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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 6

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#904
1stnamebassist said:
My concern with the Goldtone would be how you can get the paehoehoes on it. I believe the Goldtone doesn't have a hatch in the back, so somehow you will have to thread them through the sound hole and up through the bridge, which i'm thinking would require some special magic to do. I think cutting the end off and tying a knot would be quite a trick with paehoehoes also.
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I am confused about what you mean by this? You just thread the strings threw the sound hole and up threw the bridge like any acoustic guitar. I have never installed a set of paehoehoes,but from following this thread it looks like they have a knot tied in the end and a little plastic washer just like thunderguts. But I don't have any direct experience with paehoehoes, so I could be missing something.
 
#907
The Paehoehoes are a little wider at the end. I have no experience with classical guitars or really acoustic guitars. My thought was that if you can't fit your hand into the sound hole, trying to get the paehoehoes to go into the sound hole and out the bridge could be a bit tricky. When I took the paehoehoes off to try other strings on my u-bass then try to reinstall the paehoehoes they pretty much were curled up and they don't like to straighten out. It was even tricky trying to get them through the bridge from the hatch in the back. Don't know what a new package of paehoehoes would act like. I've only had the one set that came with the u-bass.
 
#908
vHarmonic said:
This guy has is 100% correct. I replaced the stock strings on my GT micro bass with a 5 string set of Aquila Thunderguts. The thunderguts and the stock strings are exactly the same in tone, tension, feel, stickiness and looks. I used a 5 string set becouse they are 23" scale. I think a 21" set would have worked just fine as I cut off a good 3" when I installed them. I personally would have no hesitation in installing pahoehoe's on my micro bass, but I like the tuning stability of thunderguts.
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I wouldn't use the 4-string Thundergut set on a GT MicroBass, because they are specifically made for a 18" to 21" scale and they are not the same strings as the Thunderguts for 23" (if you use the same material, a longer resonating string needs to be thinner for the same pitch at the same tension). If you put them on an 23" bass you need a higher tension to get the same tuning. This might damage the instrument or overstretch the strings (to be safe all strings can be tuned down a whole tone: DGCF)

Just out of curiosity though, does anyone have experience with the different tensions available for pahoehoe's. I think road toad had a light and a medium tension set.
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Only for the shorter scales. For the MicroBass you should use the set for 22.5" to 24" scale basses (if you order from Kala, get the 5-string Pahoehoe set).
 
#913
SBassman said:
Thunderguts and Gold Tone MicroBass strings similar? Probably.
Identical? Probably not.
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The Thundergut string packaging says: "Thundergut is a very dense and elastic-plastic blend..."

The Microbass website says: "They (MBS strings) are a rubber polymer..."

It sounds like the Microbass strings might be a different composition...unless the "elastic" part of the plastic Thunderguts is rubber and the two companies chose to emphasize different things. Sounds like an e-mail or phone call to Gold Tone might be necessary to resolve this.
 
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