Upton Bass

[jisbass]

Oh I see. I read it wrong.
Still curious about shipping basses in the winter though. It must sit in a truck for a few days while driving across the country. Do they have special trucks, or are most basses able to handle it? I'm talking about below freezing weather like in January, and it's going from North East to North West of US, so it's cold all the way.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by jisbass

Oh I see. I read it wrong.
Still curious about shipping basses in the winter though. It must sit in a truck for a few days while driving across the country. Do they have special trucks, or are most basses able to handle it? I'm talking about below freezing weather like in January, and it's going from North East to North West of US, so it's cold all the way.

IIRC, Gary Upton pays some sort of special fee for expedited and controlled storage.

[Damon Rondeau]

Cold all the way is certainly much, much better than cold part of the way, hot part of the way, cold part of the way, hot part of the... You get my (snow) drift...

[Damon Rondeau]

Keyser, babe, as far as I can tell you're the Head Sniper in this thread. You're free to express whatever opinions you want about Upton and drurb -- these are open forums, participants are assumed to be independent adult people, and censorship is the last thing we want to get into. But seriously, you haven't made any new points in many, many posts -- all you're doing is banging the same gong in the same ultra-snide way. I'm not sure what to call that behaviour. It's not exactly trolling, per se. I know for sure though: it ain't funny and it definitely ain't respectful.

It's not about the content. It's about the attitude. It's not welcome.

[jrlynch]

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

Keyser, babe, as far as I can tell you're the Head Sniper in this thread. You're free to express whatever opinions you want about Upton and drurb -- these are open forums, participants are assumed to be independent adult people, and censorship is the last thing we want to get into. But seriously, you haven't made any new points in many, many posts -- all you're doing is banging the same gong in the same ultra-snide way. I'm not sure what to call that behaviour. It's not exactly trolling, per se. I know for sure though: it ain't funny and it definitely ain't respectful.

It's not about the content. It's about the attitude. It's not welcome.

+1

[Keyser Soze]

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

Keyser, babe, as far as I can tell you're the Head Sniper in this thread. You're free to express whatever opinions you want about Upton and drurb -- these are open forums, participants are assumed to be independent adult people, and censorship is the last thing we want to get into. But seriously, you haven't made any new points in many, many posts -- all you're doing is banging the same gong in the same ultra-snide way. I'm not sure what to call that behaviour. It's not exactly trolling, per se. I know for sure though: it ain't funny and it definitely ain't respectful.

It's not about the content. It's about the attitude. It's not welcome.

Damon, I have a lot of respect for you, for Chris, for Paul, for this place. I'm grateful to be here. I mostly lurk.

Chris has, recently, had more conviction than you espouse above and given me two demerits for trolling. He was right, in the particular case I was cited for.

But is there someone else, besides me, who should be spanked (publiclly) in this thread? My recent posts aren't the only ones that it seems most TBers will never see.

I don't see his name here in your post. Only mine

Have I attributde "quotes" to other TB'ers that are fabricated?

I have enabled two TB'ers to buy basses for over $1,000 less than most folks pay. They were/are grateful. I have done that, on my own dime, for two reasons; 1) I'm a good guy. 2) A TB Moderator in this forum, Jon Packard, put on on the path to get that great deal for myself.

I'm not "after" anyone. I'm the last person in the world who would ever "poison the well." I have corresponded w/ Chris off-list and alluded to what I do, why I don't "traffic" here under my real name. I am here as a hobbyist bass player. I love this place.

My only "problem" with this thread -- and the other Upton threads -- is that, to me, the playing field seems to be a little skewed. And I AM NOT a tinfoil hat guy. I am the oither guy.

Upton basses are probaly real good. I've never seen/heard one.

But if ANYONE has a different theory that they attem to share here, there seems to be a sniper waiting to pick them off on TB.

That same "sniper" -- tonight -- "quoted" me as saying things I never said.

Is he being called tom account here?

