A little guidance needed in purchasing a student model for junior high students.

[Basschair]

Hey all,

A bit of a preface: I've purchased two UB's in my life...the first was a Lidl, and I got ripped off on it because I was ignorant. I did get lucky with taking it back to the same shop aa few years later and got some credit towards a nice electric, though. The second was my current Wilfer, which I had custom made with deeper ribs (about 1/2 to 3/4" deeper), and it now has a tremendous voice after about 7 years of breaking it in.

I don't have a need for another bass for myself, so I haven't made the time to go out to shops and try out different basses, and there's where I need some help. I'm a music teacher, and have 4th through 8th grade students. Although I focus mainly on band (prepping kids for the local high school band program), I was a classical guy in college and UB was my main instrument. Because of this, I'd really like to take the extra few hours I have during my afternoon school day and do some bass lessons. Ultimately, I'd be thrilled to have a small bass choir, but that'd be way off in the future. For now, I'd like to purchase a bass for the school's instrument collection.

In order to do all this, I'd have to lobby for funds (not too difficult) and track down the right bass. I'm in Stockton (central valley, near Sacramento and San Francisco), and have found the following shops near me:
-the Acoustic Bass Shop
-Ifshin
-the String Bass Shop
Also, if I pushed it, Lemur and Metzler Violins are down south.

First off, are there any other shops in the central California area that I'm missing?

I'm planning to drive around a try out some stock instruments in order to find something that's set up well, sounds at least decent, and is in the price range (about $3000).

Second question: can you suggest some brands/manufacturers that I should be on the lookout for, either as a good buy or as one that might be avoided?

Thanks for helping in this!

[toman]

The best bass in that price range I've played was one I owned about ten years ago. It was new when I bought it, a beautiful orange polyurethaned plywood instrument. The label read "William Eberle, Germany". The bass was setup and tweaked by a very competent local luthier, which no doubt made the bass as good as it was. I've also played a few Kays that have been good, but IMO, this bass was the most bass for the money I've ever played. I wish I hadn't sold it to buy my Shen. I guess the moral is, it's not really the bass that matters so much, but in this price range, the setup of the instrument will make or break it. It will also make or break young players, who have a hard enough time playing a well setup, easy to play bass, let alone one with high action, bad strings and faulty parts.