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Headless Dingwall
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
Cool!
In a previous post about the headless Dingwall I actually mentioned how great it was that they were using top mounted tuning hardware like NS Designs and Riviera, but it looked to me like it was Dingwall's own design. As it turns out, they are using Riviera hardware after all! I think top mounted tuners are one of the best developments for headless instruments. Others are the tool-less clamp system he talks about and the pop out wings for hanging on guitar stands.
In a previous post about the headless Dingwall I actually mentioned how great it was that they were using top mounted tuning hardware like NS Designs and Riviera, but it looked to me like it was Dingwall's own design. As it turns out, they are using Riviera hardware after all! I think top mounted tuners are one of the best developments for headless instruments. Others are the tool-less clamp system he talks about and the pop out wings for hanging on guitar stands.
does anyone know if these will be available in LH models and in fretless models? They look extremely cool, but I won’t buy another bass with those funny metal wires on the fingerboard
Another winner for Dingwall
If they ever release that Neve Preamp for aftermarket sale it should do very well
If they ever release that Neve Preamp for aftermarket sale it should do very well
So you play multiscale fretless basses? That's what's kept me away from them until now, but perhaps it is not that bad/difficult to play?
I'd love to try one. I don't know that it is different enough from an Afterburner to warrant any significant GAS, but it is a good looking bass.
"The current best guess estimate is that the price may turn out to be somewhere between the price of an Afterburner II and a Z, which means somewhere between $4,500 and $5,500 for a 2 pick-up model, and about $300 more for a 3 pickup model, and then $500 to $650 more for an optional preamp."
Plus non standard paint colours:
"Metallic/Candy Colors - $515 Street Price (as seen on the D-Roc Custom and Lee Sklar models)
Metallic Blueberry, Ducati White, Candy Black Cherry, Dark Candy Purple, Candy Red, Chrome Blue, Pelham Blue, Burgundy Mist, Candy Tangerine, Dark Candy Green, Black Gold, Ari Gold, Bronze Age, Metallic Charcoal
ColorShift - $620 Street Price - click here for the options
SuperShift - $1,125 Street Price - click here for the options
Custom Colour - $685 Street Price - Colormatch to any solid paint color you'd like. You must supply a sample photo. Any guitar photo or other photo is fine, or you can find a color on this page. "
Info from here.
Hard pass.
I hope it's a success for DW and the buyers love them, but there's no value here from the POV of this very long time headless fan.
Plus non standard paint colours:
"Metallic/Candy Colors - $515 Street Price (as seen on the D-Roc Custom and Lee Sklar models)
Metallic Blueberry, Ducati White, Candy Black Cherry, Dark Candy Purple, Candy Red, Chrome Blue, Pelham Blue, Burgundy Mist, Candy Tangerine, Dark Candy Green, Black Gold, Ari Gold, Bronze Age, Metallic Charcoal
ColorShift - $620 Street Price - click here for the options
SuperShift - $1,125 Street Price - click here for the options
Custom Colour - $685 Street Price - Colormatch to any solid paint color you'd like. You must supply a sample photo. Any guitar photo or other photo is fine, or you can find a color on this page. "
Info from here.
Hard pass.
I hope it's a success for DW and the buyers love them, but there's no value here from the POV of this very long time headless fan.
Value? This is a custom made instrument. “Value” is usually at the bottom of the importance list of most boutique customers.
Not really, it's a barely modified DW. There is nothing particularly new about it, or difficult to make compared to the production line models. I dig that it's being made in Canadistan so the costs are high.
But note my comment:
I couldn't care less if anyone else finds it to be good value or not - I said I didn't find it to be so.
Edit: the string retainer looks clever, but I've never had an issue with the ones I use now that need an allen key.
“Nothing new about it”? Hm..
Well, 1) I appreciate the tool-less string changes, especially if an emergency situation pops up on the gig. I don’t think simple string changes should ever require separate tools and this is a long-standing problem with most headless guitars. That’s new.
2) The new custom bridge design with top-mounted tuners is very cool and not something you see very often so I’d say it’s new, and certainly new for Dingwall.
3) The flip-out wings making it mountable on any standard guitar stand is definitely new and solves a huge challenge for the vast majority of headless guitars.
4) The unique thick-to-thin highly resonant body design is also new for Dingwall. Something Sheldon spoke about in one of the interviews on YT.
5) and of course being headless makes it the first headless Dingwall, so that is new. And nice for travel gigs and generally keeping a lower profile.
6) while not new, the Neve preamp is not something you can get on the standard production line models since you were using that as the comparison, nor anywhere else at the moment making it at least unique to Dingwall.
What I see is one of the more innovative headless basses out there that solves many of the problems most headless guitars have.
I’m not sure what more “new” things a bass guitar needs for one to say it has something new.
