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Another attack of UAS
22 May 2010
UAS, in ukespeak, stands for Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome. It's a disease that afflicts many ukulele aficionados and drives them to want to own every ukulele they see. It appears to be spread through Web sites and forums that cater to the uke. While not fatal, it can severely impact disposable income quantities.
UAS seems to be a fairly recent illness, maybe one of those emerging diseases like Ebola or Hanta virus that sprang from some hitherto fore unknown reservoir, jumping across species until it landed on humans and took hold. A couple of decades ago, in the Paleozoic of the Net, UAS was unknown, merely a rumour backed by no epidemiological data. Today it's a full blown epidemic that has created dozens of ukulele manufacturers taking advantage of its rapidly growing spread. The ukulele is, today, the best-selling musical instrument. Shades of the 1920s, eh!
I appear to be a sufferer, one of thousands. Whenever I see a different, new or unusual uke, I want it. I want to hold it, strum it, pick its strings, watch the glint of sunlight on its grain, feel its heft, lovingly caress its slender neck, press it against my body while I pluck out a tune... I've gone through perhaps two dozen ukes in the same number of months. And still I long for another when its image shows up on some forum or a manufacturer's site. Call me fickle, I don't care. I don't want a cure, I want more ukes!
Friday, I took possession of my umpteenth ukulele. I don't actually own every one I've bought. I trade them, and sell them, even give them away, in order to acquire another. I have 10, maybe 12. I'm not sure. It gets fuzzy when I count them in my head and I can't recall if this one or that one is still under the living room hutch or in my office cupboard. Or was it sold to make room for that one on the dining room table? I have to go and physically count them to be sure.
Anyway, the latest is a hybrid. It's a bass ukulele, more correctly a Kala U-bass. It's a 20-inch acoustic bass with rubber strings and four piezoelectric pickups (one per string). It's the same scale as my baritone uke, a fraction of the length of a typical electric bass (30-36" depending on style and maker), and less than half an orchestral double bass (42-43"). The strings are fat. They're called "Pahoehoe strings" after a black, ropey lava known in Hawaii. They're soft, too, and a little squirmy, so I need to hone my fingering techniques to keep them under my tips and not wriggling out.
The technology behind the U-bass is rather new. Kala paired with Owen Holt, owner and designer for Road Toad Music. Owen had produced some custom ukulele basses in the past (his 'Big Bufo' line), but the price put them in the upper end of the scale and not generally accessible to the average uke-buyer. Pairing with Kala allowed him to create a workable design that could be mass-produced, and sold at a price more of us could afford. The U-bass isn't as nicely built as any of Owen's own work, but for the pluckers among us, it's just fine.
The only instrument I've seen that compares with the U-bass if Fender's shorter Ashbory bass. It however has not received the same sort of rave reviews the U-bass has garnered.
Of course, you have to want to play bass to make this a worthwhile acquisition - and have the appropriate venue and equipment to do so. Bass isn't like guitar and an acoustic uke bass is very, very quiet. So quiet in fact that without amplification it's hard to hear more than a few feet away, especially the lower notes. I don't have the equipment, so I have a minor problem. Rectifiable, but not without a cost (I don't suffer from AAS - amplifier acquisition syndrome - yet).
As for playing, I actually belonged to a garage band in the mid-1960s as the bass player. Over the years I've played a bit, and owned a few (the Supra short-scale - 25" - was my favourite) albeit not within the past two decades. So my bass skills are a trifle rusty. There's a bit of mindset re-orientation required, since the bass is tuned to the standard E-A-D-G while my ukes are generally G-C-E-A (well, except the baritone, which is D-G-B-E). Consider it another challenge.
I took the U-bass downtown to Blue Mountain Music today to try it through one of their bass amps. My, my, my. What a nice sound. Fat, full and very organic. A lot like a standup bass, with that slappy-wet sound, but punchy, too. People hearing the sound on the street stopped to look in and gazed agog at this little instrument cranking out such rotund tones. I had to smile because it really is an unexpected sound from something that looks so innocuous.
