Upton Basses

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Yes,
Gary Upton made a sweet deal over on TB and got his name plastered all over there. As a businessman trying to sell his product he has done a tremendous job. If the network airing the Super Bowl made an exclusive deal to air ads only by Ford and froze GM out, we'd be applauding Ford for making such a deal.
I certainly wouldn't fault the network. However, an internet forum such as TB has an obligation to ensure to its members that it is completely fair to all concerned so that there is a free exchange of ideas and information.
I would think the beef really is with TB in not keeping the Forum open and free. Yes, they show favoritism, although NS and Wan Bernadel basses have ad space. A certain distinction here is that the other advertisers don't openly discuss their products on the forum.

All this said, this discussion is really about how a particular dealer conducts their business. FWIW, they have always treated me fairly and I have a nice bass. That's what it all comes down to. Everything else, to me, is secondary.

Let's keep this place open and free where we can all agree to disagree. Time for a beer.

[Michael Case]

Originally Posted by Greg Clinkingbeard

Time for a beer.

Like my dad always says "it's 5:00 somewhere!"

I feel you, personally the Upton basses aren't what I need at this point. It's pretty wild though I live minutes away from David Gage, Paul Basie, Ideal Music, and I can spit and find a good bass for sale on the block I live on, but the Upton is so aggressive in getting their name out I almost forget my options. At this stage in the game Upton is not an option for me.

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Originally Posted by Michael Case

I feel you, personally ..........

You'll need to buy me a beer first.

[Michael Case]

Originally Posted by Greg Clinkingbeard

You'll need to buy me a beer first.

I guess the bass player thing wont work on you eh?

[Jeff Gellis]

Originally Posted by Greg Clinkingbeard

Let's keep this place open and free where we can all agree to disagree. Time for a beer.

There exists an air of civility here that TB could only dream about. Great reparte!

[Ron Lacey]

Originally Posted by Jeff Gellis

There exists an air of civility here that TB could only dream about. Great reparte!

Yeah, this is pretty disgusting . If you guys don't start some decent flame wars I may have to go talk to my wife.

[Michael Case]

Flame on:
Why is talking to your wife better than being on this board?

[Drake Chan]

As long as we're being free here, let's not forget that this is Ken's site, and that he will definitely push his products here.

At the same time, there's no pretending here that this is a totally impartial site like TBDB seemed to claim. It was a good site with good information, and it still is. But some things just started to get to me.

There was that whole saga of flaming one another in one of the threads. This has happened at least more than once. Once everything died down, it was better.

But the one thing that really got to me was in the "Strunal vs. Upton" thread.

Within the thread, someone asked whether to get a bass from Upton or a Strunal setup by a local luthier. Now I didn't really know the luthier, but it seems like a few people did and said he did good work. I though at that point that the luthier seemed okay, and I posted that the guy should try both basses (or more) before buying. I think at this point, Michael Case started to challenge Upton.

Anyway, a few posts later, Gary implicitly claimed that one of the posters before who praised the Strunal, with the name "mike" within his username, was really the luthier himself, who also happened to be named Mike, and was posting separately as a shill. At this point, the luthier himself wrote a post in angry, formal letter form in response to Gary and everyone else to try to clear his name.

Eventually, everything calmed down. The "shill" was a kid named Mike who studied with the luthier. People came down to the point of actually trying out the basses before buying.

[Drake Chan]

In my opinion, the world of Internet forums is no different than the real world in many respects. One respect is that people will form friendships and will be able to speak with each other in an informal, friendly way.

Another respect is that these friendships can become cliques, and that these friends will stick with each other if anyone ever threatens one of them or their ideas. Things can become very contentious if this happens.

So for future references, you could state your own opinion, but it is almost never going to be completely respected and honored unless they are the general opinion of the masses or you are able to defend your opinion successfully and coherently.

[Drake Chan]

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.