Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on April 5, 2013 at 12:32am

The tuners are standard bass guitar tuners. The strings are Pahoehoe strings, and can be purchased from this link: http://www.bassuke.com/string_store.html

Permalink Reply by Jim Mitchell on April 5, 2013 at 1:31am

You can also get the strings from Just strings... I am looking forward to seeing your build. 

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 5, 2013 at 2:18am

Wow, thanks for the fast reply guys! So I could use the standard bass tuners that Gitty sells and also plan on using his Uke rod piezo. Awesome. I ordered her an Ampeg 25w bass amp to go with it. Now I'm getting excited!

Permalink Reply by CrocBite on April 5, 2013 at 2:20am

i believe kala uses hipshot tuners - which allows for a smaller headstock if you want.  i used regular bass tuners from cb gitty on mine and they worked like a dream.  

interesting to note - the normal tension pahoehoe strings are capable of being tuned up a whole octave!!  this lessens the "flop" that some people don't like.  it should also make your instrument quite a bit louder, acoustically.  however, you lose that "double bass" sound and sound more like a bass guitar.  which has always been okay with me.

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 5, 2013 at 2:22am

So for 21" scale and rod piezo, do you think I'm better off with medium or low tension strings? Also this will have a "regular" cigar box neck out of 1x2 maple with an added fret board, think that is gonna be wide enough/strong enough?

Permalink Reply by CrocBite on April 5, 2013 at 2:58am

standard tension should do it for that scale.  Are you planning on fretting it?

2" wide should be wide enough for those four strings to fit comfortably, and under normal kala u bass tension, i wouldn't think there would be too much stress on that neck.  

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 5, 2013 at 4:24am

Cool, thanks! Wow bass tuners are expensive! 75. bucks plus shipping for a set of those Hipshot Ultralights. Anyone know if the ones Gitty has are reversible to make  left and right? Looks like they are right only? I guess I can just design the head around that. Love all the help folks! and so fast!

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 5, 2013 at 4:32am

And yes, it will be fretted. Will Med size frets be OK or will I need something bigger for the Poly strings?

Permalink Reply by CrocBite on April 5, 2013 at 4:35am

i used med guitar frets and haven't regretted it.

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 6, 2013 at 2:06am

Full Steam Ahead! I just ordered a set of 4 bass tuners on Amazon for 5.50! and the Ubass strings from Kala for 25., now I am ready to roll!

Thank you all again for the help!

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 11, 2013 at 9:27am

OK, so I got my Pahoehoe strings and standard (electric I guess)  bass tuners today. At least two members here assured me that those kind of tuners would work with those strings ( I was unable to find a picture that verified that). Now that I have them in hand I see no way that those strings are going to work with those tuners without some major modification. Did I just miss something  or did you guys send me up the wrong street? The slots in the tuners are about 1/8" and the low E string is about 1/4" diameter. I understand they are going to stretch , but will it stretch enough to slip into that slot?? I don't see it happening. Help please??

Thank you.

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 11, 2013 at 9:31am

ps. what little info I can find about the tuners on a Kala Ubass indicates that they are a "custom" made version of the Hipshot Ultralight , but I do not see them for sale anywhere including Kala. Don't want to buy them either if I can avoid it cause they are gonna be pricey.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page