I got a late start to the NAMM convention, but did meet Cali Rose at the Magic Fluke booth. She was anxious for me to see their bass uke, which I already knew about. As it happened, Bartt Warburton was there, who took a few minutes to play while I tested out the bass uke. How impressive is that, here I am, a lowly mediocre bass uke player jamming with the likes of Ukulele Bartt. Cali shot a video, but I don't know where she uploaded it. As soon as I find out, I'll post it.
The Fluke bass uses round wound nylon core strings, don't know if they're from Pyramid, or from the manufacturer that makes the Kala round wound. In my past experience with them, I don't like the noise they make, from the round wound and from hitting the frets. I prefer the LaBella all metal flatwound they make for Gold Tone.
I just looked at the price of the Fluke bass, whew, $600 fretted, plus changing the strings, another $40. For that I can buy three of the Rondos I modify. To be perfectly honest, I don't see anything that makes the Fluke worth $600. I did see a new Kala acoustic U-bass, the Journeyman, for $300 that will be out later this quarter, which I actually like much better than the Fluke.
BTW, I didn't take any photos, I was on my new electric scooter and wanted to cruise the entire show, which I was able to do from about 10:30 to about 4:30. Stopped a couple times to eat and a few booths other than ukulele.
8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 8 mini electric bass guitars
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