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Dingwall Owners Club

#15,861
Paul M said:
I was referring to the two coils inside each pickup. The pickups are sealed so you can't tell how they are wired by looking. The FD3 Mach II pickup came out in about 2007. It was the same as your pickup but the coils were wired in series instead of parallel. The current version is called the FD3-4L, meaning four it has four leads so you can choose series or parallel.
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Once I got a look at them, I could see they were sealed. Didn't know that.

So at this point, the options seem to be:
  1. Find someone selling a set of FD3 or later pickups
  2. Replace the pickups with something different (I'm looking at you, Nordstrand Big Splits)
  3. Live with it because it sounds great as-is
I did raise the pickups until I started having string contact, then backed them off slightly. The tone is the same, but maybe a little more volume.
 
#15,862
AB Nate said:
I've played one of those ltds at a local shop and although I personally do like the look and I'm a nordy fan, it was an over price block of wasted wood Imo. The neck I found unpleasant and the weight would make it sink nicely to the bottom of a fast movin river. I think it's built better then the ibby FF but you better plan on sitting down with that thing.

I cannot attest for the comparisons of tones your having but as mentioned I'd check the wiring on your pick ups. It has been modded as you mentioned already so that surely would be a starting point.
Another consideration is maybe strings? And at the end of the day those nordstand pick ups really do slay so maybe the old Dingwall pick ups may just be due for an upgrade if your not satisfied. Does Carey make a Dingwall pick up replacement? Just a thought?
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As far as strings, I have Dingwall Roundwound Nickels on it right now, .45 - .130.
 
#15,863
Charlzm said:
As far as strings, I have Dingwall Roundwound Nickels on it right now, .45 - .130.
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I'm pretty sure every Dingwall I have purchased NEW came with Dingwall Stainless steel strings.
I only mention this because I know the noticeable difference between them and nickel. Perhaps the Ltd also had stainless making it even a less apples to apples comparison.

Does your middle pot have 4 selectable positions or does it just role from neck to bridge?

Normally where your low mid/high mid pot is is the tone fusion pot which is quite a cool variety of sound on a passive instrument. I am now assuming in passive hat you have no tone control?
 
#15,864
AB Nate said:
I'm pretty sure every Dingwall I have purchased NEW came with Dingwall Stainless steel strings.
I only mention this because I know the noticeable difference between them and nickel. Perhaps the Ltd also had stainless making it even a less apples to apples comparison.

Does your middle pot have 4 selectable positions or does it just role from neck to bridge?

Normally where your low mid/high mid pot is is the tone fusion pot which is quite a cool variety of sound on a passive instrument. I am now assuming in passive hat you have no tone control?
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The middle pot has no detents - just a constant smooth gradient P/U blend.
The toggle switch is bypassed; the Tone Capsule is engaged at all times.
 
#15,865
Blues Cat said:
View attachment 1126306 The P-Tone is an excellent upgrade imho. Big Singles made a huge improvement to my ears in my '05 ABII-5. I ordered lefty orientation on the magnets. Big Splits can work too, but they're a little taller than the BS's. Changing strings can make a big difference as well.
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....HOLD ON A SEC!!!!

Shouldn't there be a Payson bridge in that photo? ;)
 
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#15,869
Charlzm said:
Once I got a look at them, I could see they were sealed. Didn't know that.

So at this point, the options seem to be:
  1. Find someone selling a set of FD3 or later pickups
  2. Replace the pickups with something different (I'm looking at you, Nordstrand Big Splits)
  3. Live with it because it sounds great as-is
I did raise the pickups until I started having string contact, then backed them off slightly. The tone is the same, but maybe a little more volume.
Click to expand...
Investigate FDV's instaed of FD3's. I absolutely love them.
 
#15,870
Selta said:
... Now that I have my Green 6er here, and I'm contemplating selling off one of the old AB1s for the deposit on just one more build, it's become less of a priority for me.
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I don't know if you already reported on it already, but how did your convention go? Were there several nice Dingwalls brought in? What was the range of models? Wish I could have made it.
 
#15,871
Not totally Dingwall-related, but I did play my Super P5 on 4 of these songs, and my ABZ6 on one. I also borrowed a really excellent preamp (Broughton P15) from Keith AKA @Noylin for those SP5 songs.

