I played Fender-style bass for several years in various bands and when I developed an interest in upright I saw a year-old Englehardt with a great gig bag in the local paper for $500. I immediately called, and it was home with me within the next hour. I played it in a couple of old time music bands because it fits the "image" of the music.
I eventually sold it off a couple of years ago and now have a short scale fretless semi-acoustic and a 30" scale P bass that I keep for recording purposes and the occasional gig when someone needs a sub. I have extensive build topics posted on Talkbass for both of those instruments.
One of my favorite guitarists is Richard Thompson, and I always remember seeing him introduce Danny Thompson, his upright bass player, for the show. When Danny Thompson came out on stage with his full size double bass Richard said "Now that's a REAL man's instrument!".
Who can argue with that?
I don't know what you're playing, but if it's a student model bass the best thing you can do is put a good set of strings on it, especially if you're going to stick to mostly pizzicato playing.
There's so many great bass players to check out on Youtube. Don't forget Ray Brown!
A proper teacher is really important for initial lessons on upright, as it's an easy instrument to develop bad playing habits on that can actually cause you physical harm.