Dingwall Owners Club

[Sheldon D.]

Thanks Sheldon. So the new monorails are direct replacements? Holes would match up? What is the time frame for next batch? What is your opinion of the Payson bridge? I could get one of them right now. Thinking about a repaint and if I changed out the bridge, it would be best to do it before the paint. What about the Babicz Full Contact mono bridges? I know they are pricey but look very well made. Will they fit?

Thanks, Kirk

No, the new Hipshot/Dingwall saddles have a different hole spacing and footprint. They can be installed by a tech but they are not a direct replacement for the older monorails. No experience with the Payson bridge. We've tested the Babicz and they work well. They were just too costly for production.

 

[kirkdickinson]

No, the new Hipshot/Dingwall saddles have a different hole spacing and footprint. They can be installed by a tech but they are not a direct replacement for the older monorails. No experience with the Payson bridge. We've tested the Babicz and they work well. They were just too costly for production.

So, whatever I do replacement wise, I will have to have the holes filled? I guess I should do that before a refinish. Do you know the time frame for the next order of the Dingwall/Hipshot Solo bridges?

 

[Sheldon D.]

So, whatever I do replacement wise, I will have to have the holes filled? I guess I should do that before a refinish. Do you know the time frame for the next order of the Dingwall/Hipshot Solo bridges?

I'll get you to email [email protected] for that info. I'm just heading off to China and will be out of range for the next few days.

 

[Selta]

Here's the Prima at my local shop:

The DBird just landed a short while ago. Shop opens at 10am, so I'll be there when the doors open tomorrow to play it. The owner sent me a "tease" photo of it... can't wait to get my hands on it, though it has been ages since I've played a 4 string... and when I did, it was B/E/A/D tuned. I seriously have to make sure to leave my wallet at home.

 

[EMoneySC2]

Here's the Prima at my local shop:
View attachment 2774276

The DBird just landed a short while ago. Shop opens at 10am, so I'll be there when the doors open tomorrow to play it. The owner sent me a "tease" photo of it... can't wait to get my hands on it, though it has been ages since I've played a 4 string... and when I did, it was B/E/A/D tuned. I seriously have to make sure to leave my wallet at home.

Bring the wallet along man. Ya never know if you're gonna get pulled over on the way there! (or on the way home with your new bass!) ;-)

 

[spiritbass]

Wow. After being mailed from Denmark last Friday, my new part (volume control/bypass switch/circuit board) arrived today. I have to wait longer on shipments from Amazon! I like the new volume control ("Jason" brand) better than the original MEC unit because it is not sealed. Surgery this weekend...

 

[AB Nate]

Wow. After being mailed from Denmark last Friday, my new part (volume control/bypass switch/circuit board) arrived today. I have to wait longer on shipments from Amazon! I like the new volume control ("Jason" brand) better than the original MEC unit because it is not sealed. Surgery this weekend...

Part pics?

 

[AB Nate]

Here's the Prima at my local shop:
View attachment 2774276

The DBird just landed a short while ago. Shop opens at 10am, so I'll be there when the doors open tomorrow to play it. The owner sent me a "tease" photo of it... can't wait to get my hands on it, though it has been ages since I've played a 4 string... and when I did, it was B/E/A/D tuned. I seriously have to make sure to leave my wallet at home.

Yup that ones on reverb. It's gorgeous. Even how the wood grain blends on the pick up covers. Just built to perfection.

What colour is the d bird at that shop?

 

[Selta]

The grey color... not sure what it is called. They also had a purple one, but it sold before it hit the shop, so I didn't get a chance to play it.

 

[NaH]

The grey color... not sure what it is called. They also had a purple one, but it sold before it hit the shop, so I didn't get a chance to play it.

Gunmetal Metallic

 

[spiritbass]

Part pics?

Best I could do without sun light:

There is a spacer/bushing below the nut on the shaft which looks to be reversible. The end that is presently away from the nut would grip the foil shielding on the underside of a pick guard very well. I will leave it in its present orientation as it will mount to a metal control plate on my bass. This piece takes the place of washers on the original MEC control.

 

[bebass]

I'll get you to email [email protected] for that info. I'm just heading off to China and will be out of range for the next few days.

Hey, here is an idea, just go ahead and purchase the factory so they dedicate to making Dingwall basses! ha ha
I went back and forth to Baoding City for over 10 years. Hope you find some good pijiu while your'e there.

 

[bebass]

This does happen. My experience with a bass ordered in 2005 was that I had a quote of 6-8 months. The Super-J was released at NAMM in early 2006...and was wildly successful and wait times went to a year, then 3 years before they got a handle on the situation. Part of how they did that was shop expansion the other part was to eliminate some of the options they'd been applying to Z series basses (less customization), and I believe they streamlined the AB production as well.

