Howdy folks,

The consensus by builders of the CBG is that 'Electric' is the way to go. (The vast majority of CBGs are electric.)

The commercially made Ukuleles have such a unique sound and it appears the majority of them are acoustic.

So........how common is it to make the CigarBoxUkulele electric?

Or do most folks make them Acoustic?

kieta

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In "electric" are you meaning with pizeo or magnetic pickups? Obviously, with mags you need steel strings, which is not unheard of on CBG ukes. I've built a few ukes, both with and without pickups. Since its cheap and easy to put pizeo in, I'd say why not. Of course, you can use a rod pickup too.

 

My $0.02 worth.

 

Bart

I have built several acoustic and "electric" (piezo) CB Ukes. I think my favorites are Resonators they have more volume than the straight acoustic. I always use Aquila Nylgut strings.

Ooo - can't wait to see your pics.   I'm gearing up for my next uke to be electric.  Actually, will tone down to a low G for the blues.  : )  Good luck, love to see your progress and details.

John

Many of the members of the ukulele orchestra in which I play use 'electric' ukuleles. These are factory ukes or handmade  acoustic ukes that are electrified by under saddle piezo units. These can cost less than £10 or can be a huge amount. Some are passive and some are active but you do no seem to loose the ukulele sound.

I have fully electric cigar box ukuleles (with steel strings) and these sound more like small electric guitars but the sound can be adjusted by effects pedals and the like. My 2 p worth.

This is some pics of a left handed concert Uke I built for a local street musician, who is one handed. It is a metal cigar box, Brazilian cherry fingerboard with purpleheart neck and bubinga tailpiece. It has a pizeo pickup inside, under the bridge location.

Attachments:

A standard wood cigar box is too thick to allow much volume and/or projection.  It would be very quiet without some form of amplification (reso or electric). 

I always put a piezo in my ukes. Just because.

adding a pick up adds versatility, even if you never use it.  also cigar box ukuleles tend to be quieter (mine are anyway-even without bracing), than their normal counterparts, so having an option to amp up is great if your playing with/against a six string guitar.

 

Cheers

 

Cliff

Keith,
If you plan it right you can always add a piezo later too. I have done this on a couple of mine but it is always easier to put one initially if you think you may want one.

Thank y'all for your replies. 

Yes, I had an 'aha' moment when I read that most ukes use non-metal strings and that would limit the pick up to be pretty much of the PIEZO type.  Well in an effort to "take-a-lemon-and-make-lemonade-from-it", I searched YouTube and found this great video of a young fellow not only playing uke, but also tapping out a rhythm on the piezoNot sure the folks using other types of pickups would get that sound! <grin>

Here is that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZCJdkUie2U&list=PLUKm6sWfH8OHgO...

 

Enjoy....

kieta

 

Monday I was at the guitar shop and saw a CBU for sale that had a magnetic pickup and metal strings. Personally I didn't like it that much, but that's just me. 

I thought it was worth mentioning, because there really is no reason not to use metal strings if you plan on playing it with a pick like a guitar. Just about every high end banjolele I've ever seen has metal strings, so there are metal strings for ukuleles available if you wanted to go that route.

-SD-

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