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Harley Benton 'Kahuna' Basses (Kala U-Bass ripoff)


dannybuoy
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  • 2 weeks later...

I sent my HB Kahuna bass back for a replacement due to the weird asymmetrical chunky neck profile & some visible tooling marks on the neck.

The replacement arrived this morning. The neck profile is still slightly asymmetrical, but nowhere near as bad as the original and not chunky either, so it is much more comfortable to play. Also I've not noticed any tooling marks on the neck & the nut is fitted better as the original had a 3mm (ish) gap under the nut which had been filled with glue.

I don't want to be picky about such a cheap bass - especially after its been replaced once already, but on this new one, all four nuts & washers on the tuners are actually rusty. I've never seen anything like that on black hardware before - surely no one would fit rusty hardware to a bass - the packaging shows no indication of having been damp, but unlike the previous one I didn't notice any silica gel bags in the packaging, so maybe this occured in storage or transit.

Has anyone else noticed rusty nuts on their little kahuna?

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Well, I got an email back back from thomann in reply to the one about my rusty nuts. Pleased that there's no attempt to fob me off with a 'they're all like that' this time & they also sent another prepaid return label to print off so my second Little Kahuna Bass is now boxed up & will be going to the post office later. It'll take another two weeks before I receive a replacement - if they have a replacement to send as the lead-time is now listed as 'ordered on request' whatever that means. Oh well.

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  • 10 months later...

A question for you guys.

My band mates (two guitars) had just bought a couple of tiny guitars, i believe 1/2 size, Yamaha, they're tuned in A. The drummer has a cajon and the idea of having some fun with tiny instruments was born. This is really just for fun, when hanging out, not for gigs.

I'm thinking about geting a Kahuna to take care of the bass parts but i know it's not loud enough with the rubber strings. So here's my question. Has anybody tried stringing one with regular nickel bass strings? I'm thinking about recycling one of my used sets (that still have a bit of life in them). Will it sound a bit louder, like an accoustic bass?

Having their guitars tuned in A what do you think about fitting a BEAD and tune it a step back? Will it be too much tension and rip off the tailpiece?

I know i could stick with the rubber strings and get a battery micro Roland but for the few times we'll be doing this i don't think it will worth the investment.

Let me know your thoughts ;)

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@Ghost Bass - do you mean the Yamaha guitarlele? If so, what does it sound like? Youtube videos seem to vary a lot.

Surely a bass Uke with steel strings would never work because the scale length would be too short. Wouldn't you need utterly ludicrously high gauge strings to get anything like a reasonable tension?

I've seen a ukulele orchestra with a kala bass uke being amplified through a cute little practice amp. Maybe an 8" speaker. In a tent. It sounded fine. It might keep the 'very small instrument' vibe going while being audible. Your question has made me wonder if it's possible to make a tiny upright bass with silicone (or similar) strings. Could a viola be modified to make one by sticking a peg on it?

EDIT: I've searched around, and have found no sign of anyone ever creating a silicone stringed mini double bass. I would guess that this means that it simply won't fly as an idea.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438786382' post='2837313']
EDIT: I've searched around, and have found no sign of anyone ever creating a silicone stringed mini double bass. I would guess that this means that it simply won't fly as an idea.
[/quote]

Sounds like its worth a shot if you can get a donor viola (Hmmm "Donor Viola" is good band name! :happy: ) for a good price.

It could well be that no-one has thought of it - or they have but everyone thought it wasn't possible as they didn't find someone else who had done it!

Don't give up that easy! ;)

On my HB Kahuna bass, I have not found the strings to be too sticky to be comfortable playing them but it is fun trying to tune it up in the first place especially as the inbuilt tuner doesn't seem to recognise the low E string. So I usually tune up based on the pitch of the string fretted at the octave.

Edited by Jonnyboy Rotten
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[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1438785557' post='2837294']
A question for you guys.

