# Dingwall NAMM 2018 Reveals!



## TheEmptyCell (Jan 12, 2018)

Left handed Combustion and NG models and the NG3 - factory stock triple pickup NG model; a very popular aftermarket mod

https://instagram.com/p/Bd09YYIH3EC/

https://instagram.com/p/BdggpCunr1l/

Adam (Nolly) himself has also teased the six-string NG2, so that will likely be announced closer to or during NAMM.


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## zarg (Jan 12, 2018)

the swirl looks insane... really sick! 

Kind of weird since he doesn't tour with Periphery anymore but good for him and his signature models are really successful I reckon


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## bostjan (Jan 12, 2018)

Hmm, I can't see the images. I might have to retry later. My interest is really piqued by the six string NG-2


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## Leviathus (Jan 12, 2018)

Dig the swirl!


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## Masoo2 (Jan 12, 2018)

Loving that they are now releasing an NG3, but I'm still waiting for the official 6 string announcement.

They've been able to order for a while, haven't they? Just production was going to start early this year iirc


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## TheEmptyCell (Jan 12, 2018)

zarg said:


> the swirl looks insane... really sick!
> 
> Kind of weird since he doesn't tour with Periphery anymore but good for him and his signature models are really successful I reckon



It's such a popular model that there's no way they'll discontinue it, even if he never plays bass again.



Masoo2 said:


> Loving that they are now releasing an NG3, but I'm still waiting for the official 6 string announcement.
> 
> They've been able to order for a while, haven't they? Just production was going to start early this year iirc



Sixes aren't available for order, and NG3's aren't showing up until later in 2018. Sheldon just posted that they've got a big, new workshop that they're setting up for processing all the Chinese built basses, so it might be sooner!


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## TemjinStrife (Jan 12, 2018)

Apparently there's also going to be a Combustion/NG level D-bird. So far only 4-strings shown; hopefully there will be 5ers as well.


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## Hollowway (Jan 12, 2018)

Ah, crap. I have a NG2 5 string, and I figured I was done with Dingwall for a while. But a 6 string swirl? I may have to look into that. 

What's the big deal with the additional pickup? Not being a bass player, primarily, I don't get the pickup ideas for basses. You've got the P bass, which has one pup right in the thump area. Then you've got the jazz bass, with an additional pup in the bridge area. I'm assuming the NG2 is a pup in the bridge and middle position, and the NG3 just adds the Precision position? And if that's the case, why was the NG2 not made with pickups in the Jazz positions?


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## Masoo2 (Jan 12, 2018)

Hollowway said:


> Ah, crap. I have a NG2 5 string, and I figured I was done with Dingwall for a while. But a 6 string swirl? I may have to look into that.
> 
> What's the big deal with the additional pickup? Not being a bass player, primarily, I don't get the pickup ideas for basses. You've got the P bass, which has one pup right in the thump area. Then you've got the jazz bass, with an additional pup in the bridge area. I'm assuming the NG2 is a pup in the bridge and middle position, and the NG3 just adds the Precision position? And if that's the case, why was the NG2 not made with pickups in the Jazz positions?



The NG2 pickup config allowed for Nolly to get the series wiring/sound he really enjoyed from his 3 pickup ABXXX. However, a lot of people have been modding the NG2s with a third pickup because I guess having two humbuckers right beside each other doesn't lend itself to that much tonal variety? Idk, don't have one. But when I think NG2, I generally only think of that series sound so more variety is always good.


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## A-Branger (Jan 13, 2018)

Hollowway said:


> Ah, crap. I have a NG2 5 string, and I figured I was done with Dingwall for a while. But a 6 string swirl? I may have to look into that.
> 
> What's the big deal with the additional pickup? Not being a bass player, primarily, I don't get the pickup ideas for basses. You've got the P bass, which has one pup right in the thump area. Then you've got the jazz bass, with an additional pup in the bridge area. I'm assuming the NG2 is a pup in the bridge and middle position, and the NG3 just adds the Precision position? And if that's the case, why was the NG2 not made with pickups in the Jazz positions?



his NG2 is more similar to a Music Man humbucker. which thats another pickup sound for you on the bass world, then theres jsut one, or two like on Warwics, or a mix of MM and J pickups ect ect.