I think you may notice more jigs, forms and other 'production related' coming out of the shop. This is to ease some of the production time...and we do know that they've hired some people. A quick shout out to Carrie in the Dingwall shop who's helped me a few times in the past few months and is taking some of the administrative tasks off of Sheldon's shoulders.

But yeah, quality control. We want it, the shop wants it. And when a production run or sample out of a factory that's thousands of miles away doesn't meet standard, it causes a chain affect hold up. One of the thing that makes Combustion and NG basses worth doing is having a contractor with higher quality production standards. That means better CNC (good quality technology on the floor, higher tolerances for the smaller details; but also keeping bits sharp, well trained workers who know what they're doing and are paying attention to the work in front of them), and hand work... Those frets are still going in by hand and someone has to pay attention to the assembly. Paint shop work is also fussy.

In the world of this kind of production a factory or vendor might have multiple tiers of products and quality but you always need to keep an eye on tolerances and output.

If you're working with a dealer who isn't being upfront, you should have that discussion with them. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but having that information is important. When I talked to the shop and also the dealer for my NG-2 order I got two sort of different answers. The shop had an estimate that was the end of October. The dealer (Bass Central) said (and I paraphrase) "yes, that's the current wisdom, but you'll probably be less disappointed if you consider the soft estimate to be the last day of November at the earliest. If it comes in by then, be psyched and feel lucky...if not, it shouldn't be too far out after that."

Good points. I always tell people the basic ETA that is what Dingwall supplies but I also tell them that if they are purchasing for a recording project or must have a bass at a certain time, to not rely on that ETA; the basic saying is "they ship when they ship". IMO the quality control is WELL worth the wait.

 

[BurningSkies]

Here's the Prima at my local shop:
View attachment 2774276

The DBird just landed a short while ago. Shop opens at 10am, so I'll be there when the doors open tomorrow to play it. The owner sent me a "tease" photo of it... can't wait to get my hands on it, though it has been ages since I've played a 4 string... and when I did, it was B/E/A/D tuned. I seriously have to make sure to leave my wallet at home.

I remember that guy from the first time around...flamed redwood? The inlay is an oblique 'smoke' pattern. This was around the time that Sheldon was really digging in to custom inlay work on fretboards.

 

[Selta]

Some crappy photos from my shop visit today.... got to spend roughly an hour with this one:

It's certainly very nice, as everyone should expect. I like the shape. The balance is amazing (the shop has several other TBirds, including an all original '77 -- this blew them all away). The tone is pretty dang similar to my Afterburners, and the neck very much felt similar to my ABs as well in general terms (mine are 5s though, so not identical). It was fun to play, but, I'm GASing way less for one now -- it wouldn't do anything for me that my ABs already don't, and it'd be hard to justify purchasing as my 4th Dingwall. If it were a 5, or tuned B/E/A/D, I maybe would've connected a tad more with it? Hard to say.

I spent a few minutes after the DBird with several TBirds from Gibson and Lull. Again, the DBird, IMO, was a noticably "better" bass than those. It's still available, $3590 is the asking price. I'm betting it doesn't last long.

Theeeeen I got to spend about 45 minutes with this one:

I'm seriously sitting here trying to figure out how to get $10k. I didn't do anything at all of a decent job with the photos... lots of details that I just didn't capture well. Like, the strip of maple underneath the fretboard, on top of the 7 laminates. Or the dual-density body. One thing that photos can never capture is how it feels and plays... and just, wow. The neck on this just agrees with me so much more than my AB necks. I felt like I could just fly on there, and more of the stuff I play felt a bit more natural. I wasn't expecting that to be such a big difference, but, it sure was.

 

[Flabzilla]

Some crappy photos from my shop visit today.... got to spend roughly an hour with this one:
View attachment 2775284
View attachment 2775285
View attachment 2775286

It's certainly very nice, as everyone should expect. I like the shape. The balance is amazing (the shop has several other TBirds, including an all original '77 -- this blew them all away). The tone is pretty dang similar to my Afterburners, and the neck very much felt similar to my ABs as well in general terms (mine are 5s though, so not identical). It was fun to play, but, I'm GASing way less for one now -- it wouldn't do anything for me that my ABs already don't, and it'd be hard to justify purchasing as my 4th Dingwall. If it were a 5, or tuned B/E/A/D, I maybe would've connected a tad more with it? Hard to say.

I spent a few minutes after the DBird with several TBirds from Gibson and Lull. Again, the DBird, IMO, was a noticably "better" bass than those. It's still available, $3590 is the asking price. I'm betting it doesn't last long.

