Flight Fireball - Pickup string response issues - Help Please!
Hello ukesters,
I've been hammering away on my B-stock used Kala tenor for quite some time now and gigging with all of the community groups that I play with. Some of the younger folks started a band covering more modern music and asked me to join. So now I'm gigging even more.
My big hands needed a wider fretboard. I had the chance to play some of the ukes from the collections of retired folks with severe UAS and realized that a 1.5" fretboard is what I need for my hands to really feel comfortable.
My best option was Flight. They have a 1.5" nut width, and look really nice, and I'm a lead player who moved over from guitar, so they satisfy that itch to look cool as well. Plus I did research, and living in NJ outside of Philly, there just aren't any shops around that carry ukes I want, in the price range that I can afford (less than $1k). The Fireball could be ordered from Guitar Center and returned in 45 days if I don't like it.
Fit and finish are great. Sound is great. Playability and intonation are excellent. It's just the dang Double C1U active pickup has a really uneven string response with the C being way loud, the E being quite loud, and the G & A strings being not very loud.
I sanded the saddle smooth. Nope, just a little better. I added wood shims under the G & A and resanded the saddle again for the extra height. Nope, just a little better. I'm running mild compression on the front of my signal chain, it helps but again, just a little bit better.
Does anyone have a uke with this pickup system that has even string response from it?
I could return the Fireball and get a different Flight uke and hope it's better. If this pickup system is just trash, then I could also keep the Fireball and swap in a LR Baggs 5.0 that I have. I could also just live with it as no one in the crowd has said "That was a great solo on Hotel California but the string response on your uke is wildly out of balance".