2024 at Upton Bass and in the Upton Bass world has been really, really fun for us this year. I'm holding a few of the things we got into. We just got our string winding machines here. Yes, these are all kinds of messes and prototypes. I'm making and breaking many, many strings. I've got some stuff I like but it's not ready for you guys yet, but I'm very certain on it Having a blast Total bass geek fest like we make basses. It's already geeky enough. We get to make strings, so that's a huge piece for us. We're very proud and happy about that.

We launched the buildbasscom educational platform where we are teaching people how to make this neck through beautiful electric bass and we want that to kind of fit in later to higher and higher levels of Lou 3 so that you can eventually make a real bass. I'm going to call it a real bass. So also, under my left arm here you're going to see this Albatross has a crossover attached to the outside. This is our down firing 10 inch solid state amp that is going to be available in 2025. We have had a few pre-sales on these. People have just kind of knocked the door down when they've heard them. Um, with the uh, unfortunate passing of a very esteemed double bass amp maker, um, left some space where I wanted to try and fill the need for tone and sound and I think we've taken that torch and we've made it even bigger and brighter and I'm very excited at showing you guys what we're doing over here this year.

We also on the search, or the quest, for the Holy Grail. We started making rosin I literally make it myself down the basement of my house, not in the barn because I'm a little afraid of the heat and things we made made maple, maple plus and a honey rosin. It's been well, well received and I'm working on another formulation to fill a gap in the market that another manufacturer isn't able to fill at this time. So I'm working on that right now. That's another thing and we've had such a great year. We're very thankful for old friends and new friends, in no particular list, made some fabulous bases, copied old Italians for Max Zeugner, blake Hinson, the Galliano, the Cassini, the Santa Giuliana had a very esteemed luthier here early in the year, helped us to refine some of the pieces in the manufacturing process. That's a funny thing, he's a high-end guy. But what we ended up doing was working on the repeatability factors, something I think was fabulous already, but we made it even better.

We've put out a few cellos. It's a small thing for us. I'm not sure where we're going into that. We had Joel Quarrington here at the shop and we're working on a new model with him. Jorge Roeder is playing a removable neck Brescian, and all of you guys that have supported us. You know Travis Book. He's been here forever and he got a couple of new basses this year. I should say a repaired bass and a new bass. The removable neck thing's going well. There's trouble in the camp of removable neck cases for basses. We're working on that. That is in the works.

But you can see, I kind of literally have my hands full, nevermind the things we don't tell you guys about. But this is what we're all about. It's making new stuff and breaking stuff and figuring out what works. And that's how we started Upton Bass and we've established these models and we're so grateful for every single player. It's not about the famed, obviously, musicians. Those are just the people we're all able to see on the main stage and enjoy and it's a great showcase for our product. But we appreciate that tonight it brings, it gives me goosebumps, like tonight there's probably Friday night how many dozen, if not more, bases that we've made are out on the gig being played, being used making music. The energy of that is so exciting. So 2025 is going to be really fun.

String stuff is coming. Steel strings, a synthetic gut-like string that's actually gut-like. So many marketing lines I see on string manufacturers saying a string's gut-like. And I go "did you guys ever play a set of gut bass strings? So I want you guys to realize what we do here is what I do with my team. What we do here is we just like to geek out on base stuff, like if you were here working with us. We're just playing around with bass stuff, trying to find a new tool, trying to find a new thing. We did actually launch a new course on the Upton Bass School, which is a bass buying course.

That's a big thing for me because I have a lot of repeated conversations with people and I don't mind talking to people. You guys know how I am, but what I want to do is elevate the level of my conversation with my clientele so that we're able to talk about like the nuts and bolts a little bit, but get to the art of what we're doing and the heart of what we're doing. So that's exciting. So we've got also a new series we're slowly putting out. We're going to do showcase on all the different strings where I go a little bit more in depth, talk about tensions and materials and really give you my my one-on-one, if not more, on how a bass string in my opinion performs from Tomastic, perastro, d'addario, any other company. But it's really fun. And we have some new blood coming in.

Oh, Dan Balcom showed up from Fodera. He works here now. We're really grateful to have him. He fit right in. JP and Taylor. JP works downstairs, he's an apprentice learning the craft. His wife, taylor, she works in the office. She's doing a great job.

My wife Antonia also published her book about the double bass. Catalina plays the what?". This is the first educational book for kids and adults. Like most adults that don't know what it is should read this about what a double bass is. We were able to go and present this at a gifted school in Harlem. I got to go see Ron Carter after that and talk to him about the book and exchange thoughts and ideas. She won a bunch of awards for this in 2024. Super cool. I know she's going to keep going on.

We got a bunch of great wood. We do all the time, but we got some great stuff. Lots of spruce, lots of maple, crazy flamed ash, one piece backs. We're going to keep growing that and I don't know again. I'm sure there's something fabulous that I probably could hang off my head and hold over here, but that's what we're doing. I think you get the picture. It's just about doing stuff and making stuff and having a good time. We're here doing it. It's been a good year of growth and, uh, what can I say? We just like what we're doing. We love doing it.

For you guys, stay in touch, give us your feedback. Critical, kind feedback is always appreciated and very, very welcomed. I love it. We have clients that'll say hey, you know, I didn't like and I'm like what Didn't like what. That's what we want to hear. So, anyway, happy new year to everyone. Here's to 2025. 2024 has been amazing. I'm sure there's names and things I've completely forgotten. That's not because you're not the most important, because you guys know how we treat everyone. Everyone gets treated the same here. Come to the shop, hang out with us. Let's just keep doing our thing. Thanks from Upton Bass. We appreciate you.