So I finally got my Upton Hybrid, and it was well worth the wait!
(one pic for now...to busy playing it to go get more batteries for my camera)
First off, this bass is so gorgeous...All I said was I want it to look like an brand new "old Gamba", that super chocolate brown color that screams "Jazz Bass", and they just nailed it. I've been playing my professor's old german gamba while waiting and I just fell in love with the look, now I have my own that I can slowly add my own history and patina to. The solo finger board extension is just so classy, whether I really use it or not...it just adds a extra bit of elegance. I also love the scroll, it so simple but so beautiful.
How does it sound? Freakin' AWESOME! Like I mentioned I've been playing my professor's basses for most of the summer while I waited. It sounds so much like the old basses it is almost scary. This bass has such a great, dark, lively tone tone...it blew me away when we first strung it up. Its strung up with spiros for now...I had a set on a few basses I've spent some time with over the summer and decided to give them a try on this one. I can't wait to see how it opens up, but right now I love the way it sounds and really look forward to evolving with it.
I can't believe how nice this bass plays. The neck feels great. The finger board is super thick. The tuners (I went with the stock ones) work beautifully. The overall playability is just wonderful. I must admit I was a bit worried about the set up because of shipping, but Upton must have this down to a scientific law because all I had to do was slip the bridge in and set my string height and I was ready to go.
Time to go play some more...One last Thanks to Gary, Kate, Eric, and everyone else at Upton bringing me such an amazing instrument!
