I got to the same stage, the piece of fire wood I was playing just wouldnt cut it anymore. Looked around for a replacment but found the field unispiring. So I decided to design and build the upright electric bass I wanted.
So after much scketching , drawing and rubbing out I came up with what I (and all that have played it) think is a great instrument. I used good quality materials and components, its made of Canadian rock maple with a sepele core strip, the neck is a three piece solid maple & sapele with an inlayed truss rod, the fingerboard is 120mm radius, maple and finished to high gloss polyurithane finish, the body is maple & sepele, carved with a bolt on rest. It has active electrics fed by twin bridge piezos, did make the prototype with a magnetic pick up as well but it did nothing for the sound. Control is a simple volume and tone control, and the output isnt jacked up to make it sound [i]good!.[/i] I,v allowed the sound of the instrument to come out and not lots of processing throught the electrics.
I play mine throught three diffrent amps, a 5watt roland bass cube for sessions, a 30watt bass cube for small gigs, and DI through a 600watt makie PA system for bigger gigs.
Have attached some pics. and tell me what you think
PS its on your buget as well