They're coming (flatwounds)...

Follow-up : did anyone else notice the new flats are Not intended for solid body U•BASS®
I wondered why (since I have 2 solid bodies and wanted to try the flats on one) and asked Kala support. Unfortunately for me, this is the reply:
Kala Service Team said:
Aloha Jim,

Thanks for reaching out!

Flatwounds delicate enough to work on UBass is still a new technology--we have found with the scale length vs. tension that the flats are not working for the solid bodies--which have a slightly longer scale length that our acoustic electric models.

The risk, besides finicky action, would be adding too much tension/strain on the bridge of your solid body.

If I can sell my fretted S.U.B., I'll probably look into getting a fretless acoustic just so I can try the flats.
 
Follow-up : did anyone else notice the new flats are Not intended for solid body U•BASS®I wondered why (since I have 2 solid bodies and wanted to try the flats on one) and asked Kala support. Unfortunately for me, this is the reply: If I can sell my fretted S.U.B., I'll probably look into getting a fretless acoustic just so I can try the flats.
Jim, all I can give is my experience with the 25" flat wounds made by La Bella exclusively and "only" for the Gold Tone ME solid body bass. I've used them on my RondoMusic Hadean 24" and 21" scale solid bodies, also on all of my mini electric basses and guitar conversions with not a single problem.

Also, I don't consider the Galli I bought to be true flats, they're just coated with a very thin film and the round ridges are still there. I just ordered a set of La Bella 750N 30" short scale with a thick coating of black nylon that I plan on cutting down to use on a 22.6" electric guitar conversion, even though La Bella said they would unwind, but I believe the nylon coating will hold. The only way to know is to try.
 
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If I can sell my fretted S.U.B., I'll probably look into getting a fretless acoustic just so I can try the flats.

There's facebook pages called: Ubass Freaks and playubass, with a lot of info on different and new strings, including the new flatwounds...
 
Jim, all I can give is my experience with the 25" flat wounds made by La Bella exclusively and "only" for the Gold Tone ME solid body bass. I've used them on my RondoMusic Hadean 24" and 21" scale solid bodies, also on all of my mini electric basses and guitar conversions with not a single problem.
I understand but if Kala says "their" strings don't work on their solid bodies, I'm not gonna risk my instrument to try.

There's facebook pages called: Ubass Freaks and playubass, with a lot of info on different and new strings, including the new flatwounds...
Joined and liked. Thanks!
 
Jim, very timely info here. I love my cali and can play it with some degree of skill. Since I put the Gali flats on my Kala acoustic they now sound really good and intonate well. So I was thinking the same as you for my cali. I have to agree with your decision after asking Kala.

kohanmike, do you think the Kala Cali's can handle the tension on the 25" flat wounds made by La Bella (exclusively and "only" for the Gold Tone ME solid body bass).
 
kohanmike, do you think the Kala Cali's can handle the tension on the 25" flat wounds made by La Bella (exclusively and "only" for the Gold Tone ME solid body bass).
I've put those flats on a 21" scale Rondo Hadean solid body bass uke, and on three 24" scale and they work perfectly, no concern what-so-ever about tension. It makes no sense to me what Kala said, their solid body u-bass is string through. I don't heed those concerns, I test it myself easily enough and find that there's no reason at all to be concerned.
 
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I've put those flats on a 21" scale Rondo Hadean solid body bass uke, and on three 24" scale and they work perfectly, no concern what-so-ever about tension. It makes no sense to me what Kala said, their solid body u-bass is string through. I don't heed those concerns, I test it myself easily enough and find that there's no reason at all to be concerned.

Seems like intonation is the main concern...
 
Seems like intonation is the main concern...
Forgot to say the I'm having my builder make a custom bridge for my Hadean solid bodies with intonation adjustment. I was inspired by the bridge Gold Tone uses on their ME bass uke. It will be wider that the original to accommodate a set screw.

