Best strings for an Ohana-OBU-22 FLM

Well, I ordered some La Bella MBLB flatwounds, because I was told they were made for basses between 23" and 25" scale. Perfect, I thought, for my Ohana fretless which is 24.5"

Well, the first string I tried, the E, looked promising. It was the right length. I had to file the nut slot a bit wider to accommodate the additional thickness but that was easy. I threaded the string through the sound hole, clipped the excess silk from the nut end, put the bridge pins in and started tightening...when I heard a pop. The outer winding started to separate where the string bent over the saddle.

IMG_0582.jpg

It was like the string was too stiff to curve over the saddle. Any thoughts? Just a bad string? Maybe the bridge pins are too long?

So, I'm having to make do with the horrible Ohana bronze buzzy, chirpy, roundwounds that are scratching the fretboard on my fretless bass until I get this situation figured out. (I need my bass at our uke meeting tomorrow so I have to play it)
 
Could be a number of things. I would contact LaBella and see about a replacement, and also send them some pictures to see if they have any idea what happened.
 
Okay..since the last post I've been calling around doing more research.

LaBella bass strings for the "microbass" 23-25"scale don't work on the OBU. They are too rigid at the ball end to go over the saddle, hence the snap and $30 down the drain.

I called Ohana and spoke with Lewis, a really nice guy, who said that he found a company that has made some flatwounds for the OBU and will be testing them out next week. If they pass Lewis' testing, I'll be ecstatic.

In the meantime, I'm having a blast with my new Hofner Contemporary bass. I put LaBella "Beatle Bass" flatwounds on it, although the Hofner stock roundwounds didn't sound too bad. I didn't buy it because McCartney plays a Hofner but because after trying out Fenders and others, it was the most comfortable for me. (Although I will have fun playing it on our uke club's next "Beatles Night". I've almost got the bass line to Penny Lane down.:))
 
Not sure if this thread is still active, but I too have an Ohana OBU-22 (fretted, though), and really struggled with the strings. Couldn't find anything. So I went a different route. I carved a new set of bridge pins, adding an extra 1/4" in length, and bought a slew of nylon spacers on Amazon. That way, I could thread the spacers over the string, and hide the extra (ball-end) string length inside the body of the bass, where they rest on a small bit of foam). I currently have D'Addario Black Nylon tapes (ETB92S) on the Ohana, and like them a lot. Very upright bass sounding, especially if I play near the bridge. And with this setup, and I can pretty much use any existing short scale set, as long as the tension isn't crazy. If you want more information about carving bridge pins, or the spacers, or pics, let me know.
 
Thanks for the suggestion and I'm impressed with your solution but I'm not as resourceful as you.

I'm going to send another email to Ohana to ask what the status is in their collaboration with the string maker who makes flatwounds. It pains me to not play the OBU but I can't stand the sound of the stock roundwounds and I don't want to abrade the fretless fretboard with their rough surface.

I'll post any response I get from Ohana.
 
Great, thanks - looking forward to hearing what they say! I found the stock round wounds unplayable as well. Made me sad. Spent a lot of time trying different approaches. But this one turned out to be very easy and effective.

Carving the bridge pins was dead simple, that is, if, like me, you don't mind that they're not beautiful :) Just used a piece of dowel from home depot.

2015-12-28 20.32.47.jpg

Here's one by itself:

2015-01-02 12.28.49.jpg

Here's a view if you peer deep inside (before I realized I should put a bit of foam in).

2015-01-06 20.03.01.jpg

From the front, you can't see the string inside at all.
 
It's a shame to have to go thru all this to make these things more playable. I wish I had waited for more reviews before getting one. It will sit in a closet until I find a buyer.
 
Yep, I agree. And I felt like an idiot - I had talked first with Jason at bassstringsonline.com (great guy, by the way), and his advice was simple: "Don't by a bass you can't get strings for!" But I bought it anyway. Would have saved myself a lot of trial-and-error if I had listened. That said, now that I can put whatever strings i want on it, I'm happy enough to have it -- but I'll listen to his advice going forward.
 
