My Hawkes Hybrid.

BPeder · #1 01-12-2008, 12:30 PM

I have joined in on some of the Upton Bass threads here at TB and doing so, I have met many great people from whom I learned a lot. When I was waiting for my bass to be finished and delivered, and I waited a good long time, it was the talk on those threads and especially the pictures posted that kept me sane! I wanted to post some pics of my bass too. Maybe there is some poor soul out there, waiting for their Upton that will be gladdened to see my bass and to know how happy I am with it. You'll get yours too, and it's worth the wait! Enjoy, and Peace...

Thanks, Bpeder

jtallent · #2 01-12-2008, 12:38 PM

Nice Bass ... I'm glad you're happy with it. ... (Dreaming to myself) Some day when I can afford one.

Blacksheep · #3 01-12-2008, 01:16 PM

GAHH! This is hard to see, I am so closeee! My bass was delayed at customs!

I should have mine too right now! But I have to wait till Tuesday

Mike D. · #4 01-13-2008, 02:12 AM

Your bass looks really beautiful. Did you get to try any at the shop, or you just kinda ordered and crossed your fingers?
Upton basses is something that really interests me as one of my possible upgrade options. Particularly the Professor carved bass, or perhaps a Hybrid like your own if I can't get the all solid wood bass I would want.
I'd love to hear about experience both in playing bass (in general: student/pro etc) and in ordering and playing your new Upton bass.
Also, putting up a sound clip for me and all the bassists on this forum to hear your brand new beautiful Upton bass would be pretty sweet.
hope to hear from you soon.
Mike

chuck1073 · #5 01-13-2008, 06:43 AM

Ah! Cool to see the bass with the finish on. Last time I saw that one it was still in the white. Looks just as awesome as I though it would! From your other posts I gather you've got a fair number of gigs in on it by now.

BTW - Thanks for the post. I'm one of those anxious ones at the moment. Hoping I get a call from Gary or Josh telling me that they're starting my bass this week. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Fuzzball59 · #6 01-14-2008, 07:23 AM

Thanks for the shots man. I like the color of the varnish. I am SO curious about how they crate these puppies. Was it strapped to a pallet? I'm going to bring my screw gun, side cutters and CAMERA to the fedex warehouse when mine arrives.

**bass dan** · #7 01-14-2008, 10:18 AM

they build a "little" crate that it fits in with plenty of air space between the bass and the sides of the crate. the neck of the bass is tied with heavy cable straps to a cross bar that runs across the crate. mine arrived in perfect shape. a screw gun and cutters will be needed. the crate was to big for me to fit in a ford explorer without sticking out the back quite a bit, i suppose you could tie it down and keep your crate in case you need to ship it anywhere later. i was too paranoid to leave it hanging out the back, so i left mine at the freight shop. would have been nice to have the crate just in case i needed to ship it anywhere, but was so excited to get my bass home i just left it.if you have a place to store a crate of this size i would keep it.

Eric Swanson · #8 01-14-2008, 01:54 PM

BPeder,

Congratulations! So pleased that you are happy with your bass

.

Lovely photos and a really nice presentation. Thank you for sharing it with us.

What strings are you using and how do you like them for your purposes (I am guessing Spirocore, by the silk color, but which type?)?