My "cause:" Give the Shens, the Christophers, the Englehardts AND the Uptons a fair shake. Don't allow TB'ers to skew things, to postulate that products that aren't in the marketlace are -- somehow -- gonna be better than the ones that all of us use every day. Wasn't there a "micro amp" that "everyone" was sure was gonna be so great? (I wanted one.) It (still) might be great -- and we all hope it will, just as we hope that there will be another great maker of basses in the US. But jumping to GAS conclusions, before the product(s) is/are tried and true does not benefit this community.

And it is disigenuous for a long-time friend of a new maunfacturer to "drip" "hints" and "a little bird told me's" and "IIRCs" in this forum.

Let the brand new product (actually) ship, enter the marketplace, compete on merit. How does it sound?

Limit friends of the maufacturer from shilling for the new product. Especially inlight of the fact that most every time we log on here, we see that manufacturer's name at the top of YOUR page.

I have no dog in the fight.

Play it straight, that's all I'm asking for.

I'd like to see all TBers get the best deal on the best bass.
I'd bet that you -- personally -- feel exactly the same way. That's the vibe I've gotten from reading your posts over the past few years.

Whether your friend makes the bass, or not. Wherever they advertise. Or not.

[jrlynch]

then just let it be and stop sniping about something and some people you have no personal experience with ... i've no idea what the american made basses with sound and feel like, but i *do* have personal experience with the people at upton and i'm quite happy with my bass which they thoughtfully created for me. if you had a bad experience personally, i think you should passionately present that case, but meanwhile it seems extraordinarily meanspirited to shoot these guys down without any product actually hitting the marketplace, and with no personal experience to back your various conspiracy theories ... it's just plain tiresome.

and, i have zero business interest in upton, there's no envelop filled with cash darkening my door weekly ... although, i'd welcome the offer

jeff.

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

Damon, I have a lot of respect for you, for Chris, for Paul, for this place. I'm grateful to be here. I mostly lurk.

Chris has, recently, had more conviction than you espouse above and given me two demerits for trolling. He was right, in the particular case I was cited for.

But is there someone else, besides me, who should be spanked (publiclly) in this thread? My recent posts aren't the only ones that it seems most TBers will never see.

I don't see his name here in your post. Only mine

Have I attributde "quotes" to other TB'ers that are fabricated?

I have enabled two TB'ers to buy basses for over $1,000 less than most folks pay. They were/are grateful. I have done that, on my own dime, for two reasons; 1) I'm a good guy. 2) A TB Moderator in this forum, Jon Packard, put on on the path to get that great deal for myself.

I'm not "after" anyone. I'm the last person in the world who would ever "poison the well." I have corresponded w/ Chris off-list and alluded to what I do, why I don't "traffic" here under my real name. I am here as a hobbyist bass player. I love this place.

My only "problem" with this thread -- and the other Upton threads -- is that, to me, the playing field seems to be a little skewed. And I AM NOT a tinfoil hat guy. I am the oither guy.

Upton basses are probaly real good. I've never seen/heard one.

But if ANYONE has a different theory that they attem to share here, there seems to be a sniper waiting to pick them off on TB.

That same "sniper" -- tonight -- "quoted" me as saying things I never said.

Is he being called tom account here?

My "cause:" Give the Shens, the Christophers, the Englehardts AND the Uptons a fair shake. Don't allow TB'ers to skew things, to postulate that products that aren't in the marketlace are -- somehow -- gonna be better than the ones that all of us use every day. Wasn't there a "micro amp" that "everyone" was sure was gonna be so great? (I wanted one.) It (still) might be great -- and we all hope it will, just as we hope that there will be another great maker of basses in the US. But jumping to GAS conclusions, before the product(s) is/are tried and true does not benefit this community.

And it is disigenuous for a long-time friend of a new maunfacturer to "drip" "hints" and "a little bird told me's" and "IIRCs" in this forum.

Let the brand new product (actually) ship, enter the marketplace, compete on merit. How does it sound?

Limit friends of the maufacturer from shilling for the new product. Especially inlight of the fact that most every time we log on here, we see that manufacturer's name at the top of YOUR page.

I have no dog in the fight.

Play it straight, that's all I'm asking for.

