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  #1  
Old 03-02-2007, 11:33 AM
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Question Upton Basses

Upton Basses....

I would love to hear what luthiers and other players think of them.
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Last edited by Jeff Gellis; 03-02-2007 at 12:09 PM.
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Old 03-02-2007, 11:49 AM
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Exclamation 2-5k

In that range, the Calin Wultur Basses are at least as good as any Upton Bass. From what I have been told, the Uptons are from Romania made in the Gliga shop just like the Plywoods from JR Music, maker of the Calin Wulters where E.Roy used to work. I bought 6 Corsini Basses for stock and was extremely impressed as were my customers who bought them. I think the Shens are made at least as good if not better than most Romanian Basses and the New Standard line is another good option at over 4k.
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Old 03-02-2007, 03:01 PM
Greg Clinkingbeard Greg Clinkingbeard is offline
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I took my Upton Hybrid bass over to KC Strings recently at the owner's request. Micha said he had heard of the Uptons and would like to check out the competition. The first thing he did was pull one of his Romanian basses from inventory and compare. His bass, http://www.kcstrings.com/bass-rc-williams.html is fully carved, but bears a remarkable resemblance to my Hawkes apart from price.
Same dimensions, exact same scroll etc. There are differences.
The Hawkes lacks a horizontal bar across the back to support the soundpost and the bass bar is smaller, but Misha insisted that they are from the same family tree.
No less than five pro bassists in town have played my bass and given it the thumbs up. My teacher for one considered buying one as a backup.
Another, played several tunes on it at a jam session and raved about it's tone and playability. He thought it was too easy to play, preferring his Prescott lol.
I don't know how they would compare with the Calin Wultur basses, but I suspect neither would be embarrassed.

One of these days, Bob can give my bass his opinion. I would value that highly. Bob, let me know when you're feeling up to it.
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Old 03-02-2007, 03:12 PM
Greg Clinkingbeard Greg Clinkingbeard is offline
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Ken,
I agree that the Calin Wultur does look similar to the Upton basses and being fully carved, they may be better. They are also at least $1000 more. Quality has a price.
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Old 03-02-2007, 03:39 PM
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Lightbulb Plywood!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Clinkingbeard View Post
Ken,
I agree that the Calin Wultur does look similar to the Upton basses and being fully carved, they may be better. They are also at least $1000 more. Quality has a price.
I was referring to this model;





They are NOT $1,000. more. I think they list for around 2k.
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Old 03-02-2007, 04:07 PM
Greg Clinkingbeard Greg Clinkingbeard is offline
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I knew you would set me straight. That hybrid does look EXACTLY like my bass.
.................................................. ...............................................

Okay, I've settled down. I still like it and think it's a good bass for the money.
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Old 04-03-2007, 04:11 PM
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I would like to direct this post at Ken mostly.

I want to preface my remarks by saying that I have no stake in Upton other than I own one. I have the utmost respect for you Ken and your electric basses. Your knowledge of DB is the reason why I come to your forum.

I guess the original purpose of the post was to find out about other peoples opinion of these instruments. No one ever said that these are rarified instruments or that they are better than anything else available. In fact, I am a recent convert to DB as you know. I went out in search of a student instrument to learn on. I didn't want to be one of those jerks-offs that can bearly play and buys a Ken Smith top-of-the-line bass. Or a guy that buys a 200-year-old carved bass and doesn't know where the first position is. Other players would shake their heads and say "how about learn to play first". Fair comment.

Many of us on this forum are musicians and business people too. As an entrepreneur, you know that making a great product is only one part of the equation. Marketing, creating brand awareness, creating demand based on the power of the brand is just as big, if not bigger, part of being successful with bringing a product to market. You seem to be resentful that Gary (Upton) has done such a good job with that part of his business. I think he should be applauded, strictly from a capitalistic point of view... great execution on that part of the program.

