Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ha! I looked at the picture too quick and thought it was distorted! It's freaking me out man!
Would like to try one though.

The idea was invented by Ralph Novak but Dingwall was the first to apply it to a bass. Because of the success of the Dingwall, Novak later produced a fan fret bass of his own. The theory is that like on a piano harp the lower the string pitch, the longer the string should be. Novak spent a lot of time researching the idea and most who have tried them like the sound.

I bought this purple one from Mr Novak . He is our local Dingwall dealer . The day I visited him he had the purple one and a transparent blue over flame maple one . We spent a good hour setting -up and playing them . The purple one was not my first color choice but she played the cleanest with a nicer feeling neck . The difference between the two was minimal but you know how it is when an instrument just resonates and works with your whole body. She was IT !!

Hmm thats pretty kool. So it basically just like playing a normal bass? Only the frets are kinda... crazy? Didnt know if there was any kind of weird tuning or anything odd like that.

I think Harry Fleishman did the fanned frets before Dingwall, on his Scroll basses.

Yeah Jacob . Standard BEADG 5 string tuning. It's just like playing a normal bass until you get up around the 15th fret . The thing that is not normal is every string has the same feel (tension). Perfect !

So is that the whole thing with the fanned frets the sound? I played a dingwall and I personally did not like the feel of the neck much at all. Did not get to plug it in though.

For me...before I broke my wrists it was...Feel and especially the Sound.....Huge !!!

Kool concept. But I dont think id like it.

Cool concept she is....not for everybody though....takes grande huevos !