Any ideas on how to replace this pickup battery?

intaglio

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I bought my beloved Kala Tenor from the late, great Michael "musicguymic" Aratani back in 2009. I haven't needed to plug it in for a few years, but when I tried it today, I barely got a whisper out of it. He installed a Mi-Si LR Baggs pickup in it when he sold it to me, but I'm trying to figure out how to replace the battery. I attached a photo that he sent me before the installation. Even if I remove the strings, I can't fit my hand in the hole, so there's no way I could reach to the butt of the guitar to get to the pickup and battery. Any advice?

2009 09 01_8498_edited-1.jpg
 
Get a dowel or pencil or other similar non-damaging object you can insert into the jack. Stick it in there, then unscrew the trim ring and nut that hold the jack in place (from the outside). Usually there's a little hole in the side of the jack's threads under the trim ring so you can insert a thin screwdriver, Allen key, or other similar tool to keep the jack from spinning when you're breaking the nut loose.

Once the nut is loose, use the dowel to push the jack back up in to the body and guide it up to the sound hole. The dowel gives you a long handle by which to do this without losing the jack inside the instrument. Then reach into the sound hole and replace the battery. Finally, with the jack still stuck on the dowel, guide it right back into it's hole in the end block and thread the nut and trim ring back on.
 
From your photo, the circuit board looks to be soldered to the jack socket and that would place the battery behind the bridge. Even if your hands were small enough, the battery would be difficult to change this far back.
Try this;
Unscrew the strap button from the jack socket, this should reveal the threaded barrel and retaining nut.
(You may need a bit of pressure to release the strap button, often they are secured using a thread lock liquid. You can achieve the same effect with a drop of nail varnish on the threads before re-attaching the strap button)

Carefully loosen and remove the retaining nut. you should mask off the surrounding area to prevent damage to the finish, also take care not to let the socket slide inside yet. Normally there are two small holes about halfway along the barrel, loop a fine cord or cable through the holes. this will allow you to draw the socket out again.
(Leave this cord long enough with a large knot at the end so it doesn't accidentally follow the socket inside the uke)

Let the socket drop inside and maneouvre it towards the soundhole.
Change the battery, draw the socket back and secure the nut and strap button.

Hope this helps
Vintage

Looks like you got a similar response from dwizum while I was composing this:)
 
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Thank you Brad for saving the day on this instead of letting me and VintageGibson ruin it with our smart ideas!
 
Yeah that's a MiSi pu. The bag next to it looks like the charger. You just plug it into the wall and jack for about a minute to 90 seconds.
 
Lucky somebody knows what they are talking about!

Thanks for the info Brad, I've never come across that type before.

Vintage
 
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