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Has DP Custom gotten better?

Kronos

Kronos

Dec 28, 2005
1,430
6
Philadelphia, PA
www.myspace.com
#1
Anyone here have any recent dealings with Dave? His basses are in my affordable range, but I remember a lot of threads dealing with issues with his basses. Not as bad as Wish has gotten, but still pretty bad. I know Dave was once a member here at TB, and I kinda felt bad for him since he was basically run out. I still think some of his basses are pretty, and I feel there has to be a learning curve. Anyone know if his work has gotten better?

THanks!
 
#3
Honestly I would talk about this with him and lay all your issues on the table. Let him know what you have heard and or read and see what he says. My hope is that he would embrace the conversation and not be defensive. We all grow in our respective professions, I certainly think that he would too.

You should be honest and ask him if he feels he has gotten better and then gauge your decision based on the conversation. After all, it's your money, you need to be comfortable spending it.
 
#4
west*coast*bass said:
Honestly I would talk about this with him and lay all your issues on the table. Let him know what you have heard and or read and see what he says. My hope is that he would embrace the conversation and not be defensive. We all grow in our respective professions, I certainly think that he would too.

You should be honest and ask him if he feels he has gotten better and then gauge your decision based on the conversation. After all, it's your money, you need to be comfortable spending it.
Click to expand...

Good advice. I've written about mine several times in the last few threads about DP Custom basses. It turned out fine...not perfect...but it's a very nice instrument with fantastic tone at an affordable price. It never fails to get great comments and it is, in a word, beautiful. Having said that, there are other luthiers that have a better reputation for fit and finish details as well as general wood-working skills.

For myself, I had a relatively good experience (although it was longer than predicted...14 months vice the estimated 8). The instrument definitely fulfills the need for which I ordered a custom fretless.

Hope that helps.

Jay
 
#5
I sent him an e-mail for a price quote. He replied back pretty quick, 1 day or less. The price seems very right for me. He told me the build time would be around 13 months, sound fine to me. I'm definitely leaning towards his basses for a custom. I like his standard body shape. I'm gonna save up my next couple of work checks and then give him an e-mail before I sent the money order and have a good conversation with him hopefully about his quality and such...
 
#6
Herrlster said:
I sent him an e-mail for a price quote. He replied back pretty quick, 1 day or less. The price seems very right for me. He told me the build time would be around 13 months, sound fine to me. I'm definitely leaning towards his basses for a custom. I like his standard body shape. I'm gonna save up my next couple of work checks and then give him an e-mail before I sent the money order and have a good conversation with him hopefully about his quality and such...
Click to expand...

Are you looking to be disappointed?
 
#10
Dave built me a bass and I recieved it in June of 2005. It took 15 months to build. He did a great job....It plays fantastic, Sounds great, and It's my #1 bass.

DPCustomRamp003.jpg


DPCUSTOM018.jpg
 
#13
jasonbraatz said:
Chris Stambaugh's build times are shorter, work is 1000x better, and similarly priced so I don't see what the reason to go DP is.
Click to expand...

But Chris's basses, while much, much better - cost easily 2x as much as a DP. The latest round from Chris are closer to 2.5x the price of a Pushic.

You are correct in both the build time and woodwork assessment, obviously - just wanted the OP to be clear about the price difference. He can, of course, just get a quote from both of them to compare.

Jay
 

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