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Yeah, I noticed that after I posted it. I am curious as to Bruce's thinking as he and Sheldon know their stuff.
I wonder if they've done anything to mitigate the possibility of all those little segments shifting, raising, or moving? While they don't fall directly under the string they could still end up feeling pretty weird when muting or for people who play with a flatter left hand technique.
Hi, Sheldon: uhmmm... would it be possible to have different colors for each segment? 
What??? I can plainly see the difference in the grain in the strips of wood that are inlaid. It looks like the strips were milled from the same board that was used to make the fingerboard, so the grain is a close match. But you can see the glue seams.
I had the same thought. I wasn't even aware that manufacturers were out there making lined fretless basses by building necks with fret slots and then filling the slots, rather than building unlined fretless necks and painting lines on them. I've admittedly only ever played a few factory-lined fretless basses, but to my recollection they were all marked with lines rather than filled slots (or at least inlaid with something that seemed a lot more seemless than filled fret slots).
The photo is grainy but the ends look rounded to me. The inlay slots look like were cut with a tiny end mill. No problem for a basic CNC router. If the g string is ~0.045", the slots look like they could easily be 0.03125" aka 1/32" which is a pretty small tool, but common enough. I also agree that the fingerboard looks like a single slab of wood in this photo. Hats off to Dingwall - I think it looks amazing and I bet it plays and sounds even better.
That's amazing. I would totally rock that. And I love that they're considering the resonance difference between the plastic and the wood, and the difference in expansion coefficients.
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I'll add a couple of comments to clear up some confusion.
Solution for a problem that doesn't exist - yes and no. If you're using wood filler strips, there's a good but not 100% chance that you won't have expansion and contraction issues. If you use synthetic materials to achieve greater visual contrast, you will be much more likely to experience problems IF you play with a super-low Mwahhh type action and IF your climate either cycles or is different than the climate that the bass was built in. Our climate cycles from 15% RH in the winter to 90% RH in the summer. We build for those kinds of extremes because we've seen what happens to basses and guitars if you don't. We didn't have a problem years ago because we were coating the fingerboard with epoxy but that led to other problems and was difficult and messy.
Done for marketing hype - we sell maybe half a dozen fretless basses per year. This is just something we came up with as a response to our customers needs and wants. We're not trying to take over the fretless market.
Bruce's solution is brilliant. I never thought of doing it that way. We just programmed our CNC mill to slot the segments with a .6 mm cutter. This is how we cut our standard fret slots (continuous slots of course).
Solution for a problem that doesn't exist - yes and no. If you're using wood filler strips, there's a good but not 100% chance that you won't have expansion and contraction issues. If you use synthetic materials to achieve greater visual contrast, you will be much more likely to experience problems IF you play with a super-low Mwahhh type action and IF your climate either cycles or is different than the climate that the bass was built in. Our climate cycles from 15% RH in the winter to 90% RH in the summer. We build for those kinds of extremes because we've seen what happens to basses and guitars if you don't. We didn't have a problem years ago because we were coating the fingerboard with epoxy but that led to other problems and was difficult and messy.
Done for marketing hype - we sell maybe half a dozen fretless basses per year. This is just something we came up with as a response to our customers needs and wants. We're not trying to take over the fretless market.
Bruce's solution is brilliant. I never thought of doing it that way. We just programmed our CNC mill to slot the segments with a .6 mm cutter. This is how we cut our standard fret slots (continuous slots of course).
This makes perfect sense. It is a nice option to have available for those who want it. Functionally, it is of little value to me, but I think it looks like an interesting artistic design statement.
It's an interesting way to solve a new problem. Nice thinking. Let's see how it goes in the market. I've never heard of fretless lines causing a noise. I've been playing fretless since around 81 or so and none of my lined fretlesses ever made noise and I respectfully call straight BS on them for even saying they do. But I actually like the way these lines look. Cool idea. Dingwall is pushing the design of instruments in some unique ways and I'd honestly dig this look, needed or not.
Amazing solution. For me, I'd want a laquered/epoxyed board anyway, so I don't need that particular solution. But interesting engineering, and it stirs in the traditionalists pot.
I was fixin' to say..... That looks like one big board to me too.
But however they do it, that's an ingenious idea. The only other solution to this problem of defects forming around the inserts in a lined bass is a hard clear finish of some sort over the board. Whether you want the finish on there or not, you have to have it or you will get defects and buzzing at the slots - it's just a matter of time.
Either that or paint them onto a blank board somehow, but then you still need the finish to keep them from wearing off in the first place.
So way to go! I'm not a Dingwall type of guy, but this is a true innovation, IMO. And yes, looks expensive and I bet the tools to do this cost the factory a pretty fortune too....
L
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It's more common with conversions, mainly because the wood is accustomed to the pressure of the frets when the fingerboard was made. After removal (always a brutal job on a well made fretted bass), the chances are almost 100% that the wood will "miss" the frets and will expand from the relief of the pressure. Forming exasperating divets around some of the slots, usually about 6 months or so later. This happens no matter how careful you are about press fitting similar wood into the slots. And no matter how perfect the board is when you first do the conversion.
Don't ask me how I know that.
Factory lined FLs have the inserts put in in the slots when they were cut as-is, so there's less chance of the wood responding to a relief of pressure against the sides of the slots.
But if you own a bare-wood lined long enough, and play it with low action, the chances will eventually rise above 50% that you will get a hint of a buzz in at least one location. And it'll be a location that you use all the time and it'll drive you crazy. You can go over it with the bass in a jig with a good radius beam and get rid of it, though, so it's not fatal. But you do have to have the tools and the willingness to dress the board a little more often.
So, Dingwall isn't just whistlin' Dixie on this one...
L
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I've had some VERY nice line fretless basses that definitely had issues with the lines needing to be dressed more regularly than my unlined boards. At the same time, I probably wouldn't be too interested in an unlined multi-scale bass like the Dingwall. This is an obvious solution for both problems, IMO.
I have 4 unlined fretlesses, plus URB and EUB. I consider it my primary instrument. A fretless Dingwall is intriguing, but I'm not sure that I would be up to an unlined Dingwall after 25yrs of playing single-scale fretless.
I have 4 unlined fretlesses, plus URB and EUB. I consider it my primary instrument. A fretless Dingwall is intriguing, but I'm not sure that I would be up to an unlined Dingwall after 25yrs of playing single-scale fretless.
Gotta love this forum! Bruce thought you had come up with an innovative idea, but not what you actually did. But now the idea is out there..