Im guessing with the 3 pickup configuration you can have both a MM sound and a JJ bass. Plus whatever mix and combination in between they wired up.

Personally I hate having that many choices on a bass. I rather have one sound and be done. I never touch my blend knob on my own bass. Even if Im playing songs that are recorded with a P bass, or a MM one. In which I could change my blend to either neck or bridge to get closer to that sound. I still rather 1210481% to stay in the middle where I like it better


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## -Nolly- (Jan 13, 2018)

Yup, I'm very grateful to be working with Dingwall still despite technically being a member of Periphery. I still do plenty of things with my basses out of the spotlight and have some cool projects coming up soon too, and Sheldon and the team's support is a true blessing.

As you guys have alluded to, the 3 pickup thing allows you to get the more Jazz-bass-y scooped bridge+neck in parallel thing going without sacrificing the bridge+middle in series sound that I love so much. I actually really enjoy the bridge+neck parallel combo a lot too, and have used both configs extensively on the road and in the studio, so having them both simultaneously accessible in one bass is fantastic.
Weirdly the bridge and middle do have quite distinctly different characters, so I never felt that was a shortcoming on the NG2 (for one, the middle on its own does a great P-bass impression), but perhaps others don't agree.

Despite looking like a ton of options, the NG3 still only has 4 positions on the selector - bridge, bridge+middle series, bridge+neck parallel, and neck. If you want some crazier options, Dingwall also sell their D-bird 3-pickup selector which can be retrofitted, which gives you among other settings, bridge+neck series in parallel with neck for a really monstrous and cool sound.


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## lewis (Jan 13, 2018)

-Nolly- said:


> Yup, I'm very grateful to be working with Dingwall still despite technically being a member of Periphery. I still do plenty of things with my basses out of the spotlight and have some cool projects coming up soon too, and Sheldon and the team's support is a true blessing.
> 
> As you guys have alluded to, the 3 pickup thing allows you to get the more Jazz-bass-y scooped bridge+neck in parallel thing going without sacrificing the bridge+middle in series sound that I love so much. I actually really enjoy the bridge+neck parallel combo a lot too, and have used both configs extensively on the road and in the studio, so having them both simultaneously accessible in one bass is fantastic.
> Weirdly the bridge and middle do have quite distinctly different characters, so I never felt that was a shortcoming on the NG2 (for one, the middle on its own does a great P-bass impression), but perhaps others don't agree.
> ...



Do you still get in the studio with the Periphery lads to track bass/write/produce with them?
Otherwise I feel a massive part of why I love the band will be lost
(not trying to ass kiss but dat bass tone and production... <3 )


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## xwmucradiox (Jan 13, 2018)

The tracking I have done with my NG2 thus far has all been in GCGCF and the F maybe got one note on the whole record so I've been a little more interested in the 4 string option that came out last year.


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## cardinal (Jan 22, 2018)

5-string D-Bird Standard will be hard to resist...


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## Wolfos (Jan 22, 2018)

TheEmptyCell said:


> It's such a popular model that there's no way they'll discontinue it, even if he never plays bass again.
> 
> 
> 
> Sixes aren't available for order, and NG3's aren't showing up until later in 2018. Sheldon just posted that they've got a big, new workshop that they're setting up for processing all the Chinese built basses, so it might be sooner!



I don't know much about the Dingwall manufacturing, I always assumed they were all made in Canada. I just checked out their website and I see the Cumbustion is the only model from China's?

Is there any reason for this? Have they always been built in China or is this a recent thing due to popular demand for production?


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## TemjinStrife (Jan 22, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> I don't know much about the Dingwall manufacturing, I always assumed they were all made in Canada. I just checked out their website and I see the Cumbustion is the only model from China's?
> 
> Is there any reason for this? Have they always been built in China or is this a recent thing due to popular demand for production?


