I just got this used fretless and it’s beautiful!
It seems to be hiding a secret though, which has me very intrigued!
The big question is to refinish or not? Roll the dice and risk there could be a flaw? I’ve never had anything refinished. I would only be trusting this to a highly credible person with a long track record.
When you look in F-hole, you can see it’s a multiplayer top. This is an option with Dingwall that you have to pay for. So I emailed them to find out the specs. Sure enough, it has a flamed maple “contrast layer”. I don’t see it adding very much to the tone at all, as it’s only an eighth of an inch. So then the question is… Why pay for that and then have it mostly hidden with black burst stain??
Dingwall highly recommends I don’t refinish it because the black burst edges might be there to hide some wood grain anomaly that may not be appealing. I get that, but Ziricote rarely has issues unless it’s a sapwood. That’s just in the centre and I actually love how it looks! I have loved Ziricote for decades and always wanted an acoustic guitar with back sides that way. This is even better since it’s right there… But it needs to be seen!!
Walnut is also very consistent. If there was a knot or anything like that, I would actually like it.
So… I decided I would shine a bright light on it to try to see what’s under that stain and then get some pictures. Sure enough that contrast layer shows up right away. I also can’t see anything that looks “unappealing” anywhere, front back or sides. Multiple pictures are below.
Now, it needs heavier setup work because the fret lines are raised a hair, which makes certain notes basically fret out. This is expected for in an instrument that’s 13 years old. Wenge and Maple won’t move the same. I’m also contemplating getting a poly or CA finish done to the fretboard to lock it in and also give me more of that mwaAAaah sound. With the compound radius it’s not as simple as others. So I want to get all this done at the same time.
Here is what the light revealed. You can clearly see that red line which is the flamed maple. The upper horn picture shows how the Ziricote goes right to the edges with no issue.
And here are what these basses can look like when they have a clear finish. I think you can see why I kind of want to go for this. What do you figure???
It seems to be hiding a secret though, which has me very intrigued!The big question is to refinish or not? Roll the dice and risk there could be a flaw? I’ve never had anything refinished. I would only be trusting this to a highly credible person with a long track record.
When you look in F-hole, you can see it’s a multiplayer top. This is an option with Dingwall that you have to pay for. So I emailed them to find out the specs. Sure enough, it has a flamed maple “contrast layer”. I don’t see it adding very much to the tone at all, as it’s only an eighth of an inch. So then the question is… Why pay for that and then have it mostly hidden with black burst stain??
Dingwall highly recommends I don’t refinish it because the black burst edges might be there to hide some wood grain anomaly that may not be appealing. I get that, but Ziricote rarely has issues unless it’s a sapwood. That’s just in the centre and I actually love how it looks! I have loved Ziricote for decades and always wanted an acoustic guitar with back sides that way. This is even better since it’s right there… But it needs to be seen!!
Walnut is also very consistent. If there was a knot or anything like that, I would actually like it.
So… I decided I would shine a bright light on it to try to see what’s under that stain and then get some pictures. Sure enough that contrast layer shows up right away. I also can’t see anything that looks “unappealing” anywhere, front back or sides. Multiple pictures are below.
Now, it needs heavier setup work because the fret lines are raised a hair, which makes certain notes basically fret out. This is expected for in an instrument that’s 13 years old. Wenge and Maple won’t move the same. I’m also contemplating getting a poly or CA finish done to the fretboard to lock it in and also give me more of that mwaAAaah sound. With the compound radius it’s not as simple as others. So I want to get all this done at the same time.
Here is what the light revealed. You can clearly see that red line which is the flamed maple. The upper horn picture shows how the Ziricote goes right to the edges with no issue.
And here are what these basses can look like when they have a clear finish. I think you can see why I kind of want to go for this. What do you figure???
