Reddit reviews Cherub WCP-60V Violin Pickup

If you are just looking to experiment and don't care too much about the tone, you can try this cheap pickup ~$6 off of Amazon. It works surprisingly well given its price. But it's not something you want in the long run.

EVS has a good blog post on choosing a pickup. A lot of them are under $200. Some of them are really easy to remove or install yourself, while others you may need to take to the shop.

The only caveat is that for some of the pickups (eg. piezo pickups), it's recommended that you also buy a pre-amp to go between the pickup and the amp. EVS also has a blog post on pickup out a pre-amp.

I personally have the Fishman V-200.

Come to think of it, that earlier Fishman used an in-line 1/8" phone jack that would have banged into the fiddle's top if not secured. The element itself tended to wander around in the slot it was wedged into; she used a speck of picture-hanging putty to stabilize it. Now that cornerless five-string viola has a Mi-Si element similarly wedged under the wing of the bridge, with a fairly floppy lead going to a carpenter jack with a preamp built into the connector shell. The FET doesn't draw much current, and runs for hours powered by a capacitor charged through the output jack. Still needs putty to hold the element steady in the bridge, but it's not a normal bridge, on an unusual fiddle. I haven't heard complaints about it, so it must be working.

I've fitted a few "Bradivarius" pickups with the piezo element potted right into a little slot in one arm of the bridge. They use a mini-coax cable to the jack, stiff enough and running a short enough span that it holds itself in the air over the top plate. Mr. Higgins (the Brad in Bradivarius) supplies them with a carpenter jack, but unsoldered. It would be a pain to fit the feet to the top with the jack clunking around in the way.

Given the choice, I would use a bridge pickup like the Baggs or Bradivarius. The advantage of that Fishman pickup is that it may be installed by the player, without fitting a new bridge, but you takes your chances about how well the little metal vee will stay put, depending on how the existing bridge was trimmed. Some workers leave wider slots between wings and knees than others, and very few of them are thinking about aftermarket gadgets going in that spot.

Sorry about all this typing... I don't get tired of yapping on about it, so ask away if you're so inclined.

*edit: If it's cheap and cheerful you're after, the Cherub might be just the ticket. A spring arm goes into an f-hole and holds the pickup against the outside of the top, with some room to pick a sweet spot, if it matters. One of my wife's former students used one of those at a barn gig a month or so ago. Again, hearing no complaint, I assume it worked well enough.

We are in the same boat! I am ok at guitar as well, and played with it for a few years. I played trumpet(but switched to euphonium) and played it throughout high school.

Unless you're going to be playing outside (where humidity CAN be an issue, electric may be better. But, if not.. I heard godly things about this pickup my music teacher recommended to me. So you still can do electric sounds and pedals etc. http://www.amazon.com/Cherub-WCP-60V-Violin-Pickup/dp/B008LMS4MK
I am going to be picking it up next paycheck.

When switching from guitar to violin, there were a few things that were easy. Loose arm/wrist/hand movement. The second, finger speed. The neck on the violin is a whole new beast (for me at least). No frets, using ear/ tuner to get the right notes. It is pretty crazy compared to the guitar. It may be different for you though.

and no, there are even cheaper options than the fishman.

my friend apparently uses one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Cherub-WCP-60V-Violin-Pickup/dp/B008LMS4MK

which...obviously isnt fantastic.. but... honestly doesnt sound as bad as it should at that price. O_o

so if you want a super cheap way to experiment right now... there you go.... but if you dont even have an amp... that wont help much.

I had to play a wedding recently and wasn't sure if I would be playing cello or violin or if I would be miked or using a pickup, so I grabbed a cheap pickup just in case. This is the one I got. The sound quality is decent for live music. You clip it inside the F hole so it should work fine for a mando. I ended up using a mic for the wedding because the cable for the pickup wasn't long enough and I forgot to bring an extender, but I did some demo recording with the pickup and I was really pleased with the sound for the price.