Here you go. http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar ... -Glock.pdf

Thanks, but I meant for the New 2012 Z3 Prototype. http://www.dingwallguitars.com/or-lubia ... -friedman/

Sorry. Guess i missed the news on the new electronics.

OK so we've seen some photos of Or Lubianiker with his prototype Z3 equipped with blade switches. Has there been any official announcement of the new model and the layout/function of the controls? Or is it still "top secret"? Curious minds want to know! Thanks to Francesco (Grand Wazoo) for the nice photo from the London show.

[quote="Franco Bollo":1lhjg88v]OK so we've seen some photos of Or Lubianiker with his prototype Z3 equipped with blade switches. Has there been any official announcement of the new model and the layout/function of the controls? Or is it still "top secret"? Curious minds want to know! Thanks to Francesco (Grand Wazoo) for the nice photo from the London show.[/quote:1lhjg88v] I was lucky enough that I got away with showing such an accurate pic of it, but I have been sworn to secrecy in respect to what the two blades do, It's fairly complicated and while I have a fair idea, all I can tell it's that before your eyes you have a "game changer" of an advance in technology, that only goes to show the extent of the incredible mind and innovation of Mr. Sheldon Dingwall. I am sure you will all know in due course, but for the time being you just have to keep on guessing.

I thought it would be awesome is one switch switched you between MM, J, and P tones and the other switch offered you different configurations of that setting. Not sure if that is even possible though.

Still no official release. Or will post a video explaining what they do in due time.

Instead of switches to change sound. Why not have pickups you can move from one position to another to cover all the space between the bridge and the neck.

Any update on this? After selling my custom Z3 (long story... still cry over her) I am waiting till this new model comes out before replacing. Dingwall Sales, Sheldon.... anyone?

There's a video on how these things work on Youtube now, but I'll wait for The Man to post the link! I love it so much. Very surprised about the evenness between the strings when the pickup settings don't match between them. Even though the demo had a lot of slap in it, where discrepancies in string sound are naturally hidden behind the differences in thumb slaps and pops, some chords sounded wonderful. Wanna warm up the deeps while having sparkly highs? Or the other way around? You got it.. What are the pickup settings on each individual blade? I assume upper/lower pickup sections are wired in parallel, but are the resulting upper and lower sides wired in series or parallel? Is there audible noise when you use a different number of pickup sections? With the newly released Alberto Rigoni sig, I'm getting DAS that I didn't have in years. Too bad (good?) us grad students are too poor to own three or four dingwalls.

Serious DAS here as well. considering selling my beautiful blue Z3 to fund a blade-Z3, but in reality I don't play enough or well enough to justify the used Z3 I already have, let alone a brand new one. I probably wouldn't even know what to do with all of the sonic options. doesn't stop me dreaming of / drooling for one though.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9lPuoF70cEU Here's the link. A special thanks to Or Lubianker for the outstanding video. Bocete, even in the extreme settings the transition is surprisingly smooth. I didn't expect that either. The switches are linked in series with each other. They could also be linked in parallel, but we felt that series gave the greatest number of usable tones with the least confusion.

Selecting and combining any of the six individual coils is brilliant idea. One of those ideas you wonder why nobody tried before. Not to pick nits, but is there a tandem selection for a J bass configuration - bridge & neck pickup?

No, we looked into that but we would need to use double stack switches that would have to be spaced much wider making them tough to use in tandem.

I was also surprised at the evenness across strings when different settings are used. I understand from Sheldon's response that the output from each switch is combined in series. However, when an individual switch combines two coils, are these combined in parallel or series? I would think parallel would give greater consistency in output level if one switch selects a single pickup and the other switch selects two. On my Z3 I use bridge+neck quite a bit, and would hope that the middle+neck combination is a good substitute. This is the one combination that I cannot get on my Z3 (modded with a 5-position rotary switch), so cannot compare the resulting sounds. I am glad that the prototype allows soloing of the middle pickup, as I really like this option, especially when using a pick.

You're right Frank. The switches combine the coils in parallel only, then the outputs of the switches are combined in series. Because the bridge pair are so close together the difference in tone between neck/bridge and neck/middle isn't that great. I also agree that the middle pickup soloed is REALLY useful.

[quote="Sheldon Dingwall":3qqlf775]No, we looked into that but we would need to use double stack switches that would have to be spaced much wider making them tough to use in tandem.[/quote:3qqlf775] So, if I understand you correctly, each blade switch would need to be wider to accommodate more than five positions. If the middle/neck combination sounds similar to the bridge/neck selection, as you say, then I think the intuitive layout that you have chosen for the five positions is well worth the tiny compromise.

So here is the $64,000 question: Will there/ is there a retrofit option for us existing Z3 owners to convert to the new system? If so, what is the approx turn around time?

[quote="Dingbat":1l3fy859][quote="Sheldon Dingwall":1l3fy859]No, we looked into that but we would need to use double stack switches that would have to be spaced much wider making them tough to use in tandem.[/quote:1l3fy859] So, if I understand you correctly, each blade switch would need to be wider to accommodate more than five positions. If the middle/neck combination sounds similar to the bridge/neck selection, as you say, then I think the intuitive layout that you have chosen for the five positions is well worth the tiny compromise.[/quote:1l3fy859] You'd still have 5 positions but the neck/middle would be replaced by neck/bridge.

[quote="spacer":qmu99th1]So here is the $64,000 question: Will there/ is there a retrofit option for us existing Z3 owners to convert to the new system? If so, what is the approx turn around time?[/quote:qmu99th1] No, this would be for new builds or a complete new model only.