jeffbonny

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Early in his career I recall Hellborg using custom made amps and basses from small makers who can't typically afford to give anything away. Then he went to EBS then Warwick both of whom he has had active design input with. He did no doubt start getting some kind of endorsement money with those two (especially Warwick I'd think) but I have a strong impression he has never used gear he didn't believe in. He hasn't exactly bounced from one corporate giant to another every couple of years like some others have. As talented as he is not every teenage rocker is going to rush out and buy something just because Jonas Hellborg is using it like they have done with people like Flea. His going with Dogal seems more a result of finding a string maker in the same city where he lives who was willing to work with him to further develop his unique concept for strings. Having used both the DR and Dogal Hellborg sets the Dogals are the same basic concept but a huge refinement over the DR's. No doubt a great deal of effort has gone into creating the Dogal Hellborg strings but a it's niche product nobody is ever going to get rich on. I'd be very surprised if he was getting much more than free strings, a small percentage of sales and possibly an occasional trade show appearance or photo shoot fee. The Dogal Hellborg strings are marvelous on hollow body basses and AGBs. I've never played a louder more even sounding string on an ABG and can't see ever using anything else. They are very supple feeling with a massive fundamental. There is more string noise than with a lot of strings but given their advantages I've been willing to work around that. On solid body basses they're a touch too bright for my taste when new but after 2-3 months they settle down without loosing that huge fundamental. I've had a set on my ABG for almost 6 months. While they have gotten darker sounding they still sound alive and tune perfectly. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before they need to be changed. Anyone who likes a flexible nickel string like Thomastik Jazz Rounds or GHS Balanced Nickels will likely get along with the Dogal Hellborgs.

This is the first lay-up of the 32" scale hollow body bass Tom Ribbecke is making for Bobby Vega. It's the first bass like this he's done and it'll look something like this Testadura model guitar.