Well I am finally home long enough to have the time to sit down and give a review on purchasing my first upright bass this spring, an Upton Bass Hybrid Standard.
From the first phone call Eric took time to answer all my questions, and even asked me a few where I may have overlooked certain details. I ordered the bass in early February and received the bass in early to mid April. While this is certainly not a long time to wait for a handcrafted instrument, I felt like a 6-year-old on Christmas Eve.
I decided to go with the Hybrid bass mainly because I felt as though it gave me the best sound quality for the money and was still practical for life on the road.
The principal of the UB Standard line, is what you see is what you get, but because Eric is such an awesome guy, I did have a few things changed.
The first, is the the solo fingerboard purely because of aesthetics.
The second, I asked them leave the endpin a bit longer that usual. I am 6'4 and like playing what I would consider "fairly high". Many of the uprights I have rented or take care of in the past always seem to run out of end pin length or if there was enough the bass felt incredibly unstable.
I am able to get my UB up to my preferred height and it feels stable while performing - I tend to get into the music.
The third modification was getting Spirocore strings. I am on Team Spirocore, you can't convince me otherwise.
Along with the bass I got the Upton Dark Haired Bow. I do not have a lot of experience with arco playing, but Eric recommended I go with the dark hair and I am very happy with it. The bow has tons of grab and is very smooth for sustaining long notes. I use the bow with a lot of singer-songwriters accompanied by myself and an acoustic guitarist. The compliments from both fans and other musicians are constant.
I also purchased the Upton Bass Revolution Solo 2 Pickup.
I wanted two things out of a pickup:
1. To sound true to the bass, only louder
2. To have enough juice to keep up with a Big Band on stage without feeding back.
The Rev Solo does just that. The quality of the tone is amazing and is very feedback resistant.
I am thoroughly pleased with all aspects of my Upright. I saved diligently for a long time to be financially able to purchase this bass and I can honestly say they met or exceeded all of my expectations.
If anyone would like further detail I would be happy to share.
From the first phone call Eric took time to answer all my questions, and even asked me a few where I may have overlooked certain details. I ordered the bass in early February and received the bass in early to mid April. While this is certainly not a long time to wait for a handcrafted instrument, I felt like a 6-year-old on Christmas Eve.
I decided to go with the Hybrid bass mainly because I felt as though it gave me the best sound quality for the money and was still practical for life on the road.
The principal of the UB Standard line, is what you see is what you get, but because Eric is such an awesome guy, I did have a few things changed.
The first, is the the solo fingerboard purely because of aesthetics.
The second, I asked them leave the endpin a bit longer that usual. I am 6'4 and like playing what I would consider "fairly high". Many of the uprights I have rented or take care of in the past always seem to run out of end pin length or if there was enough the bass felt incredibly unstable.
I am able to get my UB up to my preferred height and it feels stable while performing - I tend to get into the music.
The third modification was getting Spirocore strings. I am on Team Spirocore, you can't convince me otherwise.
Along with the bass I got the Upton Dark Haired Bow. I do not have a lot of experience with arco playing, but Eric recommended I go with the dark hair and I am very happy with it. The bow has tons of grab and is very smooth for sustaining long notes. I use the bow with a lot of singer-songwriters accompanied by myself and an acoustic guitarist. The compliments from both fans and other musicians are constant.
I also purchased the Upton Bass Revolution Solo 2 Pickup.
I wanted two things out of a pickup:
1. To sound true to the bass, only louder
2. To have enough juice to keep up with a Big Band on stage without feeding back.
The Rev Solo does just that. The quality of the tone is amazing and is very feedback resistant.
I am thoroughly pleased with all aspects of my Upright. I saved diligently for a long time to be financially able to purchase this bass and I can honestly say they met or exceeded all of my expectations.
If anyone would like further detail I would be happy to share.