As far as TB goes, we are all painfully aware of the shortcomings of that forum and it does not suit my purpose to turn this into a TB bash session. Hey we are on Ken Smith's Forum now, aren't we? Enough said.

None of this really has to do with the quality of the bass of coarse. I guess what I wanna say is that this instrument represents a really good choice for a player that wants a quality instrument at an introductory price. I have come to that opinion only after my bass teacher, Mike Richmond, said "wow, this is a great bass, What did this cost? Jeff, you did well." I guess the point is he validated my choice. Before that, I had no basis on which to judge. Who cares and why is it that important that the bass came from Gliga, Romania? I personally don't care where it came from.
If others think another manufacturer has another valid product at the same price point, discuss that option.

What makes Uptons special? I guess they occupy a place in the bass food chain (not exclusively) where a young or new player can get a playable instument that sounds very good for little money. The special part is that there are only a few other options out there as has been pointed out by the posts on this thread. In the same breath, all the bass builders on that short list would also be considered special by that yard stick.

Any teacher would be pleased to see an Upton, Shen or Wulter or (fill in the other names) in their students hands as opposed to a junk bass that is sold on Ebay for $495.

As far as marketing ability and execution, Upton is special. No other DB builder (assembler, whatever) really has achieved the visibility Upton has (to my knowledge). If you don't care for them on that basis, I'm not sure it has anything to do with the intent of the question I originally posted.
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Last edited by Jeff Gellis; 04-03-2007 at 04:35 PM.
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Old 04-03-2007, 04:20 PM
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Let me interject by saying this. I think you're responding to a lot of what Ken was saying in reply to my question asking if an Upton would be a reasonable upgrade to my Czech factory bass.
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  #9  
Old 04-03-2007, 05:20 PM
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Lightbulb s far as marketing ability and execution, Upton is special?

Jeff, referring to the end of your Post let me say a few things here.

1) Where would Upton be if there was no TalkBass?

2) Did you know he made a deal for the upper banner on TB and EVERY DB Forum of TB and TB will not even discuss sharing it?

3) Did you know he also bought for 2 or more years all the extra bandwidth on the Upper Side Banner on Every DB Forum as well and TB would Not sell anyone else anymore ad space because Upton made a deal that no one else can advertise there? BTW, This year, Upton is no longer paying for that space but too many people are bitter about the TB/Upton monopoly and will not advertise there anymore.

4) Did you know I tried to buy Banner Space on TB for my Bows and was refused because Upton owned ALL the bandwidth?

5) Did you know that Mods carefully watched what I or others in the Business said about Upton and warned, edited or deleted Posts that looked unfavorable to Upton or even closed Threads that got heated?

6) Did you know that TB on Uptons behalf tried to control a specific image of them in order to secure their advertising monies from Upton?

7) Did you know that my leaving TB was a direct result from a Mod deleting my Post questioning a 'Shill' (planted endorsee) posting about their stripped down overpriced Chinese Bows?

8) Did you know that both Upton and myself buys Bows from the same shop but with the exception of my design and we/KSB only takes the highest grade sticks NOT stripped down?

9) Did you know Upton posted on threads about my Bows on TB to get attention drawn to their own products?

I have nothing personal against Upton Products at all, period.

This Forum exists mainly because TB made me sick from their actions and I still have a lot of friends and customers that want to Talk real Bass so here we are, no Bull, just Bass.... Commercial Free as well!
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  #10  
Old 04-03-2007, 05:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith View Post
I still have a lot of friends and customers that want to Talk real Bass so here we are, no Bull, just Bass.... Commercial Free as well!
Touche Ken! And you know a lot about the bass and always willing to share some great tidbits and anticdotes.

