Regular strings on a Gold Tone Micro Bass

Does it have a truss rod?
If so you should be able to put just about any string on there.

 

The bass player in my ukulele group replaced his Kala U-Bass Pahoehoe strings with Pyramid round wound. Sounds a little too metallic to me, I like the sound of the fat synthetic strings.

 

Not really. Non petrochemical string experiments have tried and mostly failed to work on sub short scale acoustic basses like the ubass and micro bass. Pyramid makes a set that's specific to the ubass and they work well enough. No such set exists for the micro. Labella apparently made or makes a set of copper white tapewounds for the micro but I'm not sure if they actually exist. The fat rubbery tone of the non metallic strings is really what makes those basses special anyway.

There are "normal" acoustic basses that aren't huge. The fender tbucket is one. The Victor Bailey is slim front to back and comfortable to play.

Another option is the Michael Kelly sojourn. It's 23" scale and comes with phosphor bronze strings made specifically for it by daddario, but good luck if you ever break one. No replacements exist.

 

If you haven't tried the goldtone with the stock strings or A kala ubass you may be in for a treat! They are a lot of fun to play and they have a fantastic sound. With the way they sound with the stock strings I see no need for metallic ones on a bass guitar this size. The only available option are the ones that made by pyramid and I tried them and was not very impressed at all with the sound.

 

You've played the micro and you found the strings sticky? That's cuz they are sticky. For most people.

Have you ever played a ubass? Those strings are not sticky. Not at all. You can put ubass strings on a micro. You have to by a longer scale set from the manufacturer (road toad) and they're a major pain in the butt to install, but they're not sticky and they give new meaning to the word "warm". Completely different tone than a regular acoustic with bronze strings but warm nonetheless. Not like an upright and not like an acoustic bass. A completely unique and amazing tone.

 

Yeah what Gorncaptian said! I use the Paehoehoes on mine and love it! As far as attaching the strings feel free to contact me and I'll explain how I did it.

 

The Pahoehoe I have now are very smooth, the 2 sets of Thunderguts I've tried were definitely sticky.

 

Hi I tried Pahoehoe strings on my microbas and had a difficult time getting them stretched out. What is your process for putting these on a GoldTone Microbass 25 ? Thanks in advance for your info.

 

I've heard you can powder the Thunderguts and it helps. Haven't tried on my uke bass yet.

 

Don't put regular ABG strings on a Gold Tone Micro. The Gold Tone is not built to withstand the tension of those strings. Pyramid makes strings specifically for micro basses that have much less tension so won't destroy the instrument.

Here's the poop on those acoustic micro-basses. Kala paved the way in the ukulele world by using the system that had been developed in 1985 by Alun Ashworth-Jones. That system was a micro-scale bass called the Ashbory (a design that was refined by Nigel Thornbory - thus giving rise to the instrument's name ASH-BORY). To get a bass in the micro size (18" scale) they used silicone rubber strings that would give the required frequencies at a manageable gauge/tension. Kala latched on to this system because they recognized that the low tension offered by the silicone strings and piezo under-saddle transducer would allow them to produce a bass ukulele in the size of their production baritones ukes. And the U-Bass was born. Every bassist should have one, or another brand's equivalent.

The instrument isn't without its problems. Players complained of intonation issues, sticky strings, lack of clarity, etc. At the same time others were praising the instrument's emulation of a double bass. String companies stepped up and produced alternate strings trying to address tension and stickiness issues, with debatable success - Aquila produced at least 3 products for the U-Bass . Pyramid (maybe others as well) tried to address the desire for a more "electric" sound by producing a round wound string with low enough tension that would not compromise the instrument's structure. And of course Kala and others branched out to produce solid-body instruments beyond the "ukulele" genre.

 

I thought Owen Holt of Road Toad Music, who make the Pahoehoe strings, developed the first acoustic bass ukes licensed by Kala, which is why the U-bass has a frog emblem on the headstock.

 

Also, we had our yearly gig today for the Culver City Fiesta La Ballona. It's outdoors under an open tent and it was humid so my Pahoehoe strings were a little sticky, making more string noise than I like, so I decided for outdoor events I'm going to play one of my basses with the Gold Tone/La Bella flat wounds.

 

Yes, but the impetus came from Kala who was cresting the wave of the ukulele craze to make a production bass ukulele. You can argue who created the first bass uke, but you cannot argue that the technology came from Ashbory - after all they were in production around 1985 with the very elements that came to be used in the bass uke. I've owned both the Ashbory and a U-Bass and it's pretty clear when you look at the parts.

 

+1. Also, I might remember wrong, but I think the Road Toad Pahoehoes may have been first offered as an alternative to the stock silicone strings of the Ashbory, some time before the U-Bass was introduced.

 

I guess this falls under the same discussion as the first electric solid body bass guitar being invented by AudioVox in 1935, but really became successful when Fender developed the Precision bass in 1951, even though people still say Fender "invented" the electric bass guitar. (I always acknowledge that Audio Vox invented the electric solid body bass, but Fender made it successful.)

Owen found strings that didn't break easily, were much smoother and used existing parts to put together a product that Kala recognized as superior and went for it.