Reviewer Geoff St.Germaine
Experience 7
Review date March 06 2002
Manufacturer Dingwall
Model Z2 5 String
Price $3000
Item owned for 1-2 years

Bass type 5 string fretted
Neck join Bolt-On
Neck construction 3 piece hard rock maple
Fingerboard 22 Fret Wenge with Novax Fanned Frets
Body Dual density ash body with Quilted maple top
Finish triple purpleburst
Pickups Custom Bartolini
Hardware Gotoh Tuning Machines, Dingwall Bridge
Electronics 3-band Bartolini preamp with volume with pull passive mode, bass
, mid, treble, mid freq selector switch and 4 position series/parallel switch
Excellent construction, tight glue seams, tight neck pocket, flawless finish. Visually a very eye catching bass, with the Novax fanned frets angled pickups and bridge. Novax frets give the strings a very even tension (37" B, 36.25" E, 35.5" A, 34.75" D, 34" G). I also love the extremely thin and flat neck shape. Quilted top has excellent figuring, as a Zebra model (note the Z in Z2 is Zebra) it has the black highlight ash grain on the rear of the body. Headstock cap appears to be rosewood and is a nice touch over the traditional neck wood or paint that you typically see. The sound is very good. Can be a slight hum at times due to the uneven lengths of the coils in the pickups. Sound is very versatile. The traditional pickup configuration may be better for this. Playabilty is outstanding. Fanned frets are easy on my wrist and the mandolin frets get the action down really low, as does the excellent construction. The pickups being sandwiched can inhidit if you typically anchor on the neck pickups on traditionally spaced pickups. Balance is very neutral, no neck dive and it is quite pleasant to be able to wear the bass for a long time without shoulder fatigue. I feel this bass is an extreme value. Strong words, but I hold it in the company of the F basses, Ken Smith Neck Thrus, Spector USA Neck Thrus and Pedullas that this bass was compared with when I bought it. It was also, interestingly, one of the least expensive of these basses (in one case almost $2500 less).

Construction 100%
(Solid, tight glue lines, tight neck pocket, top of the line components.)
Appearance 100%
(Definitely stands out in a crowd. Beautiful woods and finish.)
Playability 100%
(Low, low action, string spacing is good (18mm))
Sound 100%
(Very versatile sound, can dial in booming bass, traditional jazz tones, or a
modern hifi sound.)
Customer Service 100%
(Excellent, Sheldon is quick to reply to messages and is very thorough in his
responses. )
Value 100%
(Very good value, comparable with much more expensive basses.)
Overall 100%
(Killer bass, best bass I have ever played. Love it so much I am getting a 6
String Dingwall as well.)
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