Kala Ubass Megathread, Part 1

[Hothersale]

There is another material available from an independent maker (there's a video of them here on TB somewhere). They were white in color and very trebly in the video.

Aquila Thundergut Bass Ukulele Strings. I just ordered a set from an eBay seller. These seem pretty hard to come by right now. UkukeleWorld.com had some a couple weeks ago but they sold out quickly. Supposedly the strings aren't so stretchy, so less tuning/restringing is required. We'll see.

 

[SBassman]

GAS got the best of me. One is on the way.

I must admit after reading the whole thread, I'm very spooked. I didn't really have the money for this, but
the GAS took over. I guess I'm spooked because Most dealers don't even have it stocked. I bought one at a dealer who claims stock, but for this period of time, is that going to mean I'm very likely to get somebody else's B stock return?

These things sound like Tons of fun when you get a good one, and a real nightmare when you get a lemon.
I hope I do ok.

 

[bassuker]

There is another material available from an independent maker (there's a video of them here on TB somewhere). They were white in color and very trebly in the video.

Here's the video demo by Mimmo of Aquila.

Thundergut - YouTube

Aquila make GREAT ukulele strings but I must say that these don't do it for me. Maybe it's the way he's playing - all that buzz! Looking forward to an actual bass player's opinions of the things and maybe even a decent demo. Hothersale?

Is it just me or does anyone else's bottom go all funny when you hear the term 'ukulele bass' or 'bass ukulele'? It ain't no ukulele; it's a BASS!

These things sound like Tons of fun when you get a good one, and a real nightmare when you get a lemon.
I hope I do ok.

I've played a few and have yet to come across a 'lemon'. I think that the build quality is consistent throughout; maybe they just weren't what some folks expected them to be. Hell, I know of uke people who got U-Basses and started strumming away on chords. Boy, were they disappointed.

I kid you not.

 

[CaballoViejo]

Put a set of those Aquila Thundergut strings on my UBass a few days ago. Having always been very happy with the quality of Aquila ukulele strings, I thought there was a chance I'd end up with some intonation improvements, especially in that of the A string, the one I was mostly concerned about. No such luck. After three days of endless tuning and restringing, I gave up and went back to the Pahoehoes.

Intonation comparison (difference in cents between harmonic and fretted note at the 12th fret, give or take a cent or two):

E
Pahoehoe -10 (= fretted note 10 cents lower in pitch than harmonic)
Aquila -7

A
Pahoehoe -30
Aquila -50

D
Pahoehoe -20
Aquila -35

G
Pahoehoe 0
Aquila -25

As you can see, apart from the E string the intonation of the Aquilas was much poorer than that of the Pahoehoes, even causing problems I hadn't had before with the G string. Sure, they were louder, but still nowhere near loud enough to get away with playing an unamplified UBass alongside other instruments.

My advice would be to stick with the Pahoehoes, at least until if and when you get a chance to try a UBass strung with a set of Thunderguts that happen to perform a crapload better than the ones I wasted my time and money on.

Apologies for not posting this sooner, Hothersale. I guess I might have saved you some money. Still, YMMV. Let's hope so.

 

[bassuker]

Hey, thanks for that.

How did they sound and feel?

What did they cost (not including your time, that is)?

Sure, they were louder, but still nowhere near loud enough to get away with playing an unamplified UBass alongside other instruments.

That's never gonna happen. Even your standard, big-ass ABG won't do that. Not convincingly, anyway.

 

[Jjango]

Thanks for all the info, guys.

I've wanted a U-Bass for some time now. But I kept putting it off, and then they became hard to find (always out of stock). Then I decided to wait to hear the solid body versions before I made up my mind.

It seems the intonation can be quite off on these babies. I'm guessing that might be due to the non-adjustable bridge. Taking this into account, I might just end up buying the fretless model. People say it's hard to play in tune, but I'm a fretless player, and this guy seems to manage well enough most of the time:

Invalid Link Removed

As to the solid body versus acoustic debate: I still haven't been able to try a solid body in person, but judging from these clips, the solid body loses some of that "acoustic" upright bass sound:

Hollow body: Kala Acoustic/Electric U-Bass demo - YouTube

Solid body: Kala Solidbody U-Bass demo - YouTube

Wish I could find a solid body to try in person.

 

[CaballoViejo]

How did they sound and feel?

From what I recall, not significantly different from the Pahoehoes, but, to be honest, once I became aware of the intonation issues I stopped caring about any other qualities they may have had anyway.

What did they cost (not including your time, that is)?

