This is the fretted version of Kala's solid mahogany electro acoustic uBass, the uBass 1. The body is constructed from solid mahogany, giving this really cool bass a rich, woody tone. It is really innovative, with a compensated bridge, built in tuner, active Shadow pickup and 16 frets on a 20 inch scale. The polyurethane strings are an improvement on early uBass models, with more tension now available.

This is the fretted version, and there is a lot of debate over whether to go for the fretted or fretless version. Having looked into these debates, this comment, from Ukulele Underground, most matches our views on the subject - 'Many people (including me) like the freedom and smooth dynamics that fretless playing can give you. Fretless playing allows you to use semitones, deliberately create dissonance by coming in in front of or behind the tone, create unique slides and effects, and generally allow a different level of freedom and creativity that fretted playing does not.

However, that freedom comes at a price. Frets pretty much guarantee that as long as you hit somewhere behind the fret you mean to be playing, you're going to hit the right note; the fret stops the string vibration at a static place, so you don't need to be dead on. Fretless playing demands that a player have a level of accuracy and a true ear, because failing to finger the string at exactly the right place will result in a note that is sharp or flat. While that slight variation often characterizes fretless playing, it can rapidly turn into a horrible mess. So fretless playing requires a bit more focus and accuracy from the player.

When I'm playing long-scale bass guitar, fretless is awesome, and worth the effort. On a UBass, I think fretless would be a challenge. The shorter scale would place a huge premium on accuracy, since the short scale makes the difference between "close enough" and "awful" pretty tiny. I love my fretted UBass, but I'm not sure I'd have the courage to go fretless on a short-scale instrument. If you're not absolutely sure, I'd vote fretted.'

So would we.