The Combustions have always been built in China (don't know if just CNC'd/finished, or actually assembled) and set up in the Canadian shop.


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## Wolfos (Jan 22, 2018)

TemjinStrife said:


> The Combustions have always been built in China (don't know if just CNC'd/finished, or actually assembled) and set up in the Canadian shop.



Thank you for the info! 
It seems odd to me to have all their models made in Canada except for 1 but I also am not a manufacturing business lol.


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## TemjinStrife (Jan 22, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> Thank you for the info!
> It seems odd to me to have all their models made in Canada except for 1 but I also am not a manufacturing business lol.


Well, look at the price difference between even the most stripped-down Canadian model (ABZ) and the Combustions.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jan 22, 2018)

Making the Combustion MIC is probably the best business decision they've ever made. Having played some, they've done very well keeping the quality good relative to price point.


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## TemjinStrife (Jan 22, 2018)

MaxOfMetal said:


> Making the Combustion MIC is probably the best business decision they've ever made. Having played some, they've done very well keeping the quality good relative to price point.


I really want to try one, as I could use an active version of my ABI (and I don't necessarily want to spend made-in-Canada $$ on it). Can you compare to Canadian models in terms of neck profile? I've basically played my ABI primarily (~75% of the time) for something like eight years, so I'm pretty happy with it overall and would hope the MIC version would feel similar.


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## TheEmptyCell (Jan 22, 2018)

Wolfos said:


> Thank you for the info!
> It seems odd to me to have all their models made in Canada except for 1 but I also am not a manufacturing business lol.


Sheldon put a tremendous amount of effort into getting Dingwall quality cheaper. The Combustion, NG, and now Standard Bird series’ are all made in China, but get a full fretjob, nut filing, and setup in the Canadian Shop.

Combustion’s start at around $1600, the cheapest ABZ is well over $2000, and a long wait.

Apparently the new Combustion/ NG neck profile is very similar to the AB neck profile.


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## Vyn (Jan 22, 2018)

The question is whether or not to get a NG2 on close-out or wait for the NG3. #firstworldproblems haha


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## cardinal (Jan 25, 2018)

I’ve not played the MIC Dingwalls but the MIC Warwicks are fantastic. Honestly other than for ego, I’d recommend a new MIC Warwick over a used German one if buying sight unseen. They are very nicely made and playing, and I dare say more consistent than some of the German ones...

I assume the Dingwall MIC stuff is also pretty darn nice.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jan 25, 2018)

cardinal said:


> I’ve not played the MIC Dingwalls but the MIC Warwicks are fantastic. Honestly other than for ego, I’d recommend a new MIC Warwick over a used German one if buying sight unseen. They are very nicely made and playing, and I dare say more consistent than some of the German ones...
> 
> I assume the Dingwall MIC stuff is also pretty darn nice.



It's amazing to see how far the MIC Warwick stuff has come. I remember when they were garbage. The Korean ones were great too.


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## xwmucradiox (Jan 25, 2018)

Vyn said:


> The question is whether or not to get a NG2 on close-out or wait for the NG3. #firstworldproblems haha



I don't know the situation now but when I got my NG2 it was almost a year wait. The demand is so high that they don't need to close them out. They rarely sit around for long enough.


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## BigViolin (Feb 3, 2018)

Vyn said:


> The question is whether or not to get a NG2 on close-out or wait for the NG3. #firstworldproblems haha



Maybe I missed it but where did you see that the NG2 was being closed out?


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## Vyn (Feb 4, 2018)

BigViolin said:


> Maybe I missed it but where did you see that the NG2 was being closed out?



I haven't seen one, I'm being a bit presumptuous in assuming that there will be a closeout. However if there is I'm so on it.


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## Hollowway (Feb 4, 2018)

Yeah, I'd be surprised if they close out the NG2. And even if they did, I doubt they'd discount price. People will pay retail for them even if the NG3 is an option. They just get snapped up even before they hit the stores. I bought mine as soon as the store knew one would be incoming. And personally, I don't mind just having the two pickups. The 3rd would be nice, but, like guitars, it's hardly a deal breaker. 

