Upton Bass String Instrument Company

  • Home
    • My Account
    • Cart
  • Our Story
    • About Upton Bass
    • Location & Contact
    • American Made
    • Who Plays an Upton Bass
    • Environmentally Responsible
    • Reviews
  • Upton Basses & Cellos
    • Upton Double Basses
      • The Concord
      • The Brescian Model Upton Double Bass
      • The Mittenwald
      • The Bostonian
      • The Karr
      • The Bohemian
    • UB Standard Double Basses
      • UB Standard Laminated Upton Double Bass
      • UB Standard Hybrid Double Bass
      • UB Standard Carved Upton Double Bass
    • Cellos at Upton Bass
    • UB Custom Commissions
    • UB Travel Double Bass
    • Available Upton Basses
  • Vintage & Used
    • Vintage Upright & Fine Double Basses
    • Cellos For Sale
    • Bows for Double Bass
    • Double Basses Awaiting Restoration
    • Sold and Customer Basses
      • Sold Upton Bass Double Basses
      • Sold Kay Double Bass Viols
    • Sold and Customer Double Bass Bows
  • Shopping
  • Services
    • Double Bass Repair
    • Vintage & Used Double Bass Consignments
    • Professional Setup
    • Double Bass Verbal Appraisal by Upton Bass
    • Bridge Height Adjusters + Installation Service
    • Double Bass Bow Rehair
  • Blog
    • Upton Bass Podcast
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • BassTube
    • Just Finished!

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!

Nicest left-handed Upton bass yet?

Standing back to admire this Brescian model, Eric remarked, “This has gotta be one of the nicest left-handed basses we’ve ever built!” This fully carved flatback will be our current benchmark for sure – not only for its lefty orientation, but as a varnish color reference. Chris amazes again with this beautiful warm amber requested…

Oreste Martini Double Bass, 1925 Gallery

Here’s a gallery of the fully restored Oreste Martini double bass – one of the most thorough projects to date! There are so many elegant and stylish details on this instrument, not a line out of place. Eric has a great post below on all the steps involved in getting this damaged historic instrument to…

Martini Oreste Mantova 1925

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…

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…

Milano 1766

Milano 1766

Brooklyn Taxi Disaster Double Bass Renewed

This was a very customized double bass, based on French Mirecourt designs, with violin corners added, in a very J.T. Lamy French red much beloved by Brooklyn jazz phenom Max Johnson.  Hard to categorize with our current models (former-Professor-quasi-Brescian?), this bass serves as another example of – if you don’t see exactly what you dream of…

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Upton Bass
String Instrument Company

159 Packer Road
Mystic, CT 06355

Hours: Tues–Sat, 10 am–6 pm
Telephone: +1 (860) 535-9399
Email: Sales@UptonBass.com

Ted and his Standard Laminate

Everyday Upton Bass Players: Ted

Hello!  This is me…and my Upton Standard Double Bass named Buela Bay… My name is Ted, AKA neddyrow on TalkBass, and I play an Upton Standard Double Bass.  I am making this post to show that you don’t have to be Christian McBride or Travis Book to play an Upton.  Not just the pros play…

Read Post

New Arrivals in the Bass Loft! March Vintage Update

We’re busy in the middle of a big build cycle, but want to give our subscribers the early heads up on these new arrivals! A late-model Upton Bohemian with all the extras, and a trio of mid-century basses in various fettle. More pics and details to follow – call us at the shop for more…

Read Post

© Copyright 2023 Upton Bass Terms and Conditions Site Map

Call Us Map