It's not a toy. Bass players on several forums have written its praises, and Paul Simon's bass player apparently is using one on the latest tour. It's a competent pro-level instrument. I think what throws people is its size. This is equally true of the ukulele itself. We're simply accustomed to equating professionalism with larger instruments and thinking of smaller ones as toys or novelties.
I'll have more to say on the U-bass on my ukulele review pages in the next few days.
I appear to be a sufferer, one of thousands. Whenever I see a different, new or unusual uke, I want it. I want to hold it, strum it, pick its strings, watch the glint of sunlight on its grain, feel its heft, lovingly caress its slender neck, press it against my body while I pluck out a tune... I've gone through perhaps two dozen ukes in the same number of months. And still I long for another when its image shows up on some forum or a manufacturer's site. Call me fickle, I don't care. I don't want a cure, I want more ukes!
Friday, I took possession of my umpteenth ukulele. I don't actually own every one I've bought. I trade them, and sell them, even give them away, in order to acquire another. I have 10, maybe 12. I'm not sure. It gets fuzzy when I count them in my head and I can't recall if this one or that one is still under the living room hutch or in my office cupboard. Or was it sold to make room for that one on the dining room table? I have to go and physically count them to be sure.
Anyway, the latest is a hybrid. It's a bass ukulele, more correctly a Kala U-bass. It's a 20-inch acoustic bass with rubber strings and four piezoelectric pickups (one per string). It's the same scale as my baritone uke, a fraction of the length of a typical electric bass (30-36" depending on style and maker), and less than half an orchestral double bass (42-43"). The strings are fat. They're called "Pahoehoe strings" after a black, ropey lava known in Hawaii. They're soft, too, and a little squirmy, so I need to hone my fingering techniques to keep them under my tips and not wriggling out.
The technology behind the U-bass is rather new. Kala paired with Owen Holt, owner and designer for Road Toad Music. Owen had produced some custom ukulele basses in the past (his 'Big Bufo' line), but the price put them in the upper end of the scale and not generally accessible to the average uke-buyer. Pairing with Kala allowed him to create a workable design that could be mass-produced, and sold at a price more of us could afford. The U-bass isn't as nicely built as any of Owen's own work, but for the pluckers among us, it's just fine.
The only instrument I've seen that compares with the U-bass if Fender's shorter Ashbory bass. It however has not received the same sort of rave reviews the U-bass has garnered.
Of course, you have to want to play bass to make this a worthwhile acquisition - and have the appropriate venue and equipment to do so. Bass isn't like guitar and an acoustic uke bass is very, very quiet. So quiet in fact that without amplification it's hard to hear more than a few feet away, especially the lower notes. I don't have the equipment, so I have a minor problem. Rectifiable, but not without a cost (I don't suffer from AAS - amplifier acquisition syndrome - yet).
As for playing, I actually belonged to a garage band in the mid-1960s as the bass player. Over the years I've played a bit, and owned a few (the Supra short-scale - 25" - was my favourite) albeit not within the past two decades. So my bass skills are a trifle rusty. There's a bit of mindset re-orientation required, since the bass is tuned to the standard E-A-D-G while my ukes are generally G-C-E-A (well, except the baritone, which is D-G-B-E). Consider it another challenge.
I took the U-bass downtown to Blue Mountain Music today to try it through one of their bass amps. My, my, my. What a nice sound. Fat, full and very organic. A lot like a standup bass, with that slappy-wet sound, but punchy, too. People hearing the sound on the street stopped to look in and gazed agog at this little instrument cranking out such rotund tones. I had to smile because it really is an unexpected sound from something that looks so innocuous.
It's not a toy. Bass players on several forums have written its praises, and Paul Simon's bass player apparently is using one on the latest tour. It's a competent pro-level instrument. I think what throws people is its size. This is equally true of the ukulele itself. We're simply accustomed to equating professionalism with larger instruments and thinking of smaller ones as toys or novelties.
I'll have more to say on the U-bass on my ukulele review pages in the next few days.