Sheldon was smart with the swirls, though. I want one of those!


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## Mwoit (Feb 4, 2018)

When you guys say order them, are they spec ordered or off the shelf?


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## Screamingdaisy (Feb 4, 2018)

Hollowway said:


> Yeah, I'd be surprised if they close out the NG2. And even if they did, I doubt they'd discount price. People will pay retail for them even if the NG3 is an option. They just get snapped up even before they hit the stores. I bought mine as soon as the store knew one would be incoming. And personally, I don't mind just having the two pickups. The 3rd would be nice, but, like guitars, it's hardly a deal breaker.



If they make the NG-3 slightly more expensive than the NG-2 they'll never have to discount the NG-2.

Plus, it looks like the NG-2 hasn't been discontinued.


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## xwmucradiox (Feb 4, 2018)

Mwoit said:


> When you guys say order them, are they spec ordered or off the shelf?



Aside from color there are no options and most NG2s are sold before they arrive at the shop. When they first came out the wait was about a year so I paid a 50% deposit in the Fall and got the bass late the next summer. Seems like there are a few available in stores on reverb now that they've been out for a few years. But say you want a different finish than what's in stock somewhere, you'll probably wait 8-12 months after placing your order.


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## Mwoit (Feb 6, 2018)

xwmucradiox said:


> Aside from color there are no options and most NG2s are sold before they arrive at the shop. When they first came out the wait was about a year so I paid a 50% deposit in the Fall and got the bass late the next summer. Seems like there are a few available in stores on reverb now that they've been out for a few years. But say you want a different finish than what's in stock somewhere, you'll probably wait 8-12 months after placing your order.



Ah, I understand. That seems like a long wait. In my experience with Dingwall, I've bought a ABZ6 off the shelf, then ordered another ABZ6 but with a different finish, neck wood and pickup config (which is now the triple pickup selection), but had to wait about a year for it. Sounds like the NG series are more in demand though!


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## xwmucradiox (Feb 6, 2018)

Mwoit said:


> Ah, I understand. That seems like a long wait. In my experience with Dingwall, I've bought a ABZ6 off the shelf, then ordered another ABZ6 but with a different finish, neck wood and pickup config (which is now the triple pickup selection), but had to wait about a year for it. Sounds like the NG series are more in demand though!



The NG series are just a bass regular folks can afford and for a while were the only option if you wanted a longer scale bass for tuning low. Now there are others but the NG2 is still top of the heap tonally to me. I'd love to have a really nice Dingwall but Im just never going to spend $4000 on one.


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## RND (Mar 12, 2018)

Wow, I thought Dingwall had stopped doing lefties altogether... Man, my wallet is glaring at me now.


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## TheEmptyCell (Mar 13, 2018)

RND said:


> Wow, I thought Dingwall had stopped doing lefties altogether... Man, my wallet is glaring at me now.


They ever did lefties, now they do. Or they will by the end of the year.


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## RND (Mar 15, 2018)

TheEmptyCell said:


> They ever did lefties, now they do. Or they will by the end of the year.


Gotcha, wow. I've gotta seriously consider them now. I've always wanted one


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## -Cloud- (Sep 4, 2018)

-Nolly- said:


> Yup, I'm very grateful to be working with Dingwall still despite technically being a member of Periphery. I still do plenty of things with my basses out of the spotlight and have some cool projects coming up soon too, and Sheldon and the team's support is a true blessing.
> 
> As you guys have alluded to, the 3 pickup thing allows you to get the more Jazz-bass-y scooped bridge+neck in parallel thing going without sacrificing the bridge+middle in series sound that I love so much. I actually really enjoy the bridge+neck parallel combo a lot too, and have used both configs extensively on the road and in the studio, so having them both simultaneously accessible in one bass is fantastic.
> Weirdly the bridge and middle do have quite distinctly different characters, so I never felt that was a shortcoming on the NG2 (for one, the middle on its own does a great P-bass impression), but perhaps others don't agree.
> ...


