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This might work, it might not.......


Owen
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....... but it is worth a try.

My progress on my "build from scratch" seems to have stopped. It is good to know your limits. I have reached mine on that one.

However, the itch to mess with stuff will not go away. I have bought a £200 5 string solid body bass uke from China. It has a truss rod and I  know it will take metal strings because someone sold the same one on Ebay recently having strung it up with bass guitar strings. The woodwork on it is OK, but the frets ends could be used as an offensive weapon.  I have come to the conclusion that solid body uke basses do not provide the air-shifting thud which is what I love about the original Kala acoustics.

I have put cut down bass guitar strings on it and discovered that the original machine heads are made of cheese. I have clearly led a sheltered life in regards to machine heads as I have never had experience of rubbish ones before. They got so stiff while turning with no strings on them that I felt I had the option of stopping or breaking them. I have swapped them for some cheap and cheerful Wilkinson ones (£28ish). I had to re-use one of the spacing washers from the originals because the headstock is just too thin for the Wilkinsions to fit properly.

The piezo bridge seems to have been crushed by the tension of the new strings but that is OK as well because I have a bass guitar bridge (£25ish) to go on anyway. The straight accross piezo bridge will never do the intonation needed.If that all works, then I will plumb a pickup in. I do fancy one of those oval Delano ones. I played a mini bass in a Bass Bash which had one and I liked the noise it made. I also like the shape and the little thumb indentation. I am so shallow. It would make more sense to put in a standard soapbar size so that I could change it if need be, but I am feeling adventurous.

When I use the word "I" in relation to structural work, you can read it as "I will pay someone". I actually did the machine heads (after guidance from the BC Massive on how to) but managed to strip the head of one of the screws. Mr Drill sorted that out but it was a reminder to me that some things are best left to people who can. I screwed some chair legs together yesterday to repair dried glue issues. The drill bit I used was too big so the screws I had went in easily but did not actually bite into any wood. How I laughed as I got into the car to go to B&Q to buy bigger wood screws.  I will have to do the screw which anchors the machine head in place later but will kick myself if I missalign them. I can see it but cannot neccesarily do it. But I have to try.

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Edited by owen
to upload pics from my phone.
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23 minutes ago, owen said:

The good news is that they are done. The bad news is that the new machine heads are too small to take the E and the B strings. I guess it is a job for Mr Dremmel unless anyone has any other advice?

 

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Normally the B and E strings would be tapered at the silk end to allow the strings to wrap against the tuner capstans more easily.  In this case, as you've cut them down from full size, the full thickness if the strings is too much.

Have you considered having Newtone make a set for you with tapers to suit your uke?

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1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

That looks quite nice! What scale is it and how does it sound? Cheers

It is 23" scale. I have no idea how it sounds cos it is still with the guy who did the work.

1 minute ago, SpondonBassed said:

How did you get around your B and E string snag with the tuning posts?

I am not sure what he did cos I do not have it in my hands as of yet. I suspect it was Mr Drill. I was too impatient to wait for a new set. Also if they are big enough I can cut down all sorts of strings :)

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On 16/02/2021 at 21:59, owen said:

It works nicely enough to pursue the project further. I needs a pickup.......... 

Warman have become my default place for pickups lately. Well made, sound great, good range of styles and mostly an absolute bargain. 

Warman

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12 hours ago, owen said:

Thanks for the suggestion, but I am going with one of those funky oval Delano ones. There was one on a mini bass in a Bass Bash I went to and I just liked it. And I like the shape. I am shallow that way. 

That's cool. 

I'm the same, visuals have the final say, I don't care how good it sounds if it looks bad. 

I'm so shallow a snake couldn't even wash his balls in me. 

🙂

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  • 4 weeks later...

One new set of Newtone strings - .55 to .140 with hex cores. It feels tighter and better. To be honest, I think I am right on the edge of what will work with the lower strings (possibly over the edge) and it is going to need some very careful setting up. But I have started so I will finish, and I do love an adventure!

It will now be sent to a proper grown up to route a hole for the Delano pickup.

If I had one of those Shaper Origin DIY CNC doobries I would do it myself. But then I would have to send it to a grown up who could actually measure properly to tidy up my mess.

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  • 1 month later...

After the bridge and machine heads were fitted this little bass found its way to me along with some nice Delano parts. The plan was to fit a 5 string Xtender pickup and a Sonar preamp. After a little bit of looking it become clear that this little bass was just too little for the pickup - there was no way to fit it (even if you angled it) and avoid the battery or control cavity. The bass is very small and the pickup very big!!

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So a new plan was hatched and Owen opted to try a Delano P pickup as this could be fitted so the mounting lug ended up between the two cavities and one was available with a suitable string spacing (according to my measurements). With the bass being so small there isn't any option regarding placement - it just has to go where it fits!!

This is the back of the bass to show where the treble side pickup lug would end up. As I say, not too much room for choice!!

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I made a test MDF template for this and then made a proper template after adjusting it slightly.

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After measuring, measuring again and measuring yet again it was time to make some sawdust. First off, removing the bulk of the wood before getting the router out.

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I used a couple of different sized router bits - a larger profiler first to do the bulk of the work, then a small profiler to get a small radius for the pickup corners. 

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I used a few bits of string just to confirm the positioning is okay for the pole pieces. 

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Still got a few things to do, but it's getting there!

 

 

 

 

 

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The strings seemed a little high with the bridge at the lowest so I decided to recess the bridge a couple of mm into the body. That should allow a little bit of adjustment.

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That's the woodwork done. Next job is to shield the control cavity then sort the electrics.

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The control cavity was shielded with copper tape so that's done. Next was the wiring. The original plan was to have two knobs that do nothing and the other two to be passive volume and tone but I thought it might be an idea to see if the original preamp would work with a magnetic pickup instead of the original piezo. I've seen some preamps whose input is suitable for use with either but I have no details of this one so it was a question of just 'giving it a go'. And it does work, surprisingly well too. I'll chat with Owen to see how he would like it but it had to be tried as it was so simple to refit!!!

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Recessing the bridge has worked quite nicely - the strings can now go that little bit lower which makes quite a difference to how it feels.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

And the final verdict is, it does work.

The B string does not thunder like the 64' stop on a church organ, but in my heart I knew that would be the case. It will probably be a string for special occasions only.  But if nothing else, it will remind me that I am now more used to a 5 string than a 4 string so muscle memory will not have to adapt

The original preamp sits nicely with the pickup filling out the lower register nicely.

In case anyone has ever had any doubts about Jez's abilities, the man is a wood whisperer.

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