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Kala-U

#21
I have one of the nice mahogany fretted basses. It's so easy to play - so you have to play super light!

It also amplifies quite well. I use it with my calypso steel pan jazz trio on the traditional stuff and on certain jazz gigs on groovier blues tunes. People freak out over it.

A delightful living room & travel & gig bass for sure.
 
#22
My son has a Hadean I built a smaller body for him. It's a hoot. Enough fun that I decided to build me a right handed five-string with roundwounds.

There's a super long thread about these already, but the main thing to know is - there are several different string options.
Thunderguts are sorta stretchy, but sticky.
Pahoehoe's are extremely stretchy, not sticky, but very dark/thumpy
The roundwounds I don't have direct experience with but they're brighter of course and not really stretchy - it's just a silk and steel string.

Here's my son's Hadean with a hollowed out poplar longhorn tiny body.
ubass-final-front_zpsnskezoto.jpg
 
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#23
I bought a Goldtone Microbass 2 years ago when I had a left hand injury. I could not get used to the feel of those rubber strings - the way they roll feels weird to me.
You also have to play with a light touch and digging in doesn`t work. I returned it.
 
#27
oldrookie said:
Received a Hadean Uke bass for Christmas. Strings are a bit sticky, but great sounding little bass. Go for it, Dr. Cheese!
Click to expand...

I changed out all my white Thundergut strings to the smooth black Pahoehoe Kala type from Road Toad. They take longer to settle in, but feel so much better and I like the sound better too.
 
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#28
jlepre said:
Damn! I want one of those but are they really $1499?
Click to expand...

I got your message, will email you shortly. Mine was used and less than half that amount. You can buy the parts to put one together on their site, would be around $400 to do that. It's a great bass but $1499 (I usually see them for 1200 new) is way way overpriced. No truss rod in the neck either. For five string on their site they only have fretless necks now as well.
 
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#30
Engle said:
I bought a Goldtone Microbass 2 years ago when I had a left hand injury. I could not get used to the feel of those rubber strings - the way they roll feels weird to me. You also have to play with a light touch and digging in doesn`t work. I returned it.
Click to expand...

That was the first bass uke I got when I started playing bass about 18 months ago. I changed the strings to Pahoehoe and loved it right from the start, It's my go to bass uke for gigs, but I don't dig or bend, ya got to use the right instrument for the right job. I also have a mini P-bass for that feel and sound.
 
#31
I've owned 3 Ubasses (Cali, Sub, and 'hog) and a 2 GT Microbasses and have used both the 'guts and and 'hoes on them. I love the tone, I dig the way they play but ultimately I got rid of them all. Intonation was always sharp above the 7th fret or so. No matter the string, no matter the scale length, just unplayable up the neck. They are more-or-less passable on a gig, but I couldn't use them for any recording or even stand to practice with a backing track with them. I even defretted a sub to try to correct for it, but it was just too much of a pain in the butt. Ibanez Mikro and Squier SS Jag are getting my short-scale time these days. Too bad, I applaud the innovation and wish I could support it, but these tools just don't do the job for me.
 
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#34
Dr. Cheese said:
They silicone, but not sticky to me.The weird thing is that you cannot really bend them. They sort of roll when you try to bend them.
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I don't believe they're actually silicone. Ashbury basses had silicone strings (surgical tubing) and were sticky, requiring talc to play. U-Bass strings are some proprietary material (somebody here may know what it is) and are not nearly as sticky as the Ashbury strings.

The rolling is due to the low string tension as much as the material. It takes some getting used to, but it's worth it. They are fun basses. My one issue with them is the difficulty tuning. I have the upgraded tuners on mine, but the strings stretch way more than steel strings. The strings also grab the nut, so I actually lift the strings out of the nut to release the grab when tuning. A minor inconvenience.

I've done some recording sessions with mine and the engineers and producers all loved it.
 
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#35
Pahoehoe's are far as I've been able to figure out are a commonly available polyurethane rubber. I haven't found it yet, but I promise nobody is making a proprietary rubber formulation for 1k feet spools at a time. Regular instrument strings themselves are a niche market on the industrial scale.
 
#37
Skokiaan said:
I don't believe they're actually silicone. Ashbury basses had silicone strings (surgical tubing) and were sticky, requiring talc to play. U-Bass strings are some proprietary material (somebody here may know what it is) and are not nearly as sticky as the Ashbury strings.

The rolling is due to the low string tension as much as the material. It takes some getting used to, but it's worth it. They are fun basses. My one issue with them is the difficulty tuning. I have the upgraded tuners on mine, but the strings stretch way more than steel strings. The strings also grab the nut, so I actually lift the strings out of the nut to release the grab when tuning. A minor inconvenience.

I've done some recording sessions with mine and the engineers and producers all loved it.
Click to expand...

I know Goldtone actually recommends lifting the strings out of the nut when tuning.
 
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