Asking for a friend...

Dr.Ukenstein

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OK, All U brother pluckers and sister pickers in the Ubass universe:

Can a less than 25" scale acoustic bass (modified Epi-guitar) be classified as a mega-long scale big body acoustic Ubass?

Asking for a friend...
 
personally, I'd say no. U-Bass should be 21" scale or less. But feel free to disagree. :)
 
:rolleyes: Haha...I guess you can call it whatever you want. :shaka:
 
After a little GOOGLE searching, I just discovered the Ohana OBU-22. Looks like they are marketing a 24.5" scale travel bass as a ubass. My friend can now direct the uke purists where to go. Thanks.
 
I have 28 basses, acoustic and solid body from 21" to 25" scale. If it has an under saddle piezo pickup and poly strings, acoustic or solid body, I call it a bass uke. I also have used steel flatwounds on some of my solid body and one acoustic with piezo, I call those modified bass ukes. The solid body with magnetic pickups on which I only use flatwound steel string, either already a bass, or a guitar that I converted to bass, I call mini electric bass.

Bass Collection 28 on 2019-11-15.jpg
 
Hi Mike, Glad you chimed in. The universe of ubass seems to be in a nebulous flux. In order to make the lower range notes audible on an acoustic bass instrument, the body has to be bigger but that seems to evoke some size envy among the players endowed with smaller instruments. So, the name for my tool is the acoustic mega-ubass. Oops, I meant my friend's tool. An electric mega-ubass will follow. (Under 25" scale for the purists among us.)
 
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It's all marketing.
Everything else is personal opinion and some unholy intersection of scale-length, body size, and string types. IMHO, if people point at it and ask "is that a uke" then it's a uke-bass. If they point at it and ask "is that a guitar" then it's an ABG. If they point at it and ask "is that a violin" then their opinion is irrelevant (and it's a uke-bass ;) )

For what it's worth, U•Bass® is a registered trademark, so only Kalas are U•Basses®. Kala's California fivers have a 23.5" scale length.


If you haven't seen them yet, there are several threads on talkbass.com about converting acoustic guitars to guitar-scale basses. It's not clear that there's enough of a size advantage of a guitar-sized body over a uke-sized body that you'll be heard over a herd of ukes without amplification, but I won't argue over the cool-factor of a DIY job.​
 
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...It's not clear that there's enough of a size advantage of a guitar-sized body over a uke-sized body that you'll be heard over a herd of ukes without amplification...[/LEFT]

The only time I play my acoustic bass ukes without an amp is when I practice at home in front of computer preparing arrangements. I always use an amp when I play with anyone.


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 13 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 37)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
Thanks, I especially like "For What It's Worth". So, B'uke it is.

My sonic preference for bass is round wound strings. So, I have to build my own creations from past parts. Hence, my moniker from our brother plucker librarian in the Florida Keys.

With the onset of winter and the arrival of the Northern uker migration, one of the snowbirds insisted that I turn my amp off. Yes, there is an acoustic requirement where we practice. The local inhabitants have a little looser enforcement consciousness.

So, my challenge was to create a bass uke that can be heard without electric amplification. And, have a set of round wound strings to give it that special sustain, ring, and punch that flat wounds or nylon do not deliver. Thus, the mega-B'uke came to life.

The ladies who want to hear the bottom line surround me closely which is fine with me. Really fine. For what it's worth.

What's that sound? It's the sweet ring of round wound strings.

P.S. - I am adding that Buffalo Springfield song to my uke repertoire. Thanks, again. So much!
 
I just bought this tiny Washburn Rover guitar with 23 3/4" scale and 1 11/16" nut with the idea of turning it into a 4-string something. Maybe baritone uke. Maybe tenor guitar..maybe a bass?
 

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I just bought this tiny Washburn Rover guitar with 23 3/4" scale and 1 11/16" nut with the idea of turning it into a 4-string something. Maybe baritone uke. Maybe tenor guitar..maybe a bass?
Too funny. I have a Rover that I'm trying to sell to fund a donor body for a guitar -> bass conversion. IIRC, the Rover's body is about the size of a thin uke body, so it won't get much unamplified volume as a bass. Mine's also much nicer than I'd want to mod - I'd rather mod something that needs some work anyway rather than taking a perfectly good instrument and Frankensteining it (Frank raised an already dead body - he didn't kill it himself!).

