Does having a pickup ruin the acoustic sound of the uke?

I only have one uke and it is acoustic (Mainland Concert). i would like to eventually either get a pickup or a mic. Since I would probably still play mostly acoustic, I was just wondering if getting a pickup installed would somehow damper or ruin the natural acoustic sound.

I have a few ukes with pickups in them.
This too was a concern of mine when I had my first one put in.

The answer...no. You're good.

agreed. everything sounds the same.
uke + guitar sounds great. you should try it.

I was worried it would make a difference when I got a soundboard transducer installed in my Flea. After all, it's actually glued to the inside of the soundboard. Luckily, it didn't affect the acoustic sound/projection at all! Your Mainland won't suffer from a pickup installation.

I put an under-saddle piezo in my mahogany tenor a couple of weeks ago. No noticeable impact on the sound: volume and tone are unimpaired.

I now have the choice of playing into a mic or using the pickup. I'm happy.

I have a KoAloha with a built in pickup. It's sounds terrific either way.

thanks everyone

Thanks everyone who responded to the OP. I have been thinking about adding a pickup to my Kamaka but I was worried about having it affect the acoustic sound - particularly with a big old battery inside.

wickedwahine11 said:

Thanks everyone who responded to the OP. I have been thinking about adding a pickup to my Kamaka but I was worried about having it affect the acoustic sound - particularly with a big old battery inside.

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My Pineapple Sunday has a 9 volt with a battery case in it and I was concerned.
It's a velcro case and I can remove it.
I removed it and played it for awhile to get used to the tone.
I put the case back in and played it...no difference.

One thing you might consider is a MISI pickup that doesn't need a battery...no case...no battery...no problemo.

I think it depends upon which type of pickup you have installed. Not considering tone at all, a sound board transducer (SBT) type is extremely simple consisting only of an endpin jack and a "stick on" peizo element (or two in some cases). This is the least obtrusive pickup.
The other type, under saddle pickups (UST) have an element that is sandwiched between the bottom of the saddle and the bottom of the saddle slot. It's unlikely, but you could suffer some deterioration of sound if perfect contact of these three surfaces are not maintained. Inside the soundbox you've got a preamp and in some cases a battery and controls. I once installed a Fishman Matrix Infinity for a customer who insisted on it. The preamp was huge, the sound hole controls (volume, tone and bass) were bulky and of course there was the battery. It's my opinion that all of this stuff inside a tiny soundbox can not be good! MiSi pickups (battry less) are not a bad choice. They are light and simple.
I usually try to discourage people from installing pickups on their ukuleles unless they have a definite need for them. If you really need one, keep size and weight a priority. My bias comes in part from the stand point of being a builder. Luthiers take great pains to shave off grams of weight here and there in order to achieve good balance, weight and tone. Adding several ounces of metal and junk inside the soundbox just seems counter productive and defeats what we try to achieve.
No pickup is going to reproduce the sound of your ukulele as well as a microphone will. That's the best option IMO.
Another thing. If you have a cheap or poor sounding uke, adding a pickup probably won't make it sound any worse.

Don't worry about it. It will sound just fine.

Gcow55 said:

Don't worry about it. It will sound just fine.

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Despite all I said, I think you are correct!

MiSi seems like the way to go. 60 second change last something like 16 hours?

Also Guitar Center's in Los Angeles have Roland Microcube on sale for $90 while supplies last.

I like using pickups on stage for more gain before feedback. All 8 of my ukuleles have pickups and the other 6 I installed myself. It costs less than $10 bucks (less than $5 bucks if you have some of the material already) to make one. I used Dave at Waverly Street Ukes method. The instructions and where to get the materials are in this thread:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8560

Ronnie Aloha said:

Also Guitar Center's in Los Angeles have Roland Microcube on sale for $90 while supplies last.

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I have two of those, along with most other brands of battery powered amplifiers:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5333

I also recommend the Vox DA5:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vox-DA5-Portable-Amplifier-?sku=482065

It has twice the power with the addition of a seperate microphone input and it's own volume control. That along with the auxilliary jack allows you to amplify your uke, while amplifying your voice, while amplifying your MP3 player all at the same time!. Ric

Just to add... I have had an acoustic Mainland and a Mainland with the built in under saddle p'up. There was no noticeable acoustic tonal differences.

I'm a pickup designer as well as a uke (and guitar and bass) builder. If you need to be heard from a stage, optimize a uke (or guitar) for amplification and get over it re. any witch hunt about sound. A set of strings two weeks old will sound more different from brand new than putting a pickup...even an undersaddle pickup...into your uke. I would never suggest putting a pickup into a valuable vintage/collectible uke; just play into a mic. But if you really want to be heard, have an acoustic-electric uke that just sounds great plugged in.