Kala UBass Megathread, Part 5

[imperialbari]

A bit offset:

I am very allergic to food and to plants & chemicals. Medicine can do terrible things. So I am very afraid of anesthesia. Anyway I developed a para-umbilical hernia this summer, which made my brass playing cumbersome, so I bit the bullet and underwent surgery in July.

I had been thinking about the UBasses before that, but took the occasion to reward my bravery by getting an acoustic UBass at the end of July, when I hadn’t started on the brasses yet.

So I never played a UBass before I got that nylon plug under my belly button. And now I wonder whether all players, or just us with the plugs, can feel a strong buzz in that area when playing their acoustic UBasses?

Maybe less offset:

That fretted acacia UBass felt so natural in my hands, that I wanted trying out my learning curve on a fretless one, which came in the mahogany version in November. I almost at once put Thunderguts on the fretless one. It had much more output than the fretted one with the Pahoehoe’s, which I ascribed to the difference in strings.

Since then I have put Thunderguts on both, and the mahogany still is somewhat louder than the acacia sample.

Is this difference in output caused by the different woods, or is it caused by differences in the pick-ups?

Klaus

 

[steve_rolfeca]

...So I never played a UBass before I got that nylon plug under my belly button.

...I have put Thunderguts on both, and the mahogany still is somewhat louder than the acacia sample.

Is this difference in output caused by the different woods, or is it caused by differences in the pick-ups?

It's caused by the plug!

 

[imperialbari]

Good one! Possibly turned its surroundings into thunderguts.

Klaus

 

[little george]

Fishman came out with the first upright bass pickup. It was (still is) snarly, clicky, nasally, hollow, terrible sounding. Their preamps seem to have baked in circuitry to counteract those horrible tones. They err on the side of warm, woody, and full. So with improved pickups you'll get a nice warm sound. The high impedance input makes the biggest difference, I think. I used to EQ mine like a bass clef sign tipped on its left side.

Thanks for your answer, you are probably right, maybe my ears are not so much tone-tuned as yours (still). Anyway, I really like the tone from the ubass throught the fishman. Sounds much more defined, and due to it, easier to play in tune. And also I got ride of the awful finger noise, wich sounded pretty prominent to me. Anybody noticed this as well?

 

[Marial]

I really haven't noticed any finger noise at all. That said, imprecise fingering/fretting definitely causes some noise on mine.

 

[Gorn]

I was trying to trade my fretted exotihogany for a fretless, but I found a fretless locally so the fretted is up for sale, in case anyone is interested.

 

[Mimmo]

Hello guys,
I would like to introduce the new Aquila 2013 year products

- 4 strings thundergut gut colour instead white. Since now Aquila stop to produce white thundergut strings in favour of the gut colour ones

-5 strings thundergut gut colour strings
4 strings Thunder-Red. A new u bass string type all charged with copper powder.Thinner gauges, powerful than strandard thundergut set

See here
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Ciao
Mimmo

 

[Gorn]

When is that shortbass coming out?

 

[Mimmo]

The basic model will be available in 40 days almost. The 14 twice time. Same with the set of related strings. All red series with copper powder infused in the plastic rubber.
Mimmo

 

[Gorn]

The basic model will be available in 40 days almost. The 14 twice time. Same with the set of related strings. All red series with copper powder infused in the plastic rubber.
Mimmo

What's the price range of the shortbass? Will they be available in the US?

 

[Mimmo]

Please wait till we have organized the distribution.this is a very complex matter. Need months. At the begginning they will be available seeing the working progress website
Invalid Link Removed.
More,or less for the basic model around 350 euros.
Mimmo

 

[Mimmo]

Yes,,USA also. Indeed we hope worldwide. We are researching an us distributor available,
Mimmo

 

[davewave]

4 strings Thunder-Red. A new u bass string type all charged with copper powder.Thinner gauges, powerful than strandard thundergut set

Ciao
Mimmo

Thanks for checking in, Mimmo.
The RED strings especially are very exciting.

Do they have a similar feel to your red ukulele strings?
That is, more "papery and dry" to the touch, less "smooth and sticky" like Thunderguts?

 

[davewave]

Considering how good the Pyramids are, it amazes me that Kala haven't yet brought out a model with them fitted as standard.

Six months of "trying out" Pyramids convinced me to set up my spruce fretted to use them permanently.


This photo is the factory setup for poly strings.
Switching to Pyramids, the saddle too high.

I pulled two 1 mm shims out from under the saddle.
That lowered the action, but caused the strings to buzz like crazy where they crossed the edge of the bridge.

To fix that, I contoured the top of the bridge with a sanding block.

But the E and A string still didn't have enough relief, so I filed grooves for them.

No more string buzz at the bridge, with nice low action.

 

[SBassman]

Six months of "trying out" Pyramids convinced me to set up my spruce fretted to use them permanently. ...
No more string buzz at the bridge, with nice low action.

How's intonation?

Any chance of a sound clip?

 

[simplegroove]

Hi, everyone! I'm studying in another country soon and was just wondering if I'll be able to bring the kala ubass together with its hard foam case inside the plane during the airplane flight. I know that it's marketed as passing all airline regulation rules and guidelines. But it does look pretty large (when it's inside its hard foam case) for a hand-carry and was wondering if anyone has done this on a flight already.

Thank you!

 

[davewave]

Once I got the bridge and saddle modified using hobby-craft tools, it was off to master luthier Bob Popek to for a bone nut. Invalid Link Removed


The action and string heights are now like a well setup bass guitar.
Intonation is improved since the strings don't have to be pressed down as far.

The original nut with Pyramids:

Old nut and shims from under saddle removed:

Another view of the bone nut slotted for Pyramids.

String height @ the 9th fret < 3/32" with no buzzing.

 

[davewave]

How's intonation?

Any chance of a sound clip?

Noodling, demonstrating harmonics vs. fretted note @ 12th fret, two octave intervals, low E to high B @ 16th fret, etc.
Get your tuner out & judge for yourself.

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[Gorn]

Jeepers that's pretty. Quite an improvement over this:

 

[CaballoViejo]

Noodling, demonstrating harmonics vs. fretted note @ 12th fret, two octave intervals, low E to high B @ 16th fret, etc.
Get your tuner out & judge for yourself.

The G's about 10 cents flat, the others are better.

I like the look of the bone nut as its colour would more or less match that of the saddle. I'm now wondering how to get hold of one of those black saddles I've seen in pics of some of this year's U-Bass models.


Home nut improvement special:

What I had to do to get the break angle sharp enough to stop the buzzing of the G and D:

String height at the 9th fret is right on 2 mm (5/64"), with no buzzing:

Each string is about 10 cents flat at the 12th fret. Not ideal, but nothing sounds particularly out of tune when I'm playing up where there's no money, so this at least is a big improvement over those rubbery things.