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DP custom owners, speak up

#21
He can assure me out the butt all he wants. The fact that he send out basses with the kind of issues I've read about on TB have made his word absolutely meaningless.

Why do we need pictures? To asses the quality of his work. If I'm paying $5 for something I want to know that I'm getting $5 worth. If Im paying $700 I want to know that I'm getting $700 worth. If I cant play a $700 bass to evaluate if its worth $700, then at the very least I'd like high quality pics to show that its worth $700.

I'd buy a Wishbass before I bought a DP. Why? Because Wishbass represents his basses as what his customers report them being.
 
#22
Nick man said:
He can assure me out the butt all he wants. The fact that he send out basses with the kind of issues I've read about on TB have made his word absolutely meaningless.
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Agreed. Mark Beem ordered a 6, a while ago, and he said it played fine, but had some cosmetic flaws. Serious ones. Nothing structural, as I recally, but pretty close to it.

I almost ordered a 6er from DP a while ago. Like, 4 years ago, wait, no make it 5 (I'm getting olllld). Right before I made up my mind and sent the check, an Eden rig came up in a pawn shop, and I backed. This was back when DP was all the rage, and before all the basses started arriving. It was about six months after that the reviews started rolling in, and not a one had much nice to say.

I'm pretty thankful the Eden came up, in hindsight.

The problem seems not to be the errant bad bass getting out, but the errant good bass getting out. I dunno about you guys, but that seems like a pretty big problem, to me.
 
#23
I got mine a couple of months ago, and was unhappy with the characteristics of the topwood, which was a figured spalted maple. Since I really knew nothing about the wood, I had no idea that the polyurethane finish I requested would not be what I thought it would be. You see, Dave does not have the capability of applying a thick, glass smooth factory style finish. I only assumed that it would be so when I asked for the polyurethane as opposed to the oil rubbed finish. Also, I had Dave install a Lightwave system which developed problems. I sent the bass back to him, and while he was able to repair the Lightwave himself rather than sending it back to the mfgr., he was not able to finish the maple to my liking and he ended up completely remaking another bass for me, which I should have in a couple of weeks. I asked for Bart J 9's instead of the Lightwave (which I sold on the 'bay) and made some changes here and there, including the topwood which is a figured walnut. You have to hand it to the guy, he has gone to great lengths to make me a happy camper.

I'll be posting a comprehensive review after the bass arrives.

Any assistance anyone can offer in posting larger pics instead of the little ones you can post here within TB will be greatly appreciated.
 
#27
lamborghini98 said:
Would you place more of the blame on you or him for your unhappiness and eventual replacement?
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Well, my thoughts were that knowing the nature of the wood and his own processes better than I, he should have cautioned me against the wood to begin with. It wasn't until after the fact that I bacame more informed on woods and finally made a better choice with the walnut. As for the Lightwave problem, that didn't crop up until about 2 days after I received the bass. I played it for several hours each of the first two days without incident however, so I can't blame Dave at all for that. My suggestion for anyone considering ordering from Dave is that they carefully consider all aspects of what they want and specify each minute detail since Dave's basses are truly custom, from body thickness to neck width and depth to placement of the pots and tuning keys. He cuts, planes, and shapes all of the woods himself. I actually asked for a thicker body than his standard and a deeper neck than his standard. He makes a rather shallow neck with the back of it flattened out which many people seem to prefer for comfort, but I prefer a more rounded and deeper neck which will be on my "new and improved" model.
 
#28
Brendan said:
Agreed. Mark Beem ordered a 6, a while ago, and he said it played fine, but had some cosmetic flaws. Serious ones. Nothing structural, as I recally, but pretty close to it.

I almost ordered a 6er from DP a while ago. Like, 4 years ago, wait, no make it 5 (I'm getting olllld). Right before I made up my mind and sent the check, an Eden rig came up in a pawn shop, and I backed. This was back when DP was all the rage, and before all the basses started arriving. It was about six months after that the reviews started rolling in, and not a one had much nice to say.

I'm pretty thankful the Eden came up, in hindsight.

The problem seems not to be the errant bad bass getting out, but the errant good bass getting out. I dunno about you guys, but that seems like a pretty big problem, to me.
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Wow. I am getting old then too. I remember when you were gonna order one from him. It was the same time that I was talking with him about one as well. Luckily for me, I came up with enough cash to buy a Modulus Q5 instead.

Hopefully things have improved with Dave's work. But back then, I remember there not being too many satisfied customers.
 
#29
lamborghini98 said:
Errrr... Im getting a poly finish. Unless theres a way to oil finish a burl where the dead spots are filled in with a sawdust mixture.. is there?
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I don't know what Dave does with that. You might ask him. You could say that you have become aware that burls tend to have "digs" in the surface and ask him how he deals with that. If you have looked in his gallery, he has a couple of nice looking buckeye tops there.
 
#31
Ryan Lunneborg said:
Wow. I am getting old then too. I remember when you were gonna order one from him. It was the same time that I was talking with him about one as well. Luckily for me, I came up with enough cash to buy a Modulus Q5 instead.
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5 years, on the internet? That's like 200 years in real life.
 
#32
lostrings said:
I recieved my DP Custom two months ago, With no issues. Dave did a wonderful job. The bass is everything I asked for and more. Gene.
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That's a beautiful bass right there- even the gold hardware looks nice and natural.
 
#36
lostrings said:
I recieved my DP Custom two months ago, With no issues. Dave did a wonderful job. The bass is everything I asked for and more. Gene.
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Is it just me or does the bridge piece for the B string look like it's so far toward the end that it's sticking out off the body? And to my eye, the B string looks like it's separated too far from the others in comparison.
 
#38
The specs on the DP Custom:
Buckeye Burl Top and headstock
Ash Wings
Bocote fingerboard
Bocote back
5 pc neck: 3 pc Curly Maple, 2 pc Wenge, 35" scale
Bartolini Quad coil Pickups
Bartolini 3 band preamp with 3 way pickup taps and 3 way freq mid switch, pull up vol for passive
Kahler bridge (spacing is extra wide)
Graphite rods in neck
Tung oil finish
............Gene.
 
#39
Here's mine: Spalted maple top cap, walnut body (his "scroll type" body), maple/purple heart neck, birdseye maple fretboard, bart jazz & Musicman pickups, bart 3eq, gotoh tuners, string thru the body, coil selection switch for mm pickup, power on/off switch. It took 15 months.

Plays and sounds great, I'm happy.

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#40
I've had one for awhile now. Phenomenal tone, decent playability, decent quality. Neck profile is not what I had in mind.

Here a pic, pm for more info / review etc

DP is on the left of course...
 

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