Cheap upright basses

Welcome to our new, upright bass page that is specially geared towards quality, cheap basses under $3,000.  We will highlight 2 new models:  One is the new Thompson plywood bass that rivals any all other plywood bass for only $1,250. The other, is our fully carved Emile Gillet upright bass for $2,950.  As with all our basses that we offer, they are ready to play, fully set up to the highest playing standards and come fully equipped with deluxe strings, deluxe accessories and cover.  No gimmicks or extras to add on, just a good bass at a great price!

Our philosophy on cheap upright basses:

First, they still have to be built on a very high level.  While the prices may be "cheap", the quality is not!  The construction of what is inside is equally important to what you see and hear on the outside.  Like our reputation for the Wan-Bernadel basses and the Bass Cafe, everything that we offer here is only of the highest quality (guaranteed!)

Secondly, our cheap upright basses have to be set up with the same standards and play as any other (more expensive) upright bass that we offer.  All of our cheap, upright basses here come with a full, 2 year warranty against any kind of defects in workmanship or quality. We're very serious about quality here!  If you don't see an Emile Gillet bass or Thompson plywood bass at a the local violin/bass shop near you, ask them to call us.  Dealer inquiries are most welcome!

The new, Emilé Gillet upright basses ($2,950) plus shipping

If you have ever tried looking for a new carved bass under $3,000 before, you know that it has been impossible to find something well made, with good accessories, which includes a professional set up and at the same time....dependable.  Well, not any more!  These basses are made by the same people that make our famous Emile Gillet fine cellos and are specially made for us.  They are fully hand carved basses. (Even the back is carved!)  The Gillet upright bass is modeled after an Amati bass and is a normal, 3/4 size bass.  The top is made with quality spruce. The neck, sides, and back are all solid maple and have nice ebony fingerboards. The bass plays with a warm tone and it is amazing at any price.  This bass (like our Wan-Bernadels) is recommended to only ship by air cargo.  See more about trying a bass at our How to Try a Bass page. 

Who buys these.  For the money, the new Emile Gillet basses are actually even cheaper than some expensive plywood basses being offered elsewhere.  They are made just as well or better than the expensive hybrid upright or carved upright basses much more in price.  The Gillet basses have quality workmanship, a beautiful appearance and sound.  They also come with a 2 year warranty to assure our quality. Again, our reputation for quality is unrivaled and is our first priority. Email us.

Bass measurements: length of back 43 3/4", width across shoulders (upper bouts) is 19", lower bouts 25 1/4" and the string length is 42".

How we are able to get the prices cheap?  The wood is well seasoned and aged (fully warranted), but is a simpler more plainer wood grain.  There is naturally some flame and grain in most of these basses, but because it is a plainer wood grain, it helps keep the price down.  Keeping in mind that about 95% of all the early 20th century German carved basses used only plain maple.  The varnish is a beautiful hand applied spirit varnish.  While the tuners are German Rubners, we use their cheaper plate tuners which are still really nice tuners, but not the most elaborate. All other accessories used are specially approved for quality and workmanship.  We offer either Thomastik Spirocore strings or D'Addario Helicores.  (any other string choice can be added or substituted but the price may go up slightly because of the higher string expense. In this case, we only charge you whatever our string wholesaler charges us.) We even include a good, deluxe padded bass cover with the bass.  Lastly...why the cheap price tags?  We wanted to offer a good, solidly built bass, that will easily rival any other bass in price and quality.

The Emile Gillet upright check list:

• Hand carved, bass
• carved top, carved back (not flat)
• hand rubbed spirit varnish (beautiful amber brown)
• ebony purfling
• Rubner (German) plated tuners
• good quality ebony fingerboard
• French imported Despiau bridge, with adjusters
• nice deluxe padded cover included in price
• 2 year warranty (this means, if the bass cracks or opens or anything related to premature shrinkage or quality workmanship defect, we repair the bass free of charge) 

Thompson Upright Plywood basses (RM-100) $1,250 plus shipping

(Again, click on any smaller image below here for a greater, detailed view)

This is our new, cheap upright plywood bass.  This bass is made exactly like the Shen SB-80 and SB-100, but with slightly nicer materials.  It is a new plywood bass and made in China.  It comes with an adjustable high quality bridge, good solid endpin and individual tuners.  The most impressive thing on these basses is the quality of the construction and sound.  They have interior reinforcing much like a good carved or flat back bass has.  (We've included photos of the bass in construction to show this.) This keeps the top arching nicely formed and adds a little stiffness that will not only keep the bass healthy of the years, but the stiffness actually adds to the playing quality of the bass (keeping the top from being to floppy).

The neck is made from solid maple and the fingerboard is a very high quality, ebony!  We usually set these up with D'Addario Helicore strings or the D'Addario Pizzicato strings for the typical Jazz set up.  (Other strings can be interchanged at whatever extra cost it may be.)

Bass measurements: 3/4 model: The upper bouts (width of the shoulders) are 19 1/2", the lower bouts are 26", the back is 43 3/4" and the string length 41 1/8".   This bass also comes in 1/4 and 1/2 size (covers included as well).  On the smaller basses, they have "gamba" corners rather than the pointed violin corners.

The String Emporium, cheap plywood bass checklist:

• solid construction
• beautiful maple and spruce veneers
• good, solid, individual Chinese tuners and hard maple adjustable bridge
• solid, 10mm, cork lined endpin
• real ebony purfling
• high quality ebony fingerboard
• High quality maple bridge, delrin adjusters included!
• cover included
• full professional set up
• 2-year all inclusive warranty

We can either ship these in our new (3-ply heavy duty cardboard crating) fully insured or ship it air cargo in a Tuff-lite flight case.  In any case, the bass can be returned if it does not meet your highest expectations.

For more information you can call or email us at basses@stringemporium.com