I bought them direct from the Aquila web site, for AU$40 including postage. I see that you can get them for around AU$36 now from a certain ukulele string seller on eBay, who includes Aquila's marketing blurb in the item description:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The strings impress by their tone, stability and output power. Thundergut® is a special very dense and elastic plastic compound that grants better performances than common polyuretane and silicon rubber strings available in the market. Thundergut® ensures fast and stable intonation. No sweat finger's slip on the strings. Powerful performances. Traditional Aquila's white colour. Thundergut strings do not present excessive stretching during tuning and can therefore be installed directly on the peg tuner avoiding the boring task of pre-stretching that has to be done for the common polyurethane or silicone rubber strings. The Thundergut string's surface is not particularly sticky as silicone rubber, these strings are not too slippery when touched, and are not so easy to turn itself when pressed on the fretboard as in the case of polyurethane strings.

[/FONT]Yeah, right...

 

[Hothersale]

My advice would be to stick with the Pahoehoes, at least until if and when you get a chance to try a UBass strung with a set of Thunderguts that happen to perform a crapload better than the ones I wasted my time and money on.

Apologies for not posting this sooner, Hothersale. I guess I might have saved you some money. Still, YMMV. Let's hope so.

NOW you tell me! LOL. I plan on trying them on a solid body. Hopefully they will perform better for me, but my expectations are suitably lowered.

 

[GBassNorth]

What can you say about the tuning stability of these?

If I tune it, will it stay in tune for, say, an hour, or is the kind of instrument that you're re-tuning every few songs?

I have GAS for one, and I don't want to be disappointed with bad tuning stability. Informed comments?

I can easily get through an hour or two of practice or about one full play list between tunings. For me that's not a problem, way more than I would normally do on any other bass I own but heck you can tune it in 30 sec.
The bigger issue may be intonation. If you're an intonation fanatic you might decide to take it to a luthier to have the bridge adjusted or modified a bit so the higher octaves are in tune with the lower octaves. I really don't see many intonation problems in mine between the open and 12th frets after that it starts to get a little more iffy. The fretless version may minimize some of the intonation issues.
Overall, I'm really knit picking here for the type of music I play and the venues I play in (classic and alt. rock and blues in small venue locations with a couple of guitars, harp, vocal and drummer). Neither the intonation or the tuning issues are of any significant importance to me and are clearly outweighed by the sound and fun this thing delivers.
I can get very realistic DB tones out of this thing as well as a thumping flat string precision tone with no problem and it's small and light enough to bring to any gig as a backup bass if for no other reason. Besides I got a steal on the mahogany u-bass at $330 new with extended warrenty and semi hard case.

 

[bassuker]

CaballoViejo is a pal of mine from here in Melbourne. I went around to his place and picked up the Thunderguts to give 'em a shot. I got as far as putting on the G string and realised that these have serious issues.

Get a load of this:

Invalid Link Removed

That's the G string after I'd stretched it manually. It's anchored there at the saddle, about where it should be but have a look at where it ends up. I could have stretched it a lot more if I'd wanted. You can see the original thickness at the far-right. Pull these babies and they 'extrude' (I think that's the right word).

Anyway. What do y'all think? Serious design flaw or what? I'd like to know how these could be installed with just two winds around the tuner post, as per Kala's recommendation, without causing serious damage.

In fairness, (I suppose) Aquila include a warning on what seems to be an afterthought of a note with the string packaging:

Invalid Link Removed

Hothersale: whatever you do, don't stretch those strings!

Thinking about it a little more: one has to wonder why there are absolutely no reviews of these things anywhere on the internets other than CaballoViejo's post in this forum, which appears to be the first and only time anyone's had anything to say about 'em.

I think I'll wait for version 2.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Buncha gas killer here. I was looking forward to a set of those strings. Now I have to go find a bass to obsess on. These string reviews are going to wind up costing me a few hundred.

 

[Hothersale]

That's the G string after I'd stretched it manually. It's anchored there at the saddle, about where it should be but have a look at where it ends up. I could have stretched it a lot more if I'd wanted. You can see the original thickness at the far-right. Pull these babies and they 'extrude' (I think that's the right word).

Whoa. Thanks for the warning. I guess we now know what Aquila is trying to tell us in its Invalid Link Removed.

I can see this happening to anyone who is used to installing the Pahoehoe strings, so it's definitely a flaw in that regard. I'm no chemical engineer, but I'm guessing they had to sacrifice bond strength/stability to make the strings less stretchy (if indeed they are).

 

[SBassman]

Mine arrived. Can't enjoy until weekend bec I'm sick but a quick check leads me to believe all is well. Really looking forward to it.

Have always been a shortscale freak and this makes them look like giants.

 

[bassuker]

I guess we now know what Aquila is trying to tell us in its Invalid Link Removed.

I was about to post that link. That video is inadequate because it does not show the string being tuned to full pitch. How many winds will there be around that post by the time it reaches G? A LOT, is my guess.

