Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I didn't know silver-plated nylon ones would work with a magnetic pickup. They're easier to find than the SC ones, which seem to be out of stock everywhere but Kala itself.
I've got the FLPUK2QM, which is the first one but a greenish tan quilted maple. It cost about $50 open box from Amazon a few years ago to be a mandolin project (boring discourse about 4- and 8- string electric mandolins omitted) but was superseded right away by a Fender acoustic/electric with magnetic pickup, and later by a solid body 8-string electric mandolin as well.
Now it's a bass project if some strings of any kind can make it EADG. Its neck is not that much smaller than my Sonic Bronco's or old Washburn-Lyon's. I think it's actually thicker than the mini Strat's but not as long.
Hold on a second.
Do *not* get the KA-BASS-5 (or -4, for that matter), that was the object of the OP's question, and meant for the poster only. Silver-plated (copper?) roundwound on nylon-core strings would *not* work with a magnetic pickup, and I said as much in my post above.
[I'm off to a doctor's appointment but I'll get back to you.]
All right, here goes.
Specifically
@GwennyG:
assuming you are dead set on repurposing the Vorson LP solid-body electric tenor ukulele as a uke bass (standard, bass-octave EABG), if the two types of Kala-branded roundwounds were the only options, there is no doubt those you linked (
KA-BASS-4-SC) would be a better option than those the OP linked (
KA-BASS-4, no further letters), for one simple reason: the latter wouldn't be able to be sensed by the magnetic pickups on your Vorson, because neither the nylon in the core, nor the silver in the plating, nor, to any appreciable degree, the metal under the silver (probably copper) are magnetically-active.
However, this does not mean the 4-SC set is ideal for your purpose, for the reasons I outlined in my post above:
- even though the Vorson does have adjustable saddles in the bridge, the amount of backward travel they have might prove to be insufficient for much larger steel-core, nickel-wound strings to intonate correctly — in which case, you'd have to reinstall the bridge a ways (probably within a cm) back, i.e. away from the neck, closer to the butt of the body
- on a 17.3" scale, as opposed to 23.5" as factory-intended, the strings may be too loose for steel strings, which means a very unruly pitch envelope with all but the lightest plucking and fretting touch
- the onset of audible, unpleasant chorusy tone might be as low as the upper money-fret zone (5th to 10th fret, or even lower), whereas said chorusy area would be further up the fretboard on the intended platform (their new 23.5" solid-bodies).
As I said, whenever they come out with a 5-string set, using the lowest four from it, tuned standard E to G on the Vorson, would raise tension and solve the sproingy pitch issue, but make the intonation and chorusy-tone ones worse.
That was the
pars destruens. What on Earth *could* you use, then?
1- if you're willing to install a piezo pickup (and resign to keeping the original mag pickups disconnected, or replacing them with empty covers), the silver-on-nylon set would become a viable option - their having a more flexible core would make intonation easier to achieve (nylon strings require less saddle compensation) as well as yield a much lower inharmonic (chorus-effect) component; as regards the tension problem, a nylon-core also ensures a less jumpy pitch, but I would suggest you, as I have mattzink, get the 5-string set (
KA-BASS-5), and use the 125 string as your E, so as to have some more tension for your plucking hand to work with
2- there exists one, specific string set made for a magnetic-pickup ukulele bass (the now-discontinued Big Island EBU by Hosco), namely the
Dogal UBS162:
Corde per Ukubass | Dogal
Dogal UBS162 UKUBASS Nickel wound String SET Ukulele Bass ukulele
The crucial aspect is that they're rope-core (aka stranded-core, i.e. braided), which makes them flexible enough to work at that scale even though they're all-metal. Basically, a supershort-scale version of their own Jonas Hellborg signature strings
3- alternatively, if you're interested in flats, you could try the
Kala KA-BASS-4FW (a.k.a.
Galli UXB910C), specifically the 20.5" scale version (there is a longer, 23" scale one):
Galli KA-BASS-4FW Chrome Steel Flat Wound Ukulele Bass, 20.5 Scale
Now, the latter suggestion would well appear counterintuitive after all I said about nyloncore strings, which these also are.
However, multiple reports on these very boards attest to the Kala/Galli flats working on mag-pickupped minibasses, albeit with reduced output (a pedal of some kind boosting the signal, or keeping the gain knob on the amp dimed, or nearly so, can help), by virtue of them having enough magnetically-active mass in their wrap (between the chrome-steel ribbon outer wrap, and the steel underwindings) to be 'legible' by the pickups, even though their core isn't
4- does it *have* to be tuned to standard bass-octave EADG?
Tuning it to guitar-octave EADG ("piccolo bass" tuning) would be a lot easier. In this case, I would consider the lowest four from a baritone guitar set (really anything with the lowest string between
058 and
090 should work - if interested try a bunch, and zero in on what you like).
