Double Bass Buying Guide - Tips For Buying Your First Upright Bass 

Not just the best explanation of characteristics to look for in buying a string bass, but the best and most useful explanation I’ve seen of any stringed instrument. I applaud your efforts!

Wooooowww, is this the best explainer video about doublebasses on youtube? YES it is!

thanks for this great video. oh and by the way, "the shape of slices of salmon" that's an avantgarde song title right there

Unquestionably, the best, most informative video, I have currently seen on the beginner's introduction to the upright bass. Thank you, very much Vielen Dank!

Thanks Hervé. For me, walking in into a specialised dealer's shop close to me (in Frankfurt), I instantly fell in love with the cheapest Romanian carved bass they had there. But that was a bit out of my price range, and hard to justify to spend almost 3k as a beginner, so I got lucky and got a really nicely setup plywood (same brand as the dealers also had), together with some extras for about 1.2k - an exceptional value. Have it since ten months now, and love it more each day. So I did as you say here in your very good advice, thanks for that... Additional costs: I replaced the Presto Nylon strings on it with Spiro Lights, and I'm also looking for some nice but not too expensive French bow next...

Not gonna lie, I watch your videos just to hear you play :D Love the content!

Looking for my first bass....very helpful! Thanks!

Great video with very useful information! I would like to start with double bass lessons and so i am gathering information about it. You really took your time in the video to explain all about buying a first upright bass. Thank you very much!

I don't care what bass you play. You sound great. Charley Haden would be proud of you!

Even though I have played 3/4 size bass for many years I always discover something I didn't know before from your videos. Thanks very much!

Thanks. I figured out from your video I bought 2 great Basses. 1 carved - 1 hybrid.

Excellent content sir, fine presentation. The difference between quarter sawn plywood and laminate was an education for me.

Thank you so much for your advice!

Excellent overview 👍

Thanks for taking the time to make this video!

Nice and useful piece of advice.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!! It's so useful!!!

thanks for taking the time to be helpful to me and others.

Thank you so much for explaining all of this. This was very helpful!!!

Thank you for this great video! So informative and helpful!

Thank you for your comprehensive videos! Like it!😉👋🏻

thanks for the talk...i found it very interesting and will watch again

Brilliant video. Intelligent. In the jazz guitar world it’s generally accepted that laminate is less prone to amplification feed back than carved wood. Also a well made laminate guitar is better than a badly made solid carved wood instrument in my experience. So most working players will use a decent laminate guitar with amplification. I know they are very different beasts to double bass but it’s a valid comparison I think.

Your video is very informative! Thank you for all of the great tips.

thank you so much for your video. i got all the information i wanted know about upright bass!

Very informative thanks 👍🏼

Yours tips are awesome, thank you very much!

Excellent video!

Thanks for making this video alot of this info isn't made known unless you hang around seasoned bassists.

Hervé, thanks for the video! it's a great double bass channel ☺️ I add my experience with my cheap double bass for the ones how are thinking about buying one. In 2008 I bought a cheap chinese Cremona sb-1 in order to start studying at the music conservatory. The first three years it was ok for playing studies and small pieces, but in 2011 I started to play high intonation concerts and I decided to take the bass to a Luthier (Alberto Solari) and he changed the tailpiece and bridge and he made an extraordinary work given a short action between the fingerboard and nut. For strings I chose Thomastik spirocore solo. In 2016 I was playing Bottesini's n°2 for my final concert at the conservatory with that bass. So, in my personal experience, if it's your first bass + the bass is in really good shape + you have it set it up by a professional = you are getting a nice instrument to starting to feel this beautiful sensation of being a double bass player ❣️

Very useful, thank you

Thank you so much, your videos are great and are so clear and concise. Best, Kev.

Thank you very much for this great video!! Very good to keep your points of attention in mind while searching a double bass. It all sounds logical, great to find all tips in one video.

There are so many variables that you also need to trust your instincts. There should be an emotional connection between instrument and player. For some, the color of the laquer will be of major importance :)

Great lesson, I play bass guitar, just for fun, and I’m thinking about having one upright double bass. Your guide lines were so valuable! Thanks!

