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Kala-U

#42
NickfromSOS said:
My buddy did a drum clinic with Bakithi Kumahlo on bass and he played one for the clinic and it sounded amazing, especially in Bakithi's hands
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Nice! The keyboardist in one of my bands plays with him too, I spoke to him briefly on the phone when she and I were carpooling to a gig. He was surprised I'd heard of him - talk about humble!

I love my ubass though, I've used it on every gig since I got it.
 
#43
:woot::woot:
theschnitt said:
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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I changed the bridge on mine to a fender style bridge and intonation is now accurate. Stock it was awful - 7th fret out of tune? How about 3rd fret!! :woot:
 
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#45
pcake said:
i fell in love with the little corsair when i tried one out. the one i got to try was priced quite high, and the store i played it in doesn't take credit cards, unfortunately, so it didn't come home with me. as i recall, it's pretty heavy for its size, though.
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??
:confused:

You may be thinking about another bass. I think they're under $200 new, well under the lower end Kala and way under the higher end ones. I just weighed mine, it came in at 6.6 lbs. so not heavy at all. And with roundwound strings there's nothing to get used to and no need for talc;). Sounds like a "real" bass.



Northwest Guitars E's mini bass Guitars E's mini bass

My thread from when I got it back in 2012...
NBD: a P bass I can use... Samick MCR content.
 
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#46
cultrvultr said:
@Brad Johnson !!!! I have been looking for a gig bag for the little samick! Do you have any other details on that gig bag? a model number or something?
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From my NBD thread the Protec is a 1/2 acoustic bag. I'm checking with them now on availability... it's not listed on their website. Nice little bag and the easiest bass load-in ever for me.
:D
 
#48
Brad Johnson said:
??
:confused:

You may be thinking about another bass. I think they're under $200 new, well under the lower end Kala and way under the higher end ones. I just weighed mine, it came in at 6.6 lbs. so not heavy at all. And with roundwound strings there's nothing to get used to and no need for talc;). Sounds like a "real" bass.



Northwest Guitars E's mini bass Guitars E's mini bass

My thread from when I got it back in 2012...
NBD: a P bass I can use... Samick MCR content.
Click to expand...


That Samick sounds good although I do like that "acoustic" Kala sound too. That Samick may play better with a 17 or 19 feet neck. Those last frets were really tiny.
 
#55
theschnitt said:
How did you get a Fender style bridge to work with the under-saddle piezos on a Ubass? That would solve all the problems with this instrument.
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I got a fender style bridge that has holes at the front of the bridge as well, then used Cork underneath as padding (ikea cork placemats, 4 for $3...), then screwed it down as hard as I could. Recently put cork under the feet of each bridge saddle, which stopped the little bit of pingy ringing that I was getting. Eventually I will find someone who can make me intonatable bridge out of wood.

Also, I pulled the pickup through so the end is resting in the hole that is the for the previous bridge foot, and now it's balanced.

Here's a few shots of it:

image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
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#58
The last time I was at L&M I played something very similar to the Kala-U. Almost walked out with it. I wish I could remember the brand. It was something like $495, it was a great little bass, it had a really nice sound as well. The feel of the strings took a few minutes to get used to, but after that it's all good.

If it's still there the next time I'm there, I'll probably get it.
 
#60
Doc Cheese,

Check out the new bass by The Magic Fluke. It is a category crusher IMO. They developed a way to wrap rubber strings with round wounds so that 1) it feels familiar and 2) you don't pull the strings out of tune every time you slide.

I had the privilege of playing a prototype at the factor 18 months ago (I just stumbled in with one of my kids one day) and I ended up giving them a suggestion that they incorporated (they had a dot marker on the 10th fret and I suggested they go with the standard 9th fret!!).

Anyway, if you are thinking about a uke for travel, I would suggest you check on out if you have access.

Short Scale Electric Bass
 

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