Well, I got the bass yesterday. And all I can say is "wow!" Great looking, sounding, and playing bass. Setup was perfect--I don't know how long it has been since I bought a new bass that didn't need some sort of adjustment or tweak. Intonation was dead on--I don't know if I've ever had a new bass that I didn't need to adjust the intonation at least a little.
I'm sort of shocked that pretty much all of my expectations about what this bass would be like were totally wrong. I've had hundreds of basses over the years (no, I'm not exaggerating, ask my bank account). I've worked on basses and guitars most of my life. So I generally know pretty much what to expect when I buy a bass or guitar just by the design and specs. Not the case with this Dingwall. I will say, though, that I've never played a fan fret bass until this one.
1) Related to my question on this thread. Wrong! I was expecting the left hand reach to be unmanageable with that 37 inch scale. I've been playing 34 and 30 inch basses the past few years (mostly 30 inch). I've had several 35 inch 5-strings that were nearly unplayable for me because of the left hand reach. So... I was really worried about this Dingwall and expecting that I'd probably be sending it back because I couldn't play it. Not the case at all. Obviously it's more of a reach than my short scale basses, but not really much more than a 34 inch Fender, if any at all. This seems to be due to the way the bass hangs on a strap. The way a Spector hangs on the strap puts the headstock about a mile away (same with Warwick), but this Dingwall puts it about where a Fender J or P is. Maybe just slightly more, but not much. I have ZERO problem with the reach on this bass.
2) I was expecting a huge learning curve and adjustment with the fan fret multiscale thing. Surprisingly, I barely even noticed it! Felt pretty routine. I do notice it a bit on the upper frets above about 15. But I don't spend much time up there anyway. On the lower frets, it's kinda just business as usual with slight spread of the fingers due to the larger fret spacing--by the way, I love the very small frets! In fact, adjusting was such a non-event that I spent about five minutes messing with it when I first got it and promptly took it to a recording session. Nothing hard to play, but I had no problems at all. And it sounded great.
3) I was also expecting that I would immediately be putting really light gauge strings on it, especially with that long scale. Honestly, the stock strings feel fine. They are a little stiffer than I like them, but nothing worth worrying about. That's sort of counter-intuitive for me. I absolutely HATE heavy, stiff strings. It has been my experience that the longer the scale, the lighter gauge string I use. I use 40 - 100 on both my short and standard scale basses (I've used 35 - 95 a lot in the past as well on the standard scale basses). But the heavier strings seem to be no big deal on the Dingwall for me. I'll probably put slightly lighter strings when these die and I change them, but nothing to worry about.
4) I assumed the size of the bass would be unwieldy in general. Again... I play mostly 30 inch scale these days. But, the Dingwall is no more unwieldy than the typical Fender P or J. Feels great strapped on, very playable.
Also, the preamp is killer. It sounds fabulous both passive and active. I love that the passive tone control works in both passive and active modes. The pickup switching is great (and I guess exclusive to this model). I could go on gushing about this purple monster, but you get the picture. This is absolutely the best 5-string I've ever had, hands down--playing and sounding and looking. I've had maybe twenty or so 5-strings over the years. I've always far preferred 4-strings because, I guess, I've never really had a 5-string that I connected with (Zons, Warwicks, pre-Gibson Tobias, etc, etc). But, seriously, I could just totally switch over to this bass right now and not have a problem with it. Of course... I won't because I have bad GAS. Already thinking about a D-Roc.
I have a 30 inch scale S Martyn Blaze 5-string bass. And it sounds very nice. But... the open low B just cannot compete with the Dingwall low B. Not that the Martyn sounds bad, but the 37 inch scale on the Dingwall is just so clear and punchy.
Here it is. It's dark in the photo, but in the light it's a really vibrant, pretty transparent purple. I'm a sucker for purple basses.
