It's finally here! NBD!!!

[KohanMike]

I’m sure Uke master @kohanmike would dig this

Beautiful design and the 23" scale is my sweet spot, but I'm not a fretless guy. Those strings are polyurethane made by Road Toad Music, Owen Holt, the guy who originated the bass uke, licensed by Kala. You can buy the strings from his store: string_store

 

[pingvuiini]

Socoros

 

[Ric4003S]

That is a work of art! Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[oldNewbie]

"Antarcticus Maxiumus" = Amundson-Scott station ?

in which case, happy summer , got any outdoor gigs ?
And the reggae theme bass fits right in under the palm trees, surely.
(Ice Cube servers are down the hall from me up here in the "frozen" north)

 

[Highs&Lows]

Socoros

This is awesome! It sounds great in that context. What music is this?

 

[pingvuiini]

KC and the Sunshine Band. Apologies for playing the horn parts. They're too fun not to!

This is awesome! It sounds great in that context. What music is this?

Socoros by Yorgos Kazantzis. I got it off the Buddha Bar III double CD.

 

[pingvuiini]

Smokin' Joe. The G string is going slightly out of tune during the song. Ah, the joys of rubber strings.

 

[pingvuiini]

Walkin on the Blue Side.

 

[Qlanq]

Sweet bass. Not sure about the bridge, though.
Do they have other options?

 

[bholder]

Walkin on the Blue Side.

Mmmm, that is sweet sounding!

 

[pingvuiini]

Beautiful bass, beautiful rig.

Those strings tho! Arrrrgggh. To each his/her/their own.

Woah!!! Gorgeous!! Kind of a love / hate thing with the strings, but the Rasta reference (intended or not) is ok by me.

Congrats ! Love the bass - hate the strings !

Agreed, beautiful, but those colors

I have capitulated to the colored string haters. Actually, the yellow A string was acting weirdly. I would tune everything up and everything showed correctly on my electronic tuner and sounded fine with the string harmonics, but when I would fret the A string (so to speak) it was quite sharp. So I replaced it with an A from an old black set and it is much better. I then decided to change the red and green strings too while I was at it, even though they were appropriately colored for Christmas.

 

[nonohmic]

I have capitulated to the colored string haters. Actually, the yellow A string was acting weirdly. I would tune everything up and everything showed correctly on my electronic tuner and sounded fine with the string harmonics, but when I would fret the A string (so to speak) it was quite sharp. So I replaced it with an A from an old black set and it is much better. I then decided to change the red and green strings too while I was at it, even though they were appropriately colored for Christmas.

View attachment 4087338

Really let's the grain of the wood shine now! It's a stunner.

 

[pingvuiini]

Wild Thing in Me. Fun bass lines, a bit of distortion here and there.

 

[pingvuiini]

Red Barchetta.

 

[Quasar Wave]

Wow Wow WOW! I love it!!
Please post a video of playing it!!
Do you play Dub music? Are you familiar with Gaudi?
GAUDI

 

[PeteCarlton]

I'm sorry, but I hate that upper bout - so OTT. But I love the sound of your bass.

 

[TH63]

Here is the complete new rig: Mesa TT-800 purchased in June, GR Bass Aerotech 2x12slim cabinet ordered in June and received in November (due to health restrictions in Italy), and KB Baruke uke bass. Total weight 41.7lbs (not including penguin).
View attachment 4083379

Totally cool on every level. Have fun rockin' out.

 

[Neill Graham]

Now that is one beautiful instrument with the black strings.
They show off your great woodwork.
I never liked ukuleles but your creation has blown me away...
It's like a short scale upright bass!
Very good bass sound. You play well, too.
Very innovative and original.
Congratulations

 

[pingvuiini]

Big changes with the Baruke bass in the last couple of months. The first big development is that I found a string manufacturer that was willing to make 23" scale tapewound strings. The company is Pyramid Strings in Germany which has been around for 150 years. I gave them all the key measurements and the strings fit perfectly. The string action ended up being really high going towards the bridge since the bass was originally built with rubber uke strings which have much lower tension and a larger vibrational arc. But I was able to get thru a short gig in June by just playing up to the 12th fret.

When the Baruke was initially being built I had asked Ken Bebensee about the possibility of adding a magnetic pickup if I ever managed to find a string manufacturer to make regular strings for me, and he designed the body and control cavities to accommodate such expansion. I shipped the Baruke back to Ken so he could adjust the action, add a magnetic pickup and a new preamp from Audere. We chose the Nordstrand Big J Blade 5 pickup and Ken wanted to use Ghost piezo pickups from Graph-Tec to replace the original Open-to-Source Sensors™ piezo.

After several weeks of major surgery and dealing with wildfires near his home, Ken is nearing completion of the mods. Ken had enough of the spalted myrtle top wood to make a pickup cover for the Nordstrand. The Graph-Tec Ghost piezos are individual height adjustable saddles, which is more practical than the one piece bone from the original build. The black color of the saddles looks more clean and subtle than the white bone. I was emphatic that I really would like the 5th knob to be added in the back within the dark wood zone, but the problem was that the jack is located right near that spot. Thankfully, the Audere pots are *very* small and so Ken was able to finagle the 5th knob in the desired spot.

Based on the photos the action looks wonderfully low. I can't wait to get it back and play it. With the rubber strings there were so many annoying idiosyncrasies to deal with and I know I probably won't miss them. (They do have a nice blooming bass sound though).

 

[BassToGoGo]

Wow. Just when I thought I couldn't love this bass any more...