Electric Upright Bass Database

If you've never built one before, and don't see yourself making a few more in the future, I suggest buying one.  I made firewood for a few months before I figured out all the right techniques and the things they don't tell you in the books, purchased the equipment I needed etcetera.  

I've built about 6 electric basses in my lifetime, and I'm on the verge of building a hollow-body upright electric bass similar in shape to the Yamaha SB-200 silent bass, so it travels well.  But this is because there's nothing out there that fits my hands (which are 6.5" from the base of my palm to the tip of my middle finger).  Plus I'm 5/3.5" tall, so I want the scale to be 30" rather than the whopping 41-43" scale length you see out there.  Plus it needs to sound as acoustic as possible so I'm accepted by the jazz community  -- special needs which necessitates building one.

If you just want to play, I suspect buying one.  I don't have any recommendations because I find they vary widely -- some sound like regular fretless bases that are simply vertical, and others, like the SB200 sound near like uprights.

Do a search on youtube on Chris Minh Doky -- he plays a tune he wrote called September, and he uses the Yamaha SB200 -- it sounds very close to an upright to me, and is very portable from the looks of it.

Good Luck