Let's Touch Base

Larry's U-Basses

Let's touch base. Oh no! Let's touch BASS! Larry bought three ukulele basses this past weekend at an estate sale in the Valley. One bass was for our friend Natalie. He kept the other two. All three are the popular Kala brand U-Bass.There were two other ukulele basses at this sale, Gold Tone brand. The estate sale company had the basses listed at half or less than half of retail price. All were in excellent condition.

Check out those FAT strings!

The owner of these basses and many other instruments at this estate sale was Herb Mickman. He passed away in January. He was a respected musician and teacher in this town with quite a career behind him. You can read about his career in music HERE. Herb's students loved him. Here are a few of their comments. Larry and I were wondering why Herb owned so many of exactly the same make and model of ukulele bass. Maybe he bought them to sell to his students.

The young Herb Mickman. Inset, baby photo.

The two U-basses that Larry kept are standard Kalas. One is a bit fancier than the other. One has raised frets. One has markings where the frets should be.

Left: Fret Lines. Right: Actual Raised Frets.

Larry played bass for a very short time when he was in a garage band during high school. He has very good instincts and last night he was playing along with some music on TV and nailed the bass line. This is his perfect instrument!

Natalie's U-Bass

Above is the bass that Larry purchased for Natalie. She said that she's been plunking away on it just because she likes the sound. Now that we have three of these beauties, maybe we can get a group rate on some beginner lessons! Too bad Herb isn't around to teach us.