Have you installed a MiSI Acoustic Trio?

ukemunga · Oct 31, 2012

I put one in my Mainland red cedar pineapple yesterday. Sound quality, tone, etc. is great. But output volume seems very low.

I've tried it on 2 different amps, a Behringer 15w AT108 acoustic, and a fender tube amp that's a very good one - not sure of the wattage.

Pretty much have to crank the volume up on both amps to 8 and above to get any real sound output and maxed there's too much background hum.

Know anything about inexpensive preamps? Or did I botch the install?

Don't think I botched it... took my time and followed instructions exactly.

Any insight much appreciated.

Fred

hoosierhiver · Oct 31, 2012

Be sure the unit is charged up well.
Look at how the wire is laying in the bridge groove, is it flat or kind of on it's side? Sometimes with smaller ukes the groove should be widened a little for better contact.
Also the tension of a soprano pushing the saddle against the pick-up wire is less than with larger instruments, this might cause lower volume.

ukemunga · Oct 31, 2012

hoosierhiver said:
Be sure the unit is charged up well.
Look at how the wire is laying in the bridge groove, is it flat or kind of on it's side? Sometimes with smaller ukes the groove should be widened a little for better contact.
Also the tension of a soprano pushing the saddle against the pick-up wire is less than with larger instruments, this might cause lower volume.

Thanks, Mike. I just did a bit more saddle sanding and repositioned the pickup - it is a little tight side-to-side - but much better! I'm a happy camper. Thanks for your help.

Also, I'm using Fremont Blackline medium tension strings. Would higher tension strings help?

hoosierhiver · Oct 31, 2012

ukemunga said:
Also, I'm using Fremont Blackline medium tension strings. Would higher tension strings help?

I always encourage people to experiment, give it a try.

dkcrown · Oct 31, 2012

I have installed four of them in various ukes. How the saddle fits in the bridge is key, as well as what Mike said about the width of the slot to accomodate the wire. It should be loose enough so that the saddle exerts enough downward pressure on the wire, but not so loose as to rock back and forth in the bridge slot. Also Chuck Moore gave me a little tip that he uses when installing the MiSi. Sand an extremely slight, large radius on the bottom of the saddle. That way when the saddle rocks forward under the tension of the strings, the bottom will remain in good contact with the wire. If the saddle is too loose in the bridge slot and rocks forward from the string tension, with a flat edge on the bottom of the saddle there will be contact with the wire only along the front edge of the saddle. This will result in lower volume from the pickup.

Also, drill two holes in the slot for the wire, one to feed it in and the other to feed it out. Run the leading edge of the wire back into the uke body by a half inch or so.

Hope this helps.

ukemunga · Oct 31, 2012

dkcrown said:
I have installed four of them in various ukes. How the saddle fits in the bridge is key, as well as what Mike said about the width of the slot to accomodate the wire. It should be loose enough so that the saddle exerts enough downward pressure on the wire, but not so loose as to rock back and forth in the bridge slot. Also Chuck Moore gave me a little tip that he uses when installing the MiSi. Sand an extremely slight, large radius on the bottom of the saddle. That way when the saddle rocks forward under the tension of the strings, the bottom will remain in good contact with the wire. If the saddle is too loose in the bridge slot and rocks forward from the string tension, with a flat edge on the bottom of the saddle there will be contact with the wire only along the front edge of the saddle. This will result in lower volume from the pickup.

Also, drill two holes in the slot for the wire, one to feed it in and the other to feed it out. Run the leading edge of the wire back into the uke body by a half inch or so.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info. I put a bit of a compensating slant on the bottom of the saddle per the instructions but the slight radius idea sounds like a good one. After twiddling with it again this morning it sounds much better. I wonder if adding the second drilled hole and feeding more of the pickup wire through as you suggest would further improve the sound? I suppose it's worth trying, certainly easy enough to do now.

Have you installed a MiSI Acoustic Trio?

ukemunga

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hoosierhiver

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ukemunga

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hoosierhiver

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dkcrown

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ukemunga

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