Fluke timber bass
- Thread starter Dafgog
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Haven't seen any reviews, but lots of chatter on Talkbass: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/magic-fluke-bass.1161414/
kissing
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I kinda got over these Uke-basses.
A regular scale bass seems to do all these things better.
I guess there is the advantage of portability... but when I'm on the move, generally I find an ukulele or travel guitar to be a more versatile standalone instrument.
They're pretty cool though.
A regular scale bass seems to do all these things better.
I guess there is the advantage of portability... but when I'm on the move, generally I find an ukulele or travel guitar to be a more versatile standalone instrument.
They're pretty cool though.
Jon Moody
Well-known member
I don't like the fact that the strings are proprietary, so you're stuck always buying them. At least the other uke-basses on the market have SOME options.
I guess I'm not really sure what the purpose of this instrument is, in an already niche market (that being the uke-bass market)?
It's great people are trying new things, but you're going to get to the point where the differences between a uke-bass and a "traditional" electric bass are going to be moot. I've never understood the whole advantage of portability with these small instruments, especially since you need to lug an amp to be heard.
I guess I'm not really sure what the purpose of this instrument is, in an already niche market (that being the uke-bass market)?
It's great people are trying new things, but you're going to get to the point where the differences between a uke-bass and a "traditional" electric bass are going to be moot. I've never understood the whole advantage of portability with these small instruments, especially since you need to lug an amp to be heard.
Minor Adjustment
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"cornering the market" ?
I share your concern about the proprietary strings. What happens if LaBella stops making them and nobody else offers a proper replacement set? Then the instrument becomes a very expensive wall decoration.
For me, that ADVANTAGE to a baritone scale bass, is twofold. I can no longer comfortably play a 30", 32" or 34" scale bass due to problems with my fretting hand, but that problem simply does not exist will smaller scale lengths.
The other advantage is for size - my 4/4 upright is HUGE and also now impossible for me to play, so for songwriting and recording purposes, I can get 'close enough' to the sound, while also still being able to play 'bass' even if it is a 'uke' bass.
MIDI keyboard input of a bass line destroys any connection I have with composing/playing a bass line. I've tried ALL kinds of keyboard controllers.
Also using an octave pedal or octave/pitch shifter effect, with a shorter-scale instrument just sounds terrible and the tracking is glitchy, and I've tried many with poor results.
Having said that, I'm a big fan of MFC and have 5 different instruments from them already. I'd actually prefer to buy the Timber as opposed to the Kala, or other brands, provided the string question is resolved, should I decide to upgrade from the Rondo Hadean Omega acoustic ($135) and solid-body ($159) uke basses that I bought back in April.
I don't think you have to use only those strings. I recently bought a set of Kala metal wound on nylon and put them on my fretless custom bass and they sound much better than I expected, I'm also having them installed on the Rondo Hadean blue solid body I'm having modified, I'll bet they will work perfectly well on the Fluke. The Gold Tone GT MicroBass is advertised to only use the Thunderguts it came with, but I switched to Pahoehoe and they sound and certainly feel much better than the Aquilas.
Thanks for your comments raising issues about the strings - point taken.See you work for GHS strings ? Ah well.
The amp I use doesn't need lugging around unless I play stadiums (very rarely). The Magicflute is earning rave reviews this side of the pond and to be honest can't get on with the enormous Aquila thundergut strings as standard with the Kala u bass.
Suppose lugging a fluke timber around and an appropriate small amp for most venues is less than carrying a Fender Bass and large bass amp.
Yes I suppose the timber bass is for a niche market - the ukulele market - but this is a ukulele forum.
The amp I use doesn't need lugging around unless I play stadiums (very rarely). The Magicflute is earning rave reviews this side of the pond and to be honest can't get on with the enormous Aquila thundergut strings as standard with the Kala u bass.
Suppose lugging a fluke timber around and an appropriate small amp for most venues is less than carrying a Fender Bass and large bass amp.
Yes I suppose the timber bass is for a niche market - the ukulele market - but this is a ukulele forum.
The issue with the La Bella strings is that they seem to be tapered and not have as much over-windings at both the tail and head end of the strings.
While the metal wound strings previously available for the uke basses like the Kala and Pyramid might be tapered at the head-end, I am not sure if these ends would work with both the tuners and saddle/bridge on the Timber bass. We likely wont know for sure until someone gets one and tries other strings on it.
These PegHed type tuners might also pose a problem if any other strings have either too much tension and the internal gears of the tuner cannot handle the torque, or if the head-end of the 'other' non-La Bella strings is too thick to fit the hole in the tuner. All of this is pure speculation, but I'd love to know the answers for sure...
Jon Moody
Well-known member
I'm actually dealing with a group of musicians that play a very specific guitar that can no longer get strings for it (so are looking at buying in bulk as a group), so that is usually a big red flag for me.
