Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5

[GBassNorth]

Originally Posted by GBassNorth

Thanks for the strap comment, what could be better on a uke than a tiki strap! As for the bridge angle, I think mine is straighter than the early ones. I'll take a look at it tonight and post some measurements to confirm.

Yep, looked at it when I got home. My bridge is virtually dead straight, no typical intonation tilt with the G closer to the nut than the E.

[CaballoViejo]

Originally Posted by little george

[...]

But in the begining it was an ukelele luthier, making a bari ukelele body, with the scale of a bari uke, wasn´t it? I think the only non uke thing in it was the strings and tuning used, and probably the width of the neck.

Anyway, I might be wrong, I´m not a native english speaker, and that web page isn´t specially clear...

If anyone was going to come up with the idea of a ukulele-sized bass it was probably going to be a ukulele maker, but that doesn't mean the final product is necessarily a ukulele.

How about we take a very small bass guitar such as a U-Bass, make a few changes to the tuners, nut etc., fit it with a set of baritone ukulele strings and tune it like a baritone ukulele. Would it still be a bass? If not, why not? Wouldn't it just be a type of bass, as some consider the U-Bass to be a type of ukulele? But would you take it along to a gig where you were required to play bass?

And just to confuse matters even further, some people in the ukulele world consider a baritone ukulele tuned in the usual way to be more of a two-strings-missing guitar than a "proper" ukulele anyway, and I'm inclined to agree with them, but if you tune it "re-entrant", well...

[HeavyDuty]

I know several people here have bought fretless U-Basses for a first fretless. How has that worked out long term?

I haven't had a fretless in several years and I was never particularly skilled with it - but it was a 34" scale unlined board. I've spent time with a mahogany fretless at the store and found it a lot easier than I remembered my Jazz as being. The combination of fretlines and short scale, maybe?

[TimWatson]

Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

I know several people here have bought fretless U-Basses for a first fretless. How has that worked out long term?

I haven't had a fretless in several years and I was never particularly skilled with it - but it was a 34" scale unlined board. I've spent time with a mahogany fretless at the store and found it a lot easier than I remembered my Jazz as being. The combination of fretlines and short scale, maybe?

I am very experienced on upright and 35" fretless 5-string. The U-bass is in every way easier. The string dynamics and natural feeling spacing of that scale make it easy to learn and get comfortable with. I've been at it for 19 months now and long term I am as or more comfortable with the fretless U-bass as anything else, fretless or fretted. I have become quite agile and I feel like I am sometimes approaching the instrument's limits. So, to answer, the fretless platform on the U-Bass is definitely doable and many have found it more comfortable than the fretted. There's a reason for that. After a quick warm up period it becomes very natural. What your gut was saying about it feeling natural when you played it...also a reason for that. It only gets better and easier. Check out my YouTube channel @watsontbass.

[SBassman]

FWIW - here is one datapoint for someone who:
- Started on fretted
- Was afraid of the fretless but intrigued
- Went to fretless
- Enjoyed it for a long time
- But eventually bailed; I'm not a long term fretless guy.

[caeman]

My feedback freezer arrived today. I installed it into the U-Bass and then cranked up the GK amp and its 4x10 speakers. I think this device is going to work very well as I didn't get any feedback at the way-too-loud-for-being-three-feet-away levels. It should work just as well at a gig. I can now move around without fear.

[Temcat]

I'm considering getting a U-Bass as a New Year gift to myself. Since I'll be shipping it from the USA to Russia (via mail forwarding), I won't be able to return it easily or at all, therefore I need a good dealer who takes quality control and setup seriously. Who would you folks recommend?

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by Temcat

I'm considering getting a U-Bass as a New Year gift to myself. Since I'll be shipping it from the USA to Russia (via mail forwarding), I won't be able to return it easily or at all, therefore I need a good dealer who takes quality control and setup seriously. Who would you folks recommend?

Sweetwater. I can hook you up with a good customer support person if you want.

[Temcat]

Originally Posted by SBassman

Sweetwater. I can hook you up with a good customer support person if you want.

Thanks for the suggestion! That would be great - can you send me a PM with the contact info?

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by Temcat

Thanks for the suggestion! That would be great - can you send me a PM with the contact info?

PM sent.

[Downunderwonder]

I just noticed intonation with Thunderguts is off. With the Pahoehoe originals it was dead on the fretlines. No biggie with fretless.

My bridge is angled and individual sections compensate on each string.

[caeman]

I am working on a deal with Radial to demo the PZ-DI and possibly the Firefly, as well. In the search for the perfect U-Bass solution, no stone should be left unturned.

[tombowlus]

Bass Gear Magazine #9 is now live. Here's a link to the Solid Body 5-string review.

[imperialbari]

It has been discussed in one of the previous threads how to mount a strap knob on the headstock or on the heel of the acoustic UBass.

The heel was out of question for me, as I want an unharmed thumb position also when accessing the upper frets. And I am not too happy about doing irreversible changes to the wood anyway.

Today saw the arrival of a few Martin button straps that fit well below the string between nut and tuners. So far they work well. Hopefully they will work as a lasting solution.

Klaus

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

Bass Gear Magazine #9 is now live. Here's a link to the Solid Body 5-string review.

Excellent. Thanks for posting that.

[imperialbari]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

Bass Gear Magazine #9 is now live. Here's a link to the Solid Body 5-string review.

Definitely an interesting read!

I am really warming on getting that 5 string model. Some elements in the decision process are not ready yet.

Fretted or fretless? A week ago the answer was easy: Fretted! But after less than a week with the fretless acoustic the progress is much faster than expected.

I haven’t seen the 5 stringer advertised for sale in Europe, so I may have to import it myself. Yet I need to know about the feel of the neck: I prefer the necks of my fretted and fretless acoustic UBasses over the neck of the SUB temporarily staying with me. It is a matter of the feel of wood over the feel of lacquer, and about the acoustic necks feeling slimmer especially near the heel.

Any experiences with the neck of the 5 stringer?

Klaus

[GBassNorth]

Originally Posted by imperialbari

It has been discussed in one of the previous threads how to mount a strap knob on the headstock or on the heel of the acoustic UBass.

The heel was out of question for me, as I want an unharmed thumb position also when accessing the upper frets. And I am not too happy about doing irreversible changes to the wood anyway.

Today saw the arrival of a few Martin button straps that fit well below the string between nut and tuners. So far they work well. Hopefully they will work as a lasting solution.

Klaus

I've been using one of these for about a year now with no problems, love it. I did turn mine around so you can't see the Martin logo from the front and I did trim a bit of the width off at the g string side of the strap so it wouldn't get in the way of the tuner or string. It's very stable and allows me to use a regular guitar strap. They run about $15 at GC.

[HeavyDuty]

Originally Posted by tombowlus

Bass Gear Magazine #9 is now live. Here's a link to the Solid Body 5-string review.

Like *that* really helps my GAS.

[caeman]

Tom is an enabler.

[HeavyDuty]

I don't think I've ever seen whether the California series basses have a trussrod. Do they?