Removing electronics to create a sound port?

Sabicas

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2021
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
I have a Lanikai LU-21BE bariton uke. I think I paid $120 for it. Now that I've got that out of the way and can justify modifications on a cheap instrument with little to no resale value......

I'd like to remove the electronics because I'll never use the pickup. The battery tray rattles so I have a bit of cardboard jammed in there to silence it. I have no interest in using the pickup and would buy a nicer uke with a good pickup if I ever need amplification. I am, however, interested in a sound port. Those are usually on the upper bought and the electronics cavity on my uke is on the lower bought. Not sure how that would out as far as sound.

Cutting the wire back by the jack may be an issue as I can seem to unscrew the jack nut from the outside (it simply spins the whole jack inside the body).

Any opinions or thoughts?
 
I'm wondering if a big rectangular hole in the side of the uke will cause structural problems? Like a sagging top. And maybe cracks in the sides from the corners.

For some reason the British Comet Airliner comes to mind. It was the first commercial jet airline in in the world. Several crashed because the square windows designed for the passengers, caused cracks to form in the corners and eventually, structural failure in the stressed skin of the fuselage.

Don't worry, your uke doesn't have a stressed wood body.
 
Last edited:
Interesting idea. The new Klos All Carbon ukes have a sound port option for the lower bout, so it has been done, though I'm not sure how effective it is. I wouldn't worry about the structural integrity as much as the appearance. Chances are the cut out for the barn door will not be very even, but if you can live with that, or smooth it out, go for it. I wouldn't remove the pick up though, as it takes up space under the saddle, and if you remove it you'll just have to either shim or replace the saddle.
 
I won't comment on the soundport being on the lower bout because I've never built one that way. I suppose it would be easy to try and see how you feel about it. But in many cheap ukes, the when the hole is cut for the electronics package, there is no finishing done on the edge of the hole - it's literally just cut out and the electronics are dropped in. The edge will likely be raw, unfinished, unreinforced wood. Most soundports feature trim around the opening to help stabilize the otherwise-fragile wood. Something to consider.

For the endpin jack. Look closely at it. Most of them look about like this:

attachment.php

The little gold or silver piece is a trim ring meant to make it look nice. That should spin right off. Underneath that there will be a "real" nut holding the threaded body of the jack in place in the end block. The jack itself is basically a threaded metal tube. The part of the threaded tube that sticks out the end of the instrument - underneath the trim cap - will have a tiny hole in it. That hole is meant to help you stabilize it so you can unscrew the nut. Generally this is done by sticking a small allen wrench, screwdriver, or other tool into the hole to give you a way to brace the body of the jack against the torque of unscrewing the nut.

But it sounds like your nut is loose and you're not able to even get the trim ring off. Sometimes, if you look inside the jack, you can see the inside of that little hole I mentioned. Then you can stick a small allen wrench, tiny screwdriver, or other small metal tool into the jack at an angle so it "catches" on the hole and you can spin the trim ring off.

If that doesn't work, and you're going to throw the jack away anyways - or in cases where the jack is damaged - I've taken more drastic measures to break them loose. For instance, you can find a wood dowel that's a very tight fit in the jack (or one that's a loose fit and wrap some masking tape around it to make it a tight fit). Jam the dowel into the jack and use it to hold the body of the jack still so you can spin the trim ring off.

Besides the electronics box and the jack, you'll need to remove the pickup itself. It's a thin stick underneath the saddle. There will be a hole in the saddle slot for the pickup wire to get threaded into the body. You can loosen the strings, remove the saddle, and pull the pickup out (once the other end of it's wiring is unplugged from the electronics box). After removing the pickup, you'll need to get a new saddle, since it will sit significantly lower in the slot. You can shim the saddle instead, with a shim the same thickness as the pickup, but that's less ideal.
 

Attachments

  • fishman-switchjack-endpin-jack.jpg
    fishman-switchjack-endpin-jack.jpg
    29.5 KB · Views: 52
I won't comment on the soundport being on the lower bout because I've never built one that way. I suppose it would be easy to try and see how you feel about it. But in many cheap ukes, the when the hole is cut for the electronics package, there is no finishing done on the edge of the hole - it's literally just cut out and the electronics are dropped in. The edge will likely be raw, unfinished, unreinforced wood. Most soundports feature trim around the opening to help stabilize the otherwise-fragile wood. Something to consider.

For the endpin jack. Look closely at it. Most of them look about like this:

attachment.php

The little gold or silver piece is a trim ring meant to make it look nice. That should spin right off. Underneath that there will be a "real" nut holding the threaded body of the jack in place in the end block. The jack itself is basically a threaded metal tube. The part of the threaded tube that sticks out the end of the instrument - underneath the trim cap - will have a tiny hole in it. That hole is meant to help you stabilize it so you can unscrew the nut. Generally this is done by sticking a small allen wrench, screwdriver, or other tool into the hole to give you a way to brace the body of the jack against the torque of unscrewing the nut.

But it sounds like your nut is loose and you're not able to even get the trim ring off. Sometimes, if you look inside the jack, you can see the inside of that little hole I mentioned. Then you can stick a small allen wrench, tiny screwdriver, or other small metal tool into the jack at an angle so it "catches" on the hole and you can spin the trim ring off.

If that doesn't work, and you're going to throw the jack away anyways - or in cases where the jack is damaged - I've taken more drastic measures to break them loose. For instance, you can find a wood dowel that's a very tight fit in the jack (or one that's a loose fit and wrap some masking tape around it to make it a tight fit). Jam the dowel into the jack and use it to hold the body of the jack still so you can spin the trim ring off.

Besides the electronics box and the jack, you'll need to remove the pickup itself. It's a thin stick underneath the saddle. There will be a hole in the saddle slot for the pickup wire to get threaded into the body. You can loosen the strings, remove the saddle, and pull the pickup out (once the other end of it's wiring is unplugged from the electronics box). After removing the pickup, you'll need to get a new saddle, since it will sit significantly lower in the slot. You can shim the saddle instead, with a shim the same thickness as the pickup, but that's less ideal.

Thanks! I will keep the jack in there as a strap button. I pulled out the preamp and unplugged it. The wires are zip-tied to a little bracket glued against the side which I guess I just leave as is and cut the wires as close I can to that point to keep them from rattling

Regarding the stability of the cavity, it doesn't seem like this little preamp would provide any real support. I wouldn't expect removing it would compromise the structural integrity. Maybe you meant that it's a hole that something can get caught in?
 
Yes, my concern would be more about damage to the edge of the hole than about the actual structural integrity of the instrument.
 
I played for a while and couldn't tell a noticeable difference, with and without the new "sound port", so I just put the preamp back in. Worth the experiment, I guess.
 
Top Bottom