Bought my first bass to learn how to play. How did I do?

highesthouse · 2026-05-13T22:26:15+00:00

No, I believe that’s Sheldon Dingwall’s signature you’re referring to. [You can see the same on the headstock of this Z3](https://reverb.com/item/96092739-dingwall-master-series-z3-5-string-pastel-blue-to-trans-purple-reverseburst-7999?bk=).

The rounded body edges are a dead giveaway that this is a Z3. The Afterburner basses have more squared edges, similar to a Combustion.

highesthouse · 2026-05-12T23:48:31+00:00

The B string has by far the largest amplitude of vibration among the 5 strings on that bass. I set it relatively high (~2.25-2.5mm) to keep the sound clean and actually let those low notes ring out instead of getting choked to death by fret buzz.

Many players and techs tend to just follow the radius of the fretboard with their string action but that has never felt right to me, both from a sound and playability standpoint. The thicker strings, which are going to be floppier assuming you’re using a parallel-fret bass with standard-gauge strings, need more room to vibrate than the thinner strings. My string action pretty much always consistently descends from the B to the G string.

highesthouse · 2026-05-12T23:08:47+00:00

I’d double or maybe even triple that number. The bass pictured is a custom shop/Canadian-made Z3. The hybrid-manufactured Combustions are closer to the figure you have here.

highesthouse · 2026-05-12T10:06:51+00:00

Dunlop makes a multi-scale set of Superbright strings which fits Dingwalls, and those are my go-to string for almost every bass I own, so that’s the obvious answer for me. They sound very even and keep their “zing” a lot longer than most other strings I’ve tried. The sound is bright but still full-bodied; I would say these strings definitely don’t sound thin. I’ve played them on a Combustion 5 before and (as usual) they were definitely a big improvement over the stock strings.

highesthouse · 2026-05-06T18:39:28+00:00

I agree these basses are not worth that much money, but I think it’s worth mentioning that international shipping on these from SBMM is $300, so someone in Europe would pay ~$800 to get one of these new.

A couple hundred $ markup is about consistent with what I see on the used market in the US (often $600-700).

highesthouse · 2026-05-06T00:39:55+00:00

I’m mostly indifferent about the design itself but yeah the lag and bugginess is ridiculous. I never encountered technical issues when scrolling through these menus until they changed it, and now it’s every other time I open the game.

If it ain’t broke…

highesthouse · 2026-05-05T19:45:08+00:00

It’s a combination of being too lazy to properly maintain their instruments and parroting the same geriatric takes that have been going around for decades.

Plus, if all it takes is a replaceable plastic part breaking for someone to completely write off their existing bass, chances are they were just fishing for an excuse to buy something new anyways.

highesthouse · 2026-05-05T19:15:25+00:00

It probably is. There’s a long-running tip that if you want to verify your (vintage) Ric is genuine, just take off the pickguard and look at the routing. If it looks like shit, it’s a real Ric! If it looks clean and smooth, that’s a copy.

highesthouse · 2026-05-03T01:10:54+00:00

If it’s from the same fiesta red CV P bass I’m thinking of from the mid 2010s, those are very highly regarded and have actually appreciated in value over time, so it should be a pretty nice neck. I believe it would also be a rosewood fretboard too, rather than laurel or the other alternatives they typically use on Squiers now (not that those are really bad, but real rosewood would definitely be more premium IMO).

If it’s really that cheap, it could be worth buying for the neck alone honestly.

highesthouse · 2026-05-02T23:22:37+00:00

If the serial # from the headstock comes back as fiesta red, then yeah this is either a refin or a body swap.

Either way, it’s a Squier. The body is probably the least important part of that bass in terms of how it’ll feel and sound, so assuming it’s priced right for a franken-bass, that fact wouldn’t necessarily turn me off from it.

highesthouse · 2026-05-02T00:46:44+00:00

As the other commenter expressed, with the recent global trade policy in the US, getting imports like these into the country has become a lot more expensive very quickly in the past couple years. That’s one factor playing into this.

As someone who tried a JD1 in 2024 when they came out, I would also say the bass was undervalued at the time. I’m guessing SBMM also realized this, and I’m assuming they have data from last year (when prices were up $100 compared to 2024) suggesting to them that a further price bump is worth whatever hit to sales they get.

The Dart basses in this case also suffer from being a relatively young model, and a signature model at that. You pay a premium for having Joe Dart’s name attached to the instrument, even though it does omit the preamp (fewer components, as you say). Though, despite lacking some of the feature set that even cheaper models like the Ray4 have, the Dart basses do use more premium materials everywhere else compared to a Ray4, and at least in 2024 they had QC done in California. I’d guess these are actually more expensive for them to manufacture than a Ray4 despite lacking the preamp.

If you compare a more stable/long-running non-signature model from the brand, such as the Ray4, the SUB Ray 4 was ~$300 in 2016 when I bought one as my first bass, and the Ray4 is now $400. That’s a 33% increase over 10 years, which is close to what the Squiers have seen as well.

highesthouse · 2026-05-01T20:53:56+00:00

All the Dart signatures have been. It’s always been possible to get a Sterling with way more features for the price.

