I bought this bass for our 12 year old grandson. last year we paid 0.00 to rent one, so he could take lessons at school and play in the orchestra. This year, rather than rent, I decided to buy this one from Amazon. His music teacher recently tuned it, and said that it was the richest bass 1/2 size bass that she had ever encountered, and will begin recommending it to other parents/students..

I pulled this instrument out of the box and in a very short time had it tuned up and playing.
I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and it holds it’s tuning well and sounds great.

Most middle-school orchestras have rental or rent-to-own programs for the larger string instruments, but those fees can easily be more than buying an instrument if you can afford the immediate outlay of money. I purchased this bass for around six hundred bucks and it was a bargain compared to renting.

This “half-size” bass has worked well for my child through 6th-7th-8th grade. If the school hasn’t sized your child and made a suggestion, you can check the Internet for charts to determine which size bass they might need. The instrument looks and sounds fine, and passed muster with my son’s private music teacher as well.

Couple of notes:
1. Here you are getting only the instrument and a cloth/nylon-type cover. You will need to buy a separate bow as well as rosin and a tuner if you want to get started playing right out of the box.
2. The instrument is shipped without the bridge installed, so the strings are all “loose.” Check YouTube for instructions on installing the bridge (I ended up taking the instrument to a local shop for some free help getting it in).
3. The instrument is not extremely heavy, but it is unwieldy for a child to carry. The straps on the case are in an odd location, I felt, and they started tearing after about two years. Consider researching bass buggies or a wheel for the endpin.

Overall, a good value I think for a starter instrument that we own outright. Even if my child doesn’t continue with playing into high school, I will feel we got our money’s worth out of it (and could possibly sell to another middle-schooler in the neighborhood!).