Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alan Roberts on June 9, 2010 at 6:06am

IF you use nylon strings, that would limit your pickup to piezos. Magnetic pickups won't work on nylon, of course. I got pickups and jacks from C. B. Gitty and will never shop from anyone else now. Here's a diagram of a jack that shows positive and negitive:
http://www.guitarnucleus.com/wiring.html#jackwire I was intimidated by all this, and it turned out to be easy. Here's my end result:

Hmmm. Thought I took a photo after hot gluing the piezo. Anyway, keep the wire as short as possible to reduce humm. Does that help?

Permalink Reply by John Nagy on June 9, 2010 at 6:20am

Sweet - Thx Alan. This does help.

Permalink Reply by Alan Roberts on June 9, 2010 at 6:26am

John Nagy said:

Sweet - Thx Alan. This does help.

A lot of times you can find piezos without any wires on them. Here's a video showing how to solder them up:
http://www.handmademusicclubhouse.com/video/ted-tv-soldering-hookup...

I like Ted's soldering jig. I had trouble holding two wires and a soldering gun all at once -- next time, I'm just going to glue some clothes pins to scrap wood. Do'ah!

Permalink Reply by Andy Estabrooks on June 9, 2010 at 7:33am

I've used piezos with good results in ukes too. I place them right under the bridge with mounting tape them smother it with hot glue. I haven't had any problems with hum. I've heard others rave about the Artec acoustic pickup/ preamps as well. I'm designing a uke for professional use right now, I'm considering the Artec one for this build.

Permalink Reply by John Nagy on June 9, 2010 at 7:43am

Thx Andy - piezos, got it. Look forward to see your design. Again, thx everyone for the help.

Permalink Reply by Alan Roberts on June 9, 2010 at 8:34am

Almost forgot... Michael J. King has plans for a solid body electric uke you can download for $10. I haven't seen the uke plans, but I've built 4 other instruments off his plans for lyres and kantele. Here's a photo of his:

Here's that address: http://www.michaeljking.com/electric_ukuleles.htm

Permalink Reply by John Nagy on June 9, 2010 at 9:42am

HA! I love CBN!!! Where else can you get all the best folks together for music! Thx Alan!

Permalink Reply by Jeff K. on June 9, 2010 at 9:45am

I've had great luck with Piezo Transducers. The only thing you have to watch out for is that they are very delicate (I actually just crushed one..), since they're generally made of brass and ceramic, so be careful. You can order some with wires here - http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/466/Piezo-Eleme...

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by John Nagy on June 9, 2010 at 10:09am

Thx for the link. I learning on the delicate part of these things.

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on June 13, 2010 at 6:18am

I wonder if you have thought of using an undersaddle type pickup. I have used several of these on electric baritone ukuleles and found them to be very useful.

I used the really cheap ones from China or Hong Kong or somewhere that cost about 15 English pounds. They come with the undersaddle pickup, a volume/ tone non active pre amp unit and a jack socket. Unless you go for an active pre amp, all the soldering is completed for you.