Dave Cohen is an extended-range guitarist, expert guitar and bass tech, owner and head luthier at Equilibrium Guitars and founding member of the Boston-based metal band, Chuggernaut. With over 20 years experience in the music industry, he has shared stages with internationally-renowned metal bands such as Gojira, The Faceless, Within the Ruins, Revocation, Rings of Saturn and Vektor, and has worked as a tech and luthier for countless more.
How long have you been playing? I started playing guitar in 1992 and have been playing professionally for over 15 years. I play primarily rock, metal and progressive music, although I have done work with pop, alternative, hip-hop, blues and soul artists previously.
What are you currently working on? My new original project is a hard rock/metal band called Chuggernaut. I’ve included links to our media below. Before my current original project I did primarily live and studio session work, both in Boston and New York City.
How would you describe your genre? I play primarily rock, metal and progressive music, although I have done work with pop, alternative, hip-hop, blues and soul artists previously.
How did you discover Nordstrand? ““I was first turned onto Nordstrands by one of my Equilibrium customers and I was absolutely floored by the tone and nuance of their pickups, which quickly became my go-to recommendation for bass clients. When I finally met some of the Nordstrand crew at NAMM, we got to talking about my need for versatile fan-fret 7 and 8-string guitar pickups that could match the range of my instruments. What they delivered exceeded my expectations in every respect. They were unbelievably touch-sensitive and capable of tones ranging from vintage, bell-like cleans to crushing high-gain, without losing note separation or definition (even in low 8-string tunings.) In the few short years since the first prototypes arrived, those custom NDC’s have not only become my OEM pickups for Equilibrium, but are the cornerstone of my guitar sound in Chuggernaut.”
As a guitarist that plays primarily 8-string and fan-fret instruments, it is hard enough to find pickups that are built to accommodate the unusual construction, let alone ones that have the touch-sensitivity, versatility and incredible tone of the NDC’s. Every set of pickups that I have used from Nordstrand seems to be the best-possible version of the sound that I am looking for. It’s uncanny.”
Describe your rig: As a luthier, my favorite guitars are the Equilibrium Masai and FT models that I have built for myself. For guitar I use custom NDCs. for bass I use Parallel-wound DC4s, DC5s and DC6s. My amp rig is a mid-90s Peavey “Block-Letter” 5150 with two handbuilt Omega 4×12 cabs. I also use effects built by Fuzzrocious, Neunaber, Dunlop, MXR, ISP and Joyo.
Who are some of your influences? Brian May, Ty Tabor, Paul Gilbert, Ian Thornley and Dimebag Darrell.
Do you have any recordings using your Nordstrand Products? We recently released a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, which I tracked with my NDC8 equipped Equilibrium Masai
Outside of music, what other passions do you have? Basketball (although it’s been a while since I’ve had time to play), tinkering and prototyping, woodworking of any kind and graphic design.
Dave is from Somerville, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
You can find out more at:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ChuggernautBand/
FIRST BATCH – EP: https://chuggernautband.bandcamp.com/album/first-batch
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chuggernaut_band/
