Upton Workshop Bows are Back in Stock!

Kevin Hsieh · #1 02-06-2008, 08:50 PM

FINALLY!

they called me this morning and confirmed everything.

can't wait!

ZonPlyr · #2 02-06-2008, 09:27 PM

I received an email yesterday saying they expected them any day, good to hear they are back in stock. Mine should be shipped Fri or Monday.

Kevin Hsieh · #3 02-07-2008, 12:46 PM

Got my workshop bow today (the day after they ccalled me and told me that they received them)

Incredible delivery!

The bow is incredible... at least compared to my old superglued tip chinese factory bow. Makes playing between strings so much easier and the sound is great.

Totally worth the wait. More later... i want to practice

Monkey · #4 02-07-2008, 04:52 PM

I received an email from Aubrey saying my bow was in, and I called the shop to see if I could add German bow to my order of a French bow. They were very friendly and helpful and Aubrey fixed me up right away. I can't wait to get them!

lowEndRick · #5 02-08-2008, 07:28 AM

Which workshop bow are you talking about? Upton has several different models in a wide range of pricing.

Kevin Hsieh · #6 02-08-2008, 02:30 PM

i'm talking about the entry level bow they offer.

ZonPlyr · #7 02-08-2008, 03:43 PM

mine shipped today. can't wait to try it.

Mike D. · #8 02-08-2008, 10:31 PM

anyone here already have an Upton workshop bow? how are those $100 ones? I know $100 is usually a crappy poorly balanced bow, but with Upton's booming reputation for good quality and service, seems like it might be a really good bow at a suprisingly low price. how are these bows?
Are they comparable to bows worth more, for instance $300-400? what about compared to bows of $600-800?

Kevin Hsieh · #9 02-08-2008, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike D.

anyone here already have an Upton workshop bow? how are those $100 ones? I know $100 is usually a crappy poorly balanced bow, but with Upton's booming reputation for good quality and service, seems like it might be a really good bow at a suprisingly low price. how are these bows?
Are they comparable to bows worth more, for instance $300-400? what about compared to bows of $600-800?

i have one and i'm on my 2nd day with it. It's my second bow and the other one was a free bow that the luthier threw in back home. so i don't have much to say that would probably help. but it's waaay better than my previous bow. i probably won't be upgrading for a while.

downneck · #10 02-08-2008, 11:51 PM

i've had one for about a year now and my teacher's had an extremely good opinion of it considering the cost. i'm considering buying a second when this one gets close to needing its next rehair as the price is about the same and it'd be nice to have two, just in case

jisbass · #11 02-09-2008, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Are they comparable to bows worth more, for instance $300-400? what about compared to bows of $600-800?

You get what you pay for most of the time.
Depends on which bows you're comparing to, but obviously the bows that are $300+ are going to be better, unless you get ripped off and overpay.

The question should be: "How are they compared to other bows that are $100?
And the answer is, they are good for the price. Probably better than ebay bows sold under $100.
Honestly, I like Gollihur bows better, but they do cost a little more.

I'm speaking from experience with the older upton bow. Not sure if they made improvements with the new batch.
But I think what made them "cheap" bows has more to do with quality of wood, rather than construction, so I don't know how much they could've improved on that, unless they(the bow maker) found better wood at a cheap price.

dchan · #12 02-09-2008, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jisbass

You get what you pay for most of the time.
Depends on which bows you're comparing to, but obviously the bows that are $300+ are going to be better, unless you get ripped off and overpay.

The question should be: "How are they compared to other bows that are $100?
And the answer is, they are good for the price. Probably better than ebay bows sold under $100.
Honestly, I like Gollihur bows better, but they do cost a little more.

I'm speaking from experience with the older upton bow. Not sure if they made improvements with the new batch.
But I think what made them "cheap" bows has more to do with quality of wood, rather than construction, so I don't know how much they could've improved on that, unless they(the bow maker) found better wood at a cheap price.

Honestly, I have to agree with jisbass. For $100, you can't expect that much.

I've owned one and was reasonably happy with it for a few months. It drew a nice sound and was better than my school's brazilwood bow or the fiberglass that I was using, possibly due to the old hair on both of those bows. But I soon noticed its flaws while playing in the orchestra: it was very flexible, too flexible for my tastes; it bounced a lot when played fast at the tip; it had a pretty good sound but not a very loud sound. I had to work too hard with the bow to get the results that I wanted.

For the record, I was fairly advanced by that time given that I was disenchanted with the bow so soon after I started using it. I would say it's a decent beginners bow, no more, no less. From my experience, it is not comparable to bows costing $300-$400 if you look in the right places, and definitely not $600-$800.

I was led by some to think that bows costing around $300 could not touch the Upton $99 bow; I should have done more research and tested more bows (even while at the Upton shop. Stupid me!). Luckily, I was out only $100.

My final piece of advice: if you want to buy a bow, don't believe all the hype out there. The bow threads are there to help you out in your research. To truly know what you're buying, I recommend that you visit a local string shop or luthier to test out several bows, preferably with your teacher. See if the shop can lend you the bow for a week or so in order for you to figure out the strengths and flaws over a period of time. And be patient!

Phil Rowan · #13 02-09-2008, 10:30 PM

Check out the "how to select a bow" section of the Salchow & Sons site. Their advice helped me narrow things down to 2 bows I liked the best out of 10. As long as you do your homework, spending a little more now can sometimes mean spending less in the long run.

Menacewarf · #14 02-10-2008, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Rowan

As long as you do your homework, spending a little more now can sometimes mean spending less in the long run.

Great Advice

AndreasH · #15 04-13-2008, 06:27 AM

I'm thinking about buying one (German) of these and for this price it seems insane not to. They look great and the frog looks nice and big, just like I want it.

What is the weight of these bows?

Michael Eisenman · #16 04-13-2008, 11:39 AM

I recently got an email newsletter from Upton, and they're selling the German model UB Workshop bow for $20.00 off. That's $79.00 through April. This special applies only to the German model.

The price is not displayed on the Web site, but I don't think it's restricted to former customers. Call them to find out.

I just ordered a second bow as a backup. I'm learning to rehair bows, and I think I'm going to replace the hair on my first Upton bow.

BTW, my teacher and luthier both think it's a fine bow for the price. The bowmaker who taught me how to rehair bows said it was pretty well balanced, as well. I won't be able to compare it against other bows until I get good enough at bowing to pick up a really good one and say, "Whoa!"

Michael

AndreasH · #17 04-13-2008, 12:43 PM

low.eadg: Thanks a bunch! I'm really going to check up on that.

Reuben · #18 04-26-2008, 05:27 PM

I have a recurring gig playing original chamber music by a composer-violist friend, and some of the switching between arco and pizz was giving me trouble. I have learned to deal but I got really annoyed watching the cellist just rip back and forth, and thought "if only I played French bow..."

So I decided to order an Upton figuring it might be a fun and inexpensive experiment. I have to say that despite some minor details this is a pretty decent bass bow! Could it draw a more complex sound? Yes. Could the frog have slightly less sharp edges? Yes. Would it be nice if the white tip material hadn't arrived with a deep nick in it? Yes.

None of these things get in the way of enjoyable playing, and it is a very attractive bow. I have checked out many cheap bows over the years that people say are great, but they usually turn out to be dogs to me. While it's too early to judge factors like durability, so far I am pretty impressed. If you have a few hundred to spend you can probably do better, but not for this price. $100 is less than most of us pay for a set of strings. A good value to be sure.

Good work, Upton!