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Dingwall Owners Club

You know what I'd love to see? A Dingwall done in the Carl Thompson style, lots of stringers and laminates of various exotic woods.

My problem with CT basses (and I'll probably get heat for this) is that they always end up looking kind of murky and dull when finished. I know people love them but they always end up looking like a shop-project to my eyes.

That and without doing 'neck through' stringers becomes a tougher thing. Not that they couldn't do a top and matching back with various woods.
 
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You've got a bit more wear and tear on that than I do on my voodoo. You've put in some time. :) How's the back of the neck?
The back is smooth as glass down in the first few positions, it's incredible. Further up you can feel some seems if you feel perpendicular across the seems, but you can't feel them when you're playing. Under prolonged humidity the seams are slightly more pronounced but still a non issue....a small price to pay for only adjusting the truss rod once since I got the bass in '95.
 
Some of you might be interested in this...Wena just posted about it...

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My friend has desperately been trying to get #whitetrashfinesse trending for the last two weeks. I have been chastising him for using hash tags but I feel it is appropriate here.

That things looks great but, damn, that finish would not be cheap.
 
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The back is smooth as glass down in the first few positions, it's incredible. Further up you can feel some seems if you feel perpendicular across the seems, but you can't feel them when you're playing. Under prolonged humidity the seams are slightly more pronounced but still a non issue....a small price to pay for only adjusting the truss rod once since I got the bass in '95.

Mine is very much similar. I know the bodies of this era are a hardened oil finish, but I'm guessing the necks are poly finished. Is yours a 11-stringer neck? It looks to date to sometime fairly soon after mine. I have the body decal, straight pickups (That weren't the 'standard' size Barts at the time but 4-string sized)...but no decal on the control plate. I know that the original proto was January 1993...

But the Rastaburst I've gone through the finish to varying degrees from about 2 through 9 at this point. Nothing too serious, but it's there. I have some Tru oil waiting to treat it but haven't had a chance.
 
Some of you might be interested in this...Wena just posted about it...

View attachment 2766013

Hmm. Using wood to make camouflage to hide... in the woods?

I'm not the camo type either, but this looks good. I hope it's not a recent photo because, going by the serial number, it would mean there are still about 87 basses ahead of my order. :-(
 
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I would think that a bass body and neck gets assigned a serial number and stamped so the neck and body and all the details stay straight. A custom order like this, with lots of details, might have a lower number than basses that have already finished and shipped. It's going to take some extra time over more conventional finishes.

But hey, what do I know?

I can't wait to see how that body looks with a finish on it.
 
Mine is very much similar. I know the bodies of this era are a hardened oil finish, but I'm guessing the necks are poly finished. Is yours a 11-stringer neck? It looks to date to sometime fairly soon after mine. I have the body decal, straight pickups (That weren't the 'standard' size Barts at the time but 4-string sized)...but no decal on the control plate. I know that the original proto was January 1993...

But the Rastaburst I've gone through the finish to varying degrees from about 2 through 9 at this point. Nothing too serious, but it's there. I have some Tru oil waiting to treat it but haven't had a chance.
Mine is a 9 piece neck, I'm not sure if was poly finished, I think it may have been waxed or oiled as well. It came with a film canister of "Dingwall Neck Wax", that I still have(amazing stuff!). I think I remember the reasoning behind not sealing the back of neck having something to do with the movementbor ebb n flow of the wood with only one half finished.
In terms of date all the serial # info was lost in the fire but the heal of the neck says, "Namm 95". I don't know if it ever made it to the show but I'm sure it must've been being built in 1994.
 
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I made the Z a Toque....
heh. It's goofy looking as all hell and I need to fashion one way better planned out then this one but I was at jam the other day and of course, I'm the tallest guy in the band(not that I'm tall) and I stand under the lowest ceiling in the room(ducting bulkhead)... I need to change this. Anywho, it wasn't the first time I touched the ceiling with the headstock so I whipped up a "safety cap for this darling". It's terribly fashioned but I thought I'd share for the humor aspect.
IMG_7080.JPG

I don't like how it covers the D. I'll be making one that flows a little better asap.
 