I'd like to see all TBers get the best deal on the best bass.
I'd bet that you -- personally -- feel exactly the same way. That's the vibe I've gotten from reading your posts over the past few years.

Whether your friend makes the bass, or not. Wherever they advertise. Or not.

[jisbass]

I think Keyser has a good point here. Many times it's not what you say but "how" you say it. Keyser came off as a bitter and grumpy guy, in "how" he said things for whatever reason, but he probably isn't such a bad guy.
I agree that at times this forum gave a "skewed" review and publicity of Upton basses, but the posters were just being excited customers, I think.

I said earlier that my friend got an Upton laminate. He got on the upton bandwagan without even trying out any other basses. I told him to try and find a used bass locally, but he got impatient, and went with the reviews on this forum.

I think he made a good choice in the end, but I was a bit disappointed when I tried the bass. I didn't want to post my opinion of it so soon, because it was so new. I wanted to give it some time to break in.

I was disappointed not because it was a bad bass. It's a great laminate bass, but because of all the hype, I was expecting it to be a "magical" bass. But in the end, it's a good laminate bass. Don't get me wrong, it's much better than the Strunal laminate I used to have. The set up and the finish on the upton is awsome. Even though it has a 42" string length with a large upper bout, it was easy to play.
But my Christopher Hybrid and Carved basses sounded better, at least to my ears. Of course a fair comparison would be to compare a hybrid with a hybrid, carved with a carved, but I was expecting the Upton laminate to blow my Chrissys away. Not the case.

There was a time on this forum when Shen's were king, Gollihur bows and basses at one point, Christophers at another time, New standards, etc. I don't think there's conspiracy, it just happens to be Upton's turn at this time. It's a flowing, organic forum. Can't always control what happens...I hope.

[Damon Rondeau]

Keyser, we're both Christopher players. Mine's a hybrid. I consulted with Jon, too, before I bought. He did his best to talk me up to the fully carved but my budget just wouldn't take me there. I'm a happy camper but then again, I live in a bass-deprived part of the world. It's not like I've got the opportunity to mess around with other basses every day of the week...

I don't see any reason why we can't talk about all the issues and gossip and rumours and everything associated with Upton Bass. Well, no reason except one: if the conversation is not respectful and mature, if it devolves into bad blood name-calling, if the trenches get dug for a long, drawn-out battle between individuals or partisan sides, we've pretty much lost any value that the thread may have. Then it gets shut down and forgotten about. Is that what we want?

I appreciate your last post, KS; I do understand what you're saying, I think. From my point of view, TalkBass welcomes and encourages all points of view and opinions, even the ones that are tough, unpopular or against the grain. When we're in that realm of content, it's even more important that points get made clearly and with respect.

<AFTERTHOUGHT, 2 or 3 hours later>
Welcoming an open exchange of a variety of viewpoints doesn't mean that the rules don't apply. The commercial user policy, for example, puts a limit on the kinds of things commercial users can get involved in.
</AFTERTHOUGHT, 2 or 3 hours later>

Having said all that, Mr. Soze, I want to assure you that I don't see you as "the" bad guy who peed in this thread's pool. It's just that your tone and attitude made you a lightning rod for my moderator's instinct to protect the thread and TB's rules. This thread and this topic isn't an easy one by any stretch of the imagination...

But I've got a pile of work to do today. There's a rumour going around that it's some kind of turkey-eating day down south. No turkey for me -- work and gigs!

Peace, everybody. Long live TalkBass.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Post content removed by admin.

Message from Paul:
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I'm leaving this placeholder as there seems to be a few users who feel that we're playing favorites. I can give you my word that I do not do so, and I've never hesitated to apply the same rules to our paying advertisers, and every volunteer mod can tell you the same.

Our full policy may be referenced here:
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--Paul

[Chris Fitzgerald]

You know what, folks? It's Thanksgiving, which for me is a day - a weekend, in fact - which means spending some quality time with my wife, son, and extended family. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. This thread, and indeed this issue, will still be here when this holiday is over, and we can deal with the fallout then.

Until then, let's take this time to appreciate all the good things we actually do have - including our families, our basses of various makes, and Talkbass. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.