5 string Bass Ukulele.

[Owen]

And so it continues. Pete has carved a neck from pine to get the measurements right. He will do mine asymetrically, cos I like them like that. He has spent a long time working out the machine heads and eventually came to the conclusion that he would fabricate his own. The headstock will have a cocobolo veneer. There will be a cutaway on the lower bout, and the fingerboard is oversized at the moment.

[ThomBassmonkey]

I had a go on the one at about 2:30 in this video:



It was fun, I might be tempted to pick one up when they come out later this year.

[son of frog]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1203844' date='Apr 18 2011, 05:32 PM']I had a go on the one at about 2:30 in this video:

It was fun, I might be tempted to pick one up when they come out later this year.[/quote]

Wow, that is awesome,

Do we have any rough idea around what price these will retail at?

[ThomBassmonkey]

IIRC he said around the £5-600, but that's an early prototype and it's subject to my memory so that could be way off. He says around $1,000 in the video so it could be more.

Edited April 24, 2011 by ThomBassmonkey

[son of frog]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1210500' date='Apr 24 2011, 11:23 PM']IIRC he said around the £5-600, but that's an early prototype and it's subject to my memory so that could be way off. He says around $1,000 in the video so it could be more.[/quote]

hmm that is a little pricey,

Especially as you no longer get to wow people with how bass like your ukulele is.

[Owen]

Went over today. It now has a connected neck, fingerboard with LED on the side being glued after I left. Neck carved with rolled edges on fingerboard. Going again on Friday to fine tune. Then it will be going to spray shop. Pretty excited I am.

[Owen]

Pete is putting a lot of time into this. He is essentially prototyping it on his his first build so there is quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, but I am cool with that. It is not Pete in the pic, but his Swedish intern who is over for a month.

[7string]

The uke's looking mighty fine.

With the Kala solid body now out (with a cost of £600-700 inc. shipping and taxes) maybe Pete could be onto something!

[rennie234]

What bridge and pups are going to be used on this?

[Owen]

[quote name='rennie234' post='1370704' date='Sep 12 2011, 04:39 PM']What bridge and pups are going to be used on this?[/quote]

He is making a bridge and the pickup will be a headway piezo strip under the bridge. There will be a small impedance matching buffer circuit in there as well. I might put an EQ circuit in at a later date.

[Owen]

The process continues. Pete is not happy with the design of the headstock he used for my Uke. It works for a 4 string but he is not loving it's aesthetics for a 5 string so he will be selling it as a 4 string pretty soon. I have copied and pasted the blurb from his facebook page below. It is a really nice instrument, just does not have the 5 strings I NEED in my life
[b] HOWEVER I have a 4 string uklectic bass ukulele coming up for grabs soon. It is a remodelling of Owen's 5 string and has a single peghead issue - the fat Kala style strings are bunched up. I've slept on this problem all weekend and the fix is simple - wind the 1st and 4th counter clockwise on the posts. Because of this issue I am selling the bass for £595 complete - solved this bass would cost £895. Remember it has optical fibre side dots at 5,7 and 10, 17 frets, Headway original Ashbory bass piezo, a cocobolo drop veneer facing and heavily side contoured fingerboard to simulate and uproight bass fingerboard edge. As usual pm me if you want this at my webmail address: [email protected][/b]

[Owen]

So, mark 2 has begun. Here is the top.

[IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/419997_10150669394676031_705786030_11395662_1917849023_n.jpg[/IMG]

[Owen]

Mark I is now on ebay. The bunching of strings Pete talks about is not a huge deal, but he is something of a perfectionist. I would buy it, but he is making me Mark II. It needs a bridge and pick up and finishing, but it is a lot of instrument for the money.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280836415043?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

[Valhalalf]

Wow really impressed.

I've been looking at getting a Uke bass for some acoustic stuff, the DB sound and the compact size is so appealing. I would really like a 5 string version too but apart from the Kala solid body there's not a lot of choice.

Keep us posted with Mark II as I can see myself getting one ordered if it all works out.

If you don't mind, can I ask what the expected finish cost is?

[Owen]

It lives!

[redstriper]

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1351202564' post='1848781']
It lives!
[/quote]

[Owen]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151840192801031&set=pcb.623865367646339&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf

[mixingwithtom]

Hi Owen,

Did Pete end up making the machine heads himself for this?

I don't know of anyone in the UK that makes machine heads! Cool!

Tom

[Owen]

No, they are bog standard Hipshot ones.

[JimBobTTD]

Nice!!!

[Owen]

[URL=http://s8.photobucket.com/user/peredur/media/IMAG0405_zps865d129c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/IMAG0405_zps865d129c.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s8.photobucket.com/user/peredur/media/IMAG0406_zpsfa96ab62.jpg.html][IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/IMAG0406_zpsfa96ab62.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s8.photobucket.com/user/peredur/media/IMAG0407_zps8d764694.jpg.html][IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/IMAG0407_zps8d764694.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s8.photobucket.com/user/peredur/media/IMAG0417_zpse8335102.jpg.html][IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/IMAG0417_zpse8335102.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The electrics still need to be sorted, but it is a thing of beauty and plays superbly.

[Andyjr1515]

Looks really, really good :-)

[ezbass]

That's lovely, well done.

[JPJ]

That sir is a thing of beauty! I have recently acquired a Uke and I'm loving playing it. Incidentally, playing the Uke has had a real positive effect on my bass playing

[Ghosts Over Japan]

very nice! I'd very much like one of these!
Cai