Learning Ukulele with Curt

Bass Ukulele or UBass

[ Manufactures & Builders | Strings | The History: Ashbory Bass ]

Bass Ukulele

Four sizes of ukuleles are common: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. There's also the less common sopranino and the bass ukulele at the extreme ends of the size spectrum.

The soprano, often called "standard" in Hawaii, is the smallest, and the original size ukulele. The concert size was developed in the 1920s as an enhanced soprano, slightly larger and louder with a deeper tone. Shortly thereafter, the tenor was created, having more volume and deeper bass tone. The largest size is the baritone, created in the 1940s.

The Kala uBass was designed by Owen Holt of Road Toad Music . Acoustic as well as solidbody bass ukuleles available.

uBass Appreciation Society

Here is a link to a page dedicated to the uBass: uBass Appreciation Society .

The uBass Appreciation Society is a blog for those who play, or are interested in, the Kala brand uBass, a combination baritone ukulele and bass guitar. This ground-breaking 20″ short scale bass guitar produces the same pitches as a standard bass and is the closest you can come to the sound of an upright acoustic bass without an actual upright. This uBass Appreciation Society blog is for all those interested in playing tips, news and information relating to the Kala brand uBass.

Bass Ukulele Manufactures and Builders

C. F. Martin & Co., Inc. Manufactures

Martin's steadfast adherence to high standards of musical excellence, mixed with experienced management, has largely accounted for the company's remarkable longevity. Marketing methods and product mix have changed at Martin over the years, but the company attitude towards guitar building has never varied. In the preface to the 1904 catalog, Frank Henry Martin explained to potential customers, “How to build a guitar to give this tone is not a secret. It takes care and patience. Care in selecting the materials, laying out the proportions, and attending to the details which add to the player's comfort. Patience in giving the necessary time to finish every part. A good guitar cannot be built for the price of a poor one, but who regrets the extra cost for a good guitar?” Almost eighty years have passed since Frank Henry Martin authored this statement of policy, but it still is an accurate expression of Martin's ongoing commitment to quality.

Tiny Bass Bass

The Tiny Boy brand was launched in 1997 as a line of travel-sized acoustic guitars and sold very well in Japan. Time passed and in 2016, a new challenge began. It was to create a compact yet authentic bass. After two years of collaboration and research and development with an Italian string supplier, the prototype of the Tiny Boy bass was born in 2018.

Kala Brand Music Company Manufactures

Mike Upton is the founder of Kala Brand Music Co. in northern California. Established in 2005, Kala builds 140-plus models of ukulele, including travel and bass variations.Kala and Makala brand of ukuleles.

Mele Ukulele Luthiers

Mele Ukulele builds and sells fine ENTIRELY HAND MADE ukuleles and guitars at incredibly low prices. Our ukuleles feature great tone and playability, top quality Hawaiian koa and other fine SOLID tonewoods, and detailed inlay work. For nearly 20 years, Mele Ukulele continues to offer what can be considered among the best value in instruments today

Road Toad Music Bass

Road Toad Music produces quality handcrafted ukulele and bass instruments. Among the ukulele that Owen makes are a line of "bass" ukes. I played a few at the 2006 New York Ukulele Festival and they are amazing. You can't believe the sound that comes from these. Owen also designed the Kala UBass.

De Armond Pickups

DeArmond instruments are no longer available for purchase, but they have made their support materials available. On their site you’ll find product information, technical specifications, and troubleshooting information. DeArmond is part of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Earnest Musical Instruments Luthiers

EARNEST INSTRUMENTS are created for musicians who require functional, distinctive, high quality tools for making music. These are not your garden variety music store axes, but uncommon musical instruments designed to meet the needs of innovative players looking for something a little different. Rather than build reproductions of standard manufactured items, EARNEST combines time-tested styles and designs to create unique, original instruments with a classic appearance. Every effort is made to build the finest sounding and playing instruments. Their expense results from the quality of the materials and workmanship rather than unnecessary detail or excessive ornamentation. Materials are chosen for utility, tone, and appearance. Domestic and lesser known exotic tonewoods are favored over rare, overpriced, and often endangered species. Natural and manufactured materials are combined with appropriate adhesives and fasteners, at optimum humidity, to insure the stability and durability of the instruments. Earnest Instruments are built for a lifetime of music making!

BeaverCreek Guitars Luthiers

The manufacturer of BeaverCreek guitars has over 30 years of experience in designing, building, and distributing instruments worldwide. They continue to manufacture for several well known and respected brand names in the music industry.

Kamoa Ukulele Manufactures

Kamoa™ Ukulele Company is dedicated to building high quality bell tone instruments. Our “One player at a time” philosophy is the basis for the countless experiences that will resonate with you for years to come through the lifelong enjoyment of music on your Kamoa™ ukulele. From Exceptional student models priced around $100 up to divine custom masterpieces, we have a tailored Kamoa™ experience ready for you whether you are a true beginner or ukulele master.

Eddy Finn Ukuleles Manufactures

From the distinctive soundhole resonance to the exotic woods used to hand craft each one to tonal perfection, every one has a song waiting to be played. Pick up an Eddy Finn and it's like a blast of warm sea air hitting your senses. Hand set ocean abalone, fishbone, herringbone's all here. But the truth? It has to sound great first or it's just a decoration hanging on a wall. Nobody wants that. At the core it has to be musical. It has to breathe.