I received a reply to my email yesterday. Louis said the flatwound prototype he received from his string maker sounds really good and is excited to try the production set.

So be patient, OBU owners. It sounds like flatwound strings will be available pretty soon.
 
I saw a Unicorn on New Years Eve....................... ; > {} ) :cheers:
 
Ha ha, ye of little faith...;-)

Maybe if more OBU owners wrote or called Ohana regarding the flatwound issue, we'd get them sooner. In my correspondence with him, Louis seems like a nice guy who responds to customer issues.

I wish Ohana had thought out the OBU more. I wonder how many sales of the OBU they lost because of those harsh, stock roundwounds. Who makes a bass without the option of flatwounds, anyway?

I'm sure there are bass players who have the technique to make the stock strings sound good but I'm not one of them. :-(
 
kohanmike said:
I wonder if those flat wounds will work on other bass ukes, like the Rondo solid body. Let us know.
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt it. Given that the Ohana is a longer scale length already, the flatwounds being made for it will likely fit that instrument, and that one alone. Putting them on a shorter scale instrument will result in having the full diameter of the string wrap around the tuning post, which depending on what company is making the flatwounds, can lead to premature breakage of the string or the tuning post.


Gillian said:
I wish Ohana had thought out the OBU more. I wonder how many sales of the OBU they lost because of those harsh, stock roundwounds. Who makes a bass without the option of flatwounds, anyway?
Click to expand...

Actually, a lot of people. Flatwounds may have been around longer than roundwound strings, but on acoustic instruments they are not the ideal string choice. Most players of acoustic instruments want/need volume, and the roundwound phosphor strings have that, whether you like the tone or not. Flatwounds, while in my opinion a better choice for acoustic instruments, lose a lot of the volume of the body of the instrument.

There's also the cost. Flatwounds are roughly 3x the production cost of a regular roundwound string, as there is a lot more involved in making them. Many builders don't want to front that cost, as well as that flatwounds are still not as popular as roundwound strings (although they have enjoyed a very recent surge as of the last couple of years).
 
Although if it were for a 23.5 inch scale uke bass they may work... I hope that there are better 5 string sets coming soon. I like the pahoehoes except that the b is very different from the other strings, very sticky. 5 string silk core flats would be killer... Maybe GHS would take up the project? ;-)

I'm not familiar with the ohana bass, does it have a truss rod? I don't think the kala 5 string does so I'm hesitant to try to work a set of short scale flats onto it as it's my main bass and I'd like it to live...
 
Flatwounds may have been around longer than roundwound strings, but on acoustic instruments they are not the ideal string choice. Most players of acoustic instruments want/need volume, and the roundwound phosphor strings have that, whether you like the tone or not. Flatwounds, while in my opinion a better choice for acoustic instruments, lose a lot of the volume of the body of the instrument.
Click to expand...

All the bass ukuleles that I know about come standard with pickups so volume isn't a concern. The only time they are played acoustically is for quiet practicing.

I'm not familiar with the ohana bass, does it have a truss rod? I don't think the kala 5 string does so I'm hesitant to try to work a set of short scale flats onto it as it's my main bass and I'd like it to live...
Click to expand...

The Ohana OBU does have a truss rod. It has real good intonation, too... when the proper strings are on it!
 
mrufino1 said:
Although if it were for a 23.5 inch scale uke bass they may work... I hope that there are better 5 string sets coming soon. I like the pahoehoes except that the b is very different from the other strings, very sticky. 5 string silk core flats would be killer... Maybe GHS would take up the project? ;-)
Click to expand...

Strings for a standard bass-uke would be more likely, as there are a lot more of those out there. Ohana had a good idea in trying to extend the scale length, but if you don't have string options available...


Gillian said:
All the bass ukuleles that I know about come standard with pickups so volume isn't a concern. The only time they are played acoustically is for quiet practicing.
Click to expand...

Volume is still a concern, believe it or not, as it does add "something" to the sound, even with piezos. You do lose a lot with flatwounds on an acoustic (and this is coming from someone that's used flats on a larger acoustic for a while).
 
Hey!
Where did everyone go?
Hibernating?
Gillian, anymore news on those strings?
 
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