NBD bass uke travel mini bass

KohanMike

Los Angeles, Beverly Grove West
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I found it a few days ago online listed as a Savannah SBT-700 Lightning 23" scale mini travel bass, but it's built like the Rondo Hadean bass ukes I've been buying. It's obviously designed after the Gibson non-reverse Thunderbird. I added the white knobs and truss rod cover, black Road Toad Pahoehoe strings and made the Thunderlele decal (reversed).

Thunderlele done three 1024.jpg
 
So far every Aquila bass string I've tried have the same basic problem, they're too sticky for me. Judging by the same statement they make for all of them, "... assure fast and stable intonation; no sweat finger’s slip on the strings...," I think they use the same basic formula and just added a different color to try and compete with the Pahoehoe.
 
Kohanmike: you have a nice collection of mini-basses. Have you ever tried the mini-bass made by Magic Fluke? What are your thoughts? I am intrigued by it because it doesn't use the rubbery strings but uses steel strings which gives it the electric bass sound. But it is not cheap, so reluctant to pull the trigger right now.
 
Thanks but I'm not really interested in the Magic Fluke. Recently I used a set of LaBella flat wound steel 25" strings made exclusively for Gold Tone on one of my 24" scale Ronda Hadean solid body bass ukes that I had modified and they work very well. The Rondo solid body bass ukes are about $180, the strings are $40 from Gold Tone. I want smooth strings, don't like the noise of round wound.


Rondo Olympic & Tortoise 900.jpg
 
Thanks but I'm not really interested in the Magic Fluke. Recently I used a set of LaBella flat wound steel 25" strings made exclusively for Gold Tone on one of my 24" scale Ronda Hadean solid body bass ukes that I had modified and they work very well. The Rondo solid body bass ukes are about $180, the strings are $40 from Gold Tone. I want smooth strings, don't like the noise of round wound.

Rondo Olympic & Tortoise 900.jpg

Wonder how those strings would work on my Oscar Schmidt acoustic bass uke?
 
Wonder how those strings would work on my Oscar Schmidt acoustic bass uke?

The tension might be too high for the acoustic, since it will not have as sturdy a build compared to the solid-body models

The poly-rubber strings are super-low tension, maybe 11-15lbs PER STRING, whereas the steel strings would need to be AT LEAST double that tension in order to intonate even close to being able to play in tune, especially with a saddle parallel to the bridge, AND with still only about 5mm saddle width for any compensation adjustments.

On a solid-body instrument, such as what Mike has, it is built more like a full-scale electric bass, and all of the Rondo Hadean basses (both acoustic and solid-body) all have a truss rod to compensate for neck bow and string height/buzzing.

So the poly rubber strings maybe top out at 60 lbs for the whole set of 4, and the steel strings are likely over 100 lbs for the entire set, and nearly double the string tension is something I woul consider the danger zone for causing the instrument to collapse, at least there would probably be EXTREME dishing and bellying by the bridge, until the bridge rotation from the excessive tension either causes the neck joint to fail, or the top to be torn off, and since most of the acoustic uke basses are string-thru-bridge with a back access panel in the body for feeding the strings, you're not going to see the bridge fly off, but the other problems are a more involved and severe repair job.

If it were me, I'd not put the steel strings on an acoustic uke bass UNLESS they were made for it like the Kala roundwound, or the Pyramid roundwound sets, and these are made at the proper tension from what I read.

However, I will caution you to proceed at your own risk, and do your own research, as I am not the end-all-be-all for this info, and if you do put steel-uke-bass strings on an acoustic model, I am not liable for damages...
 
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