Dingwall Owners Club

[singlemalt]

Very pretty! I'm glad it arrived safely.

 

[BurningSkies]

Very pretty! I'm glad it arrived safely.

Me too. Amazingly, it was even room temperature inside the case once I opened it up...and still in tune. I'm going to flatten out the neck a little bit tonight, it has a totally reasonable amount of relief, but my other is nearly flat.

I also need to go and get a strap for it, because it has standard pins and all my straps have Dunlap locks.

 

[spiritbass]

It's looking pretty good for being a veteran of 1,000+ gigs!

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

So yeah...Thing. Stuff.

That bass is not THAT old, just look at the knobs!

My bridge is like yours, as it does not bolt all of the way through the body and has those button screws for the saddles. Mine also has the same Sperzel tuners. I love your top. It is a cool cross between flame and quilt. Looking forward to your impressions of the tone.

 

[spiritbass]

Flilt.

 

[BurningSkies]

It's looking pretty good for being a veteran of 1,000+ gigs!

Oh, it's got the wear that says 'well gigged bass'. You can't really see it in these shots but close inspection shows that it's dinged and nicked all around the perimeter. Not in a bad way, just in a way that says this is well used. Because of the oil finish it doesn't read as obvious is it would with a poly finish.

That bass is not THAT old, just look at the knobs!

My bridge is like yours, as it does not bolt all of the way through the body and has those button screws for the saddles. Mine also has the same Sperzel tuners. I love your top. It is a cool cross between flame and quilt. Looking forward to your impressions of the tone.

Yep. The top was sort of a wildcard. I know how hard it is to get a good shot of most figured wood, and the handful of 3 or 4 pics I had didn't really hint at it. When I opened it and took out my phone to get a few quick ones, It quickly became apparent that from the headstock side and slightly below gives the full effect.

I also noticed the new knobs! I have the old ones (along with the original electronics and preamp in the bag. I do like the new design, and they'll remain as long as this configuration stays. I'll have a feel for the tone by tonight since we have rehearsal...and we have a gig on Thursday so I'll probably bring both just in case.

If I get a chance tomorrow I'm going to take off the strings and just give it a good once over and a cleaning. Depending upon how motivated I am, I'll take the neck off and see if there's any date listed.

 

[nervous]

It's pretty similar to Fender sized and shaped, enough so that anything that fits a Fender will fit a Combustion. By that I mean, if it fits a J and/or a P, it'll fit.

Yup, I am using a couple older Levys nylon bags and they have accommodated my EBMM SR5, Spectors, Laklands and now, easily, my NG2. No worries Id say.

 

[kirkdickinson]

Yup, I am using a couple older Levys nylon bags and they have accommodated my EBMM SR5, Spectors, Laklands and now, easily, my NG2. No worries Id say.

I really like the concept of the Gruv Gear GigBlade case. May just order one. I have thought it was a cool design for a long time. I should have ordered one a couple of years ago when they were on kickstarter, could have saved $50 and got more color options.

Gruv Gear GigBlade - Electric Bass, Black

 

[spiritbass]

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

Flilt.

Quiame?

 

[lowphatbass]

So yeah...Thing. Stuff.

That quilt/flame looks really similar to mine and a few other early basses I've seen. I guess there were a pair of brothers that were supplying Sheldon with some choice lumber back then.
I concur that it's difficult to accurately photograph not only the full depth of the wood but the wear and age.
Absolutely stunning man!! Congrats!!

 

[BurningSkies]

That quilt/flame looks really similar to mine and a few other early basses I've seen. I guess there were a pair of brothers that were supplying Sheldon with some choice lumber back then.
I concur that it's difficult to accurately photograph not only the full depth of the wood but the wear and age.
Absolutely stunning man!! Congrats!!

Thanks! You're is tighter from the look of it. But overall, very similar.

