lamborghini98 said:
Im pretty sure that reading this thread is a terrible way to make judgements on DP. why dont you try talking to some of his happier customers, too. This is just the negative. Remember that he has made probably hundreds of instruments ... and I bet you cant find more than 6 or so original buyers who werent happy.. and not more than 1 or 2 who had serious problems with their instrument (by serious I mean you cant play the instrument). Youre right in that you should expect to get what you pay for. But you need to re-evaluate the meaning of that statement in this context. Are other basses overpriced? Who is Dave's market? etc etc
Im out of this thread until someone gives reason for any more debate. I really want to see an itemized list of the problems in 4string's instrument, and their actual impact to the instrument.
I've listed at least nine original buyers who weren't happy with their instrument on the third page of this thread, and that's just TBers- not including all the ones that end up on the used market. Why would Dave make hundreds of instruments and then not post them on his website? I've been watching it for probably four years now, and he updates whenever he can. And since he builds as a side project, and his average wait is around 8-14 months now, you can pretty safely bet that he hasn't made (and commercially sold) many more basses than what's listed on his site.
Part of the issue is that the problems in his basses DON'T fit into price context. Same price range? A Musicman Bongo or Stingray five-string. Fit and finish and quality control are of a MUCH higher percentage with MusicMan. Other comparable builders are the number of amateur luthiers on this site who sell in a similar price range without complaints on building issues.
It doesn't save money to do a poor job. It costs the same amount to assemble a neck and fingerboard correctly as it does to do it incorrectly. The cost that botique builders charge is mostly due to experience and the time they put into an instrument. And it's not like he charges less because he doesn't go into the same detailing as botique builders- he takes longer than most, in fact. Money-saving factors would be using less expensive woods, hardware, electronics, etc. Cutting a bad pickup route doesn't save money.
This thread is a great way to make judgement on DP basses, along with reading the good comments. You can see the percentage of basses sold to number of happy/unhappy buyers.
BTW, a serious issue in a bass is not just being completely unplayable. I can nail a fishing line to a 2x4 and you could play the damn thing. You could get a bass from Fodera that plays and sounds like a dream, but if it has a big crack down the fingerboard, then there's a serious problem. A twisted neck is a SERIOUS problem- it will interfere in intonating, adjusting action and trussrod, etc. Thinking that this is acceptable workmanship is to have no idea what quality is. There is a point where opinions butt up against facts. There's a heck of a lot more than 1 or 2 customers whose basses have had serious problems- I've listed nine or so in this thread off the top of my head. If I researched TB I could find more, as I know there were more that I can't recall the names of at the moment. It is good to know this information as well- reading just about the happy customers only gives you half of the information. If more well-known luthiers had this large a percentage of building errors, they wouldn't be in business. Being in the spotlight means their errors are in the spotlight as well. Many of the people who've purchased DPs did could not find info on his unsatisfied customers because he's not in the spotlight, so info is hard to come by. That's why places like TalkBass are great, as people now have a reference they can go to to see both the good and the bad.
There was a Warrior thread a while back where someone noticed a flaw on the bass and Warrior's reply was "it's hand made". 
Wow. I didn't know a fretjob could be done that poorly. There are problems there that I couldn't have conceived if I hadn't seen the pictures. It's like the fret slots were sawn with no guide, with his eyes closed. That thing is like a train wreck in a minefield during a hurricane.