My band mates (two guitars) had just bought a couple of tiny guitars, i believe 1/2 size, Yamaha, they're tuned in A. The drummer has a cajon and the idea of having some fun with tiny instruments was born. This is really just for fun, when hanging out, not for gigs.

I'm thinking about geting a Kahuna to take care of the bass parts but i know it's not loud enough with the rubber strings. So here's my question. Has anybody tried stringing one with regular nickel bass strings? I'm thinking about recycling one of my used sets (that still have a bit of life in them). Will it sound a bit louder, like an accoustic bass?

Having their guitars tuned in A what do you think about fitting a BEAD and tune it a step back? Will it be too much tension and rip off the tailpiece?

I know i could stick with the rubber strings and get a battery micro Roland but for the few times we'll be doing this i don't think it will worth the investment.

Let me know your thoughts ;)
[/quote]

I think the tension would start bowing the top and eventually the bridge would pull off. My HB UBass seems quite lightweight (although they are on Deco sale now for just £33!)

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438786382' post='2837313']
Surely a bass Uke with steel strings would never work because the scale length would be too short. Wouldn't you need utterly ludicrously high gauge strings to get anything like a reasonable tension?
[/quote]

Not quite steel, but these are copper wound on a silk core:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzF-5k0pog[/media]

They also do tapewounds I believe.

Edited by dannybuoy
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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438786382' post='2837313']
EDIT: I've searched around, and have found no sign of anyone ever creating a silicone stringed mini double bass. I would guess that this means that it simply won't fly as an idea.
[/quote]

I recall seeing a page about a bowed electric "upright", about Ashbory scale, using a piece of steel or plastic tube as the body and piezo pups under the bridge elements. Cello tuning, I think. It didn't look even vaguely like a "conventional" bass or cello, though. IIRC the builder was Belgian.

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[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1438788146' post='2837342']
Sounds like its worth a shot if you can get a donor viola (Hmmm "Donor Viola" is good band name! :happy: ) for a good price.

It could well be that no-one has thought of it - or they have but everyone thought it wasn't possible as they didn't find someone else who had done it!

[/quote]

Or you could try to find a 1/8 or 1/12 size cello... I did look a few times on eBay, but that was when I had some cash.

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[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1438790506' post='2837382']
Not quite steel, but these are copper wound on a silk core:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JzF-5k0pog[/media]

They also do tapewounds I believe.
[/quote]

Fair 'nuff. I presume that these are specially designed for use on ukuleles. The amplified sound sounds fine, quite normal. What do they sound like unamplified?

Edited by Annoying Twit
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Off topic slightly :o but I read this thread yesterday about a cello with a Styrofoam top.

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/building-instruments-from-styrofoam.1165446/

It was designed in Belgium and there's some debate about the construction,mainly from a naysayer but it was on TalkBass so to be
expected. The goal was smaller instruments without sacrificing volume and tone.

A bold move on something as traditional as a cello but if it takes off could have benefits for all acoustic instruments.

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[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1438785557' post='2837294']
I'm thinking about geting a Kahuna to take care of the bass parts but i know it's not loud enough with the rubber strings. So here's my question. Has anybody tried stringing one with regular nickel bass strings? I'm thinking about recycling one of my used sets (that still have a bit of life in them). Will it sound a bit louder, like an accoustic bass?
[/quote]

Assuming that it didn't fold in half immediately (the most likely outcome), I can't think of a reason that it should sound any louder. You haven't changed the dimensions of the bit that's vibrating to make the sound, after all. In fact, it might be quieter - I think that the lower tension of rubber strings means that the amplitude of the vibration would be greater, although their lower mass means that the overall energy of the vibrations would be similarish.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1438786382' post='2837313']
@Ghost Bass - do you mean the Yamaha guitarlele? If so, what does it sound like? Youtube videos seem to vary a lot.
[/quote]

From a quick google search it does seem like it. It sounds very well and certainly isn't a toy. Typical Yamaha quality, cheap and very decent. It stays in tune and is loud enough to keep up with vocals (everything unplugged). I believe they payed around 80€ for each so it's a nice bargain.

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