Double Bass Rental


RentalInstrument.com offers high quality double basses for rent or purchase at low prices.

Euro Label

All of our double basses fall under our Euro Label. They come from a trove of double basses built 30-40 years ago in Romania and Germany and ready to be played today.

Rental Bass Testimonial

I am quite pleased with the quality of the instruments that Ken Kuo (president of RentalInstrument.com) offers. It is difficult to learn when the instrument is fighting you. Ken brings a player’s knowledge to everything from choosing great instruments to careful set up and the choice of strings. My students love playing his instruments – Bravo, Ken!

Marc SchmiedMM from Juilliard, Double Bass teacher (The Collegiate School, NYC), member of the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, currently working on Broadway's La Cage Aux Folles

About the Upright Double Bass

The upright double bass or “string bass”, is a standard member of the string section in the symphony orchestra with the lowest-pitch and the largest build. While its size might have one believing it can produce a loud sound, the truth about the bass is quite the contrary. Always played while standing, the double bass or upright bass, has a very low range and because of this, in large symphonies, there can usually be up to 8 bassists playing in unison. This provides a rich full sound, so that the bass can be heard amidst the other groups of instruments.

The upright double bass is used in many different genres of music, the most popular including jazz, blues and rock, rockabilly, country music and blue grass. Constructed of three different types of wood, the bass typically has a spruce top, maple back, and ebony fingerboard. The bass is also nearly identical in construction to little sister violin and can also be played either with a bow or using pizzicato (plucking the strings).

It was in the 15th century in Europe where the double bass was first created, and at that time was referred to as a bass violin. For a period of time before the 20th century, the bass only had three strings, a few strings short of the rest of the members of its string family. The bass is also the only member of the violin family to be tuned in fourths rather than fifths.

The lowest note the bass can produce is only a little louder than the lowest frequency the human ear can hear and perceive as a pitch. This note is called an E1.

The earliest repertoire created for the bass was written by Joseph Haydn as a concerto in 1763. Bassist Domenico Dragionetti was a very well known musical dignitary that was also good friends with Haydn and Beethoven. Holding a prominent position in the Philharmonic Society of London, Dragionetti’s playing became well known from the Tsardom of Russia all the way from the small town he called home in Italy.

When the double bass is mentioned in performance, the first thing to pop into a lot of people’s heads is jazz music. When jazz first started to become popular in the 1920’s and 1930’s, double bass players began a style of playing called ‘slap style’, where they would pull and slap the strings against the fingerboard, producing a slapping and amplified sound. This would prove louder than just plucking the strings, especially when it came time to record music.

Some popular artists around today that incorporate the double bass into their band / performances are The John Butler Trio, Hot Buttered Rum and The Ryan Montbleau Band.

Famous double bassists include Paul Chambers, Shannon Burchell, Ray Brown, and Slam Stewart