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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5

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#49
SBassman said:
Hmmm. Then why did they add a truss rod to the acoustic design?
Click to expand...

No idea. My guess is they were looking forward to higher tension strings in the future. But I put on Silver Rumblers and cranked it all the way to G-C-F-Bb, and the neck was no different than it was with no strings on it. That was on my fretless hog. The Cali sports a maple neck (harder than mahogany) and more beef (5-string). And only being ~15-18 inches from the neck joint to the nut, I can't imagine a decent plank of wood bending at all under the low tension of bass strings of this scale.

Another theory is that production run #2 (acoustics) had some shoddy or soft wood (along with other QC issues) and that is why they added the unmovable stiffening rod. I hear that they figured if they were doing that, then why not just put a real truss rod in it? Especially when there may be short scale steel string offerings in the future?

I used to work for a Major guitar and amp manufacturer/conglomerate that did a lot of business in China. When they had a re-issue of some very popular vintage lines that sold out faster than they predicted, they pulled out all the stops and had a panicked frenzy to get that next container into the port as quickly as possible. They cut every corner possible and run #2 was very shoddily done. They often jerk a few knees to get issues fixed so the line doesn't flop.

I'm not saying this happened here, but when something new or reissued comes out, it is common to see some unexpected and unexplained flux and design changes.

That all said (sorry), I have tried to bend these necks, and my production run #1 fretless hog (thin, jazz-like neck), Cali fretted 4, and Cali fretless 5, they do not budge. My custom will not have a truss rod in it, either, and is based off the profile of the Cali 5.
 
#53
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ja16f1ihnozs9nj/AcFrHogFLSUBpocketCFBbEb%20.jpeg

Bad iPad2-shots, but I don’t do photography: 4 Kala’s

Fretted acacia with Pahoehoe strings
Fretless mahogany with Thunderguts
SUB (the gift for a friens’s birthday)
Acacia pocket ukulele tuned in fourths (C-F-Bb-Eb)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3nhzdx5fo8s6ehb/AcFrHogFLClearwaterPocketCFBbEb.jpeg

My 4 ukuleles tuned to fourths.The right one is a Clearwater baritone tuned like the bottom 4 strings of a guitar. The soundboard is solid spruce, the bowl is plastic much less refined than Ovation. Passive pickup.

Klaus
 
#54
Man, I wish I could get to Boston for this:

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Three of the greatest bass players in the world—studio recording legend Abe Laboriel (Herbie Hancock, Madonna, Michael Jackson), Bathiki Kumalo (Paul Simon), and Hutch Hutchinson (Bonnie Rait, Willie Nelson)—come together to share their expertise and experience.

Sponsored by U-BASS, by Kala Brand Music. There will be a drawing for a free U-BASS at the event.
Click to expand...
 
#55
I'm looking for a middleman with a paypal account to buy a fdeck HPF3 and ship it to Germany. If you check the shipping costs I will pay everything in advance. Or if you like, you get the 108.- bucks first and the shipping after mailing, to avoid a second travel to usps.
Gasoline bonus no problem...
 
#56
A tech question:

I never was the greatest woodworker, but I have a reasonable sense of the structural strengths of wood.

With solid body instruments, especially those out of one piece of wood, the cutaways leave the bouts(? - we call them horns as in cow horns) vulnerable to be broken off by accidents.

Do the California and SUB UBasses have hidden steel supports inside the bouts?

Klaus
 
#57
imperialbari said:
A tech question:

I never was the greatest woodworker, but I have a reasonable sense of the structural strengths of wood.

With solid body instruments, especially those out of one piece of wood, the cutaways leave the bouts(? - we call them horns as in cow horns) vulnerable to be broken off by accidents.

Do the California and SUB UBasses have hidden steel supports inside the bouts?

Klaus
Click to expand...

I have never seen a guitar or bass with a broken horn. I don't believe any manufacturer spends energy with supports.

You'd really have to smash a guitar or bass really, really hard to break it.

Are you concerned about buying a Cali or Sub and having a piece of it break off? If you are, I don't think you need to worry about that.
 
#58
No, not really afraid, because if it was a common problem, guarantee obligations would kill the business. Only the tips of the horns on the SUB currently staying with me are very slim in their narrowest dimension. And one supports the knob for the strap.

Just wondering if there was a reinforcement.

Klaus
 
#59
You may know that I have applied some of my playing and teaching experiences from other instruments into my approach to the U-Bass. At the same time hopefully improving my own playing and maybe even inspire other players.

My latest upload may be found for the free download via the address in my signature. The introduction says:


Richard Wagner
Lohengrin
Theme from the Prelude for Act III
presented in all keys covering the range of the U-Bass
Setting for the Kala UBass (or potentially for any bass tuned to EADG) by Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre (2012)
As told in other contexts a tiny contrabass instrument in form of the fretted Kala U-Bass entered my home in late July of 2012. It is shaped and sized close to a baritone ukulele. It is its special strings and its electrical amplification that make it sound astonishingly similar to a plucked upright bass. Its 21” scale is much kinder on my hands than is my upright bass, so since then it has been followed by a fretless version also.

The most popular Wagner-show-off theme for low brass players is The Ride of the Valkyries, but this theme from Lohengrin isn’t bad either. On the brasses this editor has used the method of transposing a given melody trough all keys over the full range of the instrument with the purpose of smoothening phrasing and intonation across troubled shifts of partials and fingerings or slide positions.

Transposing on a string instrument with equidistant strings, here fourths, is easier if the player chooses the right positions for each phrase. The tablature notation strives to be helpful in this matter.

As an etude for getting around the full range of the acoustic U-Bass this Wagner-theme first is presented in the original key of G major, and then in chromatic increments up to B major, since from F# major and in chromatic increments down to G major. There are 17 presentations in total. Players of solid body U-Basses or other basses with access to extended high ranges will know how to move the fingering patterns up their fingerboards in chromatic increments.

As long as the range is reasonable for close double stops, an optional third is added to the last note.

The last 2 presentations need their first note to be played octave up on 4-string instruments. The not so secret agenda behind going all the way down to G major an octave below Wagner’s original string bass notation is about providing an option for the really heavy stunt of letting two basses play this theme in octaves (but for the first note).

Korsør - November 24th - 2012
Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre
Bassbone Music
 
#60
Regarding my above posting:

Just added one more version, which accommodates the lazy bass player, but which others may consider a version from Hell.

Accessto my free downloadable music for U-Bass still via the link in my signature.

Klaus
 
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