Bridge set screw.jpg
 
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Excuse my ignorance of all things ukulele, and I'm certainly no expert on different types of strings, but I have been buying strings for my guitars for many years, and the price of these seems soooooo high in comparison???? Is there a reason they're so expensive? (I'm just trying to learn more and understand, so my question is not meant flippantly.) Thanks. x
 
Bass strings in general are expensive compared to guitar and ukulele strings. $20-25 a set for standard roundwounds seems average right now but some of the specialty sets are $45-50 or higher. U-Bass strings are in the upper end of that range and I'm sure they sell a lot fewer of them. Overall, it makes sense, but I agree with you $45-50 a set is still a lot of money for strings.
 
Bass strings in general are expensive compared to guitar and ukulele strings. $20-25 a set for standard roundwounds seems average right now but some of the specialty sets are $45-50 or higher. U-Bass strings are in the upper end of that range and I'm sure they sell a lot fewer of them. Overall, it makes sense, but I agree with you $45-50 a set is still a lot of money for strings.

Cheers Jim. X
 
In the last week I bought a couple short scale guitars to convert to mini basses, a white 22.2" Ibanez Paul Gilbert miKro and Brian May 22.7" mini. I want to use black strings on the Ibanez, so I decided to order a set of La Bella black tape wound 30" and cut them down to size instead of doing the string through and anchor on the back I usually do. Even though I was told that cutting the strings would cause them to unwind, I believe because of the nylon coating, they won't. I'm waiting for a bridge to arrive from China, and as soon as they do, I'll try my idea. If it works, I'm going to buy white tape wound for the Brian May. (I'll also add pickups and switches to make it look like the full size guitar.)

Ibanez miKro white conv 900.jpg

Brian May conv 900.jpg
 
Also, I don't consider the Galli I bought to be true flats, they're just coated with a very thin film and the round ridges are still there. I just ordered a set of La Bella 750N 30" short scale with a thick coating of black nylon that I plan on cutting down to use on a 22.6" electric guitar conversion, even though La Bella said they would unwind, but I believe the nylon coating will hold. The only way to know is to try.
I've ordered a cheap acoustic uke bass (Donner] off Amazon [so I can send it back easily if crap] . Already thinking string change. I was happy with the pricey tapewounds I put on the microbass . I know this is a real bass and we're talking apples and oranges here, but after reading through this thread I'm confused about putting these new Galli UXB810 on an acoustic ubass. Are these the ones you are talking about Mike? They say synthetic core with black nylon winding. Sounds like they wouldn't buzz too bad against the frets?
 
I've ordered a cheap acoustic uke bass (Donner] off Amazon [so I can send it back easily if crap] . Already thinking string change. I was happy with the pricey tapewounds I put on the microbass . I know this is a real bass and we're talking apples and oranges here, but after reading through this thread I'm confused about putting these new Galli UXB810 on an acoustic ubass. Are these the ones you are talking about Mike? They say synthetic core with black nylon winding. Sounds like they wouldn't buzz too bad against the frets?
Yes, those the ones. I don't at all like the zing sound round wounds make, plus, they did make some noise on the frets as well. The black tape wound I mentioned did unwind when I cut them, so instead I got another set and had string through holes done near the tail to allow for the 30" scale strings to fit.

I then bought a set of Galli Kala KA-BASS-4FW flatwound steel with nylon core and the worked perfectly, so I bought both 20.5" and 23" (KA-BASS-4FW-23) versions. I even added them to my magnetic pickup bass and despite some naysayers denying they would work with nylon core, they actually did.
 
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OUCH, $57 shipped, strings by mail.$43 from Kala. I've paid less for ukes, but then tapewounds for my Mikro were $50.
 
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When one switches to steel wound nylons from Thunderguts, on a
Ubass, does the nut need to be replaced?
 
When one switches to steel wound nylons from Thunderguts, on a
Ubass, does the nut need to be replaced?
It depends. When I did that on a GoldTone M-E bass, I did not do anything to the nut, and it worked fine, but it would have benefited to have a new nut with lower action.
 
When one switches to steel wound nylons from Thunderguts, on a
Ubass, does the nut need to be replaced?
if the new strings are thinner then it’s not too hard to fill in the slot a little and re-file . I believe you can use a superglue baking soda mixture and I haven’t done it in a while so I forget.
 
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