Got my 6 string bass back w Kahler Hybrid!

Hello all...cool site!
My name is Juan R Leon, and I have been playing bass for over 35 yrs now.I am bassist for Jupiter Groove. We are an instrumental trio out of Orlando, FL. We play "improgroovinstrumetal". I also am part of an ambient duo called Ollin where I play mostly soundscapes,Chapman Stick, Native American and Japanese Shakuhachi Flute.
I recently acquired a Kahler Hybrid 6 String Bass trem that I will be putting on my SoundGear SR506. I am new to the 6 string trem but not to trems in general. In the 80's I had a Hondo P-Bass copy with a Kahler trem. I loved that thing!!! Unfortunately it was stolen (along with a nice 1974 Ric 4001) back in '92.
As of this post, my SoundGear is at The Guitar Factory in Orlando having it's trem fitted. I will be tuning that bass EADGCF as I don't really dig low B's on basses and I just think that the higher register is where a trem really shines anyway.
Well, that's it.

More info at
Jupiter Groove
Juan R Leon





And this lil' guy...

Greetings Juan! Welcome to BTF!

You have a great collection!

Got my bass back this past week...and..WOWZIE WOW~~~~~~!!!!!
She's a beast!



Doug Montgomery and Bill Fells,owners of Guitar Factory, employed their luthier wizardry skills when installing the trem on my Sound Gear. They had to move some of the bass's electronics around in the route cavity and had to contend with the slim lower bout. As you can see, the lower right corner of the bridge's bezel hangs over the input jack's cavity...no biggie as it does not interfere with being plugged in. I originally wanted to tune it EADGCF..well..the F string broke within 10 mins of some serious bar up-pulls..I didn't have an extra F so I went for the standard BEADGC tuning. I still want to experiment with the high F configuration though, and I certainly will revisit it in the future.

Initial thoughts....

1. The action is a tad higher than I like. I am used to absolute low action. Due to the SR 506's lower bout concave contours and rather shallow profile, the Kahler had limited room for a lower mounting profile. As such, the neck was shimmed to prevent buzzing and acct for proper intonation. Bill said he will gladly continue with tweaks till I get a good action profile. One thing he said I have to keep in mind is the spring tension when adjusting the saddle height and intonation. It's a give and take scenario where a happy medium can be obtained with patience and proper adjustments. Well, I have little to no experience with Kahler Trem setups. If anyone has some advice it will be greatly appreciated!

2. Dive downs are extreme and seriously teeth rattling! I want a little more wiggle room on the up-pulls.

3. Tension. The trem, though expressive and sensitive, seems a little stiff. I know there is a way to adjust the spring tension somewhat. I just have never done it!

4. I'm excited and am already exploring new playing techniques by simple necessity. I love instruments and tools that open up creative channels..a true testament to innovation on Kahler's part!

Awesome bass, Juan!

A couple of observations. Due to the concave shape of the bass that you noted, I can understand whey installed the Kahler top-mounted, instead of counter-sinking into the body more. Other than my concerns over the corner of the frame running into the output jack, I would think you could still have it sunk down into the body a tiny bit more. It wouldn't take much to fix your action issue.

Personally, I have never been a fan of up-pulls. They always seem to pull the bass out of tune, and as you experienced, they also tend to break strings. But they do sound cool!

You have two sets of spring cams on your sixer trem, and the tension of the springs are governed by two allen head screws, which can be accessed through those two identical smaller holes set in-between the holes for the trem arm. I cannot recall the size of the screws, though.

Bill is indeed correct in that getting a Kahler set up properly is a balancing act. It require time, patience, and a willingness to experiment. Since tweaking one adjustment can end up affecting some of the others, it also helps to think in multi-dimensional terms when doing so. Just remember that almost anything you do can be un-done, so you won't do any permanent damage in experimenting a bit.

Thanx Eric!!!
Bill and Doug said they will continue to tweak the bass as needed as part of the setup ( no extra charge). They have suggested a full neck cavity shim that would bring the neck profile up a bit. I will suggest countersinking the unit a bit..even an 1/8" would make a big difference. Heck...I'm willing to have the output jacked moved if it'll help.
I adjusted the tension springs the other day..feels better. I still want that low action so I will be going back to Guitar Factory and doing some tweaks...shoot...I may even try my hand at the countersink....maybe... ;')

Awesome, Juan! Let us know how it turns out!

Don't shim the neck. I mean, you can do whatever you want. There are several pictures of countersinks I have done on almost every kahler install I've done from custom builds, to p basses, to my first install - an ibanez..

Countersinking the kahler bass just looks better. Doesn't look like an 8th grader installed it. The pocket needs to be routed anyway. While your there ... It takes 5 min.

Kahlers sit higher than standard bass bridges bechause of the mechanics. You can only put the roller saddles down so far, so you gotta go somewhere? I recommend down.

Ooh, sorry!

Welcome to BTF!