I recorded, mixed, and mastered the whole album. It's my first release, but I'd appreciate everyone giving it a listen and telling me what you think!



If you like what you hear, follow me and my tiny little record label on Facebook and Instagram as I'm trying to get into doing this stuff professionally. Currently, it's just a passion/hobby/the culmination of my Master's degree.
 
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#15,872
We had a weekend gig so I decided to play my 5 String NG2 on Friday and my 4 string PJ "Fender" bass on Saturday. It's official, I prefer a 4 string bass. So going to either sell or trade my 5 for a 4. If anyone is interested before I list it in the classifieds let me know. I need to get the boxes it was shipped to me together so it might be a few days before I list it.
 
#15,873
J Posega said:
Not totally Dingwall-related, but I did play my Super P5 on 4 of these songs, and my ABZ6 on one. I also borrowed a really excellent preamp (Broughton P15) from Keith AKA @Noylin for those SP5 songs.

I recorded, mixed, and mastered the whole album. It's my first release, but I'd appreciate everyone giving it a listen and telling me what you think!



If you like what you hear, follow me and my tiny little record label on Facebook and Instagram as I'm trying to get into doing this stuff professionally. Currently, it's just a passion/hobby/the culmination of my Master's degree.
Click to expand...



Very well put together!
 
#15,874
J Posega said:
Not totally Dingwall-related, but I did play my Super P5 on 4 of these songs, and my ABZ6 on one. I also borrowed a really excellent preamp (Broughton P15) from Keith AKA @Noylin for those SP5 songs.

I recorded, mixed, and mastered the whole album. It's my first release, but I'd appreciate everyone giving it a listen and telling me what you think!



If you like what you hear, follow me and my tiny little record label on Facebook and Instagram as I'm trying to get into doing this stuff professionally. Currently, it's just a passion/hobby/the culmination of my Master's degree.
Click to expand...

NICE!
 
#15,875
Charles, looks like you have a totally customized AB-1. Just the stock pickups and maybe a pot remain of the stock set up.

Originally that Dingwall would have had a volume, 4 position rotary selector for the pickups and a tone control. Either a push pull tone knob or the little switch would have activated the passive blueqube tone feature. Was the battery compartment added later? If not, it may have been an active AB-1, or even an AB-2.

Looks like one of the beautiful flame topped whale pool AB's

I'd try a few string sets and some set up and see what you can dial in. The Paysons are great.
 
#15,877
Hey guys. Just a heads up.
I've started a different thread for my leather projects. My last strap is posing with a Dingwall so here's a sneak peek of that but if I put project number 4....... a dog collar on here I might be reaching. Hahahahah. Although it would look great my new SJ....

Nates leathercrafting thread.

Anyways. I took the New SJ to practice on Friday. The action was a little high in standard tuning so I dropped it to D for my band and it worked pretty good. I gotta do a proper set up yet but I think I'll incorporate it into regular practice. Such a different sound then the Z. Both have a walnut neck both have super fatties but that's about it for similarities.

The SJ is very Jazz (of course) in comparison to the Z which I leave very musicman. Diggin it a lot!

IMG_5149.JPG
 
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#15,878
Blues Cat said:
Drop in, no routing. You will have to drill the holes for the mounting screws. In my case I used a slow 2.4v driver, and a brand new bit with tape spacer to gauge how deep the drill bit penetrated at a glance.

Correction: it's the Fat Stacks that are taller. I can't comment on the Big Splits, but I would opt for them now simply because you can have a series/parallel switch as they're split coil. I mention that because the bridge pu in series mixed with the neck pu in parallel can be magic. I discovered how cool this can be when I installed a Dingwall MII-4L (series) in the bridge and mixed it with the FD3 in parallel in the neck. It was an instant, hello, there's the sound.

I always prefer neck pu solo'd in series.
Click to expand...

The Big Splits aren't meant to be run in parallel; you can do it, but they're super thin and quiet.
 
#15,879
Charlzm said:
IN this picture, the left knob is volume, the middle is blend and the right stacked knob is to control the Darkglass - there are two different bands of mids that can be dialed up individually.

18320498_1680667701949779_1456048588424015369_o.jpg
Click to expand...

So they left out the bass pot? That's super weird.
 
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