Ghost_Bass Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Hello I've posted a few weeks back that my band was thinking about doing a side project with mini-instruments, using a cajon, a guitalele and a uke bass. I've found a portuguese luthier that is building uke basses at a very reasonable price (250€) and good quality: http://apc-instruments.com/2013/index.php?route=product/category&path=103_62_179 Koa wood on the body, African Blackwood (?) on the fretboard, Aquila strings, custom designed preamp. My question to you is about tuning. The guitalele tunes in ADGCEA. In order to make my life easier i would also like to have the uke bass tuned to ADGC. What yould you say it's the best option for this? 1. Tighten the strings to the desired tuning (will the neck take this?) 2. Replace the strings (get rid of E string and find a rubber C - does it even exists?) 3. Other that i'm completely missing. Thanks for looking, cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 That is a very good price, but surely the luthier could give you the best answers to your questions? Meanwhile, I don't see how tuning the u-bass ADGC actually makes your life easier. Keeping it in standard bass tuning while playing at and above the 5th fret would be a simpler, cheaper option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 The rubber strings on my HB Uke Bass seem quite low tension and it has a truss rod too. I guess if you notice the bridge starting to lift and the top bowing, it's too tight!... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 @Ghost_Bass I would dearly love to help you, having one of the Harley Benton bass ukes to hand I tried tuning up to ADGC. Started with the G and even after a huge amount of turning it wouldn't budge past A. Then my bottle crashed at the thought of trying the rest. Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Those are the Aquila strings, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 They are that Jack. I think I'd need to cut them shorter too but when I felt the tension change dramatically I called it quits. I had visions of the bridge coming off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 Just saw Aquila do a 5 string set E - B. Maybe losing the E and tuning the B up to C would work for Ghost_Bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 (edited) Thank you guys for all the opinions and a special thanks to kodiakblair for trying to tune his uke to A. I've sent a message to the luthier and i'm waiting for a reply, i'll post his reply here. @ Happy Jack - I could play it with the standard tuning, just transposing the chords but if i could tune it in A it would be easier to play the songs i already know on the "normal bass" (when the guitarrist uses the guitalele most of the times he plays the songs tuned 2 and half steps up - yes, the singer can take it - like it was tuned in E, in a normal guitar). This is due to the size of the scale. Both the guitalele and the uke bass already have a short scale, if we were to play all songs above the 5th fret i don't think we could even fret a note - big fingers, small fret width - or make chords and make the theme sound properly. (don't know if i explained it properly, sory) Lot's of food for thoughts here and i think that changing the tuning of the uke will prove to be very hard. I think it would be a better and easier idea to try and convince the guitarrist to restring the guitalele to E... Cheers Edited October 19, 2015 by Ghost_Bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Whatever tuning you use, the ukes look nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 [quote name='owen' timestamp='1445293561' post='2890427'] Whatever tuning you use, the ukes look nice [/quote] Yes they do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 [quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1445008918' post='2888162'] Just saw Aquila do a 5 string set E - B. Maybe losing the E and tuning the B up to C would work for Ghost_Bass. [/quote] I'm sure Aquila or Pacahoe (?) do 5-string sets for Kala U-Subs which would be B-G, so just omitting the G string and tuning the rest a tone down would probably work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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