Would this work significantly better than a DIY p/u?

I was wondering about some of your thoughts about this item here and if you guys think the addition of the wood would give it any major improvement compared to a DIY "the shack" pickup

The wood enclosure helps to minimize feedback and handling noise.

Click to expand...

...Which to me says that it also damps some of what's coming off the top while you're playing.

--Mark

i was wondering the same thing. I saw these while looking for pickups last night.

That type of SBT piezo pickup can be extremely "hot"--very sensitive, and can cause feedback issues on better built instruments. When I must install this type (Hot Shot, Hilo, etc) I usually locate it as far from the bridge as possible, like right near the side of the soundbox. What this guy has done is reduce it's sensitivity by sandwiching the pickup in wood which I guess is a pretty good idea. Inexpensive ukes and most CBUs have thicker and thereby somewhat stiffer soundboards so my guess is that it might work OK.
I think this pickup is meant to be installed only in CBUs. Note that the endpin jack is very short and probably couldn't be mounted through a normal ukulele end block. So before you begin drilling a hole in a ukuele, make sure the mounting surface isn't too thick. With a CBU you wouldn't have that problem.
The price is right.

The Shack pickup is almost so hot as to be unusable without a preamp to tone it down. I would imagine that the addition of damping material should improve it somewhat.

well like most of you I've used simple transducer pickups...but unlike most of you, I use them near exclusively lol. I've never had a feedback "problem"...I've played them through amps and pa's, but I dont play with alot of people or electronics, so maybe thats the difference.

I also know Ted Crocker personally...he's a genuinely likeable, veneer loving, beer drinking, old school hippy. That guy is extremely talented, you should look at some of his guitars, homemade pickups, harmonica mics, stomp boxes etc...awesome stuff. He doesnt do alot of business off etsy...he just keeps it around for a little extra exposure. You can see more of his stuff at

http://tedcrocker.com/

He makes these for cigar box instruments and does sandwich them for feedback control, but also to protect the element, dull down noise coming from the body, clean up the look and ease the installation by using his adhesive. He could wire you a preamp if you'd like as well...the guy can do it all.

Ted has a bad foot (good lord, I wont link the pics), so he makes his living doing this stuff...consequently, all of his stuff is well made.

There's an undersaddle pickup on ebay which I have been looking at for a while now. Can't decide if I want to drill my uke though.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200314225057&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Ian.