Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5

[CaballoViejo]

However the frets on the acoustic UBasses are not very robust. Ukulele-style they clearly are intended for softer strings.

Yep!

I fitted Pyramids to my hog a few days ago, and after just one evening of admittedly fairly intense playing the first fret is showing signs of wear.

So now my intonation problems are finally solved , but I'm looking at a possible future re-fret job.

Honestly, it's sometimes hard to escape the impression that Kala are just making things up as they go along, what with the ever-changing saddle alignment and now this.

Wish List:
1. Kala to make replacement nuts available, with slots cut to suit the Pyramids.
2. Kala, or maybe Hipshot, to make replacement tuner posts available, like the ones on non-U-Bass Hipshot tuners, because the current ones look pretty strange with the Pyramids.
3. Kala to reimburse me for the cost of one set of Pahoehoes, one set of TGs and one set of SRs, because only I bought these to try and fix the intonation problems caused by a saddle alignment which, in my experience, is unsuitable for big fat strings.

OK, I'm not really serious about No. 3, and maybe not even No. 2, but it is a wish list, after all.

P.S.
4. Pyramid to develop tape-wound version of current U-Bass strings, mainly because they would probably cause much less, if any, fret-wear.
.

 

[pauliebass]

I was considering buying a ubass while here in Honolulu but every store sells them for way too much. They don't seem to want to meet conus prices either. Their loss, I guess. Seems like they target non-musicians on vacation.

On the brighter side, fretless is indeed where it's at for these instruments. It's not hard to play in tune if you're used to it. Much more expressive too.

 

[CaballoViejo]

On the brighter side, fretless is indeed where it's at for these instruments. It's not hard to play in tune if you're used to it. Much more expressive too.

Each to their own. The bass line to Psycho Killer sounds fine to me on my fretted hog.

 

[imperialbari]

Each to their own. The bass line to Psycho Killer sounds fine to me on my fretted hog.

So we are not flogging a dead horse, only an old one.

 

[CaballoViejo]

As I said, each to their own.

How old's that Bach stuff you transcribed for U-Bass, by the way?

 

[imperialbari]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_Suites_(Bach)

This article tells the story better than I ever could.

Klaus

 

[CaballoViejo]

Nah, not interested. Used to play them on my classical guitar. Moved on to stuff I actually enjoyed listening to.

 

[imperialbari]

I think tapewounds would be perfect. They're the best strings for "normal" acoustic basses, in my opinion. Why not for the ubass? I'm surprised it's however many years after the ubass came out and there's still only 4 options for strings.

With the acoustics, the SUBs, and the Californians representing 3 different lengths of oscillating strings (if the 5-er is counted in) Kala doesn't make it easier to develop and market new strings sufficiently specific in tension and pitch.

The Pyramids are developed for the acoustics. It takes workarounds to use them on the solidbodies, which have the frets better suited for metal wound strings.

Klaus

 

[little george]

:0



News!

 

[Gorn]

So I put the silver rumblers on. Tension is great. Tone is great. But they're sticky!!! Especially the E and A. What about finger ease or fast fret? What are other SR users using? Or do you just deal with it.

 

[SBassman]

So I put the silver rumblers on. Tension is great. Tone is great. But they're sticky!!! Especially the E and A. What about finger ease or fast fret? What are other SR users using? Or do you just deal with it.

I tried Kyser Dr. Stringfellow - and it was a disaster. It added tons of noise. I couldn't get enough of it off the strings, and I had to scrap the set.

I feel the sticky, but only occasionally/rarely. When I do, I take a tip from a fellow TBer and wipe the strings down with a tiny billiards talc envelope.

 

[HeavyDuty]

A question for five string solidbody owners, please...

Tim mentioned that it appeared the bar type string retainer on his five didn't do much, and may actually cause more problems than it solves by impairing tuning.

Can anyone else comment? I'm finally getting ready to order one and am considering asking Kala to leave the string retainer off.

 

[slaerts]

I find I have to regularly pull my strings from the nut while tuning as they get stuck there, thats on my 4 string acoustic, I'd be very willing to believe a string retainer would have the same effect.

 

[Gorn]

A question for five string solidbody owners, please...

Tim mentioned that it appeared the bar type string retainer on his five didn't do much, and may actually cause more problems than it solves by impairing tuning.

Can anyone else comment? I'm finally getting ready to order one and am considering asking Kala to leave the string retainer off.

I don't own one but it looks to me like its easily removable if it does cause a problem.

 

[GBassNorth]

I find I have to regularly pull my strings from the nut while tuning as they get stuck there, thats on my 4 string acoustic, I'd be very willing to believe a string retainer would have the same effect.

I had the same problem on my Ubass with the A string. I put a little graphite powder in the string groove on the nut and problem solved. This was with the black pahoehoe (sp?) strings so it doesn't show, would be a real mess on the white thundergut strings.

 

[imperialbari]

What about just hatching the inside of the groove with a very soft pencil? Should avoid the stray graphite.

Klaus

 

[davewave]

I fitted Pyramids to my hog a few days ago...
...my intonation problems are finally solved ,

Wish List:
Pyramid to develop tape-wound version of current U-Bass strings

Welcome to the Pyramid club, I don't understand why these strings don't get more love here.

We absolutely need to push hard for nylon tape wrapping.
How hard could it be for Pyramid to tool up and run off a batch?

 

[threshar]

ooh, I hadn't thought of the strings sticking to the nut or retainer before - that would certainly explain "ok, I'm turning the hell out of this peg but the tuner says nothing is happening" thing I've run into.

strings doing pretty good now - mostly staying in tune while playing.

thinking of putting a thumb rest on my 5 as it feels odd not having my thumb anchored while playing on the B. (I normally use a floating thumb where my thumb rests on the string above.. on my normal bass when I play the b I rest on the pickup)

 

[CaballoViejo]

So we are not flogging a dead horse, only an old one.

"Old one" is right - I doubt if a young horse would've taken three whole days to get the joke. And here's me thinking you were having a dig at my taste in music. Sorry 'bout that. Sheesh.

Not sure about the "flogging" though.

Welcome to the Pyramid club, I don't understand why these strings don't get more love here.

I don't either, but one factor might be their price, which probably puts a lot of people off even considering them as an option.

We absolutely need to push hard for nylon tape wrapping.
How hard could it be for Pyramid to tool up and run off a batch?

There are no tape-wound on nylon silk strings at all in their 2012 catalog, so perhaps this would be a bit much to hope for, but I'd be happy enough with flat-wound on nylon silk and they do make a variety of those, so who knows, maybe one day... They also make custom string sets, but I shudder to think how much they'd cost!

 

[slaerts]

ooh, I hadn't thought of the strings sticking to the nut or retainer before - that would certainly explain "ok, I'm turning the hell out of this peg but the tuner says nothing is happening" thing I've run into.

strings doing pretty good now - mostly staying in tune while playing.

thinking of putting a thumb rest on my 5 as it feels odd not having my thumb anchored while playing on the B. (I normally use a floating thumb where my thumb rests on the string above.. on my normal bass when I play the b I rest on the pickup)

Yeah, you turn and turn and nothing happens then a few seconds later it is sharp, been caught out a few times with this.

I'd second a set of black tape wound strings on a u-bass too. I may just rig up a set of regular tape wounds on my u-bass after my hula bass arrives to see how it goes. It might give me an excuse to keep the u-bass.

BTW I scored that f-deck here on the classies, I'll see how it goes with my 5 string hula bass when it arrives. I've got a hpf in my EA doubler and a hpf in my fishman pre-di, it will certainly be nice to compare how the 3 of them differ.