We Make it Easy to Rent an Upright Bass in St. Louis!
2023-2024 School Year Upright Bass Rental Season:
If you are looking for a stand-up bass for yourself or your child: you are in the right place! Our St. Louis double-bass rentals start as low as $60 a month (when paid annually), and our top-of-the line carved basses rent for $120 a month (when paid annually) — paying quarterly or monthly is also an option.
While this is a long page that is loaded with information, the rental form near the bottom is simple and can be filled out in a few minutes.
When you rent online by filling out the form lower on this page, you can choose to:
- stop by the store to select, or just to pick up, your bass
- or, we can deliver the bass to your child’s school (STL-area only) or ship the instrument (but, as you can imagine, it is not cheap to ship an upright bass)
You are also welcome to stop by our store where you can complete the entire rental process in person.
Questions? Stop by one of our stores, give us a call, or send us an email (we respond to emails).
By the way: we do not work on commission and we are the only St. Louis violin store that gives you a full 3 years worth of rental credit towards buying your rental instrument (“rent to own”)!
Why Rent An Upright Bass from Top Notch Violins?
Insurance Included
Replacement Strings
Our Rental Basses Include:
- Ebony fingerboard and high-quality tuning pegs
- High quality, American-made D’Addario strings
- Choice of either a French-style or German-style bow with real horsehair
- Lightweight padded bag
- Rockstop (your choice of color)
- Cleaning cloth
- Pop’s-brand rosin
- Insurance against theft & accidental damage
- Us! We’re here to support you!
Available Upright Bass Sizes
1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4
If you rent online (further down this page) we provide information to help match your child, based on your child’s height, to the proper sized bass. We also provide typical ages and grades that would use the various bass sizes. If you stop by the store to rent your instrument, we’ll make sure you get the right size.
Select Your Bass Series
Our 1000 series entry level basses are plywood made from properly aged maple sides and back with a spruce top. Plywood basses are durable and resilient. A great choice for someone beginning to play the bass and an affordable choice for someone who travels extensively.
Our 2000 series intermediate basses are hybrids containing a mixture of plywood and aged, carved wood. The sides and back are aged and lightly flamed maple. The top is spruce and has a hand applied oil varnish. The idea behind a hybrid bass which contains some plywood panels and some carved panel is to get the durability of plywood with the sound of a carved bass. This is a great choice for any upright bass player.
Our 3000 series advanced basses are fully carved and made from 5+ year old aged, heavily-flamed maple for the sides and back with a spruce top. The basses have an antiqued oil varnish. While a beginner may not be able to discern the difference in tone between a plywood bass and a carved bass, you simply cannot beat the sound/tone of a carved bass. Carved basses can travel just fine, but you don’t want them exposed to freezing temperatures and you will want to be a bit more careful protecting them. Our 3000-series basses will help you, or your student, stand out in your ensemble or orchestra. You cannot go wrong with one of these.
We can help you choose which series of bass is best for you based on your skill-level, musical ear, playing needs, and your budget.
What Does it Cost to Rent an Upright Bass?
1000 Series Bass Rental
- The annual rate translates to a monthly cost of $60 and by paying annually you are saving 25% over the monthly plan.
- Or pay quarterly $215 and save 10%.
- Or pay monthly $80.
2000 Series Bass Rental
- The annual rate translates to a monthly cost of $90 and by paying annually you are saving 25% over the monthly plan.
- Or pay quarterly $323 and save 10%!
- Or pay monthly $120.
3000 Series Bass Rental
- Due to the value of our 3000 series basses we can only offer them as a $1440 yearly rental (which is $120/month) and we do not offer a quarterly or monthly payment option.
NEW! Rent online...
Fill out the form below...
We will then call you...
School Delivery
How to Rent an Upright Bass?
- Previously, you had to stop by one of our conveniently-located stores in the St. Louis metropolitan area to rent your bass. Now, you can either do that or rent online!
- To rent online fill out the 4-part form immediately above. The best is to then stop by one of our stores to pick up (or pick OUT!) your instrument. Or, you can choose to have us deliver the upright bass to your child’s school ($15, within 7-14 days). We can also ship your bass to your house, although we do have to charge for the shipping – and due to their size and weight, it’s not inexpensive to ship an upright bass.
- After you have filled out and submitted the form we will call you for your credit card information.
- And, as a “heads up”, the most difficult part of filling out the form is the very first field: figuring out what upright bass is the right size for your child. However, it’s not as hard as it sounds: next to each bass size we provide the approximate height of a child who would play that bass, as well as approximate age and grade ranges. If you aren’t sure what size – don’t worry – just select the size you think is best and mention it when we call for your credit card information.
- What happens if your child ends up with a bass that is the wrong size for them? Simple. Just bring the bass back to our store and we’ll swap it out for a different size!
Caring for your Upright Bass
- We include an instruction sheet with each rental but we also want to include some care tips here on our web site.
- The bass’s bow hair should be slightly tightened before playing, and slightly loosened after playing and for storage. The bow strings are tightened by turning the screw below the frog. Your bass teacher will help you with this, and we can also show you how to do this.
- Bass bows need a small amount of rosin applied to the hair for sound. Don’t worry: we include rosin with your rental! The amount of rosin to apply is something your bass instructor can help you with (and you’ll get a feel for how much and how often to apply over time) – and we can also get you set with the first rosin application before you leave the store.
- Each time you are done playing your bass we recommend gently wiping the strings and the top of the bass to remove any rosin dust. And yes, we include a cleaning cloth with your rental. Gently wiping the bass helps to avoid building up rosin on the strings or the instrument itself.
Different Styles of Bass
While most of our bass rentals are for those who play stringed upright bass at school or in a local orchestra, we also rent upright basses to those who play jazz, country, bluegrass, rockabilly, and other musical genres. If you pluck 100% of the time and don’t play with metal strings, we can even get you set up with nylon strings.
Renting an Upright Bass
While we also sell new basses and provide bass repair, most of what we do here at Top Notch is to provide rental instruments to members of our community or traveling musicians. We love seeing our basses being used in local schools and orchestras in the St. Louis area. Yes, partly because that means the bass was rented from us, but more than that it means someone else is experiencing music and falling in love with the amazing, mesmerizing, and deep resonance of the bass the same way we have. Our technicians wouldn’t spend their free time building basses by hand if they didn’t love the amazing tone and resonance of these instruments!
If you have any questions about renting or buying an instrument from us, feel free to contact us.