman1974 was mentioning.

View attachment 7389870

dont forget burst

 

[MascisMan]

now that they have been out a while and the influencer video hype is over… what are we bass players thinking about sp1’s now? i really like the white/red, but ponder just ordering a super p and making it murder black.

I got my SP-1 from the first batch that went to JFB. Still love it

 

[AB Nate]

I am having a new pickguard made. Can’t decide between the two. What is your opinion?

I like that first black with the 3ply

Slapped some GHS Pressure Wounds on the NG3-5
View attachment 7388430

Initial thoughts.

Miles smoother than I anticipated for still being “round wound” string and is QUITE welcomed compared to the almost cheese grater Dingwall strings that came stock. Instantly comfortable pulling tension and down seem to require a little more gusto but I have no problem with it. Texture is kinda grabby like how flatwounds are (for me) whereas I feel regular round wounds (especially Elixirs on my fretless StingRay) feel “slick” by comparison.

Sound wise they’re A LOT darker than I expected. There’s still some decent top end happening there but it’s quite subdued. The G string sounds unusually bright compared to the other 4 strings. The killer slap tone I had dialed in with the onboard pre-amp and the stock rounds is gone and not really achievable with the PW’s… not that I “need” a killer slap tone as I don’t do any slap with any of the tunes I play with my cover band though. Pick tone still sounds good. Nice and crunchy with just the neck pickup on.

Overall I like ‘em. I was really wanting a smoother round wound string than the Dingwall’s as I couldn’t take the pain on my fretting hand finger tips any more and these Pressure Wounds feel very nice.

Scroll down one quote.

I'm quite curious if anyone here has tried extra light gauges or low-tension sets on a long scale dingwall? I love dingwall basses despite some nerve damage in my hands, and am considering trying to get a custom set in the vicinity of 115-40 to make them more playable. Newtone Strings seem to have some good options

I feel it may be worth you guys giving paysons medium lights a try. They feel nice and buttery to me with a friendly tension. Sound great too of course.

Any fretless owners here? Thoughts? Pictures?

 

[DeltaPhoenix]

Holy smokes! I used to have an Alembic Series 1. Use this new price list to justify the value of your Dingwall

 

[nonohmic]

Holy smokes! I used to have an Alembic Series 1. Use this new price list to justify the value of your Dingwall

And they’re prob booked out with a waitlist of two years or something.

 

[Element Zero]

Holy smokes! I used to have an Alembic Series 1. Use this new price list to justify the value of your Dingwall

Wait wait wait… $56,000 US?

 

[AB Nate]

I really like my SP1. I play it now over my NG3 and a couple other 5ers. The NG3 has SFII's and is real smooth. The SP1 rocks out harder.

Your choices are white, black, or green. Pickguards can be replaced. I'm glad they are offering at least 1 fun color, but would be nice to have more choices. I really like my green one, but might swap the pickguard to black as @bassman1974 was mentioning.

View attachment 7389870

This is a nice lookin duo. I played an SP1 just like this one and should have bought it….literally that day it sold and I had decided to trade in a rig towards it. I could wrap my head around how Sheldon would make a production SP1 and it be SUPER awesome and not just, “ah, that’s cool and nice”

The man always delivers.


Of course the NG is no slouch either. I had its six string purple cousin for a while

 

[Element Zero]

Anyone know if the FD3n pickups in say an NG3 are a “neck” or “bridge” pickup or are they all the same?

 

[xroads]

hi all, I have a Dingwall SP1 fiver inbound and I have a string question. I quite liked the stock strings that came on my NG3 5-string (now on consignment at my local shop caskmusic.ca if anyone’s interested) so I’m sure I’m gonna like what’s on this one however I’m one of “those guys” that like to change strings a lot until I find what works best for a particular instrument. currently I have a couple of La Bella sets (LTFs, DTFs and black nylon), Rotosound RS66s, DR Fat Beams and various D’Addario sets, all of them standard long scale. will they all fit without issues, I’m especially curious about the B string, or am I locked in to buying strings specifically made for fan fret instruments? thanks in advance for any advice.

cheers!
Jim

I use EB Slinkies on my SP1-5, and they fit. I guess most of the long scale sets should work.

 

[5StringPocket]

Anyone know if the FD3n pickups in say an NG3 are a “neck” or “bridge” pickup or are they all the same?

All 3 pickups in an NG3 are FD3n with a B/N/B configuration. Neighboring pickups have opposite wind direction. An NG2 has a N/B configuration. The website doesn’t go into these details but in my inquiries this was confirmed by Dingwall tech support.
Adam "Nolly" Getgood (NG) Signature - Dingwall

 

[Element Zero]

All 3 pickups in an NG3 are FD3n with a B/N/B configuration. Neighboring pickups have opposite wind direction. An NG2 has a N/B configuration. The website doesn’t go into these details but in my inquiries this was confirmed by Dingwall tech support.
Adam "Nolly" Getgood (NG) Signature - Dingwall

Sorry… B/N/B ??? Yours truly is clueless.

 

[Subscript]

Sorry… B/N/B ??? Yours truly is clueless.

