As for Upton Basses, I feel that they are a solid, reputable company. If you call them, they will take the time to talk to you about whatever you have a question about. I remember going up to Mystic once, and talking with one of the luthiers, Jack, for about an hour or so on all sorts of things I wanted to know about the bass. I guess I just like talking about basses, and Jack was very patient.
In this day and age of music companies ripping students and beginners off with crappy instruments, they lend a fresh breath of quality and value in many of the instruments and services they provide.
At the same time, they're business practices are indeed questionable. While they lend this "fresh breath", we must not forget that we have many other options out there. It is never Upton vs. crappy music companies, and no one else.
One example is our host, Ken Smith. This is a man who has done years of research on double basses and bows just because he truly enjoys it. And he sends this knowledge down to us free of charge. He is of strong opinion, but only because he has already done his homework. We double bassists have a hard time finding any information or resources on our instrument that violin players and bass guitarist will easily find.
I went down to Ken's workshop in Perkasie to try out bows once. His shop closed down about 4:30 or so in the afternoon, but I didn't get there till about 4:40. Many employees were still there, but they all eventually left after 5:10 or so. Ken stayed there talking with me until 7:30, well after closing time. He let me try out several basses and bows, taught me how to audition bows, talked about how to play better, and talked about his basses. He even taught me to use the "Italian" grip with the French bow.
But the one thing that stands out was that he was willing to talk to someone he never even met before for hours. As for his bows: his brazilwood bow blew my Upton $99 bow out of the water. I've recommended this bow to any kid that I've seen with a Glasser fiberglass bow.
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