We want some pictures please. The more pics the better
I'll be glad to oblige... once I figure out my new camera. My first round of results does not do the "caramel-burst" justice. It's not a colour I would normally choose, but I am loving it a little more each day.
While you're all waiting for photos, I'll post my impressions of this instrument. Feel free to jump in and hammer me if you disagree, but here goes anyway:
Let's get the obvious out of the way. After 40 years of playing basses with (or without) normal frets, the transition to fanned-fret is not really a problem at all, EXCEPT when I get into the upper registers (eg. 14th fret and above). That's going to take a little work on my part to retrain the muscle-memory, but it's not concerning me in the least. My personal progress is slow but quite steady in this regard.
Let's face it. Until recently the ABI was the budget bass in the Dingwall lineup and one gets the impression that the same amount of care went into the building of this bass as the high-end models get. Extremely impressive. I love the elliptical neck radius and the "fine" banjo-wire frets. The fit, finish and quality of materials is similarly excellent, especially considering the cost of this bass.
I'm going to have to weigh this instrument properly, but my impression is that it's at least two-and-a-half pounds lighter than anything else I own (including the 4-stringers). Beautiful balance. Did I mention the light weight???
But what impressed me the most are the "electronics". Unlike my Wal basses (and so on), there's not much to adjust here and yet this passive instrument is extremely versatile. Yes there is volume, a passive tone control (treble roll-off) and a slap contour (bluEQube), but the real magic is in the pickup selector. Position one, the bridge pickup only, is to my ear MM-like and reminds me very much of my Sterling. Position 2 is both pickups in parallel and it is very much a Jazz-bass tone. Postion 3 is both pickups in series; very active sounding but I haven't come up with a valid comparison yet (think coffee-table basses). Position 4 is the neck pickup solo which has a wonderful P-bass punch. What more would one need? Active? I didn't miss it.
In summary I would rate this instrument very very highly, which is especially amazing for an instrument in this price range. It's only my personal opinion, but I would not hesitate to recommend a Dingwall wholeheartedly (and to include a very high level of praise). To recap: perfect weight and balance, well-thought-out electronics that are very versatile indeed, wonderfully-comfortable neck radius, no dead spots anywhere, excellent price. The list goes on...
After a long day of practice this old guy's shoulder wasn't sore. My band mates gathered afterwards to gush over the sound of the instrument and to mention that the bass "looked like it was made for me" and "guess you finally found YOUR bass".
No, I'm not about to sell my Wals just yet
, but I can think of a few basses that I
will part with to finance (at least) one more Dingwall. My flak suit is on, so I'm ready for the TalkBassers. Bring it.
)
