Product details
The SP1 is the latest addition to the Ready To Play range and, as the model name suggests, draws much of its inspiration from the Custom Shop Super P. The initial brief was to come up with a more affordable instrument that combined elements of Leo Fender’s iconic blueprint with some of the innovative features for which Dingwall Guitars are now famous, including the customary multi-scale fingerboard.
Body & Neck:
Dingwall made the body profile thinner, so you get a lightweight body, but with a more solid tone. The body is alder, while the bolt-on neck is a single piece of maple. The rosewood fingerboard is flawlessly finished, with smoothly rounded edges and 22 banjo-sized frets.
Electronics:
The SP1 is passive, so there are no batteries or EQ boost, but the quality of the tonewoods, alnico-loaded pickups, and the overall construction mean that there’s absolutely no need for them. The front control is volume, and the back is a master tone. Between these is the Quad-Tone Pickup Selector. In its first position, fully clockwise, this selects the front pickup alone; one click clockwise is the front plus the back pickup in series, then in parallel; and finally, the back pickup on its own.
Hardware:
The Dingwall Minimalist bridge features a custom riser system that’s designed to provide an increased range of flexibility when it comes to adjusting the action. If you play with a heavy technique, instead of raising your individual bridge saddles, which can put stress on the string and cause premature breakage, you can raise the entire bridge unit. That way you can move between a high action or a low action just by adjusting the shims, which leaves the saddles only for fine tuning. The tuners are lightweight, open-gear designs, and there is also a bullet string retainer to help maintain a decent break angle across the Graphtech nut.
Aside from the multi-scale design, visually, the first thing you’ll notice that’s different about the SP1 is the scratchplate, which started out as a hand-painted design by Hugh Fisher. Dingwall has digitized Hugh’s designs and had them UV printed. Each one is slightly transparent, so the colour of the body also influences the look of the pickguard.
Specs:
Dingwall SP1 4-String Metallic Black Gloss
PJ-Style Multiscale Electric Bass
Body: Alder
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood (Dalbergia Latifolia)
Neck Mount: bolt on
Nut: Graphtech black tusq
Scale: 32" to 34.25"
Pickups: Dingwall FD3n (Bridge) - Dingwall Dual-P (neck)
Controls: Master volume, Master tone
Switches: 4-position Dingwall Quad pickup selector
Bridge: Dingwall minimalist
Hardware Finish: Black
Custom Dingwall Padded Gig Bag included
“I don’t think it’s coincidental that the bassists who first recognized Dingwall’s potential were session guys who play and record bass day in, day out. These players need a versatile instrument that can deliver a studio-quality sound, be comfortable to play and remain straightforward to use. The Dingwall SP1 ticks all those boxes, and you can expect to see a lot more of them around in the future.” – Sheldon Dingwall