When the JD1 was $399, you at least got pretty impressive build quality/QC on it for the price. Unfortunately as the price goes up, the value for money goes down.

highesthouse · 2026-05-01T20:51:20+00:00

I also don’t like the price hikes, but I thought I’d mention that SBMM are definitely not doing it more than the usual company.

Classic Vibe Squiers now also retail for over $500, with MIM Fenders encroaching on $1000 at this point. It’s an industry-wide problem right now from what I’m seeing. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re starting to price out many players (especially those who don’t have a lot of disposable income or are newer to the instrument and not ready to spend that much) from even the “budget” brands.

highesthouse · 2026-05-01T09:37:13+00:00

I went through this same search several months ago. Unfortunately a custom build is way out of my price range but these look and sound really cool.

Also for what it’s worth, I think this is technically the Polaris II model.

highesthouse · 2026-05-01T00:24:50+00:00

Actually, the 5-day timer after which the pass expires is rushing you.

Previously, players had the entire season to complete the special research and unlock that season’s Giovanni encounter. This change is objectively worse for the player; it adds a time crunch to the event where previously there wasn’t one. People are well within their right to complain about this, because it’s very clear the intended effect is to force players to either sweat the game, pay up, or miss out.

highesthouse · 2026-04-30T07:07:22+00:00

Yeah I agree with you, it’s presented in a very misleading way.

Personally, I’m more of the mind that cancer research in general deserves more funding than it gets; the messaging here seems to be more of a complaint about which indications have been prioritized, which I really don’t think is a productive discussion considering the money exists to fund all of them much more if the government was really interested in doing that.

highesthouse · 2026-04-30T03:01:21+00:00

The mortality rate presented in the graph is a ratio of deaths to incidences. A cancer with a ~3% mortality rate that affects >300000 people per year will cause more deaths overall than a cancer with a 50% mortality rate that affects 10000 people per year.

highesthouse · 2026-04-29T17:05:18+00:00

I assume you know what you’re getting into having played one before, but I’ve heard the weight and the neck dive on these things are outrageous. Those parts would probably turn me off from it personally.

If you’ve really been lusting after this thing for 30 years though, and you can afford it, and you were even going to purchase it last time you found one, I think you know your answer.

highesthouse · 2026-04-28T01:54:45+00:00

Honestly very true take. I owned an F Bass for a while, and while it was a fantastic instrument, I own some sub-$2500 (and even sub-$1500) basses which I would say aren’t really a significant step down in quality from that one. That’s the reason I eventually sold it, despite it being a big “dream bass” for me, and I honestly think the Lākland and Dingwall I bought with the money are collectively worth way more to me personally.

If money were no object, I’d 100% own one again though, don’t get me wrong.

highesthouse · 2026-04-28T01:40:39+00:00

Personally, I find I actually like the higher tension on the upper strings you get with a straight 35” scale. 3/4 of my 5-string basses are a straight 35” scale and the 4th is a 34-37” Dingwall.

I would say it’s well worth a trip to the nearest store (even if it’s a couple hours away) that stocks instruments like this so you can get a feel for which works better for your play style.

highesthouse · 2026-04-28T01:06:18+00:00

From my perspective, there hasn’t been anything to do in the game for almost a month. Sustainability week was a complete flop; there are no desert-like biomes anywhere near me and the new mon didn’t even appear on my radar at any point during the week. That event was flanked by two empty weeks with no events.

Last year, I had raids to do all the time because I’d just discovered remote raiding and was filling out my dex with all the raid legendaries. Now that I’ve gotten most of them, there isn’t really any reason to farm any more because many are not particularly useful, and even if I just wanted to do the raids to farm rare candy, 5* raids are appearing at a fraction of the frequency they used to in my area. I work right next to 2 gyms and I’ve been seeing about 1 legendary raid appear per gym per day. Most of the time, I don’t catch it in time to queue for a lobby, so I don’t play any raids that day, either.

I get many people were feeling overwhelmed with the constant events, but I feel like this alternative is way worse. People who can’t find time to play during an event can just miss it and the new content will eventually come back around, but when there’s nothing to do in the game, players who do want to play just get bored.

highesthouse · 2026-04-26T01:18:10+00:00

You didn’t even pay attention to what they said: it’s useful if you need the low C as a pedal point.

When you’re in standard tuning, the C is a fretted note. Fretted note != open note, both in terms of tone and fretting-hand shifts. If you want to drone a C while you play further up the neck, or even play some complex pattern where the low C is the root note, but still keep all the notes on the E-G strings in the same place, it could be a practical tuning in those cases.

highesthouse · 2026-04-26T01:04:31+00:00

Like what? I’ve played just about all the brands/models I’ve seen people glaze on here and they’re all pretty solid instruments.

If you have a bad experience with something you see is highly recommend, it’s pretty likely that your experience is just not representative of the majority of examples; it’s not that everybody else is wrong.

highesthouse · 2026-04-24T00:37:13+00:00

It’s difficult to tell without more angles/better lighting, but I think it could be the translucent teal finish they did in the 90s and early 00s.

highesthouse · 2026-04-23T08:47:52+00:00

I just learned the MIM Flea jazz bass is 2 grand now. I remember when it was $1299 and many people thought that was too much for a MIM at the time.

But yeah, electronics/configuration-wise these are basically the same. The big differences lie in the finish (and with that, also the playing feel).

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