Yep. Sheldon's accessibility and the forum in general truly represent value added to every DBass bass!

I agree. It is part of the reason that I had little reservations about buying my second AB from a dealer in Texas when I am a Canadian with no Dingwall dealer in the area.

Any minor issues I have had have all been resolved promptly without any hassles. I couldn't ask for better service.

[quote="Smallmouth_Bass":2i8gg2dl]I agree. It is part of the reason that I had little reservations about buying my second AB from a dealer in Texas when I am a Canadian with no Dingwall dealer in the area.[/quote:2i8gg2dl]

None of my business but may I ask why you ordered from the States? Why not directly from Dingwall in Saskatchewan? Wouldn't that save a lot on the exchange rate and customs?

It just so happened that he had exactly what I wanted (model & colour) and if I went straight through Dingwall, I would have probably had to wait a while. The pricing was good (I checked a couple of other places) and the exchange rate has been pretty good lately. There were no customs charges because it is a Canadian product. So all in all it was just the right circumstances and it worked out well for me.

Here's my Dingwall customer service story:

About 2 weeks after I got my Afterburner, one of the coils on the neck pickup shorted out.

I look up the number and call. No voice mail, no BS; the phone is picked up on the 1st or 2nd ring--"Dingwall Guitars, Sheldon speaking". I'm a little floored to have THE MAN on the phone, so I explain the problem and my observations.

No suspicious questions, no "is it under warranty?". Nope. Shedon says "That sucks! I'm really sorry to hear that!" then he asks for my address and says he'll get a new pickup out to me ASAP.

When THE MAN says A.S.A.P., that translates to later the SAME WEEK, despite the pickup having to go through customs and everything. All at NO CHARGE to me. Plus, because I was living in Iowa at the time and didn't have access to any Dingwall dealers, he threw in a spare set of strings!

That was over 2 years ago. Along with designing and building unparalleled (pun intended) basses, Sheldon's care and fairness has made me a raving and very vocal fan.

I let other people play my basses at every opportunity. I've had several say that they were curious about Dingwalls, but a bit spooked by the fanned frets. After playing my basses, a couple people offered to buy them on the spot. I had to tell them to go find their own, because I will never part with mine.

And of course, I shared my story about the pickup and the great customer service that came of it...

Yup, top notch service from these fellow Canadians. I've said it before but this means so much to me. I've sold premium basses in the past simply because of poor customer service so coupled with the fact that these are the most amazing basses, the DW customer service 'cinches the deal' for me.

Responding to another comment on this thread is that I too purchased my DW basses from the US, simply because our dollar is so strong and the basses were less expensive from them. I'd love to buy my stuff from local or other Canadian retailers, but in one instance the same bass was A LOT MORE $ up here. Seems many things are more expensive up here for no reason. So trying to figure out why Canadian products are more expensive up here is difficult. The local news stories as of late suggest it is simply due to the retailers in Canada charging higher mark ups???

On another note and something I have meant to ask, is should we be registering our Dingwalls for warranty purposes somewhere or do we just hold onto the original receipts?

Sheldon is providing top notch after sales service and back up. And Dingwall Sales is second to none also. I have bought 1/3 of my dozen Dingwalls directly from Sheldon and Dingwall Sales. But even for the remaining 2/3's I have had top service. And the service may be anything from a question regarding the existing pickups to fine tuning my headache inducing custom orders.

Thanks for the great service and backing up

[quote="BassGreaser":3sbqqhkq]On another note and something I have meant to ask, is should we be registering our Dingwalls for registration purposes somewhere or do we just hold onto the original receipts? [/quote:3sbqqhkq]

An online Dingwall registry added to the forum or the DDG website would be great where the owners of Dingwalls could see who has what and where it is. I was a member of the Alembic and G&L registries in the past and I think they are a nice resource to have.

Mark

[quote:2rf494me]An online Dingwall registry...
Mark[/quote:2rf494me]

I second that idea. Would be great to see how many dingwalls are out there and how many Fullrange really has!! =)

Thanks for the kind words all. It's an honor to serve such a great group of people.

I'll keep the registry in mind.

Regarding US vs Canadian pricing. Over the last 2 years we've seen the exchange rate go from 1 US dollar = $1.50 Canadian down to almost 1:1.

This means that 2 years ago a $3000 bass in Canada was $2000 in the US (still $3000 Canadian dollars). Today there's virtually no difference on newly ordered basses however older stock will be cheaper until the supply runs out.

I didn't want this thread to slip into obscurity before adding my public appreciation for all you do and how you do it, Sheldon (and Dingwall Sales and crew).

My appreciation to fellow Dingwall owners, too, for all that you contribute here on the Forum. I've learned alot from everyone.

Thanks again,

John