Double Bass and Beyond - Gary Upton of Upton Bass
Double Bass and Beyond - Gary Upton of Upton Bass
Packing Harmony: The Art of Traveling With Your Bass
Learn the secrets of traveling with a double bass without the stress and hassle, featuring insights from Gary of Upton Bass. Ever wondered how to maintain your sound and comfort on the road? Discover the ingenious design behind Upton Bass' suitcase bass, an instrument that breaks down to fit into a Samsonite suitcase without compromising the essence of a real bass. It's like having your favorite pair of sneakers ready wherever you go! Gary shares the compelling story behind the suitcase bass's creation, from a lighthearted challenge to a serious, game-changing tool for globetrotting musicians.
As we address the practical dilemmas faced by touring bassists, we explore strategies to make instrument transportation less daunting. While teleportation remains out of reach, creative solutions like the two-case system—removing the bass neck for easier packing—ensure safety and manageability. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or embarking on your first international gigs, this episode is packed with wisdom and support to make your bass journey as smooth as possible. Tune in for tales and tips that resonate with the heart and soul of every traveling bassist.
Hey guys, gary here with UptonBase, and today we're talking about the ominous task of traveling with a double bass. I'm here with one of our bases, our suitcase bass. We kind of did this as a joke originally, more so a challenge to see if we could make a Lego bass. And this one's been on the road. For those of you that might not be able to see what I'm talking about when I say this one's been on the road, we have one of our suitcase bases from some years ago and she definitely shows some wear. She's been around the world a few times.
Speaker 1:But what it does, and one of my principles of any Upton base, whether it be a travel base, a suitcase base, if it's an Upton base, I want it to be a real base. So this concept came from that rule and applying that rule to how the heck do you get a bass small enough to travel with it? And we got a suitcase and a Samsonite and we figured out how to chop up the bass. So the upper bouts go into numerous portions. The center section, the lower bouts, the back has panels that come off. There's bolts, bolts everywhere. It's got a removable neck system. The fingerboard comes off, the scroll comes off, things are made as light as they can and and it's a travel bass and it makes a noise that sounds like a bass.
Speaker 1:Now, I say that because when I talk to players about this particular piece, this tool in their arsenal, I always say you know what's the key thing you're looking for. You want to know that when you show up on a river, whether it's Africa or Australia or you're in Japan, you want to know what you're playing. So I can personally accept that this bass doesn't sound as good as my main bass, right, but I know, when I show up, it's like borrowing a pair of sneakers. I don't want your sneakers. I appreciate that you're going to let me borrow your sneakers that you've worn for five, six, seven hundred, a thousand miles, but I'm going to feel your arches and your toes and your heels and all that funny stuff. I want my sneakers and I'd rather have an old pair of my sneakers than a new pair or a newish pair of your sneakers. So you know I can play the bass here in Mystic, connecticut. Amplify it, because that's what you're usually doing too when you're on the road playing serious gigs, and I know that this is what I'm going to get there or there, or there or there, there.
Speaker 1:So that was one of my biggest principles with this is like, let's do a freak thing, let's see how many pieces we could take it into, and we've learned a this one's from some years ago now, I think. This is, I think, two or three years old. It's something we do on a very, very limited basis because I try to scare away users. When they ask about this bass. I'm like, ah, you know, it's as hard as making three basses and at the end of the day, totally the reward for us. It's a bass that's chopped up into lots of pieces and I make it out of a bass that we like the sound of. But at the same time I'll say again, it's a plywood bass, so it only sounds as good as a plywood bass that's then taken apart into a million pieces and gets packed in a case and beat up, and I mean the damages that this thing has seen. Poor bass, she needs some love. Keep those things in mind when we're talking about the suitcase bass.
Speaker 1:But, generally speaking, back to the travel bass concept. There's one of our travel basses right behind me. This is, again, it has to be a normal bass. This is an Upton Mintwold model with ash back and sides and a removable adjustable neck. The adjustable emphasis is there because when you're traveling and your top plates and your back plates of the instrument change and do things, you're able to adjust the neck height relative to the strings on the fly. And it's really important that the bass is made in a manner where there's a 10 degree pitch here so that the driving mechanism which goes through this hole is actually driving the strings perpendicular to the bridge itself. So you're not changing the angle of the neck. I think a lot of people think you're changing the angle of the neck. You're changing the neck in and out, like. So my thing, to get to my point on all this, my thing with bases and traveling with bases is it's hard and I do get messages and I hear people that are sent away from a flight because they brought their base in a big flight case from the 90s or the early 2000s and they're unable to fly. And we have clients that say like you know, oh, you know, I'm out on the circuit and I'm getting.