Theeeeen I got to spend about 45 minutes with this one:
View attachment 2775287
View attachment 2775288
View attachment 2775289
View attachment 2775290

I'm seriously sitting here trying to figure out how to get $10k. I didn't do anything at all of a decent job with the photos... lots of details that I just didn't capture well. Like, the strip of maple underneath the fretboard, on top of the 7 laminates. Or the dual-density body. One thing that photos can never capture is how it feels and plays... and just, wow. The neck on this just agrees with me so much more than my AB necks. I felt like I could just fly on there, and more of the stuff I play felt a bit more natural. I wasn't expecting that to be such a big difference, but, it sure was.

Beautiful.

 

[AB Nate]

Some crappy photos from my shop visit today.... got to spend roughly an hour with this one:
View attachment 2775284
View attachment 2775285
View attachment 2775286

It's certainly very nice, as everyone should expect. I like the shape. The balance is amazing (the shop has several other TBirds, including an all original '77 -- this blew them all away). The tone is pretty dang similar to my Afterburners, and the neck very much felt similar to my ABs as well in general terms (mine are 5s though, so not identical). It was fun to play, but, I'm GASing way less for one now -- it wouldn't do anything for me that my ABs already don't, and it'd be hard to justify purchasing as my 4th Dingwall. If it were a 5, or tuned B/E/A/D, I maybe would've connected a tad more with it? Hard to say.

I spent a few minutes after the DBird with several TBirds from Gibson and Lull. Again, the DBird, IMO, was a noticably "better" bass than those. It's still available, $3590 is the asking price. I'm betting it doesn't last long.

Theeeeen I got to spend about 45 minutes with this one:
View attachment 2775287
View attachment 2775288
View attachment 2775289
View attachment 2775290

I'm seriously sitting here trying to figure out how to get $10k. I didn't do anything at all of a decent job with the photos... lots of details that I just didn't capture well. Like, the strip of maple underneath the fretboard, on top of the 7 laminates. Or the dual-density body. One thing that photos can never capture is how it feels and plays... and just, wow. The neck on this just agrees with me so much more than my AB necks. I felt like I could just fly on there, and more of the stuff I play felt a bit more natural. I wasn't expecting that to be such a big difference, but, it sure was.

The neck is honestly why I've fallen for the Zs. And progressing towards the 6 strings world the Z makes it darn near like a 5 of another brand or neck. Every other Dingwall has a killer neck but the Z series is just more killerer. I can't even imagine that prima neck. I wish that thing was closer, although it's probably a great thing it's not. I'd make a 6 hour drive to check it out.

Thanks for sharing your experience with those.

 

[bonz - darrell]

Every other Dingwall has a killer neck but the Z series is just more killerer.

Sig worthy.

 

[NaH]

The neck is honestly why I've fallen for the Zs. And progressing towards the 6 strings world the Z makes it darn near like a 5 of another brand or neck. Every other Dingwall has a killer neck but the Z series is just more killerer. I can't even imagine that prima neck. I wish that thing was closer, although it's probably a great thing it's not. I'd make a 6 hour drive to check it out.

Thanks for sharing your experience with those.

It is interesting. After all the Z neck talk, I just had to try one. I got a chance to play a Sklar (which as I understand has a neck similar to the Z) and for me it almost seemed too thin and my hands are small - you'd think I'd like it). I prefer the AB2 neck, though I LOVE the mandolin frets on the Sklar which they are now only doing on Sklars. I have a 4 string Super PJ with Mandolin frets and I love it. I'd love to find a 5 string AB with Mando frets. I'll bet if someone gave me a Z I'd get used to it though.

Right now I really want to try FDVs, but all my Dingwalls have old style shells. Maybe I should buy a 3-D printer (but then I might as well buy a newer bass).

 

[Bassheart365]

The neck is honestly why I've fallen for the Zs. And progressing towards the 6 strings world the Z makes it darn near like a 5 of another brand or neck. Every other Dingwall has a killer neck but the Z series is just more killerer. I can't even imagine that prima neck. I wish that thing was closer, although it's probably a great thing it's not. I'd make a 6 hour drive to check it out.

Thanks for sharing your experience with those.

I know what you are saying Nate. I own a Z3, NG2, an SJ5, and once owned an ABZ. As time goes by I have noticed that my playing goes up a notch when I'm on that Z3 neck. I am able to make reaches with more ease, with less hand flex, and play with less effort on the thinner, slightly flattened neck of the Z3 compared to the NG2 or SJ5. I didn't notice a big difference at first, but as time goes by it has become more noticeable to me.