KNA UK-1 Passive Piezo Pickup for Ukulele

Home Jam/Rec.

Good for home JAM/REC

In a nutshell, I love it. It is very sensitive, and it can pick up a lot of extraneous noise from strumming or even handling the Uke. I tired it straight into an amp. It was a bit too bright, and even picked up the "noise" of my hand going up and down the neck. Once I got it plugged into my DI (LR Baggs Para) and tweaked it, I got all the warmth and clarity I needed. It was my Uke...just louder. The uke sounds amazing through the DI into the board with this. Installation was easy and I was glad to not have to modify my Uke to do it.

The pickup installs relatively easy between the strings and bridge, and it does give good sound. That's the good part. Unfortunately, the heaviest pieces is at the very end of the long reed-like pickup, where the cable plugs in. The weight of the connectors puts stress on the unit, and if you hit it while playing hard, as I did a couple of days ago, the thing breaks off. Once that happens, you can't just glue it back together, since the tiny little wires don't mate any more.

This pickup seems to work pretty well. My reservation is because of the fact that, due to my own lack of observation, I didn't look closely at the picture to see the kind of bridge this is intended for. My Kamoa has the kind where you tie a knot in the string and that knot keeps the string secure (probably best if you check out a Kamoa) http://kamoaukulelecompany.com/ukuleles.php?id=337 So it's NOT a bridge like, say, a classical guitar, where you tie the strings on, which is what this pickup is designed for. I did slip it under the strings as best I could, and it worked. It seemed to pick up a bit of just the noise of handling the instrument, more than the built-in pickup does on my Takamine acoustic-electric classical guitar. I plan to try it on one of my Lanikai ukes; it'll probably be fine for them. So, bottom line, it is not very expensive and may be perfect for your application. Just check that bridge thing.