Several years ago we bought a 5 string Kay that was falling apart. We slowly restored it over a two year period and just put it up on the website in the last couple weeks. Little did we know that it would be one of the earliest known 5 string Kays documented! A good friend…
Double Bass Repair & Restoration
An inside view of Upton Bass String Instrument Co.'s Instrument Repair & Restoration Workshop. Our sister website, www.StringRepair.com was originally created to communicate with our clients about the progress of their project, as well as to better display our double bass repair & restoration capabilities in conjunction with UptonBass.com. StringRepair.com was launched in 2005 and was one of the first active repair blogs on the web, opening the door to better transparency to the client from the back room of the workshop.
Today, Upton Bass String Instrument Co. continues to offer world-class repairs of all instruments in the violin family, and our active repairs are showcased below and on the following pages.
While StringRepair.com is not actively updated today, we keep it up as it's become a great reference source for many workshops worldwide. We hope you enjoy the collection!
Over 20 Bows JUST Listed!
We’ve been busy today! Well…truth be told, we’ve HUGELY neglected the bow listings on our website, and we have so many great bows! So we set up the photo booth for a bow shoot and just went crazy. We’ll keep refining the descriptions as we go, but take a look, there’s a lot to see!
Are you coming?
Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Event!
NEW Photos!
We’re perfectionists. We sweat the small stuff. As our picture taking gets better and better…we were looking back at some of the older listings on the website and decided to reshoot a few basses. It’s subtle…but worth the effort! Take a look, can you spot them all? NEW! OLD!
Newly Listed Double Basses!
We’ve been busy adding new basses to the website as we move some sold basses out. Here’s just a few! Juzek Master Art John Juzek Master Art Classic prewar Juzek Master Art Double Bass, 3/4 size. A versatile, well-maintained classic Juzek. The shape of this bass at the neck block is very narrow, allowing for easy…
Prescott Scroll
#TBT correcting the sins of past “luthiers” who cut into the scroll to mount an extension.
Mittenwald Double Bass and a trip down a rabbit hole…
THIS IS AN ACTIVE REPAIR, BE SURE TO CHECK BACK OFTEN! This is one of the great Mittenwald basses we have had through the shop. The varnish is to die for, and tone is even better! But, these things we like to haul around are BIG and AWKWARD, and sometimes you bump it on things. This…
American Standard Delaminations…
This American Standard double bass came in with a “loose” bass bar and arching deformations around the bridge/soundpost as well as the lower bout. Upon an internal inspection, the bass bar had not let go, the laminations had failed. We took off the top and were able to easily remove a layer of wood. Testing…
Too Much Tension…After & Before
For a change of pace, let’s start off with the finished pictures! This old bass has been restored, badly, numerous times before…with the most recent restoration utilizing a lot of epoxy and wood filler! The bass was brought in because it was feeling too tight, and the owner wanted to look at setup items…
Brass Plates as Braces
This French-made double bass had a past scroll fracture that failed after the crafting of an extension for it. We began by using water to completely disassemble the scroll…which wasn’t hard! The original repairs were simply glued, there were no reinforcement grafts added. We began by making a simple caul, shaped to the back of the…