Fluke/Flea pickups question

Has anyone compared a Flea (or Fluke) with the K & K soundboard pickup with a Flea with the B-Band UST pickup? I'm wondering if it's worth the extra $100 for the UST.

Greetings,

I am waiting for my Fluke Surf with K&K soundboard so I hope to be able to give you some feedback before mid april.

I did not choose the Bband pickup because of the battery. It seemns that you have to remove the strings in order to be able to change the battery when it is empty. It seems that you need small fingers to take it. So this is not for me...

Regards.

Thierry

I'm getting ready to order a custom Flea with a sinker redwood top (I'm providing the wood). If I go the UST route it will be with a Mi-Si Acoustic Trio, which circumvents the battery issue, but I'm trying to figure out if that's just overkill. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Not really of help here but I just got a used Flea with pickup the other day. I wasn't sure at first if it was active or passive pickup so asked the forum for information. It needed a battery so it was decided that it was an active pickup... which , I guess, leads it to be the B Band model/brand of pickup.

I'm only using a miniamp (Honeytone) but it's pretty loud for me. I end up not putting it to full volume. I really can't compare it with anything else as it's the only uke I have that has a pickup.

The battery is accessed through the back though. Not sure if it's the same with the flea.

Unfortunately, I got my Fluke very late and kept it only few days.
I did not liked the fact it "twisted" when I was playing.

So I can not give you feedback about the pickup.
I apologize?

Thierry

I ended up ordering a custom Flea with a MiSi pickup. I believe it will be the first one from the factory with a MiSi installed.

CPatch,

You probably will not regret it. I have a MiSi in my Boat Paddle and it truly sounds great.

Undersaddle piezos are loud and brighter since they work off pressure changes rather than vibration. The more pressure you put on them the louder and more present they sound. The only way to get an undersaddle in a Fluke or a Flea is at the factory, since once they put the saddle on, it doesn't really come off. I have heard there is also a different saddle Flea Market puts on the for B-Band pickup, but I have never seen it.

I bought a Flea off the shelf and installed a Barcus Berry Insider piezo just in front of the bridge. This seemed to be the sweetest spot. It sounds good but nowhere as loud and present as an undersaddle.

jkevinwolfe said:

You probably will not regret it. I have a MiSi in my Boat Paddle and it truly sounds great

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on it...should be a few more weeks.