Well I took it to a rehearsal tonight.
This afternoon I had a spare 30 minutes so I tweaked the bridge a bit - trued up the feet and the bridge to the adjuster facing. I searched around and didn't come up with an inner tube because I have too many of them around and don't know which one to try. I have racing bike extra light tubes all the way to heavy puncture resistant MTB tubes, not to mention some automotive tubes. The variation in thickness leads me to think I need more feedback on what type of tubes others have tried. Most of my tubes are new in box, in service, or in recreational use so I don't have anything to just cut up and stick under the bridge. I did find some nice soft suede leather that I cut and stuck under just to provide some degree of give to the piezo. I cut it a bit wide and ran it up the sides of the box to keep the pickup centered. It didn't pinch, just moved everything to center.
The nut is pretty high, but I didn't have my files with me so I left them as is. My left hand was cramping a bit and the tips are pretty tender right now. Then again I spent the afternoon fitting a new adjustable bridge on a school instrument and my fingers were shot even before the rehearsal. Most of the tunes we do are arrangements I did myself and some of my parts are adaptations of cello parts. Some of it gets active and goes fairly high. I edited our rehearsal list to avoid the high/active tunes tonight. The nut is a high priority on the to do list for this axe. ( I didn't even bother trying thumb position - OUCH!!) I did miss my low B string, but there aren't any comparable axes at this price point with a 5th string so I need to re do voicings on the fly for now.
I didn't notice any resonances from the TP, but I did find a cracked solder/weld(?) which may lead to noises as volumes go up at a gig. Aside from myself we rehearsed unplugged tonight. I'm debating between just cutting the center completely out, or putting a piece of foam on the back of an Fdeck and strapping it to the TP.
I ran it through an SVP PRO, treble rolled fully off, ultra low engaged, into an ampeg SVT 15e. Tone was fairly good with the UL engaged, without it it was "quacky".
Pizz response was pretty decent across all 4 strings and up a bit past the octaves on each string. I didn't have reason to go any higher so I can't comment on that range right now. Arco was good on the G, D , and E strings while the A was dead dead dead. All of the playing tonight was on the stock strings. Come to think of it, I did play the viola part (arco) to one song up on my G string for a while and it sounded surprisingly good.
The tone knob was effective in changing from full/ boomy to brighter and tighter. I think it is adequate, but I'll probably replace it with something more flexible like maybe the Bart Piezo buffer and a BTC or something similar with a sweep mid too. I'll run it through my other rigs sometime and see what it really sounds like before I swap out any electronics. I like the idea of those 'bay acoustic onboard pre's with the dual 1/4 & XLR outs, as feeding a signal to PA will need to be addressed sooner than later. I'd rather keep everything onboard if at all possible so I can't forget something on a gig (then I can have one big fail at a gig instead of many little fails...). Losing the power switch is up there on the to do list as well. Bass max kept in the case for safety.
I'll be removing the strings if I can remember/ find the time to do it and see how the A bows with different strings. I have a set of Helicore hybrids waiting that I'll try next.
The tuners seem to be a bit stiff. When I restring I'll pull them and see what I can do to improve their function.
At this point it seems like a keeper. I'll probably gig my fretless for a while yet, but eventually this could get some heavy gig time in the rotation.
Thank you for this in-depth commentary on your impressions and experience with this EUB. So many people just look down on it right off the bat and don't give it a chance.
Given the experience you seem to have, it's pleasing to see that you had an all in all good experience.
It's interesting you mention the A string, as mine was very dead and thumpy sound when I first bought mine. Every note that I played while amplified sounded like a thud, with very little change in pitch. I even contacted the distributor to ask if they thought there was a problem. They chalked it up to user error, as I am new to the UB/EUB. I knew this was not the case, however.
After some messing around with it, I tried turning the piezzo 180*. For whatever reason, that worked. Now all strings and notes sound clear and crisp.
I can't say that this is what's affecting yours, but it's worth a try.
Regarding the inner tube material, I used an old, generic tube that I had bought at my local bike shop. I just bought the cheapest made tube made for a mountain bike tire.
If that helps at all. I do think that you can play around with various thicknesses and it will change the tone, but too thick may not be too good
One other variable with installing the inner tube material is your choice of where to place it. You can place some under the piezzo, and/or under one or both feet of the bridge, and any combination thereof. For instance, I have one piece under the length of the piezzo and one piece under only the foot on the treble side of the bridge. That gives me the sound I want. Having rubber under the bass side, too, made it sound too muddy for my tastes. Some people only place it under the bridge feet and not under the piezzo, etc etc.
I don't know if you want to cut out the center of the tail piece. I may add some structural support and removing it could lead to twisting? I'm only guessing, but it sounds like it may be an issue. Perhaps a piece of foam is a better way to go. Easily reversible if necessary
When you do work on the nut, would you please let me know if the nut is easily removable? Mine came from the factory with the E string groove cut a tiny bit closer to the edge of the fingerboard, so my strings are not spaced evenly at the nut. It doesn't seem to affect playability, but I'd still like to fix it.
I have a question. Why are you wanting to remove the power switch?
Thanks again for all of your input on this mainly dead thread! Your experience and knowledge is a plus!
I hope that the little information I could provide was helpful.
