My Upton Medio Fino Hybrid

im looking to get one of these as my first DB. Is it a good bass for jazz and classical.

 

Having owned an Upton hybrid, the short answer is "yes."

 

im really excited about these upton basses. They seem to be everything i want. Good set up, versatile, and great prices. I feel safe if i ordered it online.

 

Medio Fino, Is that average-fine, middle-fine? I know it's something descending from latin. I thought Medio Fino was a French violin with a Spanish name? Now it's a plywood top with inlaid purfling. What will they think of next.

 

David, actually I am converting the Guarneri "Primrose" viola I made into a double bass...and we are talking to manufacturers in Europe and China to see who is best suited to make it for us. I would guess it would be available in Ply, hybrid and solid carved...no idea on which would be available first or even when that may happen. To me this is fun, designing a bass from scratch, with heavy Guarneri characteristics. The viola I made is here, if you are interested: http://www.stringrepair.com/eric.html I am brining it in a bit on the upper bouts to make it more playable. The ff holes will stay as is and the scroll will be as is too as it originally had the stepped pegbox (I violinized it when I made the viola). We are excited to see it!

Oh, and the Medio Fino nod, I pushed for that. Just paying respect to one of the most well sold French student instruments from the JTL workshop. The bass is "French" in model...and we were looking for a "brand name" to go with it. I hate the idea of putting a "real name" as a brand name...I see to many shops do that and it just gives the buyer the impression it was handmade by someone. Same with the Hawkes. Panormo outline really...but we decided to be a bit different and obscure and tip it to the Hawkes workshop.

Were just having fun...we love what we do.

 

Who knows, maybe Guaneri wanted to build a DB, just never got to it. Definitely a worthy pursuit and concept. You will put your own name on the one for ISB and VSA comps I'm sure, even if you do give Guaneri credit for inspiration.

Thank you for explaining the French connection, I could find little specifics except that there seem to be a number of violins with that name and origin still circulating. It still seems odd to me that the name itself "Medio Fino" is not French. Seriously, any ideas on how that originated?

 

Johnny Lamy had a little too much vino? Who know's why Frenchie's do some of the things they do.

(No disrespect to the French...I am one!)

 

The best Italian translation I can find is "fine mean". Apparently the same words have a slightly different meaning in Spanish. Perhaps Lamy referred to something Italian ?? I'm interested in this reference as it traces it's way from Italy to France to USA. It is better than a Name name, I agree. It has some latin concept in it.