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Double Bass Upton Bass Club
- Thread starter kamakiriad7
- Start date
Re: Upton prices
Look around your home and see how many things you own that are actually completely made in the U.S. By hand. I'm guessing only enough to count on one hand. Most things (clothing, electronics, household goods, etc.) are likely from the far east and they are affordable, and that's why we buy them. Same with instruments. There's a reason a Squier bass is 1/15th the cost of a Sadowsky custom build. Quality of materials, workmanship, resale value, and durability.
Not defending Upton necessarily, but just reiterating the economics in play here. At the end of the day, we can all vote with our dollars.
My 2¢.
Look around your home and see how many things you own that are actually completely made in the U.S. By hand. I'm guessing only enough to count on one hand. Most things (clothing, electronics, household goods, etc.) are likely from the far east and they are affordable, and that's why we buy them. Same with instruments. There's a reason a Squier bass is 1/15th the cost of a Sadowsky custom build. Quality of materials, workmanship, resale value, and durability.
Not defending Upton necessarily, but just reiterating the economics in play here. At the end of the day, we can all vote with our dollars.
My 2¢.
That was my choice, too. Here are pictures that Mattias at Upton just sent me of a bass being built with this highly figured maple with ambrosia.
Attachments
The flamed ash is incredible. I played a fiver built with that same wood but the owner went with a dark brown that really muted the flame.
Not sure what color I am going to use with the ambrosia maple yet… I don’t want a run-of-the-mill violin look but also don’t want to go too dark to hide
the ambrosia or too unusual that it impacts the resale value.
And yes, it’s pricey wood. The build is in the 20K range.
That is gonna be one sexy beast! Which model?
I agree antirely w/ you as to not going too dark. I had mine done as dark as possible, but it is a hybrid. I'm thinking something in a brown walnut/pecan type finish would be cool, rather than reddish. But I'm interested in what YOU choose.
I agree antirely w/ you as to not going too dark. I had mine done as dark as possible, but it is a hybrid. I'm thinking something in a brown walnut/pecan type finish would be cool, rather than reddish. But I'm interested in what YOU choose.
Five string Mittenwald. Low B. 42” scale. There is a deep wine red finish I saw used on some spalted maple builds that caught my eye once
According to their new YT vid, Upton is targeting the $20k range for their market space.
I guess I underestimated the bass market. Sheesh.
I guess I underestimated the bass market. Sheesh.
When I visited the shop in September Gary shared that he would like to eventually move entirely out of the lower-priced model range. I imagine that it’s just not profitable to try to compete with factory instruments made in countries with cheaper labor.
Yeah it's a tough bracket. But I wonder if there doing the move by just repricing up on the same products, or if its by forcing more quality options into the builds to get into the price ranges they want to create. The latter makes sense to me, the former would seem like a huge swing in the value proposition for someone looking to spend near the new entry point.
Definitely the latter. They no longer offer new laminate instruments. Gary loves being able to create instruments with deluxe tops, interesting woods for backs and sides, making copies of antiques, and trying out new concepts. They are working on a six string bass right now.
Hah. I was looking into the newish Yamaha SLB300 "silent" electric upright bass and thought the new asking price of $4500-7500 was outrageous. I guess these $20K+ Upton acoustic bass prices (especially compared to what I paid for my first Uptons) add some perspective.
I'm a firm believer that ANYTHING is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it at any given date. So I offer no opinion as to whether any Upton bass is worth any specific price to anyone other than myself. Personally, I feel I am deriving full value from the price I paid for my hybrid 3-4 years ago.
I am very impressed - and happy for the Upton folk - that their business model is successful enough that they will be able to profit/support their workforce at the new price levels. It kinda shocks me that enough "high priced" basses are sold regularly to support their output, but presumably they know what works for them. I will never have the chops to appreciate a bass costing over $15k, but I would expect purchasers in that bracket to be quite picky. I wonder at how many folk in that cohort would prefer commissioning a new build, as opposed to auditioning the large number of used instruments for sale in that range.
Again, I wish them all the best.
I am very impressed - and happy for the Upton folk - that their business model is successful enough that they will be able to profit/support their workforce at the new price levels. It kinda shocks me that enough "high priced" basses are sold regularly to support their output, but presumably they know what works for them. I will never have the chops to appreciate a bass costing over $15k, but I would expect purchasers in that bracket to be quite picky. I wonder at how many folk in that cohort would prefer commissioning a new build, as opposed to auditioning the large number of used instruments for sale in that range.
Again, I wish them all the best.
I hope Upton succeeds at this, but it's a very big - and risky - change to the business. The Steinway dealer here locally does all kinds of things in order to succeed, and a lot of those things don't involve selling Steinway pianos.
Gary is definitely branching out into other areas as well. He also shared that he hopes to be selling his in-store string brand soon, sign up folks for his electric bass lutherie course, and capture the gap in the market left by the loss of Acoustic Image.
Combo amp with a down-firing woofer and front-firing full-range speaker. Instead of tolex that want to offer different varnish options. Pretty sure they posted a demo on IG but I am not finding the post right now. The preamp design doesn’t include a variable frequency highpass filter which is a dealbreaker for me. I gave Gary that feedback and he said that the amp has a fixed-frequency highpass around 30hz inherent to the preamp design. I much prefer a variable frequency design.
Do tell!
I wasn’t implying that their basses aren’t worth what they’re asking, but that I didn’t think there were that many folks ready to drop that amount of cabbage on an (new) upright bass.