Double Bass Underwood Pickup Club

[Ric Vice]

One thing I like about the Underwood even now 40 years later, after owning most of the pickup offerings out there, is that given all the sound variables of playing gigs, all the adverse variables AND the positive variables, the Underwood is very clear about what it can do and what it cannot. It excels in getting you the bassist a clear, quick , kind of compressed, laser of a sound that enables your ear to react with (not behind) the pace of the music..............When I play with the Underwood I cringe at the TONE, but I love the drive and effortlessness and the rhythmic clarity and definition.

Same here, it's got this sonic profile that sits right in the midrange and cuts through a enthusiastic drummer. Soloed, it's not a warm sound. I had one of the early ones that Don made a few at a time in his shop, before he refined the production process.
The elements were a little larger and thicker, so the pickup had a bit warmer quality. When I switched back to a newer Underwood several years later, something was not as pleasant about the new ones. Don designed the pickup to be a dual element sensor
so, I always used it that way. He did make a couple of double wafer ones that had a second set of elements encased inside the outer ones. Glen Moore and David Friesen had them, with a dual channel amp and phase reverse you could throw them in and out
of phase.

 

[joost herweijer]

HI - I have an Underwood which I bought 2nd hand in 1982. It has had a long 30 year sleep between 1985 and 2015 (when I retook DB playing). Right now the ground connection between Piezo 1 and the input has failed (see photo 1 - probably by putting it on and off the bass too much). As a result, the pickup does not work at al (just generates a lot of noise). With an additional wire from the piezo 1 housing to the plug input (see pic 2) the pickup works as usual, but this is of course a bit of an unreliable solution. From reading this thread I understand that a single piezo (of the 2) actually works stand-alone and sounds as good as the double. Could someone confirm that I have that right, in which case I can actually make 2 single pickups, which would be really helpful. Thanks,

Joost

 

[Francois Blais]

You can use each element separately, but will it sound better alone *on your bass* is another question.
Works for some and not for others.

 

[Roger Mouton]

That first picture makes me think the element might be suspect. Don Underwood explained to me several years ago that if that black piezo insulating material is squishing out from the sides of the brass clips, the pickup is on its way to failing. It could still work but as a test, if you plug in the pickup, squeeze the element between your fingers and you hear a crackling noise? The pickup is compromised and won't recover
.

HI - I have an Underwood which I bought 2nd hand in 1982. It has had a long 30 year sleep between 1985 and 2015 (when I retook DB playing). Right now the ground connection between Piezo 1 and the input has failed (see photo 1 - probably by putting it on and off the bass too much). As a result, the pickup does not work at al (just generates a lot of noise). With an additional wire from the piezo 1 housing to the plug input (see pic 2) the pickup works as usual, but this is of course a bit of an unreliable solution. From reading this thread I understand that a single piezo (of the 2) actually works stand-alone and sounds as good as the double. Could someone confirm that I have that right, in which case I can actually make 2 single pickups, which would be really helpful. Thanks,View attachment 5058084 View attachment 5058090 Joost

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I had the shield connection broke twice (with some time in between) in the prototype of a Shadow SH-950 which is basically a clone of an Underwood.
I bent the brass lashes open so I could resolder the shield and bent them back to fix the cable. Since then I opened the rather tight bridge wings a tiny bit so that the pickup just holds in the wings, but hardly used it, since it went in a backup case.
Not a big thing with the shield, but probably impossible to do for the hot wire.

 

[joost herweijer]

Would anyone know whether I can solder on the brass/copper (?? no sure what material it is) of the pickup wing? In that case I am going to try my patch cable

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I have soldered on the brass.
Typically the shield was soldered to the brass inside . Just remove the broken part at the solder and resolder the shield (maybe with a short extension wire) there.
It is much easier to solder where the solder had made good contact with the brass before and sticks to it. Otherwise you might need additional flux.
Also tinning the shield before soldering to the case keeps the soldering time low.

Just a remainder: piezo ceramic can get destroyed by heat, so do it quickly and make some breaks if it doesn’t work in the first attempt and use a heat sink (I used a plier with rubber rings around. A c-clamp may work too.

 

[Lorin Cohen]

True Eric! I think on that bass the underwood isn't on the G side? Sounds great!

 

[peskatore]

I recently put the Underwood pickup back on my bass that I bought many, many years ago. After going through a number of different pickups (Realist, Full Circle, BP-100, KNA), all with their own sound and positives/negatives, the Underwood is still a great pickup. High output, clear sound, easy pitch recognition and easy installation. One of the nice things about it is that it’s not affected by the height adjustment wheel position on the Full Circle. I can have the exact string height that I need without concern for the piezo position on the FC. I’m really impressed with the quality of this pickup. Works as well today as when I bought it a LONG time ago. I’d like to buy another Underwood to put on a different bass. My question is, are they the same quality, sound and dimensions that they were back in the day? Thanks!

 

[Francois Blais]

[email protected]

 

[Jeff Kissell]

…My question is, are they the same quality, sound and dimensions that they were back in the day? Thanks!

My guess would yes, since they are still made by hand by the Underwood family.