I can see this happening to anyone who is used to installing the Pahoehoe strings, so it's definitely a flaw in that regard.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that the string was stretched forcibly by holding one end in each hand and stretching like crazy. Then I shortened the length and pulled again and again. It's not what you'd call 'normal use' but I just wanted to show the effect such stretching would have on these strings; a sort of 'torture test', if you will. When you think about it, it's going on all the time while the string's on the guitar, right? Eventually, they'll give out.

I'm no chemical engineer, but I'm guessing they had to sacrifice bond strength/stability to make the strings less stretchy (if indeed they are).

I don't know nothin' either but you can take a Pahoehoe string and stretch it to kingdom come and it will regain its elasticity. Seems to me that these Thunderguts will start to degrade from the moment of installation. The very act of plucking is a kind of stretching, so what will they be like after some hours of playing? The Pahoehoes would probably last for ever. Sure, they're not as 'loud' as the Aquilas but what difference does that make when the bass is jacked into an amp or board?

In the ukulele world, some makers and players like to say that their ukes are 'loud', as if that's a measure of a good instrument. In most cases, these folks are guitarists who've come over to the uke and still don't Get It; it's a small instrument with a small sound. Deal with it! Perhaps these Thunderguts are a response to players' demands for a LOUDER sound from their U-Basses. Newsflash: turn up the dang volume, guys! It goes to eleven.

Hothersale; I had an interesting email discourse with Mimmo of Aquila who assured me that the strings, when installed and set-up correctly, will play and sound great. We shall see. While I'm waiting for my review set to arrive from la bella Italia, I look forward to your appraisal in the coming days. I'll post another, hopefully more positive, review focusing on their musical rather than technical properties once they arrive.

One positive thing I can say about these Thunderguts is that while they may look somewhat odd on a mahogany U-Bass, their white colour works very well with light-coloured, spruce top U-Basses.

Mine arrived.

Cool! Enjoy! Get well soon and come back with your impressions.

 

[Hothersale]

Hothersale; I had an interesting email discourse with Mimmo of Aquila who assured me that the strings, when installed and set-up correctly, will play and sound great. We shall see. While I'm waiting for my review set to arrive from la bella Italia, I look forward to your appraisal in the coming days. I'll post another, hopefully more positive, review focusing on their musical rather than technical properties once they arrive.

One positive thing I can say about these Thunderguts is that while they may look somewhat odd on a mahogany U-Bass, their white colour works very well with light-coloured, spruce top U-Basses.

I'll report back, but it may be a while; I'm also waiting for my replacement instrument to arrive, which could take another three weeks.

Hey, do you think these strings would fluoresce under black light? That might look really cool....

 

[rllefebv]

...it's a small instrument with a small sound. Deal with it! Perhaps these Thunderguts are a response to players' demands for a LOUDER sound from their U-Basses. Newsflash: turn up the dang volume, guys! It goes to eleven...

I totally get what you're saying here... These aren't made to really be played acoustically in any kind of setting where you need to be heard... As for when they're plugged in, that little Shadow pickup is one LOUD mammajamma! The U-Bass has the hottest signal of any of my passive basses... Lotta love for this little guy

-robert

 

[SBassman]

I was able to put my new one through it's paces. I had a ton of fun. Really fun bass to play.

1. I am noticing I need to pay attention to finger in the middle of the fret, not near the fret line, otherwise I get a buzzed note. Is that normal for this bass?

2. I find I'm rolling off lots of highs so that the tone of each string is more matched. Volume wise things are matched pretty well, but tone wise, I need lots of highs rolled off for the bright D and G to match the tubby E and A better. Normal?

Thanks.

 

[scotch]

I was able to put my new one through it's paces. I had a ton of fun. Really fun bass to play.

1. I am noticing I need to pay attention to finger in the middle of the fret, not near the fret line, otherwise I get a buzzed note. Is that normal for this bass?

2. I find I'm rolling off lots of highs so that the tone of each string is more matched. Volume wise things are matched pretty well, but tone wise, I need lots of highs rolled off for the bright D and G to match the tubby E and A better. Normal?

Thanks.

1. Definitely! Fretting on top of or too close to the fret on my fretted U-Bass buzzes as well.

2. I cut a lot of highs as well, but more to accomplish the tone I want. The treble strings do sound a bit brighter, I suppose,... but not any more than any other stringed instrument I've played. My E and A seem plenty bright.

 

[SBassman]

Thanks. Just did another session with it. Wow that's a fun bass. Gotta go find a teeny strap.

 

[billbass75]

I just got mine. So far my only gripe is getting it to tune up with the right amount of wraps on the post. I do tech/repair work and it took at least 2 people and many trials to get it to string properly. I am still going to have to redo the the G string.