Tiny Pickup

Jerryc41

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Last night, a friend had a tiny pickup on top of the bridge of his soprano. It was between the bridge and the strings, so that the strings held it in place. There was an opening for a mini plug. He's going to send me info on it. Have any of you ever seen anything like that?
 
Yes, I've seen it online for years. I have no experience with it, but I like the innovative thinking. If I'm not mistaken it was originally designed for guitars.


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It is passive. If that is going to make a difference it is something to note.
 
I have a UK-1. It's a good way to temporarily electrify your uke.

1) It only works on a tie-bridge.
2) You WILL need a pre-amp or DI to tame it. It quacks, a lot. I use a Behringer ADI-21, cheap & effective.
3) When I use it I worry about the jack end of the pickup catching on something and breaking.
4) It picks up Every. Little. Touch. On. The. Soundboard. Clean technique is imperative.
5) It is as true to sound as any other piezo pickup. See # 2. above.
 
You might consider an iRig Acoustic Stage if you are looking for a small, non-invasive pickup. Seems to have several advantages over the Kremona UK-1
 
The downside to the pickup you are referring to is that it’s a little on the fragile side. If you sit and play, no problem. If you move around, things happen. Because of the reviews I purchased an iRig Acoustic Stage about a month ago and was very happy. It does have a lone thin wire but it goes directly from the pickup (which is actually a microphone) to the unit on your belt. And unless you do summer salts while playing it should be good. Two weeks after receiving it I headed over to Mainland Uke and bought a mahogany tenor with a Mi-Si pickup from, Mike. So now, after using my iRig three times, it sits in a box. Oh well, such is life. lol Good luck in your search.
 
The downside to the pickup you are referring to is that it’s a little on the fragile side. If you sit and play, no problem. If you move around, things happen. Because of the reviews I purchased an iRig Acoustic Stage about a month ago and was very happy. It does have a lone thin wire but it goes directly from the pickup (which is actually a microphone) to the unit on your belt. And unless you do summer salts while playing it should be good. Two weeks after receiving it I headed over to Mainland Uke and bought a mahogany tenor with a Mi-Si pickup from, Mike. So now, after using my iRig three times, it sits in a box. Oh well, such is life. lol Good luck in your search.

This above. I had to try the iRig Acoustic Stage...............just because it was a cool idea. I goofed around with it for a bit and it has been sitting dormant in it's box as well. I have ukes with Misi and LR Baggs 5.0. The ease of plug and play and the good sound you get from these outweighs the hassle of the iRig.

I was curious about the Kremona and I appreciate the feedback given from others
 
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there's another configuration as a rod that is inserted under the strings in front of the saddle
where the tension of the strings on the saddle hold down the 'rod'.

I got one from a vendor at the Aloha Stadium Swapmeet for under $50.

sorry I don't have a picture or any manufacturer's details. The vendor sells mostly imported
'Chinese'(?) ukes at the Swapmeet.

I guess you'll just have to make a trip to HNL to check it out. I'd offer to get some for you
guys/gals, but I may not be back in HNL until November or July 2019 :)

PS the nice thing about this unit is that it is very easy to attach and detach on a whim.

keep uke'in',
 
there's another configuration as a rod that is inserted under the strings in front of the saddle
where the tension of the strings on the saddle hold down the 'rod'.

I got one from a vendor at the Aloha Stadium Swapmeet for under $50.

sorry I don't have a picture or any manufacturer's details. The vendor sells mostly imported
'Chinese'(?) ukes at the Swapmeet.

I guess you'll just have to make a trip to HNL to check it out. I'd offer to get some for you
guys/gals, but I may not be back in HNL until November or July 2019 :)

PS the nice thing about this unit is that it is very easy to attach and detach on a whim.

keep uke'in',

Uncle Rod! Thanks for your contributions to the world of ukulele!
 


Those piezo film pieces will be very difficult to solder a wire lead to without melting. I tried, and failed and killed 3 pieces just the same as in your link above. Even the soldering iron on a low setting melts the plastic insulator film if you heat the pins more than 1.5-2 seconds.

You can buy a pre-made version called the McIntyre Acoustic Feather:

https://www.bluestarmusic.com/McIntyre-UF-07-Acoustic-Feather-Ukulele-Pickup-wJack_p_934.html

There also used to be one made by Pick-Up-The-World, but last I checked it was discontinued.

However, there is a company called Cold Gold that makes contact microphones and pickups that have several models of piezo film pickups here: (scroll down to the section: "ALL PRODUCTS - PVDF Contact Microphones - Passive")

https://contactmicrophones.com/

and also some PVDF piezo film in a few sizes with wire leads attached already can be bought from Pin-Peg-Pickups, as well as a few different versions with an output jack already pre-wired here:

https://www.pinpegpickups.com/category-s/1818.htm
 
Uke Republic carries the Kremona pick-up. I also have a iRig acoustic that I don’t use anymore, now that I have MiSi pick-ups in most of my ukes. The iRig is ok, but can be tricky to fit on the sound hole depending on the thickness of the ukulele top. As someone else mentioned, it does pick up any little touch or movement.
 
Thanks for the info !

I had no issue soldering them myself - I put two together in parallel, and soldered lead wires to them. Perhaps your iron was too hot? One of the comments I found was to use a very low power iron.

They are very sensitive, but I get a severe hum. I think that is due to lack of shielding as these things seem to be pretty sensitive to it . I'm waiting for the copper tape to show up at my door before I try anything else with them.
 
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