Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This is a Messe demo of the bass my bass player uses, the Dingwall Combustion, by someone I have never head before, Or Lubianiker. Sure hope I hear more of him. Plenty of clank here. This man can play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX1O4lr61EE

Nice bass, and playing. Let's see one of your bassist playing.

Joey and I have smaller versions of that poster behind the player!
Ours are autographed, too!

doctorwho wrote:Joey and I have smaller versions of that poster behind the player!

AngleFret-poster.jpg

Ours are autographed, too!

Sure like get to see a NAMM once in my life...

jps wrote:Nice bass, and playing. Let's see one of your bassist playing.

Funny how Joe seems to escape the lens in the couple of videos we have... he has a knack for that. I have some footage from this years parade event, but he used his old beater Univox for that. Did not want to take his Dingwall out in case the crowd started throwing stuff.

We have a special fundraiser coming up on Apr 28. Maybe we can find someone to record that one. He will be using his Ampeg and Dingwall for that show.

Important to note Dingwalls aren't just slant fret, they are multi-scale.

I owned a Combustion for a few days before returning it. Really easy to play, balanced perfectly on the strap, fit and finish were good besides a bum output jack, but the tone was lacking and my band really let me have it at the time. Ultimately I had to agree with them. But with the right processing I'm sure it can be made to sound great.

cassius987 wrote:Important to note Dingwalls aren't just slant fret, they are multi-scale.

I owned a Combustion for a few days before returning it. Really easy to play, balanced perfectly on the strap, fit and finish were good besides a bum output jack, but the tone was lacking and my band really let me have it at the time. Ultimately I had to agree with them. But with the right processing I'm sure it can be made to sound great.

Just noticed my title should read Fan Frets, not slant fret. Good point Joshua. Why did you have toneissues I wonder? Joe can get his Combustion to do pretty much anything, and he does not use effects. Only his Ampeg or an old Traynor head and some home made BF design cabs. He did get an update to his pickups which boosted the low B output. Perhaps that or you had problems with the pre? I can only comment that he is able to run a tone gammut from pristine piano to ungodly thump, and all in between. Since he got it, our sound quality went way up.

Can anyone explain if the fanned frets are part of accurate scale and intontation musical theory or are they designed for dealing with orthopedic finger and wrist problems ?

Or are they just designed to look cool ?

8mileshigher wrote:Can anyone explain if the fanned frets are part of accurate scale and intontation musical theory or are they designed for dealing with orthopedic finger and wrist problems ?

Or are they just designed to look cool ?

They are designed to allow for better tension of the lower strings, primarily, as the highest string is at the "standard according to CLF" of 34" with the low B string at 37" (possibly arbitrary, or not) so that the tension feels the same across all the strings (of course, this also depends on the particular strings, but I think Sheldon has strings custom made for his instruments).

Thanks Jeff.

This is another great example why I love this place. My introduction to fan frets.

But how are they for playing, really?

I mean, does the fan spread actually work out better to match the fan shaped spread of the hand? It would seem that it might. Are they fairly easy to adapt to, or is it something that takes a lot of work to get the hang of?

For example, the keyboard (computer) I use more naturally matches the shape of the hand and the way the fingers move. It does take a while to get used to it, but after that, it is actually easier to use:

cjj wrote:But how are they for playing, really?

Ask this guy!

cjj wrote:But how are they for playing, really?

I mean, does the fan spread actually work out better to match the fan shaped spread of the hand? It would seem that it might. Are they fairly easy to adapt to, or is it something that takes a lot of work to get the hang of?

For example, the keyboard (computer) I use more naturally matches the shape of the hand and the way the fingers move. It does take a while to get used to it, but after that, it is actually easier to use:

kb_adv-wht720x442.jpg

While not a bass player in any stretch of the imagination, I found no difficulty adapting to the fan frets on the Combustion, with just a bit of adapting for first position chords. Single notes and riffs were not an issue. A much bigger issue for me to adapt to was the low B. Man that is tough! Forever starting songs in the wrong key...

bitzerguy wrote:A much bigger issue for me to adapt to was the low B. Man that is tough! Forever starting songs in the wrong key...

Just think of it as a really long thumb rest.