Where did you find a 4/4 upright bass? Those things are GIGANTIC!
As for close enough, I understand. I do a lot of theatre productions where the bass book calls for electric and upright, but the real estate in the pit is such that only the electric is possible. I used my Kala U-Bass once or twice in this situation and it works okay, but now I just palm-mute my electric and it's close enough. I get a couple people look into the pit and ask where the upright is, so that's a plus.
The difference between the Timber and the other uke-basses on the market is that the Timber is using new, proprietary hardware. All of the current uke-basses have roughly the same sized tuners and everything else, to take advantage of the string selection that is available. Without someone from the company stating that other strings will work, it's kind of an expensive gamble to buy a set in the hopes that they will.
That's not to say that, if the Timber catches on (like the U-Bass has), that other companies will start to make strings for it. But at the current time, ANY instrument that uses very specific strings is going to have a limited appeal.
I do. And you'll pardon my skepticism, but for someone that has only posted three times, and all about the Timber, do you have any ties to the company?
Six of one...
A Fender Bass in a gig bag with an amp over your shoulder (how I usually walk into settings) isn't any more or less convenient than swapping out the Fender for a Uke-Bass (which I've done).
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Ha Ha. yes, it's HUUGE. It's a 50+ yr old Kay.
I got it when I was in college and first exploring jazz, and needed to have hands-on with the traditional instrument. I was in 'the right place at the right time' and god a good deal on it too.
I played in several jazz bands and in the official school jazz orchestra for a while, but it was a nightmare to haul around. Thankfully my college was responsible for all the transportation when we would play out, otherwise I'd have to rent an Astrovan to shuttle it (no way to fit that monster into a Honda Prelude 2-door sport coupe, which was my car at the time).
I have not played it for eons, but not sure I could part with it. The upright bass sadly remains unplayed and is probably considered an antique now.
To compare the size of a uke bass to the 4/4 upright bass is like to compare a squirrel to an adult elephant.
Jon Moody
Well-known member
There's a huge market for the old Kay upright basses, so if you ever decide to sell it, you could probably unload it quickly at a fairly decent premium.
I had a regular (3/4 size) Englehardt for high school orchestra and jazz band, and lugged it everywhere (had a station wagon, as that was the best transportation option). But about five-six years ago, the theatre pits I would play at would always request the upright until we got into the pit during tech week. Then I was re-learning the entire score on electric.
So, I wound up trading a fretless electric for a Kydd Carry-On EUB (30" scale, 6 string) that worked pretty well but you couldn't use a bow on it at all. At this point, the Englehardt was just hanging out in the corner of my bedroom, so I sold both the Englehardt and the Kydd and bought an NS Design EUB, which has been the best move I've ever made. It sounds close enough to an upright, has the scale and the ability for arco, AND fits in the back seat of my sedan. Win.
Some folks can't separate out 'You, One Bad Monkey, the the UU forum member' from your work efforts with GHS, and incorrectly assume that you are ALWAYS and actively evangelizing GHS products here on UU...
I've not once seen you shilling GHS products and only recommending them when specifically ask about them, and most of the time, if not all of the time, you are quite impartial and unbiased when discussing strings, and I'm sure that many other of the UU forum members here appreciate this as well.
I would think it's not easy to maintain such a delineation without being accused of this more often, but I guess it takes a newbie to the forum to call you on it, who has no idea of your very good reputation here.
Maybe in time, he will learn to appreciate your own unique contributions to this forum.
Jon Moody
Well-known member
Some folks can't separate out 'You, One Bad Monkey, the the UU forum member' from your work efforts with GHS, and incorrectly assume that you are ALWAYS and actively evangelizing GHS products here on UU...
I've not once seen you shilling GHS products and only recommending them when specifically ask about them, and most of the time, if not all of the time, you are quite impartial and unbiased when discussing strings, and I'm sure that many other of the UU forum members here appreciate this as well.
I would think it's not easy to maintain such a delineation without being accused of this more often, but I guess it takes a newbie to the forum to call you on it, who has no idea of your very good reputation here.
Maybe in time, he will learn to appreciate your own unique contributions to this forum.
As the social media muscle for GHS Strings, that delineation between "Is OBM talking as a marketing person for GHS?" and "Is OBM talking from personal experience?" is a fine line. There are other forums (Talkbass, for one) that have very stringent rules on what you can and can't say as someone that works in the music industry, period. One of those things is publicly stating your affiliations which, while it's not required on UU, I feel is still important for transparency.
So yes, I can understand where it's hard to differentiate the two, but for me (who was a musician that had a number of endorsements prior to jumping into an office role), I would rather give whoever I talk to information so they can make their own informed choices on things, instead of just reading some marketing jargon and taking that as the gospel. If that brings you to GHS Strings, FANTASTIC! If it doesn't, but leads you to a product that better suits your needs over what the marketing reel said, that's even better.
