under saddle pickups

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I have a concert Uke bridge and i Bought under saddle pickups but they dont fit in the groove. Is this common? Should i put it in just pushing until it goes in?. Another question is, if it goes under the saddle, wouldnt it make the saddle go up? does that matter?
 
Hi Juan,

Any chance you could snap a couple of pics for us to make it easier to envisage your problem?

As for the saddle going up: yes, an undersaddle element will raise the height of the saddle and thus the action. You'd need to remove enough material from the bottom of the saddle to compensate if you wanted the action to remain the same. I would recommend getting a couple of spare saddles from eBay or a luthier supplier and working on one of those. That way, if you mess up when sanding to height, you'll always have your original saddle to go back to if needed.
 
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the metal part is too wide to fit in the groove, should i push until it goes in? and the saddle i bought doesn,t fit either, and its to wide. Here are pictures of that too
 
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more pictures of the saddle, that is also very long, do you tink this is a concert saddle?
 
If the pickup is as wide as that saddle you got I sure wouldn't try to force it in - if the glove don't fit... Either the bridge needs to be routed out wider or you need a different pickup and saddle.

If the pickup is only a smidgen too wide, you might be able to use some sandpaper on a thin stick to carefully widen the groove, and the sand the side of the saddle on some sandpaper on a flat surface.
 
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Saddles don't particularly come in set sizes for the different uke scales (soprano, concert, tenor etc.), it's more just variation between different kinds of bridge from different makers.

Slimming the bridge saddle down is no big deal, just rub it on abrasive paper that is clamped to a flat surface.

It's the piezo element that may be trickier. If it is a cheap pickup I'd just try sanding away some material from each side and hope I didn't wreck the element. Rather that than start screwing with the bridge itself, unless you're experienced.

If it's a cheap element then the worst that can happen is that you wreck it and are out a few $. If it's an expensive pickup then I'd a) ask the retailer if I can return it for exchange or refund, b) take the whole lot to a shop and ask an experienced instrument tech to fit it for me, or b) Sell the pickup or put it away in a drawer and find one whose dimensions will fit the slot.
 
If you check online at the various pickup manufacturer's sites they will list the width of the pickup - you want one as close to the width of your saddle as possible, but better a little narrow than a little wide.

Some pickup mfrs make different widths, too. I think it's Fishman that makes (or made) two different widths.

John
 
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