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
Replies
I made a solid body elec. The body looks strat-ish out of pine. It looks really cool. I also made a small piezo pre amp and put vol and tone controls on it.
To be honest I do not like the way it sounds. To high pitched. Almost shrill. It's been laying for quite a while and I'm thinking about what to do. Maybe change strings to heavier Baritone strings and change or remove the cap on the preamp to let more low freqs thru. Currently it's re entrant tuning. I don't like that either. What I should probably do is bread board the amp and just run leads to the pickup until it sounds right. That allows you to make a lot of changes fast with no soldering. Then once it's right, solder it in.
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 piezo. Not sure the folks using other types of pickups would get that sound! <grin>
Here is that video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZCJdkUie2U&list=PLUKm6sWfH8OHgO...
Enjoy....
kieta
As a follow up to my earlier message with that video (see below) of the young fellow playing his ukulele and 'tapping' out a rhythm on it, I re-watched it and noticed at the beginning that he plugged in TWO cords into TWO jacks....making me think he has TWO separate 'pick-up' set ups. Guessing he is using plastic strings, he would then be using two piezos, each independently going to the amp.
When he taps on one spot on his Uke, he gets a typical high treble piezo sound. But when he taps on the other piezo, he gets a bass sound. I am guessing that is done by having two different piezos going through two different cords on the amp, and setting one with high treble and one with high bass. WHAT A NOVEL IDEA FOR FUTURE Cigar Box BUILDS!
Another way of getting a similar (but not as good) sound would be to just incase one of the piezos in hot-glue and run both piezos through he same single cord like we normally do.
Here is that video again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZCJdkUie2U&list=PLUKm6sWfH8OHgO...
Your thoughts?
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.
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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.
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
I always put a piezo in my ukes. Just because.
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).
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.
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