My new Upton Concert!

[drurb]

Well, after nearly a year and a half of planning and waiting, I finally picked up my fully-carved Upton Concert! This all started a while back when I had a “bass-off” between my fully-carved Romanian and one of Upton’s European-made Professors. I placed an order for the Professor but after finding out that Upton was planning domestic production, I put my order on hold and hung back and waited. After all, I had a really nice bass to play. Over time, they ramped up their production and introduced new models. I finally settled on the fully-carved Concert model. I got it with a few extras: double-purfling on the top and back, English sycamore neck, and Rubner engraved-plate ebony hatpeg tuners. It was SOOOOOOO worth the wait! The obligatory bass-porn is below.

Okay, so how does it sound? Frankly, I figured that I wouldn’t be saying a word about the sound in this first post because, being only days old, the bass would have to settle in. I’m sure it still will but when I played the first note on it, I was nothing short of stunned. It already has a big, dark, “beefy” sound and the “bloom” can even be heard on the E just above the neck on the G string. Let’s just say that projection is no problem! This brand new bass sounds older than my “old” bass. So much for the notion that a new bass has to sound “green!” I play mostly pizz. but I had to pull out the bow. Oh my! Playing the open E or the G in first position on the E seemed to rattle just about everything in my living room that wasn’t tied down. The windows were literally shaking. My former bass never did that! Over the last 35 years, I’ve played a bass or two. The only basses I had ever played that were this much of a treat for the player were and still are WAY out of my price range. Gee, and to think it’s gonna improve!

[drurb]

A couple more pix...

[drurb]

A couple more.

[drurb]

Two more.

[ZH_Driver]

I think I am in love with another mans bass...

[Andrew Grandahl]

Fantastic purchase, congratulations. Upton really have their act together.

[ole Jason]

Nice! Post some clips if you can

[CamMcIntyre]

Congrats. It looks great. The attention to detail is amazing.

The ebony hatpeg tuners have always caught my attention.

Enjoy playing the new bass!

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by CamMcIntyre

The ebony hatpeg tuners have always caught my attention.

That's weird.... they usually catch my forehead.

[Gearhead43]

Wow.

[Gufenov]

She's a beauty! Congrats!

[Eric Swanson]

Dear Drurb,

Congratulations! The pictures look lovely. Seems to be a significantly different bass (in the good way) from my European (Romanian?) Upton "Professor". Appears that they have done some thoughtful re-design with this newer model.

The shoulder width and general proportions look much more negotiable. The workmanship looks much cleaner than I have seen come out of their shop before. The button detailing looks as if it came from a completely different company than the work on my bass...umm...because it did! Great to see things moving in a positive direction.

I really appreciate the design and fabrication improvements they have made on your instrument, especially after looking at the rough work on my Upton bass, day in and day out, for a year. Ah well, I saw my bass before I bought it, played it twice, and chose to deal with its issues... I sure do wish that I could have waited the year-and-a-half it took for a bass like yours - I am glad that you could! Also, I am comparing my $6K bass to your $10K bass...

So happy for you. Your patience and faith have been rewarded! Like the old saying goes, "Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, found often in a woman, more rarely in a man..."

Yeah, Marcus, I bonk into my hat pegs, too! Usually the side of my head, though. I have looked at them more then once wondering what they would look like trimmed back...usually after a mild head-grazing.... They always creak a bit, sooner or later, and the adjustment is coarser than something like the KC strings tuners. But then again, the nice thing about the hat pegs is the reduced mass at the top of the neck. When I bought my bass, I did an A/B comparison with my bass and a virtually identical Upton "Professor" bass - mine with/the other bass without the hatpegs; the hatpegs won, in that particular case, sonically speaking.

Questions: Looks like a carved back, is that right? Is that double purfling all around, on both front and back tables (the "process" pics on the Upton site only show one course of purfling - is this is your bass)? Ebony or stained poplar tailpiece? What is it strung with?

Congrats!! I am happy for you...

[christ andronis]

niiiiiccee!!

[drurb]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Dear Drurb,

Congratulations! ...
The shoulder width and general proportions look much more negotiable. The workmanship looks much cleaner than I have seen come out of their shop before. The button detailing looks as if it came from a completely different company than the work on my bass...umm...because it did! Great to see things moving in a positive direction.

Eric-- Thanks so much for your kind words and sentiments! Your observations are quite correct. The shoulders and overall design have been modified quite a bit (I think, for the better) as compared to the design that was built abroad.

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Questions: Looks like a carved back, is that right? Is that double purfling all around, on both front and back tables (the "process" pics on the Upton site only show one course of purfling - is this is your bass)? Ebony or stained poplar tailpiece? What is it strung with?

The back is carved. I've attached a picture. The double purfling is at the neck area of both the top and back. One line follows the recessed curve, the other line climbs up to the neck. The bass pictured on Upton's site is not mine. The tailpiece on mine is ebony (standard for Upton). Mine is strung with Dominants-- for now!

[MingusAmongUs]

Looking good!
Congratulations.

I'm starting to feel like the only one on the block without a nice carved bass. The curse of the self-employed.

[uprightben]

Dburb,
Congratulation, your bass looks amazing! In your OP, you said that the neck is english sycamore, but after looking at the pics I'm wondering if you didn't mean to say the back is sycamore?

[drurb]

Thanks for the compliment! According to Gary Upton, the back is domestic maple while the neck is English sycamore. He was very explicit about this. I'm just repeating what I was told.

[D McCartney]

Congratulations, that is just as pretty as can be.
You should be smiling for a very long time.

[Bass]

The neck is stunning.

[Roger Davis]

It's all stunning! Congratulations and enjoy!