TMy sonic preference for bass is round wound strings. So, I have to build my own creations from past parts.
There are a bunch of U-bass type instruments that come with round wounds. You don't need to build your own for that. Build 'cause bodging your own's a goal in itself (I'm pretty sure you agree :D ) Even so, I'm kind of tempted by a round-wound strung Kala Journeyman except that I'd prefer a longer scale length (and lower price ;) ).
 
Too funny. I have a Rover that I'm trying to sell to fund a donor body for a guitar -> bass conversion. IIRC, the Rover's body is about the size of a thin uke body, so it won't get much unamplified volume as a bass. Mine's also much nicer than I'd want to mod - I'd rather mod something that needs some work anyway rather than taking a perfectly good instrument and Frankensteining it (Frank raised an already dead body - he didn't kill it himself!).

It really is a nice little guitar with a really solid and sturdy feel to it. I got mine cheap at a pawn shop and it's not going anywhere. It's a keeper for me wether I leave it as is or convert it to four or five string.

I'm a beginner, so feel a little fat fingered with everything except my classical guitar right now. But I really like the little Rover and will probably give it some time before I start cutting and drilling.

I have a couple of acoustic-electric guitars that I'm going to sell. They're just too nice for me to use without worrying about dinging them up.
 
Too funny. I have a Rover that I'm trying to sell to fund a donor body for a guitar -> bass conversion. IIRC, the Rover's body is about the size of a thin uke body, so it won't get much unamplified volume as a bass. Mine's also much nicer than I'd want to mod - I'd rather mod something that needs some work anyway rather than taking a perfectly good instrument and Frankensteining it (Frank raised an already dead body - he didn't kill it himself!).

There are a bunch of U-bass type instruments that come with round wounds. You don't need to build your own for that. Build 'cause bodging your own's a goal in itself (I'm pretty sure you agree :D ) Even so, I'm kind of tempted by a round-wound strung Kala Journeyman except that I'd prefer a longer scale length (and lower price ;) ).

Arcy, I should have specified that my need is to use STAINLESS STEEL round wound strings. Oops. Other than a company called Big Island, I have not been able to find an off the shelf bass uke set up with stainless steel round wound strings and a magnetic pick-up. I agree the Rover will not deliver much acoustic volume converted to bass. Probably on the acoustic side, body size is the major factor. Thanks!
 
Too funny. I have a Rover that I'm trying to sell to fund a donor body for a guitar -> bass conversion. IIRC, the Rover's body is about the size of a thin uke body, so it won't get much unamplified volume as a bass. Mine's also much nicer than I'd want to mod - I'd rather mod something that needs some work anyway rather than taking a perfectly good instrument and Frankensteining it (Frank raised an already dead body - he didn't kill it himself!).
I went ahead and converted the Rover to 4-string. Buggered up the nut a little, but made it work and got everything set at the right height.
I love the 1 11/16" nut for a 4-string setup.

Initially, had set it up wide at the bridge, bass-like, for plucking.
But decided you were right about the small body's volume potential...and I didn't have any base strings handy.

Ended up narrowing the string spacing at the bridge to better facilitate picking and strumming. And it's currently set up like a tenor guitar of sorts.
 

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O & S, You made a good move going to the tenor vs. bass set-up. I played my acoustic mega-B'uke at a library function and was barely heard. This evening, I drilled a hole that holds a vocal mike and dropped it in. Works pretty well with the treble tone turned way back to avoid feedback. Vocal mikes are not verboten in the acoustic audio enforcement realm. Will post a pic later if there is interest. Thanks.
 
O & S, You made a good move going to the tenor vs. bass set-up. I played my acoustic mega-B'uke at a library function and was barely heard. This evening, I drilled a hole that holds a vocal mike and dropped it in. Works pretty well with the treble tone turned way back to avoid feedback. Vocal mikes are not verboten in the acoustic audio enforcement realm. Will post a pic later if there is interest. Thanks.

Thanks. I think you're right. There'll be a better opportunity for bass building somewhere down the line. I'm in no rush.
I've got an idea for a semi-hollow body electric made from a (semi)hollowed out log, with the top routed out for a neck through. There will be lots of drilling of holes in that one. Think I'll fire up the chainsaw and cut the body blank tonight.

And yes. Please do post a pic!
 
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OK, O&S, Here goes:
 

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I am using short bursts of info because the wind is disrupting my AT&T I-Net connection. I removed the mike as my solid body bass sounds so much better. A trip to The Florida Keys Northernmost Ukulele Society facebook page will provide a sound bite of the solid body b'uke. The acoustic is now my practice instrument to attempt to sing with and play along with the computer.
 
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