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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 4
- Thread starter smperry
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scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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And if you're using nail clippers... very careful!
Yeah, true, it's usually easy. Unless the board wood is brittle, has an oversize tang, frets are glued in, not enough fret left to 'grab', old Fender side-installation, neck was compression fretted, etc... Still, yes, probably 7 times out of ten it's pretty easy to get them out cleanly.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
- 6,944
- 2,081
- 51
- Disclosures
- Please see Profile for Endorsement disclosures
That's awesome! It really is.
Working on your own stuff is definitely rewarding for many people!I hope you don't think I'm just trying to disagree with you, Chad. But, I don't think that advising folks to defret their bass with nail clippers is good advice. Nail clippers are definitely not just as good as proper fret pullers. I dont want to waste space in this thread, but there's reasons that a wider, flush-ground tool is ubiquitous (primarily to minimize chipping and marring of the 'board).
It's awesome that you had a good experience with your Gretsch, but I'd hate to see someone attack their U-Bass (or any bass) with nail clippers and run into problems and possibly scratch the heck out of their fingerboard.
Overall, though, kudos to you to making your instrument work great for you on your own terms!
You have the right to disagree with me. But for someone on a budget and only wanting to defret ONE instrument, budgeting for a those fancy pliers and the sanding block etc, it adds an intimidation factor. I am a DIY guy, born and raise in the country.
What about your Ashbory, is it factory lefty or what?
You could play a righty bass upside down and backwards, like Jimi Hendrix and countless others.
I always smile when I see that.
In June I caught a Saharan African Band, Tinariwen.
They switched up instruments during their set, and the lefty would just flop the bass around and wail.
The saddle pickup is replaceable.
Why do you think you need to swap the saddle pickup or remove the bridge?
Are you concerned about the string length compensation?
If its fretless, is it a big deal?
Haven't we read that new forward production models have straight uncompensated saddles?
If you flip the nut, you could enlarge the holes in the bridge so the fat strings fit, and knot or put washers on the smaller diameter strings passing though larger holes.
What am I missing?
I unfortunately have a shedfull of basses, righty flipped over, righty made lefty, real lefty, probably several other definitions. I just want a lefty fretless U Bass.
No such animal as a lefty Ashbory. It's flipped over and restrung.
My posts were really a case of sounding out which approach is less of a PITA on this particular instrument. The last time I moved and re-intonated an acoustic guitar bridge/saddle with a built in pickup it was a bit hairy due to the way the electronics was installed. If the piezo in the Kala is easy to access then that's good news. Some acoustic bridges are easy to move and reset. Some not.
It wasn't clear to me if the bridge was actually mounted so that there it is parallel to the nut or if Kala went to a straight bridge and angled the whole bridge for correct intonation. The reason I was assuming the latter is that I have a hard time seeing how the former would result in an instrument that would be close enough to play up the neck. String length compensation is definitely a factor on my fretless Ashbory, (and absolutely on my full scale fretless with tapewounds) so that influenced my thinking, right or wrong, for the Kala. I have a hard time believing that it would intonate close enough if just flipped over, if they've got it set so that righties are saying the intonation is good, especially since it's a longer scale than the Ashbory.
Is the bridge mounted so that the (straight) saddle is exactly parallel?
The nut isn't really a concern. Widening the E and A and seeing if the D behaves well enough in the slightly wider slot is something I've done many times. And I don't even use a G on the Ashbory : )
The defret is less attractive a way to go for me, because pulling the frets out is easy. Doing the rest so that you still have a nice looking, feeling and playing instrument is a bigger deal, and I'm uncertain I'm up for the second part and getting the results I'd like during this time frame. Plus, as I mentioned, to me a normal bass defret (which I've done) is easier than doing it on a delicate and smaller acoustic neck, so I was basically looking for that pertinent feedback to see if anyone had done either of those on a U Bass. I did see that little george went and did the defret but haven't seen any stories of flipping over, so I was looking for a bit of background before I decided which to do.
Yes.
Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if you want to reverse a compensated saddle it would be a small matter of popping it out, drilling a small hole for the cable on the opposite end of the bridge, and flipping it.
Are you not in a place you can get your hands on a u-bass to look one over?
Will flipping the bridge turn a right hand bass into a left hand bass?
In my limited imagination flipping here equals rotating the bridge 180° in the plane of the soundboard. The same strings will still be the shortest and the longest respectively.
What about the bracing? Is it totally symmetrical?
When Kala can make a left handed model with frets, it would not be a technical or a logistical problem to make a left hand fretless model. It must be a decision taken on marketing consideration. Too little expected sale to justify stocking that model at various distribution levels.
My fretted UBass is made of Acacia. I have followed parts of the European market and that model apparently has not had too much turnover. In some places it has been comparatively cheap. Of course the two best deals happened on eBay while I had no web access for a few days, but I still got mine at a reasonable price.
Klaus
Took the occasion to take a look as some European distributors sites. And found this model which I have seen nowhere else:
Invalid Link Removed
Klaus
Invalid Link Removed
Klaus
BassBron said:
Yes they do. Just click on the pic in the link and zoom in. They are definitely frets.
I am aware of that. The photo is the same as with the listing of the fretted model. The separate listings of fretted and fretless was what caught my interest.
This company designs its own unique ukuleles, and the demo videos show the folks as very competent musicians. Of course that does not exclude errors, but in general they know what they are doing.
Klaus
On my brasses I have a quite pragmatic approach to tuning. Of course I tune up with the ensemble, but that only reflects one note in a non-complex context. If I by means of hand slide or embouchure have to correct more notes upwards than I like, then I tune a bit higher. Or vice versa.
I am not insanely happy with equal temperament on pianos, even if I recognize this tuning system being the basis for the developments of advanced harmonic structures. My main complaint is with something as simple as a major chord with the third on top. That third is too sharp for my ears. I am not alone with my view, and there is relatively simple math telling me right.
I dont have perfect pitch and my laziness lets me use electronic tuners to tune my plucked strings.
On my ukes I often found the top string being too sharp, when tuned after the tuner. So I started checking the tuning by means of a power chord, which has a very simple fingering on the uke: 0033. If that chord sounds stable with no beats, all other chords get more acceptable.
Again the short frets of the UBass are so much more kind on my hands than those of standard size bass guitars. Which I took advantage of, as I find the thumping sound of the UBass less defined than the round-wound sound of my Ovation acoustic bass.
It also is possible to test the UBass tuning by means of a power chord: 0224. If there are no beats, I tend to like the overall tuning.
Klaus
I am not insanely happy with equal temperament on pianos, even if I recognize this tuning system being the basis for the developments of advanced harmonic structures. My main complaint is with something as simple as a major chord with the third on top. That third is too sharp for my ears. I am not alone with my view, and there is relatively simple math telling me right.
I dont have perfect pitch and my laziness lets me use electronic tuners to tune my plucked strings.
On my ukes I often found the top string being too sharp, when tuned after the tuner. So I started checking the tuning by means of a power chord, which has a very simple fingering on the uke: 0033. If that chord sounds stable with no beats, all other chords get more acceptable.
Again the short frets of the UBass are so much more kind on my hands than those of standard size bass guitars. Which I took advantage of, as I find the thumping sound of the UBass less defined than the round-wound sound of my Ovation acoustic bass.
It also is possible to test the UBass tuning by means of a power chord: 0224. If there are no beats, I tend to like the overall tuning.
Klaus
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