Welcome to the site of bass luthier Bill Merchant. Since 1978 I have devoted my professional life to the restoration and repair of double basses. In that time I found individual attention the only way to insure the highest quality work. Double bass repair & restoration is my passion as well as my livelhood. I now work by myself, both in NYC and at my main shop, in High Falls, N.Y. I collect & use antique hand tools in my work to best duplicate the methods of the masters who created these wonderful instruments. My years of experience aided my design of the Merchant Vertical Bass- the only electric upright hand crafted by a bass luthier to sound and play like an acoustic, and now made collapsible (in less than a minute), for easy transport.

I am proud to have contributed pictures & text to my mentor Chuck Traeger's new book-