DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS logo

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS

Luthier Sheldon Dingwall founded Dingwall Designer Guitars in the mid-1980s, after years of actively playing music and doing guitar repair work. Dingwall moved from designing guitar models to bass models, specifically concentrating on fanned fretboard designs pioneered by Ralph Novak. Bass notables such as Lee Sklar, Michael Rhodes, Mike Brignardello, Mark Fain, and Hank Insell are all currently playing and recording with Dingwall basses.
Disaster struck on October 8, 1996, when the warehouse where the Dingwall factory was located caught fire. The fire eventually consumed the entire building, including the tooling and construction tools. When Dingwall began rebuilding the company, he received help from other Canadian luthiers such as Glenn MacDougall of Fury Guitars (see Fury) and Byron Olsen of Olsen Audio (a contract manufacturer of musical and audio equipment). As a result, the combined manufacturing experience totalled over fifty years! Local musicians and businesses held a benefit to raise funds for the re-tooling of the bass line. Dingwall basses were back to production twelve months later.
While Dingwall is concentrating on bass guitars, he used to offer several high quality electric guitar models. All models featured bolt-on necks, 3-per-side headstock with Sperzel or Gotoh tuners, and passive pickups. The Roadster featured a single cutaway body, stop tailpiece, mini-humbucker (neck position) and single coil (bridge). The ATV had an offset double cutaway body, tremolo bridge, and three single coils wired to a custom switching harness that delivered 10 distinct tones! The LVQ (Low Volume Resonance) model offered similar stylings to the ATV, except the design featured tone chambers (semi-hollowbody) and a stop tailpiece. Contact Dingwall Designer Guitars for availability.
Instruments currently built in Saskatoon, Canada.

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS Electric Guitars Models

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS AFTERBURNER I Image

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS AFTERBURNER I

- double cutaway maple body, maple bolt-on neck, 24-fret Novax Fanned Fret System fingerboard, two-per-side tuners, two Dingwall pickups, Passive Plus electronics, three knobs, black hardware, available in Black, Blueberry, Honeyburst, Natu...

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS PRIMA Image

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS PRIMA

- offset double cutaway American Black walnut body core, padauk bookmatched top/back, carbon fiber reinforced five-ply laminated rock maple bolt-on neck, 24-fret pau ferro fingerboard, two-per-side Gotoh tuners, two Bartolini custom soapbar...

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS SUPER J Image

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS SUPER J

- offset double cutaway J-style two- or three-piece alder body, bolt on maple neck, 22-fret Novax Fanned-Fret system maple or morado fingerboard with dot inlays, four-on-one-side tuners, Dingwall bridge with locking saddles, various color p...

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS ZEBRA Image

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS ZEBRA

- similar to Prima, except features a solid Northern Ash body, available in Black Cherry Burst (BB), Colaburst (CB), Marylin´s Lipstick Red (ML), Sticky Fingers Warm Caramel (SF), Stormy Monday Blue (SM), Sunlight through a Cola Deep R...

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS AFTERBURNER II Image

DINGWALL DESIGNER GUITARS AFTERBURNER II

- double cutaway walnut body with bubinga top, five-piece bubinga or jatoba neck, 24-fret Novax Fanned Fret System wenge fingerboard, two-per-side tuners, two Dingwall pickups, Passive Plus electronics, three knobs, black hardware, availabl...