Bridge Neck Bridge

 

[Element Zero]

gotcha

 

[Element Zero]

Dingwall NG3 Mod - Reversable

So I have been buying Dingwalls since around 2014. Back then the vast majority were two pickup models with a standard bridge and neck pickup. I fell in love with the sound of neck/bridge in series. That to me was the Dingwall sound. I know most people think of it as the bridge/middle but that came later and although awesome is not my favourite setting. My next several Dingwalls all were two pick ups. An ABZ5, a couple AB1s, a Z2 etc. I was somewhat disappointed when the 3 pickup models came out and they did not have a neck/bridge series option. I always missed it. I ended up buying a few NG2's throughout the years and moved the middle pickup to the neck position so I could get the neck/bridge series option. I had to buy a 2 pickup combustion pickguard to make this work.

I love the bridge and middle combo in series or in parallel but my favourite tone is bridge/neck series as mentioned.

Anyhooo.. I currently have a NG3 and a Droc Standard. I was sitting around last night looking at the 6 position switches online and considering them (like I have done every few months for the last 5 years) and it suddenly came to me that I could just swap the neck and middle position around and problem solved. I don't mean unsolder anything, just take the pickguard off and move the middle pickup up and the bridge pickup down. I realize someone else has probably done this in the past but it hadn't occurred to me until yesterday. The middle pickup only had a bit of exposed wire in the pickup cavity but there was plenty of extra wire in the control cavity so I was able to loosen the tie and add another inch or so in the pickup cavity in order to allow me to move the middle pickup into the neck position.

So I did it and the results are great. I now have the bridge/neck in series wiring that I love. I am not a jazz guy so bridge/neck in parallel doesn't do it for me.

The pickups in this position changes what the 4 position switch controls but it's completely reversable and only took 15 minutes to do. The switch now works like this.
1st position (nearest bridge) - bridge solo, 2nd position - bridge and neck in series, 3rd position - bridge/middle in parallel, 4th position - middle pickup solo'd. I have a Droc now and have had several since they came out and I personally love the middle solo option. I prefer it to neck solo.

The individual pickups on a NG3 are wired (from top to bottom) in series/parallel/series. So the middle pickup is now in series which is great for when it is solo'd. Similar to the Droc switch. The bridge and the middle are both series so when they are used together you get the same wiring that you would on a NG2 when using the 2nd setting with bridge/middle in parallel. The neck pickup is now the lone pickup in parallel but it is never solod and only used combination with the bridge in series. Sounds amazing.

Anyways I thought I would share because it never occurred to me to do this and I am sure there are other people that miss having the option to have the bridge and neck pickups in series option.

I really enjoyed swapping the pickup positions as per your suggestion. I’ve actually never taken a pickup out of any of my basses in the 30 years I’ve been playing. I didn’t find the Neck/Bridge in series mode audibly pleasing and in standard configuration I’m not really finding a use for the bridge soloed.

Thinking I’ll try swapping the bridge and middle pickup positions and see how much change there is.

 

[Thumper]

I really enjoyed swapping the pickup positions as per your suggestion. I’ve actually never taken a pickup out of any of my basses in the 30 years I’ve been playing. I didn’t find the Neck/Bridge in series mode audibly pleasing and in standard configuration I’m not really finding a use for the bridge soloed.

Thinking I’ll try swapping the bridge and middle pickup positions and see how much change there is.

This is what I did om all my Dingers before I had custom rotaries made. Middle solo is much more useful than bridge solo.

 

[gustobassman]

I'm looking at swapping out the volume knob for a 250k linear taper as well, it's a bright bass so the 250k will tame that a bit over the stock 500k pots. Will likely do the same for the tone knob.

Just swapped the 500k vol pot for a 250k in my SP1 and it's a world of difference. Not sure if I need to swap the tone pot yet, but man.. this is what I was missing. It was just so bright.. was on the verge if selling it because of that. This changes everything.

 

[warptheory]

Just swapped the 500k vol pot for a 250k in my SP1 and it's a world of difference. Not sure if I need to swap the tone pot yet, but man.. this is what I was missing. It was just so bright.. was on the verge if selling it because of that. This changes everything.

Curious, did you use an Audio/Log or Linear taper? I hear arguments to be made for both versions.

 

[Mr_BK]

Just swapped the 500k vol pot for a 250k in my SP1 and it's a world of difference. Not sure if I need to swap the tone pot yet, but man.. this is what I was missing. It was just so bright.. was on the verge if selling it because of that. This changes everything.

Sorry for the ignorance, but what does 600k vs. 250k in the volume pot do exactly? Isn't the job of the pot to make volume changes and not affect tone?

 

[gustobassman]

Curious, did you use an Audio/Log or Linear taper? I hear arguments to be made for both versions.

Went with what I had in the parts bin. A250K - so Audio. The NG's and Combustion use a log taper for volume. I'm leaving tomorrow for a 3 day run in the Pacific Northwest, I'll decide after these gigs whether or not a log taper is necessary, and if I need to swap the tone pot too.