Installing a pickup

So yeah, i was just curious, if i wanted to install a pickup into a uke, would it require drilling a hole into the precious body of the uke?

And what good pickups are there? (I have no idea what passive and active pickup differ in)

I asked the musician here, and she told me that some just needed to be attached, some needed an extra hole to plug it in. And some ukes aren't meant to be 'drilled', because if they knock it on the weak spot after the drilling, it might crack the poor ol' uke.

http://ukuleleunderground.com/2009/11/uke-minutes-69-how-to-install-an-ukulele-pickup/
I'm pretty sure there are some that stick on the outside if you don't want to drill, but I have no idea how well they pick up the sound. I'm sure someone will help you out with some info on the differences between the types or you can always try doing a search for the info. I also think this is the perfect chance to go out and buy a new ukulele with a pick up already installed. That's what I did.

Active pick-up = battery needed. Passive pick-up = no battery. That's as much as I can help.

Is there such a theory where active pickups give more punch compared to Passive pickups?

Lexxy said:

Is there such a theory where active pickups give more punch compared to Passive pickups?

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Acitve pickups just means that there is a preamplifier (preamp) with the pickup. The signal from a pickup by itself is very small so for some amplifiers that do not include their own pickups to bring to signal strength up, you need a preamp or an active pickup. The other thing an active pickup does is give you the ability to adjust tone and volume before it gets to the big amp. For some passive pickups (no preamp) I have read several reports of the tone not being to peoples liking, so some way to adjust it is a good idea. Hope that helps.

By the way there are several pickups (both with and without preamps) that just attach to the outside of the uke. The K&K Big Shot come to mind. You can buy external preamps too. I think the Reverand Will says he has one in a foot pedal.

Thanks for the explanation SweetWaterBlue


Sadly, i am totally inexperienced in such things, therefore i do not know how things work around it. All i know is Fishman acoustics pickup, and MiSi trio pickup. HAHAHA.

There really isn't much to a preamp, and many people on limited budgets build there own. Of course, if you have no technical skills it is detinitely easier to just buy one. From reviews I have read (most recently on the Lanikai STEQ), the quality of the cheap Asian pickups can vary quite a bit, so you might even be better off with an external preamp that you can change easily if you don't like it.

There are some here that do actually play passive pickups without preamps and are happy with them. Maybe some will chime in.

Not to get too technical, but the biggest problem with piezo pickups (as opposed to most steel string guitar pickups) is that the piezos have something called high output impedance. In order to get the maximum power transfer between your pickup or a microphone its best to match the impedance as closely as possible to the amplifiers input impedance, especially if you are going to also input guitars or mics into the same amp. The preamp does that for you, as well.

Skitzic said:

Active pick-up = battery needed. Passive pick-up = no battery. That's as much as I can help.

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Not always true, the Mi-Si is considered an active system, but has a capacitor not a battery.

These Dualie stick-on pick-ups work pretty well and don't require any surgery.
http://shop.mainlandukuleles.com/pr...1B4181.qscstrfrnt05?productId=30&categoryId=2

hoosierhiver said:

Not always true, the Mi-Si is considered an active system, but has a capacitor not a battery.

These Dualie stick-on pick-ups work pretty well and don't require any surgery.
http://shop.mainlandukuleles.com/pr...1B4181.qscstrfrnt05?productId=30&categoryId=2

Click to expand...

I have a Dualie I use on acoustic ukuleles and I am quite pleased.
I like being able to use it on whatever ukulele I am playing as it is easy to move from uke to uke.
I've even used it on a guitar once in a while.
I had a MiSi installed on my DaSilva nad it is really nice as well.