Case in point: I was asked to give a talk at a local ukulele festival this weekend. My speech is "Navigating the String Wall," in how to make informed choices instead of just being intimidated by the selection.
I've seem similar ones on Golihur Music's web site. I might look into it. Thanks for the reminder.
Prior to discovering the U-bass's existence, I was dying to get a NS Design EUB, but the price was always outside my reach and could never find a used one that was much cheaper.
One thing I've been considering doing is to replace the fretted neck on the solid-body Rondo uke bass, with a 'luthiers special' unfretted strat-style necks that I got from http://www.guitarfetish.com. The regular price was $19, and then they had a crazy 15% off sale and free shipping, so it was like $15 for the neck, and I bought two of them in case I botch up the first one. I'd first have to fill the existing 6 tuner holes with dowels, and then re-drill new holes with a 35/64 drill bit, and do some sanding and finishing on the neck, and cut a nut for it from some micarta, but the heel of the neck that attaches to the body actually fits perfectly in the body neck slot, both for depth and width (the Rondo bass is bolt-on like a mini jazz-bass). Once fitted to the body, this neck will change the scale length from 21" to 22", so no big deal on the strings. I will just have to use a strobe tuner to figure out where to place the position markers on the edge of the fretboard, as I'm planning to leave the face of the fretboard unmarked.
I also got a set of uke-bass tuners from largesound.com for $32 for the whole set since normal bass tuners do not have slots wide enough for the poly strings, and when trying to convert a baritone to a uke bass in a previous project, using a file to widen the tuner slots was not a wise activity for me (resulted in a broken tuner whose sharp edge cause a nice 2" long and deep gash in my palm - but it's not really a project unless you have the battle scars to show for it LOL).
But it seems this fretless neck, once fixed up and fitted properly could be a drop-in replacement and will let me try a short scale fretless for only a few $ and some time, which I quite enjoy instrument hacking. If in the end I cant get along with the fretless neck, I can always re-install the original fretted neck and go back to the way it was.
However, should a Timber bass fall into my lap for free, I might just forgo the above project.
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Jon Moody
Well-known member
There are a couple of our artists in the GHS family that are always looking for an old Kay Swingmaster; that's become the holy grail of basses in the Americana genre of music.
That is true; they are not cheap at all. I was originally looking to get the (lower priced) WAV model but then upgrade the tuners and the tripod stand (both of which I was told were regularly replaced). After talking with Mark Gollihur at length, he stated that while the CR series was more money, he thought it would fit my needs much better than the WAV. I took a leap and went with the CR-5M and really couldn't have been happier with that decision.
Sorry if I've trod on any toes, I'm just a keen newbie asking for advice. I play guitar and uke but am only now considering the uke bass option. I certainly don't work for any music company and never have done - so I have no axe to grind. The timber bass is fairly new here in the UK (I think) and I was just wondering what you guys may have thought as presumably you have had more exposure to the Fluke bass market than I have. No offence meant just a genuine enquiry. I am concerned about the string issue you raise though. Has anyone actually played one or bought one?
I obviously stand corrected. My innocence as a newbie.
Some folks can't separate out 'You, One Bad Monkey, the the UU forum member' from your work efforts with GHS, and incorrectly assume that you are ALWAYS and actively evangelizing GHS products here on UU...
I've not once seen you shilling GHS products and only recommending them when specifically ask about them, and most of the time, if not all of the time, you are quite impartial and unbiased when discussing strings, and I'm sure that many other of the UU forum members here appreciate this as well.
I would think it's not easy to maintain such a delineation without being accused of this more often, but I guess it takes a newbie to the forum to call you on it, who has no idea of your very good reputation here.
Maybe in time, he will learn to appreciate your own unique contributions to this forum.
No worries, I think it's a genuine thing to suspect. Since your new here, you dont know anything about any of us. But, hopefully you stick around and make lots of friends here. That's one reason why I posted the other comment, to which your responded (just above this one).
Magic Fluke Company only started showing the Timber uke bass on their web site around mid-August so it might take a while for their distributors to get them in stock and some time after that for the word to get out before someone actually gets one in hand, either here on UU, or also over on the Talk Bass forum, some members here are also members on that forum too.
So basically, I think it's too new, unless someone buys one direct from their web site, magicfluke.com. (I think they do ship internationally too)
IIRC, They have few a distributors in the EU and UK, and I think that Southern Ukulele Store or Omega Music might carry their products if you are in the UK. You can check on their web site under DEALERS or just ask them via email, and Betsy (their office manager) will likely be the one to respond to you, if not Dale or Phyllis (the owners) themselves.
[added]. I think that also thomann.de and ukulele.de in Germany might carry their products as well.
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