It's mostly because it's all cats like you, who want to look like they're playing upright but don't want to put the work in.
Even the full string length EUBs (the solid body ones anyway) all sound like fretless basses on steroids, not uprights. If you don't have the body producing the sound, it's all string and pickup.
With those basses the big division is - does it reproduce the bridge and overstand of an upright or does it more resemble the fingerboard/bridge relationship of a bass guitar? The former is aimed at someone who already plays upright but needs a portable solution for travel. The latter is aimed at someone who plays bass guitar but wants a sound and or look closer to an actual double bass.
And then you've got those things that are just fretless bass guitars that get an endpin stuck on them or are put on some kind of stand. Those are aimed at folks who only want to look like they're playing upright.
As if playing upright is some sort of social status symbol...this is the type of purist/traditionalist mindset that limits innovation. I personally enjoy the sound of a natural upright in CERTAIN situations. But I'm of the thought that an electric bass is WAY more portable, playable, and versatile in styles and sounds. As I said, I'm a multi-instrumentalist. I can't take on more practice sessions / techniques. I'd like an instrument that allows me to satisfy some of that "give me the thump" purist crowd I encounter at salsa, latin jazz, and jazz gigs, without having to spend a decade becoming Ron Carter on the upright. Ron Carter can spend a lifetime just playing bass. I have to play electric bass, drumset, timbales, congas, bongos, etc. and each has particular techniques to get the most out of them.
I'm looking for an instrument CLOSER to an upright and Ampeg Baby Bass sound...and given that Tony Banda (a top latin jazz musician in the West Coast) uses Azola Gypsy basses, I'm sure they're a solution to some of the needs I need.
If I had my way, I'd play electric exclusively. Way faster neck, easier expression of my ideas, more versatility in sounds, more styles that can be played, thinner strings, etc. But given that in salsa and latin jazz, just like in regular jazz, there's a purist crowd of 45-65 years olds who still reminisce about the sounds of the 70s, and 80s, as a bass player, you get overlooked if you don't play an Ampeg Baby or a similar instrument. In fact, without any arrogance and with a humble honest admission that I still got way to go in learning my instrument, my electric bass playing is WAY better than the skills of many of the local Ampeg Baby players who play with the local salsa bands...but they get hired because they play the Baby...and I get left because my sound is "not the sound" for salsa. Thankfully, due to my dedicated daily practice and considerable playing skills, and the fact that I often double up on other instruments, my name has spread around as a dependable "do it all" musician. But even with those advantages over mostly "one instrument" musicians who rarely practice their instruments, they're still getting most of the gigs.
Total bullcrap, considering most modern salsa is recorded with a mix of baby basses and electric basses, but that's another story all together.
I'm trying to find a creative, modern solution to my needs. I'm not trying to buy into the "mystique of the upright" vibe on the cheap. If I REALLY wanted that, I would have been studying upright since I was young.
What I learned playing the Palatino is that I would have to spend SERIOUS time learning Simandl technique to really learn the instrument. I can play my Palatino right now, using my hybrid upright / electric bass technique, but at a reduced speed and accuracy of about 50%. Why bother learning Simandl and upright technique when I'm not planning to be Christian McBride or Ron Carter? I foresee my career more as a multi-instrumentalist in latin jazz, Caribbean, salsa, World, Latin pop, R&B and other fields. I don't see myself in a career of dedicated, purist jazz...although I love the masters and listen to them often (Mingus, Avery Sharpe, etc.). And, at the end of the day, I wouldn't want to limit myself to purist jazz gigs, because they don't pay, they're limited in quantity, and you have to compete with EVERYONE ELSE who is doing jazz. Trust me...I know. I've done countless trio or quartet gigs, either on drums, electric bass, or congas. They're fun to do...but the money is in being versatile enough to do anything thrown at you. I've done Flamenco gigs, Caribbean gigs, theatre work, Latin gigs, funk gigs, etc.