BPeder · #9 01-15-2008, 06:49 AM

Hi all. jtallent, don't wait too long. Life is too short to live without tone. Blacksheep, today is your day! I hope it's juicy one! Hi Mike D. It sounds like you have new bass fever. I did not travel to CT to look at the basses. I just trusted my conversations with the Upton people and all the great advice that floats around here at TB. A 3K bass did not seem to warrant "must see, must hear, must play". (say that in a Homer Simpson voice) Your threshold may be lower for this. A 10-12K bass? yeah, I would have wanted to try it. I did research tons of basses and builders for well over a year and came to the conclusion that Upton was a good value. From a customer service point of view I would agree with most of the folks here at TB. It was very good. As I've said before, it took longer than I had been told it would, but that's because my order fell into that space in time where they were changing over to all USA production. I got a deluxe Hybrid for the price of a European shell so the bitter was well worth the sweet. Good to hear from chuck and fuzz too... my erstwhile fellow sufferers. I know you both are getting close to delivery day. Post pictures and thoughts if you can pry your hands off those new basses! I'm really pumped for you guys. bass dan has described the Upton crate well. I would add that it is a frame work of 1x3 wood strips with plates of Masonite, dry wall screwed together. It won't stop a forklift from forking up a bass, but it does create that dead space of a foot or so around the bass. I think what Upton has found is that if the bass stays in the upright position, it will arrive safe. Many red stickers all over the crate serve to remind even the densest FedEx employee that they are dealing with a fragile load. I recall Josh told me once that their shipping success rate was 99%. One thing might freak you out. They take the thumb screw for the end pin out and put it in a bag with the bridge. When you pull the gig bag out of the crate, the end-pin might fall on the floor and you might think the screw has been lost. Fear not, it's in the bag. They ship the bass with a dummy bridge, a block of wood sitting on a bubble wrap envelope which contains all the paperwork. They cut four notches for the strings and then tighten the strings up considerably. This keeps pressure on the sound post. It does not take more that ten minutes to back out all the screws in the box, so if you want to keep it, bring a piece of cardboard and two compression straps with you, flatten out the crate and strap it to the top of your car with the cardboard to protect your roof. Finally, I'm glad to hear from Eric. He lends a levelheaded voice to any thread he joins and is one of those that I have learned so much from. I had Spirocores installed, (Weichs). I wanted to give the new bass the "Jazz Pizz" test right off the bat. I'm not an arco player although I do dabble so I went for the 80/20 set up. So far, I like the strings. They are fairly loud with good growl but I like to slap and they don't accomplish that as well as I would like. I may move to Eurosonics or try a combination set with guts on the low side. I have many years of happy experimentation with strings ahead of me. Thanks again for joining my thread guys/gals and good vibrations to all!

ctregan · #10 01-15-2008, 07:09 AM

Is it me, or is this thread is starting to sound like an advertisement for Upton.

Glad your happy with your purchase, it must be a nice instrument!

BPeder · #11 01-15-2008, 07:51 AM

ctregan, it's not just you. There have been many Upton posts and participants in those threads that sensed a certain vibe. Some of those threads got really out there... and the vibe got bad. I assure you, I am not a commercial user, just a happy Upton bass customer. This forum exists, in part, for people like me. I think our moderators sometimes wish there was a dedicated Upton forum where guys like me could go to gush. But until it's up, here I am. What bass are you currently playing? How do you like it? What kind of music are you playing? You are welcome to talk about it and you will find plenty of interested listeners, including me. Peace, BPeder

mikeypbass · #12 01-19-2008, 03:22 PM

I went to the shop and ordered one today, (the new standard one, i didn't feel it necessary to pay $1000 for very minor aesthetics) beautiful bass, thanks for helping keep me sane till May when my beast is brought into the world

chuck1073 · #13 01-20-2008, 05:38 AM

Talked to Gary last week. They were carving my neck. I believe he said the front and back tables were done and the ribs were assembled to the back at that point (Thursday).
On vacation this week...I'll have to see if I can stop by sometime early this week to see how it's coming. Should be just about ready to be varnished.

It's getting so close I can taste it!

lloccmttocs · #14 01-20-2008, 09:54 AM

Looking back, I think this whole buy before looking on any bass is somewhat crazy. I bought a professor model and tried it by myself before I really knew what it meant to play anything too difficult and when I got it I found out the woes of having a big bass. and after all those months and dollars speant I decided to find a new bass because of all the problems i had with mine. I didn't want to dampen this forum, I just wanted to let people know that it's not a great idea to buy just because people say the bass is good. People also told me I'd get my money back trying to sell it and it would last me for ever and appreciate in value. I guess those people were wrong on that. I think it's important to take a trip to local shops and just try every single bass you can. You have to be as picky as possibly. It took me 5 months to find my bass I have now, and it's nice to know that I don't want to trade it for anything now.

drurb · #15 01-20-2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lloccmttocs

Looking back, I think this whole buy before looking on any bass is somewhat crazy. I bought a professor model and tried it by myself before I really knew what it meant to play anything too difficult and when I got it I found out the woes of having a big bass. and after all those months and dollars speant I decided to find a new bass because of all the problems i had with mine. I didn't want to dampen this forum, I just wanted to let people know that it's not a great idea to buy just because people say the bass is good. People also told me I'd get my money back trying to sell it and it would last me for ever and appreciate in value. I guess those people were wrong on that. I think it's important to take a trip to local shops and just try every single bass you can. You have to be as picky as possibly. It took me 5 months to find my bass I have now, and it's nice to know that I don't want to trade it for anything now.

I think it's always good to try a bass before you buy. What is best, however, is to be an informed and knowledgeable buyer so that when you try the bass, you know what you are looking for vis a vis your personal tastes, playing style, physical abilities, physical dimensions of the bass, etc. If one is not, then one should bring along an expert who can help. Those of us who have been around these threads long enough may recall that you were somewhat wet behind the ears when you tried the Professor.