I have to say I am a bit confused by the NG3 control layout. The one you posted makes a lot of sense (bridge, bridge+middle series, bridge+neck parallel, and neck), but it does not correspond to the official layout on the Dingwall website (attached).

Would you mind shedding light on this, Nolly? Thank you in advance.


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## LordCashew (Sep 4, 2018)

It looks like they've decided to use the pickup settings from the D-Bird bass instead of the normal 3x in the NG-3. The D-bird uses a different version of the 4-way pickup selector than the other Canadian basses. If you prefer the normal 3x, Dingwall will sell you that version of the switch. They are interchangeable.


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## -Cloud- (Sep 4, 2018)

LordIronSpatula said:


> It looks like they've decided to use the pickup settings from the D-Bird bass instead of the normal 3x in the NG-3. The D-bird uses a different version of the 4-way pickup selector than the other Canadian basses. If you prefer the normal 3x, Dingwall will sell you that version of the switch. They are interchangeable.


Interchangeable? How?

I admit I bought it from an online shop without knowing this detail, and now I am more than tempted to replace the switch on order to have a bridge+middle series configuration. That's the sound I was aiming at, and I must say I am surprised by the lack of clarity from Dingwall on this matter.


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## LordCashew (Sep 4, 2018)

-Cloud- said:


> Interchangeable? How?
> 
> I admit I bought it from an online shop without knowing this detail, and now I am more than tempted to replace the switch on order to have a bridge+middle series configuration. That's the sound I was aiming at, and I must say I am surprised by the lack of clarity from Dingwall on this matter.



Interchangeable as in they are essentially the same except for the pickup selections. They drop in and connect to the pickups the same way.

I'm surprised too, honestly. The bridge+middle series setting seems to be the quintessential tone of the NG-2, and is my favorite of the settings in every demo. Maybe they feel the "all three" combined parallel/series setting covers that same ground. I intend to get one of the six string NG-3s when they come out, and though I'll give the D-bird switch a chance if it comes stock, I anticipate bridge+middle series and bridge+neck parallel being the most useful combinations for my needs.

I may even wire up a custom 6-way switch.

1 - bridge solo
2 - bridge and middle parallel
3 - bridge and middle series
4 - middle solo
5 - bridge and neck parallel
6 - neck solo


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## -Cloud- (Sep 5, 2018)

LordIronSpatula said:


> Interchangeable as in they are essentially the same except for the pickup selections. They drop in and connect to the pickups the same way.
> 
> I'm surprised too, honestly. The bridge+middle series setting seems to be the quintessential tone of the NG-2, and is my favorite of the settings in every demo. Maybe they feel the "all three" combined parallel/series setting covers that same ground. I intend to get one of the six string NG-3s when they come out, and though I'll give the D-bird switch a chance if it comes stock, I anticipate bridge+middle series and bridge+neck parallel being the most useful combinations for my needs.
> 
> ...


For information: I just sent a message to Dingwall tech department. As you said, it seems that I should buy and install a "3X Rotary Pickup Selector" in order to have an NG2-like configuration (as the attached image shows). It costs 68 Canadian dollars and I imagine I will need to ask my luthier to help me wiring it, as I'm not very practical with these things.

I'm still a bit confused. I don't understand at all their choice of putting a stock D-Bird selector in NG-3 models, cutting out the signature sound this bass has been designed for (as Nolly wrote, the Bridge+Middle series is his favorite configuration). I guess you can choose to have the Rotary Selector already installed when ordering your bass directly from Dingwall, but it's also true that NG-3s sold by online shops usually come with a D-Bird selector. Again, a really strange choice.


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## A-Branger (Sep 5, 2018)

yeah it doesnt makes sense that Dbird selector. The Bridge+neck position should be a standard one (jazz bass tone-ish). I get wanting to have the full 3 pickups, but then maybe have a 5 way switch?

I though the whole idea to go into 3 pickups was mainly to have that Jazz bass sound


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