Speaker 1:Eric Rivas says bass du jour. I love that line. You know, he doesn't know what he's getting. One night it's this, one night it's that one night it's a great old thing and another night it's who knows what. He's told me stories where you know he goes to play somewhere in Italy and you know some curator finds out through a museum oh you know, we'll let him borrow XYZ priceless instrument, but it's not set up for jazz. So it's really nice that someone would do such a kind favor and be like hey, here's a beautiful Italian bass but it's not set up for jazz. And even if it's set up for jazz, is it set up for him? Jazz could mean spire chords with a low string height. Jazz could mean more of an Eric thing which is like synthetic guts or guts, and he's, you know, wanting to really lay into the sound higher string heights.
Speaker 1:A bass, like the suitcase bass, lets you bring your show on the road because it's all of your stuff. For me, the big thing that I'm saying at this time in 2024, when you're traveling with the bass, it is my belief. The body and the neck. You're taking it apart, like the base behind me, but they need to be in two separate cases. So many times I've heard people oh, I want a base. It's 50 pounds in the case.
Speaker 1:With everything, guys, we can make a light base around 20 pounds. You put it in a bag because we need that padding. Show me a five, six, seven pound bag. You're not gonna. They're usually 10, 12 pounds. Now I'm at 32, 33 pounds for a base in a bag with all of its bits and pieces, and you want me to make you a case that can protect it out of what? A hard plastic or fiberglass or carbon fiber, with a remaining weight of maybe 10, 15 pounds. It's just not doable. Try and do it, it's not doable. So as it stands now, the thing that I'm preaching to everybody you take the body of the base, you take the body, you take all your bits and pieces off, you take the neck off the end, pin the tailpiece, the bridge, the neck itself and you put all that stuff in a separate case. We've got a nice 48-inch case. It's even got some wheels on it and then the body of the bass with the bass bag which acts as a protectant. That's just going in a body case. It's that simple, and for that we have a case we're working on right now. It's very simplistic. It's made out of like a corrugated plastic, but that is what everyone needs to learn. We're doing.
Speaker 1:The other thing I see that causes a lot of these damages in instruments when they're traveling. It is the neck. It's like packing a bowling ball with china in a box. You know, you've got your fine china in there and a bowling ball. No matter how carefully you wrap that bowling ball, someone moves that case around in a certain way that China's getting broken. So let's get it into our minds Despite wanting to travel at 50 pounds and despite having to check extra stuff and all the things we have to pay if you want to show up with something reliable, it's two pieces, two pieces the neck, the bridge, the strings, the tailpiece, the end pin, all that stuff, all the fiddly bits.
Speaker 1:They're in one case and then the body and the bag are in another. You might say, oh, but I saw this guy doing it, the guys that I have on the road. We have clients on the road that are doing this. They're using old cases, old neck off cases that everything goes together. They're up around 75, 70 pounds and they're paying overage fees both for the size and for the weight. So let's get it in our minds that it's reasonable to carry two pieces. Keep them together. I mean, be careful, right, we don't want to show up to the gig with a body and no neck. That stinks. But that is the way, in the 21st century going onward, that we are, in my opinion, going to be able to safely travel with an instrument is in two pieces.
Speaker 1:I can't stress enough. I've seen so many other things. I can't stress enough. I've seen so many other things funky basses with short ribs. I've seen different things where people have tried to cut parts of the bass away. We need this much body and in many cases I'll put it to you we need more body. Why do we play bigger basses? Because we want more bottom end Taking basses and cutting things away and doing all kinds of acrobatical things to the poor design of the instrument. It's not the way to show up and have a sound of a bass.
Speaker 1:So let's rethink traveling with bases and obviously, if you can, you borrow a bass. But for any of you guys that are out there traveling, like the Jorge Rotors of the world, you get it like being able to show up with your stuff, like Travis Book your stuff or the New York Phil guys. They've got these beautiful bases. We've made them with removable necks for the sole goal of throwing those bases in cases with the necks off, and showing up in China or wherever they need to and being able to play a base that's reliable, because they know it back here in New York, they know it back here home in Connecticut, california, whatever it is, and they need to be able to show up with something that they can ascertain before they leave. So that's kind of my summary and my quick shot on this stuff and I hope that I'm opening your mind up to think about traveling and annoyingly saying to you if you want it all in one box, it's just not happening. It's not wise for the base and the things that it's making us do to try and fit a neck in a case and a bass. It's just too much stuff and we end up having to sacrifice protection of the instrument for the weight of the case. And then what's it worth showing up at a gig with a broken bass? You might as well have just taken the one that they gave you. It's rented from a backline company.
Speaker 1:So send me your thoughts on traveling with basses. It's crazy to do but we have to do it. There's a lot of people out there doing it and my heart goes out to you. I wish I could say hey, you know, click this button, and that's me making a noise and moving my hands, pretending that a bass would appear and disappear. But for traveling bassists, you know, it's work. And if you want a crazy suitcase thing we could do it. But I'm saying get a neck off in two cases, man. That's the way to go. All right, guys. Thanks so much.