Just got back from 3 hours of rehearsal. Sort of a 'getting to know you' thing for the bass. I didn't bring my other and just ran the whole time. What I noticed right off:

-Neck is definitely bigger/thicker. Not in a bad way, but noticeably so. More like my old P bass. And without an asymmetric carve it fills your hand.

-The action on this one is more like my AB...not quite as low but close enough that I'm not missing anything.

-Probably partly the bass but partly the pickups...more mid forward punch. I was prepared to not like the pickups, but I actually dug them. They have energy in the place I like it.

-Don't know that I love the passive setup. Right off, the tone control seems to do little...less than what my old Jazz or P-basses did. I'm thinking that I'm more interested in keeping the pickups and putting in a preamp I like. There were also some 'erratic' moments where I seemed to lose volume and/or have the tone change fairly drastically. It may just be that the controls have been unused and/or need some twisting.

-The overall sound of the instrument was less compressed and a little bit 'rough around the edges'. More like my AB was, while my V/Z is more polite sounding. When I dig in to the V/Z it remains balanced and even when you dig in to the Voodoo Prima you can tell you're digging in. More dynamic in touch definitely. I could take the quiet stuff way down lower than I can the Rastaburst.

-Really thinking seriously of the 4-way selector. Way more useful to me than a Jazz bass style blend. I'd rather have a tonal feel dialed in then be able to ride a single volume up or down.

I'll bring both basses to Thursday's gig, and start out with the Voodoo Prima...and go from there.

 

[Smallequestrian]

I barely play bass enough as it is (espescially considering the awesomeness of my Super PJ), but boy is this one tempting!

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

That quilt/flame looks really similar to mine and a few other early basses I've seen. I guess there were a pair of brothers that were supplying Sheldon with some choice lumber back then.
I concur that it's difficult to accurately photograph not only the full depth of the wood but the wear and age.
Absolutely stunning man!! Congrats!!

Really nice 3D on those filthy flilty tops and backs! Proof that even at the outset, Sheldon was doing magic!

 

[ustabawannab]

NBD!

Just picked up the ABZ from a fellow TB member. That's my very modded ABI next to it. I spent 3 hours with it last night at rehearsal. Wow that wenge neck is incredible.

I really like the 3x configuration except for one thing ... Position 2 on the selector.

On my AB1, Position 2 is Neck Bridge in series. On the ABZ 3x it's Neck Bridge in parallel. NB in series is my go to tone.

Anybody have the wiring diagram for the 3x pickup configuration? It would be an easy mod because the ABZ has the new generation switch with screw terminals.

 

[bassrest]

Hey ustanawannab, you should try wiring the neck and bridge pickups in series internally. That will get you really close to the position 2 sound on your other bass. You might really like the results for the othe positions as well

 

[been_effected]

Likewise sir

Just felt I should join in here. Looks like I will soon be placing an order to build an ABI, and your SJ and AB were very much a part of the design process.

After much umming and ahhing, the final design looks like:
ABI 5-string
Swamp Ash body
Wenge/Wenge neck and fretboard
Trans White with gloss finish
FD3x triple pickups
Glockenklang preamp
3 series/parallel switches

...and a black pickguard.


Question - cases. I know I'll get a gig bag bundled with the purchase, but I travel a lot and prefer to have hard cases. Flight cases especially (I don't mind the extra weight).
What options are out there?

Just gonna rebump my previous post about cases - curious to see everyone's opinions

 

[Thumper]

I traveled with my bass in a gig bag inside of one of those rolling SKB flight cases (forget what they were called) and checked it, never had an issue or any damage.

 

[ustabawannab]

Hey ustanawannab, you should try wiring the neck and bridge pickups in series internally. That will get you really close to the position 2 sound on your other bass. You might really like the results for the other positions as well

Are you suggesting wiring middle and bridge in series internally like the neck pickup is?

Red to the + terminal
White to the -terminal
Black and Green tied together

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

I traveled with my bass in a gig bag inside of one of those rolling SKB flight cases (forget what they were called) and checked it, never had an issue or any damage.

I think it was called a bass safe, right?