If you’ve been following us online you might have caught the part where Gary has been in his secret lab (cottage kitchen) testing different recipes for great bow rosin. And if you think that means Gary’s up at dawn and the whole place smells like pine and coffee, you’d be right! Rosin is another one…
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!
Upton Bass School is in Session!
Upton Bass School brings detailed lessons and insight from our own setup benches directly to you! Our Knowledge Bass is built for every issue great and small, check out a free version of the Upton Bassics care guide, or renew your entire bass setup with our Pro Luthier series!
Double Basses with a Restoration Future
Gary has pulled down some basses from the loft which need work but promise to be amazing instruments once tuned back to life! We’ve set the prices to include the full shop restoration, completely redone, down to the last cleat. The finished instruments will be tuned to precision with modern overstand and a complete setup…
From Project Bass to Graduation Day!
What a great story – Jeremy Baguyos, Professor of Double Bass/Music Technology at University of Nebraska Omaha, sent us an update on an old 3-string double bass that was pretty much falling apart, a shell of dried antique wood. It was an Ebay contestant from our bass barn in the cold winter of 2020! Professor…
The Double Bass Restorations of Lou DiLeone
As long as we work on double basses, we will regularly encounter the many amazing restorations of Lou DiLeone, the New Haven, Connecticut double bass luthier extraordinaire. Lou had a special touch bringing back many tired or injured basses back to life, often to a playing condition better than new – with modernized geometry, improved…
Upton Double Bass Extensions
If you’re on Instagram, check out our luthier Jack Hanlon’s page: @jackhanlonbass – Jack keeps it updated with some of the many exquisite double bass C-Extensions that come off his bench! The Upton Bass C-Extension was conceived and designed to have no structural impact to your scroll. No cuts, no notches, no drill holes. Our…
Selmer Kay Bass Gallery, S-10 Thin Body, 1937
Here’s studio pictures of the restored Selmer Kay Bass Viol, the thin-ribbed deluxe S-10 model from the dawn of Kay Bass! We set out to not over-restore or “candy coat” this historic example, leaving its cool checked patina while returning structural health and playability to as-new. Learn more about this Selmer Kay bass restoration HERE…
Selmer Kay Bass Restoration, S-10 Thin Body, 1937
This Selmer Kay restoration began with some fact finding: Selmer Kay? Kay thin body? These early deluxe version Kays are some of the rarest. We’ve serviced vast multitudes of Kays and haven’t seen a Selmer Kay even for a string change. In fact, our friends at the Kay Bass Registry haven’t seen one either! We…
Alcoa Aluminum Bass c1930, #92
This big crazy Alcoa has been hanging at the shop, now fully sorted with a fresh setup and for sale on our vintage page! Shiny underneath, with weathered paint. Very few come through in original condition – it’s pretty cool! Many have been stripped and polished to hot rod chrome, they definitely have a cult…
A Low Note’s Worth a Thousand Words
Gary auditions a couple of easily-overlooked basses in the loft this week – Here are new videos of the Stamitz bass and Dittrich bass – both great values available on our Vintage page: