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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 6

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#261
Daveware, the difference in sound between the pre mod and post mod of your ubass for the pyramids was like night and day. They kinda sounded awful before you operated on the bass. Afterwards they sounded great. (That was you right?). I still want either flatwounds or tapes.
 
#262
Formula144 said:
I just tried traveling with a S-U-B as a carry-on, but halfway through the trip was told that I'd have to buy another seat for my "guitar". I ended up unscrewing the neck and putting the parts in a checked suitcase.
Click to expand...

That was genius.

What if you sawed the sides off the body and made it more like a hockey stick?
I heard they're going to allow them or two golf clubs as carry-ons. ;)
 
#263
3234718 said:
Daveware, the difference in sound between the pre mod and post mod of your ubass for the pyramids was like night and day. They kinda sounded awful before you operated on the bass. Afterwards they sounded great. (That was you right?). I still want either flatwounds or tapes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was me who had a new nut made for the Pyramids, it was a big improvement.
Another possibility for your perception of the dramatic before and and after difference- I was playing unplugged and plucking near the bridge for a deliberately thin sound on the earlier video.

Ditto on the flatwounds, and / or tapewounds.
...........................................

Hey, buddy, remind me, since I haven't been keeping a scorecard.

How many u-basses have you bought and sold?
What's the longest you've hung onto one so far? ;)
 
#264
That makes sense.

On pyramids, I assume kala contracted pyramid to make a string specifically for the ubass. Why would they choose round wound silver copper? Did no one consider how well tapewounds go with an acoustic bass? I'd pay 60 bucks for ubass tapewounds. I bet a lot of people would.
 
#265
Formula144 said:
I just tried traveling with a S-U-B as a carry-on, but halfway through the trip was told that I'd have to buy another seat for my "guitar". I ended up unscrewing the neck and putting the parts in a checked suitcase.

I may end up disassembling/reassembling it with some regularity. Would it make sense to put threaded inserts in the neck and use machine screws instead of wood screws to minimize the wear??
Click to expand...

What airline?
 
#267
davewave said:
My understanding is Pyramid made the strings for a high-end European uke bass that just happened to be the same 53 cm scale length, don't remember the brand.
Click to expand...

The Pyramids are made in Germany for the German-made Stevens Bass Uke. Here are some links:



The Pyramids have a more "electric bass" sound. I use them on my Kala SUB with a work around that I posted here a few months ago.

Jeff
 
#270
Hi guys, I'm in with my new Spruce top U-bass - my girlfriend's present :) this uke is the first edition without preamp. I've bought and installed Thunderguts, because The default black G string was stretched and too short, and it was almost impossible to reinstall it to decrease the number of windings. The instrument is awesome!
 
#271
glebushka said:
Hi guys, I'm in with my new Spruce top U-bass - my girlfriend's present :) this uke is the first edition without preamp. I've bought and installed Thunderguts, because The default black G string was stretched and too short, and it was almost impossible to reinstall it to decrease the number of windings. The instrument is awesome!
Click to expand...

Does your girlfriend have a sister? Great girlfriend anyway!

Overtrimmed Pahoehoe strings may be rescued by means of cable binders as I have posted about earlier.

Like you I use Thunderguts for my fretted UBass. These strings are indented by the frets, but apparently that doesn't throw the pitch noticeably.

However not stretching the Thunderguts too much appears being very important. Tuning them above pitch to speed up the stretching may cause them to sausage (thinning in one or more spots), which will cause uneven pitch up the fretboard.

Klaus
 
#272
glebushka said:
Hi guys, I'm in with my new Spruce top U-bass - my girlfriend's present :) this uke is the first edition without preamp. I've bought and installed Thunderguts, because The default black G string was stretched and too short, and it was almost impossible to reinstall it to decrease the number of windings. The instrument is awesome!
Click to expand...

Congrats! Keep that early model sans-preamp. I'm not letting go of my first production run mahogany Fretless. Now it's time to get an F-Deck. Send a PM to Caeman and he should be able to hook you up. :)
 
#274
lokibass said:
Just got back from gig using my solid hog fretless (1st production run, sans preamp). Played it through a radial pz-pre. It sounded amazon and I got lots of questions about it and everyone was impressed with the amount of "ass" this bass had.
Click to expand...

The Radial Pz-Pre is one of the best preamp units I have tried with the U-Bass. It definitely retains and pumps the "ass" in the tone.
 
#275
Hey guys, I've always assumed my hog was the solid hog not the exotic but was asked today how do I know. You know what? I don't know. Can anyone tell me for sure how to find out?
 
#276
The solid hog has vertical grain while the exotic has horizontal grain.
This is exotic mahogany:
wjz57a.jpg

Both the solid and exotic have hipshots, despite the fact that the kala site says they're plain die cast.
 
#279
OK, so I'm thinking of selling my u-bass to a friend and we'd agreed on a price assuming it was a solid hog. Can anyone comment on the price difference between an exotic and a solid mahogany? Is one generally more expensive than the other and generally by how much. I don't want to rip off a friend and need to adjust my price accordingly.
 
#280
I like your way of thinking. However there may be some hogs with more elaborate grain patterns.

Have you looked at the edge of the sound hole to make sure whether the sound board is solid or layered?

Klaus
 
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