Well, I'm making progress. Managed to record some clips of all four rotary switch positions with the stock pickups in the Super P/J. Had to reset my Soundcloud password before I could upload the final cut, as my account was subject to some sort of leakage in my absence (I haven't uploaded in quite a while!). While recording clips, I noticed that the rotary switch was noisier than it should be. Got that cleaned up with some DeOxit. I had noticed while playing this past Sunday that the volume control (completely sealed pot) was also noisy. After querying about a replacement (it is mated with the bypass switch and a circuit board) and sending a picture of it to Jeff @ Dingwall, he forwarded my request to Helge @ Glockenklang who is on it. New parts should be arriving soon. I may wait until they arrive to warm up the soldering iron to swap pickups and replace the volume control/bypass switch in one fell swoop...
 
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Mine is a 9 piece neck, I'm not sure if was poly finished, I think it may have been waxed or oiled as well. It came with a film canister of "Dingwall Neck Wax", that I still have(amazing stuff!). I think I remember the reasoning behind not sealing the back of neck having something to do with the movementbor ebb n flow of the wood with only one half finished.
In terms of date all the serial # info was lost in the fire but the heal of the neck says, "Namm 95". I don't know if it ever made it to the show but I'm sure it must've been being built in 1994.

I bet the outer laminates (at the headstock edges and/or neck heel would account for two additional lams on your neck. :) That's like many of the Dingwall necks that people think are 3 pc are actually 5pc.

The idea with wax was that moisture could evenly enter/exit the neck with a wax finish allowing it to stay straighter. I don't know that I buy that, but that was the idea. Either way, the Voodoo Prima I have has a glossy hard finish of some kind.

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The 'hearsay' on mine is that it's one of the first of 'about 12' production basses It's got hallmarks of the earliest run although the SN is a bit wonky, suggesting a little later than some I've seen. But then we also know there were some SN errors along the way where some basses were non-sequentially numbered. So this one is maybe 94 or possibly just a bit earlier.

For those who haven't played at home, sharpen your earballs... here's some pics...what features or lack of features can you notice that would tip you off that this is a really early one? :


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IMG_1926.JPG

Here's a shot of mine, definitely 9 pieces. My serial # is lower than yours, but the pickups and logo tell the full story....
I bet the outer laminates (at the headstock edges and/or neck heel would account for two additional lams on your neck. :) That's like many of the Dingwall necks that people think are 3 pc are actually 5pc.

The idea with wax was that moisture could evenly enter/exit the neck with a wax finish allowing it to stay straighter. I don't know that I buy that, but that was the idea. Either way, the Voodoo Prima I have has a glossy hard finish of some kind.

View attachment 2766657

View attachment 2766658

The 'hearsay' on mine is that it's one of the first of 'about 12' production basses It's got hallmarks of the earliest run although the SN is a bit wonky, suggesting a little later than some I've seen. But then we also know there were some SN errors along the way where some basses were non-sequentially numbered. So this one is maybe 94 or possibly just a bit earlier.]............
 
View attachment 2766733
Here's a shot of mine, definitely 9 pieces. My serial # is lower than yours, but the pickups and logo tell the full story....

How about at the headstock? That's where I think mine counts to 11. Either way. It was based on what Sheldon could get for wood. At the time he was having a harder time getting wider pieces of good quality maple, so the multi-lams were more extreme.

And yeah, there was someone in the shop who wasn't so good at the concept of consecutive order for serial numbers for a bit. :P

Still looking to see who can nail down what features point to this being an early one.

No guesses anyone?
 
I bet the outer laminates (at the headstock edges and/or neck heel would account for two additional lams on your neck. :) That's like many of the Dingwall necks that people think are 3 pc are actually 5pc.

The idea with wax was that moisture could evenly enter/exit the neck with a wax finish allowing it to stay straighter. I don't know that I buy that, but that was the idea. Either way, the Voodoo Prima I have has a glossy hard finish of some kind.

View attachment 2766657

View attachment 2766658

The 'hearsay' on mine is that it's one of the first of 'about 12' production basses It's got hallmarks of the earliest run although the SN is a bit wonky, suggesting a little later than some I've seen. But then we also know there were some SN errors along the way where some basses were non-sequentially numbered. So this one is maybe 94 or possibly just a bit earlier.

For those who haven't played at home, sharpen your earballs... here's some pics...what features or lack of features can you notice that would tip you off that this is a really early one? :


View attachment 2766659

View attachment 2766660
View attachment 2766661

View attachment 2766662

View attachment 2766663

Sperzel tuners, for one...
 
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