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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 3

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#941
Regarding the soundhole - I guess Kala is already shipping a solution, in the form of the Hutch Hutchinson model.

I was just reminded of it from this Facebook quote from Kala a little while ago:

If you want a Hutch Hutchinson model UBass you should call your local dealer NOW! We only have about 50 available (and we have close to 1000 dealers!)
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#944
I bought one today at lunch. It was an impulse buy, kind of, sort of, not really. I'd been wanting something for lunchtime practice at work and I've found that my upright doesn't lend itself well to scooter transport.

Its a mahogany fretless with faux tortoiseshell binding. Its got a truss rod and the magnetic back plate. The strings are still stretching and the G string looks almost wound out on the peg. So, it looks like I'll be reviewing some of those videos on how to stretch and trim the strings appropriately.
 

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#946
fingerbun said:
One of the ways I use mine is in backing my wife who plays in a local uke club and we jam acoustically, as do the other club members who own one. That's a group you won't see on TB but I think the sound hole and uke form factor are important to them.

I also love when I use it for crowds who can only see uke onstage and can't work out where the bass is coming from.
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+1,000 Every time I show up at a venue I haven't played before, the sound guy's mind is BLOWN . . .
 
#947
lpdeluxe said:
The local music store just got in a UBass fretless. What a hoot! I may have to get one. It doesn't sound like my P, but it sure looks neat.
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I got a chance to jam a little bit tonight with my new hog fretless. I'm just getting a blues project going, and the keyboard player and I were already playing when the guitar player walked in. He couldn't believe the sound was coming out of something so small. I'm playing it through the Fishman Plat Pro pre-amp, then a '67 Fender Bassman head (blackface), into a Carvin 15" cab.
 
#950
Is it the intonation that is off on the sweetwater video demo? Some notes just don't sound right to me. Still on the fence about blindly ordering a fretless hog sight unseen, but have almost pulled the trigger about 30 times over the past 3 months! Getting ready to take a family vacation, and the trip would be a great place to get used to the ubass...
Wes
 
#951
Wes Whitmore said:
Is it the intonation that is off on the sweetwater video demo? Some notes just don't sound right to me. Still on the fence about blindly ordering a fretless hog sight unseen, but have almost pulled the trigger about 30 times over the past 3 months! Getting ready to take a family vacation, and the trip would be a great place to get used to the ubass...
Wes
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Those "some notes" may be notes not perfectly pressed down and attacked on a fretted model. It is not very forgiving. Myself included, many here have found the fretless model just right, and very even and forgiving. It is easy to be intimidated and worried about a very short scale fretless. But trust me, the notes seem spaced to just where your fingers naturally are. It is very easy and quick to get used to. I find it easier to naturally self-intonate on the fretless. And the string-on-wood tone really warms it up. I say pull the trigger. Although your family may get on you for neglect because if you pick it up you can't put it down.
 
#954
Wes Whitmore said:
Is it the intonation that is off on the sweetwater video demo? Some notes just don't sound right to me. Still on the fence about blindly ordering a fretless hog sight unseen, but have almost pulled the trigger about 30 times over the past 3 months! Getting ready to take a family vacation, and the trip would be a great place to get used to the ubass...
Wes
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Hey Wes,
I've found on my fretted that if you press too hard it has an impact on intonation with the poly strings. So it may not be the intonation as such but adjusting your technique to a softer fretting hand. That is in no way a shot at any of you guys who went to fretless because of sound/intonation/fingering issues but just a thing I've noticed and countered in my playing. (Don't want to start a war here).
 
#955
I'm sure this has been addressed, how do you put in the strap pin? Where might one order a pin like that from, where do you put it in? and how would you install it with what tools and such? Thanks a bunch
 
#956
I play with a pretty soft fretted hand, but there is a lot of support on this thread just to go frettless and solve many issues.

So where do I order the tortoise shell banding version? I see them on eBay, but that's about it.

The Hutch version is limited addition, and fretted only. Of course you want want you can't get, which is a sound hole less frettless hog version.
 
#960
I just remembered! I have a big pile of thin sheets of foam that I use to build RC airplanes. I went away from that hobby years ago, but the pile of foam remains. Time to experiment!
 
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