Cheap doghouse?

[cozmik_cowboy]

A friend has asked me if I could keep an eye out for an upright for his bass player, as reasonably priced and as close to NE Illinois as possible (so far, the best he's found is $275 in TN).
Anyone know of anything?


Thanks,
Peter

[keith_h]

When I saw the title my first thought was what did you do to get yourself in trouble this time?

[edwardofhuncote]

I didn't wanna' be the guy who swung at that pitch and missed Keith. Take your base. 

I'd be leery of any $275 upright bass, simply because I have a shed of hopeless cases in that range. Could be a screamin' fire-sale deal, and jump on it if it is, but tell your buddy to keep in mind a good set of upright strings will run about $130, and a new bridge and soundpost another $50. And be kind to your setup guy... 'specially iff'n it's me.   

Seriously, there's no shortage of secondhand uprights out there for reasonable prices, but I always tell people when doing the deal, plan to spend about $250 getting it to playing condition. That's an average. There are strings that cost that much. I don't use many in my shop though.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I have your thoughts on, Greg; thanks.
I did send him a link to my area CL, where the used uprights start about $1500; that seem about right to you?

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Nicer used. To put it in perspective, a new Engelhardt EM-1 is about $1500, made right there in Illinois. (although I'm hearing murmurs and whispers all is not well over there... I hope it's just bull-squeeze... they, like Alembic, have been around since 1969, celebrating 50 years this year.)