So, my wife wants a Kala U-Bass

Hey gang!

While at our local music shop a few weeks ago my wife fell in love with the Kala U-Bass.

Other than a few brief intro lessons on bass back in high school (10+ years), she has never played bass before, but really wants to be able to jam along with me when I'm playing my uke.

The most appealing aspect of the U-Bass to her is the phatty strings.... her left was hurt in an accident years ago and she does not have the manual dexterity or tactile feeling to play a normal stringed instrument. After trying out the bass in the shop she was pretty sure that she could get her fingers to fing those big boy strings.

Does anybody have any opinions on this little instrument?

Just wanting to get some opinions on it... but I think she is already set on making the purchase.

Cheers!

From what I have seen, they are great little instruments. You are so lucky to have someone play bass for you!

–Lori

I have one and I LOVE it! It is very comfortable and easy to play, I doubt that you will find someone with a negative opinion about the U-bass.

Given those circumstances, great choice!

The u bass acoustic versions have that great woody qualilty and thump and i use the mahogany one to gig every week Hawaiian music eveb though i own a Owen Holt Original Big Buffo Bass...can't go wrong

I like mine very much-- they really work as advertised and deliver a mellow tone that is very remiscent of a full-size string bass. I think a dyed-in-wool bass player might struggle with it because the scale, the feel, and the dynamics are very different from a bass guitar. But if your wife has never played, it would be a great introduction to the bass world. About the only issue I have is that the slicon strings seem to stretch forever so you need to be patient when installing a new set... they'll settle in eventually!

It's a great bass. I recently sold my Spruce one and bought a Mahogany.

I think your wife would prefer the fretted version.

My wife is bummed..... went in to the shop all ready to lay down some cash for a U-bass + amp and they had already sold the one she wanted. The clerk was not too optimistic about them getting any more in soon, as he says they're pretty popular all over and stores don't get too many from the manufacturer. Says maybe the manager could special order one.... And there aren't any other shops around here that carry the u-bass either. I suppose we could make some calls and see if any mainland or neighbor island stores have any around, but then we have to deal with shipping and possible shipping related damages.... Darn it!

Paul Simon's bassist, Bakithi Kumalo, has been rockin' the Ubass lately. Forgive me if this vid's been posted here before, but here he is at the NAMM screening of The Mighty Uke jamming with James Hill:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA0VndThYkg&feature=player_embedded

Be sure to stretch and restring when the string begins to wind around the base of the tuning post. The general rule is no more than three wraps around the post.

And from personal experience the Snark chromatic tuner isn't so good on picking up the low E in vibration mode. Instead I use a patch cord and plug into a tuner.

Also wanted to say the uBass's at our local store took months to get in and sold quickly. Mine has a "born on" date only 3 months prior to being purchased.

Read on another thread here at UU that the number stamped on the label inside a Kala represents the year and month of construction. "1107" represents 2011, July. Looks like supply isn't quite keeping up with demand at this time.

Anticipation... Anyone remember the old Heinz ketchup commercial with Carly Simon?