Cost for putting pickup on Uke

Toying with the idea of installing a device on my tenor. Any ideas of what this costs? Howie

I'd be interested in hearing what people say as well. Toying with putting an under saddle pickup on mine (or buying a new electro uke; that would be awful wouldn't it, having to buy another one!!!!)

About $75 for the install (doesn't include pickup itself.)

That's what Brian at KoAloha quoted.

As far as cost, you can buy and pay to install a good Sound board Transducer (SBT) such as a K&K Big Shot Internal for well under $100 (McIntyre's are much more expensive). Under saddle Transducers (UST) will be much more expensive to buy and more expnsive to install. I would figure at least $150 - $200 to purchase and install PROPERLY (getting the string to string balance can take a LOT of time/money). With either, you must use a preamp (some of the UST's come with an internal preamp, which does add noticeable weight to the ukulele).

Here's the K&K link:
http://www.kksound.com/bigshotinternal.html

In the for what it's worth category as you will get a bunch of differing opinions on pickups, here's my recommendation:

I much prefer soundboard transducers (SBT) to undersaddle transducers (UST) on ukuleles. The smaller body of a ukulele works very nicely with SBT's, and the sound reproduction is very faithful. On my 4 ukuleles, I have 2 different pickups. Both of my Kanileas have McIntyre Feather pickups, my Mainland and Kala both have K&K Big Shot Internal. I like the McIntyres slightly better, this, however, could be a function of them ( the McIntyre Feathers) being installed in much better (and much more expensive) ukuleles. I find I have to EQ the K&K's more but, again, that is probably the ukuleles themselves. You MUST use a preamp with any of these pickups. I use a Fishman Aura Spectrum (I am mainly a guitar player). When I use Aura with the ukuleles, I am using it (the Aura) only as a preamp, no imaging.

I should mention that my Kala had a UST in it (LR Baggs Element with Mi-Si preamp). I pulled the pickup and preamp out almost immediately. UST's (IMO) in ukuleles just don't sound like the ukulele, they sound like a BAD higher pitched cheap guitar. I use UST's on all of my guitars so I like the pickups in bigger bodied instruments. Another MAJOR problem with UST's is string to string balance. The balance on my Kala was horrendous, which didn't matter, as I was taking it out anyway. The saddle slot and bottom of the saddle MUST be perfectly flat to have proper string balance (Something you don't have to fight with a SBT).

Jimmy

I was quoted $60 by a local shop to install a mi-si.

My husband installed Mi-Si pick-ups in a couple of ukes for me, for free. (Well, no money changed hands, anyway. )

The pick-ups themselves cost about $110 or so. I know a lot of luthiers use them, and I believe there is a Uke Minutes episode showing Joe Sousa of Kanilea showing how to install a Mi-Si.

1 misi ~ $120 with shipping
1 cheap drillbit set from harbor freight ~ $5
(already own a drill)
1 1/2" spade bit ~ $4

total ~ $129 if you can get your hands on a drill and only $9 actual installation cost

I had a K&K retrofitted in my Flea by the factory. $75. Included cost of parts, installation, and return shipping. Not bad! Probably the most affordable pickup that I'd feel comfortable installing in a higher-end uke like a K-brand.

anyone got any experience with the Schaller oyster style transducers?

For what it's worth, for the average player's situation I find under-saddle pickups very much more effective than stick-ons.

They are very much less prone to feedback, and they pick up much less handling noise. That is true on ukulele, guitar and mandolin. There is no uncertainty about positioning - they go under the saddle! With stick-ons it can be necessary to experiment to find the best spot. The optimum position for a stick-on is rarely exactly where the manufacturer suggests, which isn't surprising when you consider the idiosyncrasies of individual instruments.

Shadow do a very reasonable passive under-saddle uke pick-up for about £45 GBP. It comes with an endpin jack. Combined with a decent external preamp it is light, robust, sounds good and is pretty resistant to feedback and handling noise.

On various instruments I've tried stick-on bugs by K&K, Schaller, Barcus-Berry, Belcat, Fishman, Baggs and others. Some are pretty good, some are cr@p, however IMHO a decent under-saddle is more practical.

The default choice for manufacturers of electro acoustic instruments is usually an under-saddle pickup. IMHO there are good reasons for that.

YMMV.

[/ :2cents:]

Under saddle for the win stick on sbt is low tech might as well step up to the new age. As for kk sound i would only run it on a cheap uke its not worth putting a $30 pickup on a $1000 uke.

leftovermagic84 said:

as low as 10 bucks

Click to expand...

I agree. Okay, the sound won't be as good as an under-saddle, but if cost is your big issue, then I say go for it. It's cheap, easy, and it works.

Here's a video how-to I made
DIY piezo pickup

Free-99 if you do it yourself. I got all the parts at Radio Shack ala Waverly Street website for under $10.00, just gotta make time to do it.

I am a devotee of soundboard transducers. They are far better than undersaddle pickups because they pick up the resonance of the instrument - which is what you hear acoustically - and not just the vibration of the strings. To my ears, a $30 SBT sounds way better than a $200 undersaddle.

I used a Schaller Oyster stick-on with my Flea for a few years, with great results, until it stopped working. I replaced it with a similar $30 stick-on from a cheapo brand, which sounded great too.

Currently I use a Flea with a factory-installed K&K SBT. Amazing sound. I get complimented on the natural sound all the time.

5 dollars for a mediocre piezo pickup. I have one, its usable.