Sheldon Dingwall crafts some of the finest basses on the planet. From the Afterburners to the Z’s, the Prima’s and the Super J’s, these are fab instruments. If they were merely decent basses, they’d still be noteworthy due to the fact they are ‘fanned-fret’ designs (see Bass Gear Magazine Issue 2 for a full review of the Z3 and comments on the advantages of fanned frets). But Dingwalls are among the very TOP basses made anywhere in terms of tone, craftsmanship and playability. In fact, Dingwall was one of only three bass companies to receive a Bass Gear Magazine NAMM Show award last month (see below). If there’s one complaint we have with Sheldon, it’s that he never gave us a free bass. No, that’s not it, it’s that his basses start at $2,000, with many models running $3K, $4K, $5K…

Now there’s a Dingwall “for the rest of us.” It’s called the Combustion, and it’s hot (sorry). Sheldon promises 100% Dingwall tone. We know for sure that it has a great start with made-in-Canada Dingwall FD3-A pickups, EMG USA BT07 2-band pre-amp, Dingwall USA strings and final setup in Dingwall’s shop in Canada.

So how Dingwall get the price just north of $1000? Building it in China is part of the equation. Upping the production run, standardizing options and working on thin margins also helps.

The basses we saw were all 5-string models, but a 4-string will be available in late 2009. Bods are African Mahogany (Khaya for our dendrology readers), necks are five laminations of Maple and fretboards are Rosewood. Controls are volume, blend and the 2-band EQ. The bridge is a monorail-style. All have fanned-frets, with string lengths being the same as all their long scale basses. The basses will be available in six colors with seven optional pickguards initially. Body colors are Natural, Black, Olympic White, Candy Apple Red, Root Beer and 2-tone Sunburst. Pickguards are Black/White/Black, White/Black/White, White Pearloid, Black Pearloid, Baltic Amber, Mirror and Tortoise. Street price is $1199 and delivery is set for April.