From Gary Karr's French bass to the stately JTLs, here are a few of the stars everybody gravitates to here in the Upton Bass loft! Big Band Martin 25% OFF! Gary Karr's Own Bass! Beautiful Red JTL Our big Martin 4/4 seeks a good home and is on deep sale - it spent it's formative years pushing the Frank Sinatra Jr. big band. The French Mentec was broken in from new by Gary Karr himself and has graced recital halls with some of his finest students. And every visitor has to pluck a few notes from our Betelgeuse-red JTL, or…
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FREE CASE with any bow over $500, through Labor Day! We just got in some beautiful new Pernambuco bows from the Marco Raposo collective in Brazil: We also have some great values on vintage fine bows - check out this deeply discounted S. Kolstein & Son NY bow and newly refreshed W. Seifert bow:
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Oreste Martini (1893-1957) learned his craft from the great Mantuan maker Stefano Scarampella. After his tutelage under master Stefano Scarampella, beginning at age 14, Martini was producing his own instruments by his early 20s. He began his career with a focus on double basses (reported to be a double bassist himself) but went on to craft many violins, violas, and cellos (He is credited with more than 300 violins, 10 violas, 50 cellos, and 45 basses). While other pupils copied Scarampella's works, Martini adopted his own artistic flair. He received medals for his work in Cremona, Padua, and Paris and…
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If you're not an active follower of us on Instagram, or waiting for your bass to be finished, you may not know what we've been up to all summer! With COVID-19 we've all been hit with varying degrees of challenges, and getting basses to folks in a safe and affordable way has been a hassle. Restrictions on the pickup are forcing higher than normal rates, and just trying to be a part of keeping people safe through social distancing practices, made us (ok, Gary led the charge!) think outside the box. Gary had a Sprinter cargo van that he used…
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