I also see you have the Evah Pirazzi E and A with the Olive gut D and G. Great sounding set! I have that set on my bass at the moment

Very informative video, thanks a lot for all the work! Watching it on my iPad I have to confess I couldn‘t hear big differences between the plywood bass and the carved ones - in a band context I wouldn‘t for the love of god be able to tell the difference. :-)

Great sound in the very opener of the video (violin shaped one?).

I am looking at a few 3/4 sxcale.. just to do a Rock a Billy finish on it.! mainly a keybordist-guitarist and a studio in back! 2022

As an oktavist looking for a double bass this was most useful. I have plans on using it with vocals which is something I haven't heard before and have been eager to try out.

I’m looking to purchase my first upright bass, and this video was wonderfully informative and answered all my questions and concerns. I’ve currently got my eye on a used Shen SB88 for a fair price. I’ll see if the seller will agree to meet at a local upright store to have it looked over first. If things seem good then it just might come home with me.

I owned an acoustic upright for 20years, and if i had to do it all over again, I would buy an electric upright . I reccommend an NS Design WAV. It also has all the dots (small) on the fingerboard. Itis easier to transport or just sit in your chair and practice your playing unamplified.

Hi. You helped me to identify some specs about my double bass. But I need some help, just to be sure about the wood and maybe the origin so I can buy it, Could you help me?

Herzlichen Dank!

Wow, I thought the only "e-contrabass" was the Yamaha one, maybe the Ibanez UB with the right tone settings

Master bassist

Great video, unfortunately basses are still a bit expensive compared to other strings instruments, my case I had to study until university with a plywood Korean made doublebass

Super vidéo Merci !!! L'extrait musical à la fin est vraiment très beau, du coup je suis entrain d'écouter le disque. Belle musique et très joli son de contrebasse...aaaaaah le boyaux :)

Hello! I really appreciate this video. It’s really hard for me to determine the quality of this bass I am looking at currently. The bass is a 5/8 european flatback made of maple from the ~1870s? I have some audio clips of the bass being played but my ear is not good enough to understand the quality. Do you mind helping me with this? I would really appreciate it.

Would have been hilarious if he said, if you need to know the price, pick a different instrument that you can afford.

Sehr hilfreiches Video, vielen Dank. Hast du Erfahrung bezüglich der massiven Thomann Kontrabässe? Soweit ich weiß werden diese in Rumänien von Hora gefertigt. Sehr preisgünstig, durchgängig gute Bewertung, aber ich frage mich schon ob ich da an der falschen Stelle spare..

What’s the difference between a tololoche and a double bass ? My bridge on my tololoche snapped in half and I’m trying to buy a new bridge but all I see are double bass ones :/

Do you have some suggestion around 2000 euros?

very good video , thank you . you don't realy speak about " la touche "(fingerboard) , la mienne est en érable..pas aussi dur que l'ébène. bonne quand même. j'aurais voulu en savoir plus sur ça et: pourquoi certain donne une courbe a la touche ? merci beaucoup

Would it be wrong to buy a student bass or beginner bass if your just trying to learn or get a feel for the double bass but not looking to be professional? If nothing else I believe it’s a beautiful piece of furniture I don’t mean to sound silly but it is .

“A bass with a round back has a more solid construction than a flat back.” You can say that again! 🍑 Hey-o!

i don’t know any upright players tho

Interressantes Video, aber leider stellenweise alle paar Sekunden ein Schnitt, teilweise mehrere Schnitte im Satz, du ruckelst hinund her und ich kann da kaum folgen. Also ich fand das sehr störend. Übrigens ich hatte vor 11 Jahren Glück mit einem China Bass für 600€, aber auch erst im zweiten Anlauf und ich kenne einen, der mußte seinen Chinabass erstmal zum Setup wegschaffen. Mittlerweile muss man wohl wenigstens 800€ in die Hand nehmen, ich hätte aber keine Skrupel, so einen Bass bei bestimmten Händlern zu kaufen, die sich um das Setup kümmern. Beim Kauf jemanden mitnehmen, der Ahnung hat ist am Besten. Gruß Herb

Great video. I like this guy, he is both relaxing and a serious person. He sounds German?, I like Germans. Do not like the video editing. All the little cuts are hard to watch.

Philadelphia's Mummer string bands MARCH with dbl. bases.

Many thanks! Very useful