First things first, this is a custom job. Sheldon has not sanctioned these mods, and I voided my warranty day one with the bass. That said.... Two years ago or so, Sheldon posted a picture of the NG-2 prototype. I had just made the move from a Stingray HS5 and a Sterling HS5 to my AB1 that I bought off of Burningskies. I loved everything about my Dingwall, but still kind of missed the humbucker tone. to me, this looked like a perfect option. The addition of the Darkglass pre amp made it even more attractive, as I find the EQ centers way more friendly for those of us not playing slappy tappy stuff. So I counted my pennies, and called the shop. I was a little heart broken to find out that the NG-2 was only going to be offered with a maple fret board. A pretty big deal breaker for me as I really prefer the look and feel of a rosewood fret board, so this gave me pause. I also really love seeing wood grain on my basses. So I started asking questions about the Combustion. I COULD get a rosewood board, and a trans finish. At that time I couldnt get the Darkglass pre amp. I did a little more research, and decided that I would order the combustion, with an extra not installed pick up, a Tone Capsule from Darkglass, and get my modification on. A few months later, and this beauty arrived. [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xat1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F20889_10102551431123595_7164327726831917500_n.jpg%3Foh%3D9072dad79260bc690b5395c694635512%26oe%3D57AC16C9&hash=1f7a0d627904f3d12b0b4639bc9e4fd7[/img:353m8ibr] (plastic still on the pick guard) [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F11173357_10102551431218405_5914582344660293564_n.jpg%3Foh%3D4aa77d3b5574883979fa1f102e78c417%26oe%3D57ABC2D1&hash=429b46b8a277726a2a34fe54fbc9dfce[/img:353m8ibr] [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xfa1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F11094727_10102551388409195_2855726315121726505_n.jpg%3Foh%3Dba35c997ec4c9417e0bcda7aec0e290b%26oe%3D57BB4FB4&hash=0a9128e2c47075b77fc9d74194bac3d2[/img:353m8ibr] Now if this was my first Dingwall, this would have been a giant leap forward. The combustion is an amazing bass. Period. For the price, it is even more so. I quickly pulled the pick guard and moved the pick ups back to the NG-2 position, and confirmed that I loved the stacked pick up sound. I also confirmed that the standard EMG pre amp is not for me. It is clear and transparent sounding, but for the sound I use, the eq points don't give me much control. So I packed the bass up, and dropped it off at my luthier with a ton of discussion and note taking. The body rout wouldnt accomidate three pick ups, so that was expanded. The original pick guard couldnt be modified to fit either, so it was changed from a bwb to a matte black guard. The EMG was tossed, and the darkglass put in. My luthier found a few frets that needed to be trimmed a tad as well. He reset the neck, and reassembled everything with an amazing set up. He did an amazing job over all, and the only downside to his work is that it is in high demand. I waited longer for his portion of work, than I did on the original order. [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xta1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F10405496_10103110842329055_1857429209054471756_n.jpg%3Foh%3Dd729036255ca3d2e003d356370cebbcc%26oe%3D57B5A0EB&hash=5cba9eda26b3cc5ec06669f40fc17a5f[/img:353m8ibr] (freshly cut pick guard) [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F12931298_10103149595931525_7772381957914223878_n.jpg%3Foh%3Db37ad35ebc11f510b3e7a09a0711114d%26oe%3D579DD191&hash=f90f3008060b55d83d4d15fc390ea82a[/img:353m8ibr] [img:353m8ibr]http://images.talkbass.com/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F13091961_10103207352821255_6336023802181684771_n.jpg%3Foh%3Dbdfa55067dc481ff033a104371ba5a36%26oe%3D57B53515&hash=f57d661b90a83c23f64fb7ea44231cf6[/img:353m8ibr] This bass is absolutely amazing, and it hugely versatile. The pick up configuration knocks my socks off. I ended up with neck solo (split coil sounds very Pbass esk), all three pick ups in series (A beast, and a big volume boost), middle and bridge in parallel, and middle and bridge in series (the Musicman tones). The darkglass is on an active/passive switch. Passive this bass is huge sounding, active it is a juggernaut.