One other thing, it's a fine line between preditory and crafty business practice. Many applaud Bill Gates as the businessman of the century. Certainly, you can't argue with what he has accomplished. His competitors call him ruthless and preditory. Is all fair in love & in war (business too)? Also, in a free market, doesn't the "Darwinesk nature" of natural selection make those that are best adapted to competing in business the ones that survive? I'm not defending Upton. I am simply making the point that the challenge is to be the best at marketing (provided you have a good product).
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Old 04-03-2007, 06:01 PM
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The problem is the marketing is superior to the product. And it's gotten to the point at TBDB where a person can't ask about or give an opinion about a bass with out Upton getting defensive. There have been threads in the basses section over there where the Upton people didn't even answer specific questions asked by an original poster. When I challenged this it turned into a big flame war. The days of getting good advice about purchasing an instrument at TBDB are over, unless you are ONLY interested in an Upton bass.
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Old 04-03-2007, 06:11 PM
Greg Clinkingbeard Greg Clinkingbeard is offline
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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.
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Old 03-11-2009, 04:21 PM
Clay Upton Clay Upton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Gellis View Post
Upton Basses....

I would love to hear what luthiers and other players think of them.
I just like the name...no affiliation however.
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Old 05-26-2011, 04:51 AM
Shane Wilcox Shane Wilcox is offline
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This thread has been resurrected once before, so I don't feel too bad. As I understand it, the thread was started before Upton began making their own basses. As has been noted, they get a good deal of positive press over on TB; perhaps some of it is overblown, but many otherwise seemingly rational reviewers give them props. Is there anyone here with an informed opinion regarding their hybrid basses? I am considering having one shipped over here to NZ, and am obviously not in a position to try one out beforehand. The best "locally" available basses would be a Christopher 401 or 502 from Auckland (8-9 hours drive on a good day), and possibly a Stentor Conservatoire (seemingly available from time to time in my home city, Wellington). I had the opportunity to play on and hear Richard's Christopher 503 (?correct model) and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have little direct experience of other good basses to compare it with. I would very much appreciate those with greater experience than I helping make my decision a little easier.

Thanks in advance!

Shane
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Old 05-27-2011, 01:47 AM
Richard Prowse Richard Prowse is offline
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Shane, as I believe I told you last weekend, check out what Ken and his mates have to say.
If I was buying a bass that I'd never played, I'd certainly trust the word Ken and Arnold Schnitzer, because they're the best, they're gentlemen of honour (sorry about the spelling of 'honor' Ken), and truly onto it. Otherwise be careful buying something, from so far away, that you've never had your hands on.
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Old 05-27-2011, 02:17 AM
Shane Wilcox Shane Wilcox is offline
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Thanks for your thoughts and advice, Richard. I would dearly love Ken and/or Arnold to chime in here -- I understand that there is some "bad blood" relating to various interwebz exchanges between Ken and some people connected with Upton; I am not suggesting that this would colour (spelling again!) Ken's expert opinion regarding the quality of these basses, and his views expressed earlier in this thread seem to predate the "in-house" construction at Upton. This is the main reason for re-opening the question.

I am still leaning towards the Christopher, but will hopefully get a chance to look at the Stentor currently being set up for Alistair by Malcolm (the Wellingtonians will know who I mean) towards the end of next week. It would seem that shipping costs may well be prohibitive if Ken's estimate to me was anything to go by (and I assume it is).
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Old 05-27-2011, 02:38 AM
Richard Prowse Richard Prowse is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shane Wilcox View Post
Thanks for your thoughts and advice, Richard. I would dearly love Ken and/or Arnold to chime in here -- I understand that there is some "bad blood" relating to various interwebz exchanges between Ken and some people connected with Upton; I am not suggesting that this would colour (spelling again!) Ken's expert opinion regarding the quality of these basses, and his views expressed earlier in this thread seem to predate the "in-house" construction at Upton. This is the main reason for re-opening the question.
I can only reassure you that Ken is a man of honour (sorry again about the spelling Ken) who has the intelligence and integrity to rise well above the infantile level of throwing sand at an opponent.
To quote the musical 'Chess' (imagine Ken saying this),
"I'm a chess player, you play these other games."
Yes, you need to hear from Ken and Arnold now. I step back, like a competent MC would do.
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