Finally a book for grade-schoolers that centers on the double bass! Do you know a young person who may be interested the largest member of the violin family? This new book from (UB's own!) author Antonia Aviles is both an introduction to the bass and a fun story about trying something different. There's a lot of factual information about the bass delivered with great illustrations for the musical kid in your life! Buy it directly from Upton Bass here! Also available on Amazon. Antonia Aviles, Author It is show-and-tell day at school and Catalina is nervous about sharing her knowledge…
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Many of the staff at Upton Bass are veteran bass players and when we daydream about our own Upton bass, we’d most likely land in the performance/price sweet spot of a flat back hybrid. You get all of the stability and toughness of a hybrid with the remarkable response of our lightweight flatbacks with the tone-developed ‘propeller’ bracing. So you’d think that might narrow things down, but every one Jack puts the finishing touches on makes the choice harder! We’ll feature a few of these outstanding hybrids over the next couple weeks – unlike any we’ve seen elsewhere and just…
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This mild-mannered Mittenwald Double Bass has its gorgeous evening attire in the back! This Mittenwald is built with a flat back of well-figured Maple hand-varnished to a light-catching luster. Bravo gang! The Mittenwald brings the generous dimensions and rib depth of our Brescian to a gamba-cornered instrument. As with the basses of its namesake, the beauty is really in the wood and craftmanship of this unadorned style. A big precise delivery in this full-voiced bass – Jack just shook rafters with the bow! Looking to expand your knowledge of the construction and history of the double bass?
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The Brescian Model Double Bass was being designed and prototyped at the same time we were raising our post-and-beam workshop in 2012. From the original Upton Hawkes pattern, our gravitational pull was always towards giant Italy-via-England contrabasses – violin patterns with broad proportions built enormous for lavish orchestra sections. The Upton Brescian Model was our new push to create a wide-ribbed bass in this classic style, while applying all of our invention in construction and ergonomics. When we think of a ‘Brescian’ style (from Northern Italy), we reference the masters such as Gasparo da Salo, Maggini, and Rogeri. Vincenzo Panormo…
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