Well, my curiosity was piqued when I saw mention of this bass on this site. I had just sold my EUB, mainly because I could never get used to the upright scale, but I was just hired to play with an acoustic folk/country artist, so I wanted something that might be able to be played in its stead. So, I gave Bob from www.konaweb.com a call, and decided to give one a try.
As it turned out, I ordered the last 4-string that he had, or that he planned to make for a while (he's currently making 40 or so of his 3-string "slack key" basses). It's made of koa, with an endpin made from extremely flamed koa. I ordered the gigbag, and an extra set of strings.
When it arrived, I took it out and found out that the bridge had broken off from the piezo transducer (no big deal, some glue and it was immediately fixed). I was immediately disappointed to find that the "A" string had way less tension than the others, so it was considerably more floppy. My extra set of strings had not yet arrived, so before I truly tried her out, I was going to wait to see if maybe it was just a bad string.
***side note: the strings are made from different gauges of nylon, somewhat akin to fishing wire, or what you'd see on an ukelele***
I got the strings in a couple of days, and switched the "A" string out. Seems it was a bad string, after all. So, the true test was plugging it in to the amp (I used an Ampeg BA-115HP combo). Well, as could be expected due to it being a simple piezo transducer with no active electronics or EQ, it lost all low end (the "E" string was almost inaudible), and had a tremendous amount of contact noise). Granted, Bob states on his website that you're going to need an outboard EQ. So, I plugged her in to a K&K mini preamp, and WOW!!! Suddenly I had a very warm sounding faux upright! Much easier to play than the EUB I had, primarily because of the scale length and the nylon strings. The fingerboard is not curved like an upright, so the feel is very much like playing a fretless bass guitar. It does cry out for a light touch though, as the piezo does tend to pick up any harsh attack upon the strings.
So, was it worth the price ($550 for bass, gigbag, strings, shipping)? I would definitely say, "yes". It's a beautiful piece of handmade art, with a unique playability and rich sound. My first thought at seeing it was that it was kind of like an upright Ashbory. It's probably better looked upon as an upright ukelele. I would recommend to Bob that he introduce active electronics at some point, with possibly seperate piezo elements for each string--however, that would jack up the price accordingly.
Bottom line: I love it!
As it turned out, I ordered the last 4-string that he had, or that he planned to make for a while (he's currently making 40 or so of his 3-string "slack key" basses). It's made of koa, with an endpin made from extremely flamed koa. I ordered the gigbag, and an extra set of strings.
When it arrived, I took it out and found out that the bridge had broken off from the piezo transducer (no big deal, some glue and it was immediately fixed). I was immediately disappointed to find that the "A" string had way less tension than the others, so it was considerably more floppy. My extra set of strings had not yet arrived, so before I truly tried her out, I was going to wait to see if maybe it was just a bad string.
***side note: the strings are made from different gauges of nylon, somewhat akin to fishing wire, or what you'd see on an ukelele***
I got the strings in a couple of days, and switched the "A" string out. Seems it was a bad string, after all. So, the true test was plugging it in to the amp (I used an Ampeg BA-115HP combo). Well, as could be expected due to it being a simple piezo transducer with no active electronics or EQ, it lost all low end (the "E" string was almost inaudible), and had a tremendous amount of contact noise). Granted, Bob states on his website that you're going to need an outboard EQ. So, I plugged her in to a K&K mini preamp, and WOW!!! Suddenly I had a very warm sounding faux upright! Much easier to play than the EUB I had, primarily because of the scale length and the nylon strings. The fingerboard is not curved like an upright, so the feel is very much like playing a fretless bass guitar. It does cry out for a light touch though, as the piezo does tend to pick up any harsh attack upon the strings.
So, was it worth the price ($550 for bass, gigbag, strings, shipping)? I would definitely say, "yes". It's a beautiful piece of handmade art, with a unique playability and rich sound. My first thought at seeing it was that it was kind of like an upright Ashbory. It's probably better looked upon as an upright ukelele. I would recommend to Bob that he introduce active electronics at some point, with possibly seperate piezo elements for each string--however, that would jack up the price accordingly.
Bottom line: I love it!
) is pretty attractive. 
