Dingwall SP1-5 Vintage Burst (pre-owned)

Dingwall SP1-5 — Vintage Burst

The Dingwall SP1-5 in Vintage Burst

This is the SP1-5 in Vintage Burst from Dingwall, built in Indonesia and designed and set up in Canada. Besides, it weighs 4.03 kilos, which is a comfortable weight for a five-string. Moreover, it’s from 2025 and it looks basically like new.

In fact, the SP1 is Dingwall’s Ready to Play take on their Custom Shop Super P. In other words, you get the classic P-bass look with Dingwall’s fanned frets and pickups. Therefore, it’s one of the most affordable ways into a real Dingwall five-string. Above all, it plays like one.

Body, Neck & Woods

Alder body with a classic look

First of all, the body is alder in a gloss Vintage Burst with a matte Coco Gold pickguard. Above all, alder gives you a balanced sound with a solid midrange. Furthermore, Dingwall made the SP1 body a bit slimmer than a classic P to keep the weight down.

Maple neck and rosewood fingerboard

Equally important, the neck is a 1-piece maple neck, bolted on, with a rosewood fingerboard and 22 frets. In addition, the frets are small banjo-size wire. As a result, there’s less metal in the fingerboard and more wood under the string, which means a woodier tone and a stronger fingerboard.

Why the Dingwall SP1-5 fanned frets matter

To begin with, the scale goes from 32″ on the G string to 35″ on the B string. Consequently, the low B gets the extra length it needs to sound tight and defined, not floppy. At the same time, the high strings stay short and easy on the hand. In short, you get the best of both worlds.

Is it hard to get used to? Not really. In fact, the frets follow your hand quite naturally. As a result, most players feel at home after a few minutes.

Condition

As new condition

This SP1-5 from 2025 is in really good shape. In fact, there are only a few very fine surface marks in the gloss, and otherwise it looks like new. Likewise, the frets, the neck and the hardware are clean. In other words, it has hardly been played.

Furthermore, it comes with the Dingwall padded gigbag. Of course, we’re happy to send close-up photos or answer questions before you buy.

Electronics, Sound & Feel

Dual-P and FD3n pickups

Firstly, at the neck you have the Dingwall Dual-P, a split-coil P pickup. Meanwhile, at the bridge sits a Dingwall FD3n. Moreover, the bass is fully passive, so there’s no battery to think about. Instead, you get master volume, master tone and the Quad-Tone selector. Consequently, the controls are simple and quick to use on stage.

Four sounds from the Quad-Tone selector

First of all, position 1 is the bridge pickup alone, nice and punchy for fingerstyle and slap. Secondly, position 2 is both pickups in parallel, kind of a modern Jazz bass vibe. Thirdly, position 3 puts them in series, which means a fatter, louder sound with a lot of mids. Finally, position 4 is the neck pickup alone, and that’s your classic P-bass thump.

Our take on the Dingwall SP1-5 Vintage Burst

All in all, for me personally, this is a great working horse. For example, it covers everything from old-school P to modern growl. In addition, the passive setup keeps it simple, and the fanned frets give you a B string that really works. Therefore, if you want a Dingwall five-string with an old-school look at a fair price, what’s not to like?