Ohana Ukuleles Manufactures

Welcome to Ohana, where you will find the many hand-crafted ukulele models we offer - from soprano to baritone, mahogany to selected koa from the islands of Hawaii, conventional to vintage models, plus unique ones for those who are looking for something different.

At Ohana, our goal is to provide the highest quality product at a reasonable price. Every ukulele that leaves our warehouse is carefully inspected and set up for maximum playability. Yes that’s right — EVERY UKULELE, regardless of model and price. Should you compromise on quality just because you need an entry-level ukulele? We don’t think you should.

Magic Fluke Company Manufactures

The Magic Fluke Co. was started by Dale and Phyllis Webb in 1999 in the basement of our home in New Hartford Connecticut. Dale was inspired and encouraged by Phyllis’s brother Jim Beloff, an accomplished musician and guitarist who discovered the uke a few years earlier.

Luna Guitars Manufactures

Yvonne de Villiers, the accomplished stained-glass artist who envisioned Luna Guitars. Yvonne’s inspiration for a line of guitars designed to maximize playing comfort came from her mother, Hilda Williers, an electric bass player for more than 40 years.

RISA Musical Instruments GmbH Manufactures

RISA Musical Instruments is a young innovative company. They design, produce and distribute small stringed instruments. Niche products with volume potential are our main focus.

Gold Tone Instrument Company Luthiers

<img class="float-left" src="/images/ukulele/instruments/GoldTone_TenorBanjoUke.png" alt="" width="65" height="200" />Gold Tone Banjos, located in Titusville, Florida was founded by Wayne and Robyn Rogers in 1993. Active folk musicians in the 70’s and 80’s, they opened Strings N’ Things Music Center in 1978. In 1993 Wayne designed the original TB-100 Travel Banjo and began manufacturing and distributing the “Traveler” mail order. After a wonderful review by Banjo Newsletter, the TB-100 became very much in demand. As the company grew, new innovations were combined with proven vintage designs. Dealers and customers continued to request quality banjos in a reasonable price range and soon Gold Tone’s collection included 5 strings, 6 strings, Banjitars, Mando Banjos, 4 strings, Weissenborns, metal bodies, resonator guitars and mandolins.

Hinkle Ukulele Luthiers

The process of crafting many Hinkle Ukulele begins with a fallen tree. I harvest logs from trees that have come down and might otherwise become firewood. I mill planks from the logs and air-dry them for years before re-sawing the wood for ukulele parts. The parts are made and assembled in my little woodshop/music studio. Each individually crafted ukulele is then finished and set up with quality strings and tuners. The last part of the process involves a little breaking-in jam with each instrument to make sure it plays well and sounds good.

Bass Ukulele Strings

Kala Brand Music Company Manufactures

Mike Upton is the founder of Kala Brand Music Co. in northern California. Established in 2005, Kala builds 140-plus models of ukulele, including travel and bass variations.Kala and Makala brand of ukuleles.

Aquila Strings Strings

Gut strings were already produced in Padoa, Verona, Venice, Treviso and Vicenza since the beginning of the 17th century. Documents of the time show that such production lasted uninterruptedly well into the 20th century. Locally produced strings, thanks to their superior quality, were exported abroad in big quantity, as proven by numerous recently discovered archival sources.

Worth Strings by Worth Creation Strings

100% Fluoro-carbon Ukulele Strings &ldquo;Worth Strings&rdquo; is made of an special material called Fuluoro carbon. The features are a clear sound and a good balance, so it can be adaptive not only for solo play but also for stroke(strumming) play. Therefore, despite &ldquo;Worth Strings&rdquo; is higher price many people choose them, because the length is longer than other company&rsquo;s string, and you can get two from one of our strings sets as long as normal size ukulele.

Ashbory Bass

A Short scale silicone rubber strings in conjunction with piezo-electric transducer technology.

The revolutionary Ashbory Bass is completely unique. It utilities short scale silicone rubber strings in conjunction with piezo-electric transducer technology. The signal is enhanced by on-board active circuitry and fed to any bass amplifier.

The Ashbory Bass is now being manufactured and distributed by Fender/Guild as the 'DeArmond Ashbory Bass'. This is the full story of how it all happened.

Here are a list of related to the Ashbury Bass

  • Ashbory The Official Story by Nigel Thornbory - The Story of the Ashbory Bass as told by its originators
  • WidipediA: Ashbory Bass - [ link ]

    The Ashbory bass, designed by Alun Ashworth-Jones and Nigel Thornbory, is an 18-inch scale fretless (but marked) electric bass developed in 1985. This scale is just over half of the 34-inch scale of an ordinary bass guitar. When amplified, the Ashbory produces a low, resonant bass tone similar to the tone of a pizzicato (plucked) double bass.

  • Ashbory Bass Resource - www.largesound.com
  • Bass Ukulele / Ashbory Bass - [ link ]
  • AshboryBass.com - www.ashborybass.com
  • Fender - Ashbory Bass - [ link ]
  • Ashbory Bass Page - [ link ]

De Armond Pickups

DeArmond instruments are no longer available for purchase, but they have made their support materials available. On their site you&rsquo;ll find product information, technical specifications, and troubleshooting information. DeArmond is part of&nbsp;Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

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