In my opinion, the importance of try-before-you-buy is proportional to the price of the bass. Don't get me wrong-- it's always advised that you do so. It's just that, for example, if you are looking in the $1500-range, I think it is less critical. That's because there are precious few good basses to buy in that range that are well-built, sound decent, and are delivered with a good setup. What's being discussed here is the Upton hybrid. Some have tried it first, others have not. I'm not sure anyone here ordered one "just because people say the bass is good." While reviews and opinions might have played into their decisions, I don't think that's all there was to it.

As far as the Professor goes, that's in a price range where I would agree that it would be ill-advised not to try-before-you buy. I say that, not because I don't have confidence in the quality of that bass, but because there are many options in that price-range and, given that level of expenditure, it becomes even more important to find the proper fit. You actually did try your Professor before you bought it and "all the problems" you had seemed to have stemmed from in an improper fit. Thus, my original point about being an informed buyer.

BPeder · #16 01-20-2008, 02:59 PM

I'm sorry to hear that lloccmttocs did not have the happy ending with his Professor. I'm sure it happens, and his post will stand tall with all the others that while not entirely positive about the Upton experience, none the less did not get deleted. All opinions are welcome, and his post does not dampen anything. I'm just glad people come here and talk! My hope is that he's back on track and happy with a bass that inspires him to play his best. Or is it her? Anyway, the try B4 buy question? Totally subjective. I would not spend more than 5K on a sight unseen bass. Steve Jobs? I wish I had his problem. He could probably buy PDQ Bach's bass sight unseen. But I will not be buying anymore basses for a while so it's not a problem for me...famous last words. If you are thinking about a new bass, know yourself first and then spend the time getting to know the basses as intimately as you need to. drurb, I was wondering where you were. Thanks for the input smart cookie.

Cheers, BPeder

drurb · #17 01-20-2008, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPeder

...drurb, I was wondering where you were...

I'm right here and waiting for my USA-made Professor. I've still got a while.

BPeder · #18 01-21-2008, 06:22 AM

"Jealousy, the green eyed monster that doth mock the flesh upon which it feeds..."

Getting a professor? Sounds good man and I mean it both ways. I hope you have plenty of methods at hand for staving off bass fever. Beer works well, as does a pile of CDs with bassists whose tone you love. I listened to a lot of "Lúnasa" as I play Celtic music as well as Bluegrass and Rockabilly and the occasional Jazz call tossed in. I will be following your progress with great interest. Will this be the first USA Professor, and did you order the model with all the trimmings?

I am just beginning to hear my Hybrid start to open up. The brittle quality right out of the crate has softened up and the G string is louder and warmer. What a great journey! Keep us posted, Peace-out.

drurb · #19 01-21-2008, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPeder

"Jealousy, the green eyed monster that doth mock the flesh upon which it feeds..."

Getting a professor? Sounds good man and I mean it both ways. I hope you have plenty of methods at hand for staving off bass fever. Beer works well, as does a pile of CDs with bassists whose tone you love. I listened to a lot of "Lúnasa" as I play Celtic music as well as Bluegrass and Rockabilly and the occasional Jazz call tossed in. I will be following your progress with great interest. Will this be the first USA Professor, and did you order the model with all the trimmings?

I am just beginning to hear my Hybrid start to open up. The brittle quality right out of the crate has softened up and the G string is louder and warmer. What a great journey! Keep us posted, Peace-out.

So here's the story. Back in April of 2007, I ordered a "European" Professor after playing one in the shop. I posted with details about my "bass off." The waiting began. A while later, Gary told me of his plans to build them all from lumber to finished product right here in Connecticut. He gave me the option of waiting. I took it! Now, I must admit that I was and able to stave off bass fever quite effectively by playing the bass I have now. I'm hardly hurting for a really nice instrument to play. Sure, I'm excited about the USA-made-Professor but I really think it will be well worth the wait.

I believe that the version I will be getting will be the "deluxe" one with nicely flamed wood. I ordered it with the upgraded hat-peg tuners. I just love those. The one I get may very well be the first USA-made Professor. I sure will keep you posted and thanks for sharing the enthusiasm.

lowEndRick · #20 01-22-2008, 06:48 AM

I pick up my Hybrid this Saturday the 26th. The wait is finally coming to an end. Actually, the length of wait time has been what I expected based on what I have heard from others here. Either way I am just dying with anticipation. My other bass has nylon wrap strings that are great for bluegrass (which accounts for 95% of my gigs) but completely inadequate for classical. I really need a bass that is more dedicated to classical playing....hence the arrival of this Hybrid. I'll keep ya posted.