Kala U-Bass question

Hi all. I am thinking of buying a Kala U-Bass of ebay. I'm in Australia and it is on the Australian ebay site.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kala-U-...683922?hash=item3af95c6052:g:xmwAAOSwy0JaHP~c

From what I can tell it is one of the old u-bass' with the passive pick up. The owner has installed his/her own active pick up which has included installing tone and volume knobs on the sound board.

My question was whether drilling through the soundboard like this would compromise the uke at all? It's always hard when someone has 'customised' a musical instrument so I thoguht I woudl get some advice

It's the solid spruce model which Sweetwater has for $460 and this one is $300 with the possibility to offer lower. I'd look to get it for $260. All figures are in USD.

For that kind of price I thought it might be worth a punt?

Personally, I don't think the control knobs will affect it much, if at all, being so small & close to the edge.

Thanks for the reply. Someone beat me to the punch and a snapped it up You snooze, you lose.

Go to AliExpress.com and look for bass ukulele, you'll find a bunch of choices with preamps for in the $150-$200 US that will be just as good as a Kala (which I think are over priced).

kohanmike said:

Go to AliExpress.com and look for bass ukulele, you'll find a bunch of choices with preamps for in the $150-$200 US that will be just as good as a Kala (which I think are over priced).

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Hadn't thought of that before. Sounds like a good idea. Have you played any of the cheaper AliExpress uke basses?

Bill1 said:

US$460 + US$100 postage = US$560 = AU$736. Concept Music is currently advertising a new Kala Ubass at AU$795. You could have it set up and ready to collect so you can use it on Saturday.

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True but I think thats why I was interested in the cheaper on ebay. I'm not sure about how much I woudl get into having a uke bass so looking for the less (financially) painful option I think.

raffrox said:

Hadn't thought of that before. Sounds like a good idea. Have you played any of the cheaper AliExpress uke basses?

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Yes, I have one that's imported into the US by Rondomusic.com and it's plenty good. There have been a number of discussions here and on the Talk Bass forums saying that those are a good choice to make. I bought it specifically to use for hospital gigs roaming from room to room with a small Blackstar Fly 3 Bass amp.

Thats very cool kohanmike. Thanks for the photo.

I'll check them out

Here's another inexpensive bass uke....also gorgeous. I bought this model. Bass ukes dep...www.oscarschmidt.com/products/ukes/OUB800.asp

Cheers for that. Looks good!