1: Already commented on that, but in the 40y I've had headless instruments, a string break has NEVER happened. Nor on a conventional headed bass for that matter, but any gig I'm getting paid more than fuel money for, I make sure I bring a backup.
2: The bridge is Riviera's designs, so they've spent a bit of CAD time to make it into a 1 piece. Not a difficult job. It's a relatively simple part and it's not like it's under tremendous load or reliability is a critical issue, such as in aerospace.
3: I hadn't seen that, so I'll look into it and see if it's worth any price premium.
4: Yet to find a 'resonant' body in the hundreds of instruments I've owned to translate to any difference is electrical output. The exception being full hollow body units. So I have no idea whether this is an actual benefit or not. Cavities in solid body instruments for a variety of reasons is hardly a new concept.
Note: I don't think SD is selling snake oil here, just never seen it myself and I'm sure he honestly believes it to be of benefit. I'm yet to be convinced.
5: First for DW yes, but not a difficult implementation these days.
6: Electronics is my speciality, and my experience with OB preamps is that, except for a baked in EQ curve or some FX like the Darkglass in the Stingrays, that it's trivially easy to do quiet, low power, flat, low distortion units these days. I don't see why anyone would want a baked in tone in an OB pre
I got to borrow a whole rack full of 'name' brand studio mic preamps a while ago and was not at all impressed with their measured performance (using an AP), especially for the asking prices. Yet to be convinced anything Neve is worth it beyond the name.
I have no dog in this fight, unlike you I think, so I'm just commenting on what I see based upon my experience both as a bassist/guitarist and an engineer. If you're not happy with my comments, then that's not my problem, but I'd say them to your face too, and if you're reading anything but bemusement into them, then that's entirely you.
So, I'm not sure why you're in the thread then, to be honest? You want to dismiss the work put in, over simplify it, and hand wave things away because they "could" be done by other people. The fact is, Sheldon and crew _did_ it, didn't just leave it on the table as something that "could" be done by someone else. That has value.
If you don't appreciate it for what it is, that's totally fine. There's hundreds of other companies making basses, stick with what you like. But there really isn't a reason to go into another thread and act how you are about things. Your attitude around it isn't great or really conductive to a forum, either. Chill and drop the chip on your shoulder a bit. Let people like things, and let people appreciate innovation - big and small - that is executed. Your communication style IS your problem, in fact; it's not up to everyone else to tip-toe around it/you.
---
I really like how this is mostly AB, but, it took design elements from Prima Artists as well. The more I look at these, the more I'd want to try one. Soon as one hits the used market I'll probably pick it up -- I have too much impatience and indecision to jump into the build queue for one (and just got my 3rd Z, so, jumping right back into queue again would feel kind of bad). I don't do fly dates or small stages so much anymore, so I don't _know_ that I need a headless, but, I appreciate the design and effort that went into this model.
Because it's a public forum and I'm allowed to. Or to your mind, are only fanboys allowed to comment? If you intend to police that for all threads, the forum traffic is gonna diminish a lot.
My level of amusement has only increased since my previous post.
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,890
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
Repeatedly denigrating the work of a bass builder under the guise of “it’s my opinion”, and starting petty arguments with strangers defending that opinion, isn’t how happy adults spend their time.
Best of luck what whatever is actually bothering you that you’ve decided to project here.
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,890
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
Looks like the guy opened his account last month and is behaving like a classic troll.
“Because it’s a public forum, and I’m allowed to be a needlessly negative and combative with strangers here” certainly isn’t the opinion of someone who deserves to be taken seriously.
Yet you still found the need to project your insecurities onto someone you don't know at all.
All I did in my original post was to post the anticipated costs, and say that I saw little value in it.
Then the fanboys came in and started justifying their own purchases, so I have responded to them. I have been polite, and nothing I've posted here, I wouldn't say to anyone IRL, even SD, because then he'd have the full interaction of seeing my expression and hearing my voice. If you did, you'd know I wasn't trolling, a term that is the forum equivalent of simply calling someone a slur to shut them down.
I've laid out why I don't see the value in a couple of hunks of wood and metal. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but as for,
I have denigrated no one, and repeatedly said I'm not convinced about certain features and I am allowed to voice my opinion and stated why I think what I do, not just "it's an overpriced hunk of crap" or something similar*. Or "a HILS is only $1k!!!!".
Did you bother to read to the end of my first post in this thread, where I said,
which I think is very clear and very non-troll as I'm clearly wishing the best for the success of the model line and the happiness of the buyers.
I underlined the section in my own self quote to make it even more self evident to the brand fans who clearly have their knickers in a twist when someone says anything not totally reverential about their fave maker.
* but I'm sure that's how you'll read anything I say about them anyway.
