This was incredibly helpful, I play fretless electric bass and have become obsessed with the sound and texture of upright and excited to get my first Bass. Thank you very much for the great video.

Also a small thing I've noticed having played on both. Plywood basses tend to have more consistently decent E strings. A lot of carved basses will have weak E strings so you have to be a lot more conscious of that

Im one of the Luthiers at Upton Bass for 18 years now. Lots has changed in 18 years... hell alot has changed in 4 years. But the fact that basses have no standard, makes them that much more fun to make. I agree do not buy an 800.00 bass unless it's worth the restoration or you know you can fix it and set it up yourself. But not a new 800.00 bass its not going to last and will have a setup that will make you not want to play it ever.

Instant Upvote on not buying off a site without feeling it. I haven;t played a stand-up in 20 years and came here for thoughts, and This has been most informative.

I never visit the place but I saw one of the TEDx Talks (TEDx Petaling Street) and the luthier is Ong Ket Wei. His rating online is pretty good. I saw some comments mentioning that he is actually doing the maintenance care for the string instruments of Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. If one day y'all coming to the capital city of Malaysia 🇲🇾 ----- Kuala Lumpur, maybe y'all would interested in his work. Check out his place then =) He is a professional double bassist as well by the way, from what I know that he still playing for Selangor Symphony Orchestra. Best regards

Lemur Music Laguna Sunise 3/4 w/ Fishman Full Circle…has served me well for 20 yrs now…

Excellent video!

Very good video!! A lot of useful info are in here. Straight forward and clear advices. Highly recommended for viewing for all types of bass player interested in upright doublebass. Perhaps you can make a video regarding upright E doublebass/silent bass and how it can be a way of helping bassists in terms of usability, practicality, and where and how tos in purchasing😃👍. Thanks a lot for making this video available!👏👏👏

Always an awesome day when Double Bass HQ uploads! :D

Great video! Thank you so much for this. When I was looking for a double bass a while back I specifically checked if the E and A strings sounded well and wether the low F on the E string was easy to finger. After all, it's a bass and so the low tones should be powerfull! Interestingly, the basses on the higher end of my budget (ca. $7000) failed at that and I decided for a bass that was much cheaper (ca. $3000). This low strings on that one blew my mind! The more costly basses were finer on the higher registers (they “sang” more), however, but the E-string was horrible!

Amazing

Bought a Chinese made laminate starter outfit from Musicians Friend for less than a grand about four years ago, when I decided to pursue double bass along with my electric bass playing. Solidly made, (found out after the fact, ebonized means painted black!😂) holds tuning consistently, and has a nice jazz pizz tone. I was pleasantly surprised. Put a set of Spirocore Weichs and a Fishman full circle on it, and worked for a while with the principle bassist with our local symphony, who also moonlights as a bass teacher at the local community college. Makes me sound like I know what I'm doing when I take a solo. Also helps me channel my inner Paul Chambers, without forking over thousands of dollars. 😂

Excellent and now I'm not so worried my 3/4 might be too small. I'll just try to find a longer endpin somewhere. BTW MY Eastman Stings fully carved cost 3K GBP and is pretty good, certainly for this beginner. Just a small wolftone to grapple with.

I've been putting off buying a upright for a long time, I think I'll go to kc strings and get one eventually

Hey Jason, big fan of your channel and all the wide ranging artists and videos you’re posting, and very grateful for what you’re bringing to the double bass community. We’re a few degrees separated, but most directly through Trevor. That said… The “if you’re playing amplified mostly, it doesn’t quite matter so much”, oof, I have to take exception. I know, you’re providing advice for someone shopping for an entry level bass. But as someone who splits their time between arco and pizz, that comes across a bit condescending. Back a few years when I was shopping, I found an amazing French Hawkes (wish I would’ve bought it). I called Brad Opland (and yes, I know Brad is Brad) for advice, knowing he owned a Hawkes, just to ask about navigating a large bass with high shoulders. His response was “you play jazz, you don’t need a good instrument, it’s just going into an amp”…. Don’t want to come across like an a@#hole, and I know you know, but we who tend more on the plucking side of things, our instruments actually do matter. No bad vibes, just a nudge;… would love to chat with you. Best, LK

Acoustic vs electric upright bass

You should include the String Emporium in Mesa, AZ. I bought a wonderful bass from Steve Cosica who is a professional player.

I wonder if anyone has ever done a survey of players in major orchestras as to the purchase price of their instruments? Just curious. Has anyone done any demos comparing carved/hybrid/ply? I know various makers post videos of individual instruments--but not side by side.

I bought a cheap second hand laminated one for 450€ and replaced the strings with cheap chinese ones. I'm not ashamed to say that it's good enough for the music school ensemble I play with. It's quite hard to play in thumb position but I'm not good enough to play in this position yet, and not interested in playing solos.

Unless I missed it, what about the slope on the top of the back by the neck? Mine doesn't have that, and it's rather awkward to do any high notes. Otherwise, thanks