Ohana Debuts a 28-Inch Scale Custom Shop Bass Built for Big Tone in a Small Package
Ohaha Music is a company that specializes in ukuleles. They’ve crafted ukulele-inspired basses in the past, but now they’ve branched out with the Ohana Custom Electric Bass, marking their first solid body electric bass offering.
“We started getting a lot of requests for a solid body electric bass, and I wanted to make something that was more portable than a short scale bass but is just as refined as a standard size instrument,” said Brad Kahabka, Ohana Master Luthier. “The bass we’ve developed travels well, feels great to play, and is a tool for advanced bassists as well as people looking to transition to bass from smaller instruments like uke or guitar.”
The made-to-order bass features a 28-inch scale, which is two inches shorter than a standard short scale length. Ohana builds it with a mahogany body topped with figured maple and adorned with abalone purfling. The mahogany neck is fitted with a rosewood fingerboard featuring Mother-of-Pearl inlays to match the logo inlay.
Ohana fitted the bass with a pair of their custom hand-wound single-coil pickups and passive electronics, complete with a Volume/Volume/Tone control layout. You can hear how the bass sounds in this demo by Abe Lagrimas, Jr.:
The Ohana Custom Shop Electric Bass comes in Emerald Green, Ocean Blue, Midnight Purple, and Wine Red. It’s available for order now with a price of $2,195.
Ohana Custom Shop Electric Bass Specs:
| Scale: | 28″ |
| Body: | Solid Mahogany |
| Top: | Solid Figured Maple, Carved Top |
| Neck: | Solid Mahogany |
| Fingerboard: | Rosewood |
| Fingerboard Radius: | 9.5″ |
| Frets: | 21 |
| Inlays: | Ohana Custom Trapezoidal Fretboard Markers, Mother-Of-Pearl |
| Pickups: | Ohana Custom Single Coil |
| Electronics: | Passive |
| Bridge: | 4-Saddle Bridge with Barrel Saddles |
| Tuners: | Gotoh |
| Finish: | Emerald Green, Ocean Blue, Midnight Purple, and Wine Red |
| Other: | Contoured Bevel Edges on Back, Custom 3D-printed Pickup Covers, Headstock Volute |
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
Any information about a left handed version? I really wish when you talk to a company that you would gather information on lefties. There’s lots of us out here and it would be a nice piece of information instead of us having to dig deeper.