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Building a Dave Pushic possibly

V

VTheHTyphoon

May 4, 2010
281
83
#1
Ok, so I am looking to have a Dave Pushic built soon, but I want to smooth everything out before I send out any emails.

Now before I get started I would like to throw out that I am either looking at a custom DP 7 string or a Conklin GTBD 7, but due to prices I feel a DP custom would be cheaper and more suited to me since I can customize it. Any objections throw them out there.

Ok So looking at my build, I want a 7 string, with a Cherry body and a purpleheart topcap. I am going to have the Neck-thru hidden, and go with a Neck made of Hard maple and purpleheart. I like the singlecut body style, since I don't have a longhorn singlecut. The fretboard with be Pau Ferro, with pearloid dots and 24 frets. Hardware is going to be gold since I do love the look of the GTBD7s purple with gold. I want to go with the Bartolinis that he suggests since I've been interested in trying out Barts for a while. Undecided if I want a preamp or not. Definitely schaller strap locks, and a hardshell case as well.

Any suggestions on preamp or anything?
 
#4
You'll probably hear this a lot, but I loved the Aguilar OBP-3 with my Bart Jazz and Bart MM56 (classic bass series) pickups. You can get just about any tone with that setup (especially the quad coil Barts that DP uses with his basses....throw some coil tap switches, you'll have a chameleon on your hands!!!). And it's a cheaper preamp than some of the other brands. I hear great things about the others, Glockenlang, Demeter, Audere, and you probably can't go wrong with any of those. I put a Bart NTMB in my old BTB, I didn't like it too much, but I have another one I'm getting ready to put in a custom bass.

So, in a nutshell, my vote for the Aggie OBP-3:hyper:
 
#5
I am guessing that the OBP-3 is the 3 band aguilar he offers?

Also as much as I would love the quad coils, my plan was to keep the price below that of the GTBD 7, I've never done any coil tapping stuff before and prefer simpler setups.
 
#7
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. That thread is full of bad news!

Sadly there is a few videos on youtube of Pushic basses in action with proud owners. The comments section of these videos are overflowing with people claiming they will get a Pushic!


There seems to be a certain sort of mental illness by which cack-handed hacks imagine themselves to be amazing luthiers. I think they must live in isolated areas or something, and have never compared their work to other luthiers or something. A few have cropped up though in recent times.
 
#8
Meddle said:
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. That thread is full of bad news!

Sadly there is a few videos on youtube of Pushic basses in action with proud owners. The comments section of these videos are overflowing with people claiming they will get a Pushic!


There seems to be a certain sort of mental illness by which cack-handed hacks imagine themselves to be amazing luthiers. I think they must live in isolated areas or something, and have never compared their work to other luthiers or something. A few have cropped up though in recent times.
Click to expand...

I left my decoder ring at home, so I find myself unable to decipher this^^.




Friends of mine own Pushic basses. They are beautiful, well built, great playing and sounding. I don't understand why Pushic seems to be a favorite target of self-appointed town criers on TB. Most of the people that complain about him have never seen, let alone held, a Pushic bass. If you read the Pushic threads on TB, what you'll find is great praise from those who actually own his basses, a couple of people who've had problems, and a small army of little old ladies who have never played one of his instruments that seem to enjoy spreading bad words.

Have a couple people had problems? Yeah, I guess. Have people had problems with Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, etc?? You bet. Yet every time the Rickenbacker brand is brought up, somehow you don't see people piping in on the threads telling potential buyers to beware. :rollno:
 
#11
Go for the Conklin. If you want details as to why i'm suggesting that over having a Pushic built, PM me. I am one of those that HAVE experienced his work. Not in a good way either.



+1,000 to what LutherHeggs00 said.


Not knocking Dave personally, he's a really nice guy and was ok to work with. The bass however.....:rollno:
 
#16
My DP custom is well worth the almost $2k I spent on it...I added EMG 3 band eq and jazz pickups, giving it a killer array of sounds, woods and body shape that makes it look awesome, and that d shaped neck profile that makes it feel like a shredder bass. And Dave was a great guy to work with.

These are only my opinions, based on one instrument, but I fully plan on having him make me another one.
Feel free to pm me for pics and specific questions.
 
#18
OP...I'm probably the guy to talk to about your decision. I've owned a Conklin GT-7 and designed a Dave Pushic DP 7 custom and held each side by side for years.

I wasn't a TB member when I spec'd out and ordered my DP custom 7 string. I heard of Dave from another bass player who was looking at luthiers. I designed a $2,000 plus bass from Dave, even ordering my own Buckeye Burl top from a seperate vendor and having it sent to him. As the bass was being built, I happened across a sweet deal for a Conklin GT-7, which I bought thinking it would help me prepare and transition to a 7.

Well, the DP took about 15 months if I remember correctly, and I was really excited to get it.

Positives:
The buckeye wood itself looked amazing
The sound was really nice, with a really good low B (the only B I've liked better is on my Quanum 6)
Versatile pickups (Bart quad coild with Aggie OBP-3...my fav combo)

Negatives:
Tung oil treatment looked more like uneven gloss treatment. I own lots of tung oiled Carvins and Warwicks...this was totally and completely different
String spacing was uneven, and I had individual ABM piezo bridges (sent back once to Dave to correct, which means he redrilled into the body to get the bridges right)
Nut spacing uneven (sent back to fix)
High point in pao ferro fretboard somewhere around the 14th fret
fretted intonation issues
very thick body...I've never seen a bass this thick, and I've held lots of basses

After about 3 years of having both my 2k+ DP7 and the used GT-7, I sold the Pushic and kept the Conklin. Although the Conklin didn't have the versiatility of the Bart quad coils with 3-way switches for each, its tone, weight, craftsmanship, and overall value prevailed, and trust me, I fought this fact for years while I owned them both. I forced myself to play the DP for a long time when the Conklin GT-7 was superior.

I suggest to hold and play a GT-7 and a GTBD-7 and decide which of the two you enjoy and like the most, and then look for a used one if you have $$ as a high priority in your decision making.

Here's a pic of it being built before the hardware/tronics went in.

Pict0632.jpg
 
#19
Isn't Dave Pushic in Matthews, NC? I live just up the road (5-10 minutes) in Charlotte, right next to Matthews. That being said how come no one in Charlotte has one and no one seems to even know about him around here? I've read the horror stories on here. I'm sure his skills have improved since then, but I'm still leery. I'd look into a Kinal, or just something else if I were you. Word to the wise: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
 
#20
smcd said:
I left my decoder ring at home, so I find myself unable to decipher this^^.

Friends of mine own Pushic basses. They are beautiful, well built, great playing and sounding. I don't understand why Pushic seems to be a favorite target of self-appointed town criers on TB. Most of the people that complain about him have never seen, let alone held, a Pushic bass. If you read the Pushic threads on TB, what you'll find is great praise from those who actually own his basses, a couple of people who've had problems, and a small army of little old ladies who have never played one of his instruments that seem to enjoy spreading bad words.

Have a couple people had problems? Yeah, I guess. Have people had problems with Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, etc?? You bet. Yet every time the Rickenbacker brand is brought up, somehow you don't see people piping in on the threads telling potential buyers to beware. :rollno:
Click to expand...

I had one built. Sound was great. It was truly an amateurish piece of luthery though. He was great to deal, really nice guy, just not very good at his chosen profession. Luckily I was able to pawn that bass off at a reasonable loss.
 

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