An electric ukulele is a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

which is electrically amplified, via either piezoelectric or magnetic pickups.

Electric vs. electro-acoustic

A solid-body electric ukulele produces very little sound acoustically, requiring an

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

to be heard from more than a few feet away. Some solid-body electric ukuleles have steel strings and active

humbucker A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...

style or single-coil magnetic pickups, while other electric ukuleles are solid-body electric ukuleles with nylon strings and piezoelectric pick-ups under the saddle. An electro-acoustic ukulele is a standard acoustic instrument to which a passive pickup has been added, a method similar to that used for an

acoustic-electric guitar An acoustic-electric guitar is an acoustic guitar fitted with a microphone, or a magnetic or piezoelectric pickup. They are used in a variety of music genres where the sound of an acoustic guitar is desired but more volume is required, especia ...

. Such ukuleles have nylon or gut strings, not the metal strings necessary for ukuleles with magnetic pickups. Electro-acoustic ukuleles may be played either unplugged or plugged into an

. The acoustic and electric tone qualities will often differ between electric ukuleles, with some electro-acoustic ukuleles being built with the primary aim of producing quality sound when amplified rather than a consistent acoustic sound.

Electric lap steel ukulele

The electric lap steel ukulele is an uncommon instrument, consisting of a small ukulele-shaped solid-body which is laid in the artist's lap. It has four strings raised above the neck, which are not pressed down onto a

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...

, but are played with a steel slide. An electric lap steel ukulele is essentially a small

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

with only four strings. Similar instruments have been built by custom instrument makers, but the only production manufacturer was Jupiter Creek Music (Australia) before they closed their business in October 2012.

Current manufacturers

Epiphone Epiphone () is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over ...

* EleUke * Fender *

Ovation Guitar Company The Ovation Guitar Company is a manufacturer of string instruments. Ovation primarily manufactures steel-string acoustic guitars (both 6 and 12-string versions) and nylon-string guitars, often with pickups for electric amplification. In 2015, i ...

* Stagg Music * Vox

References

{{Reflist Ukuleles Amplified instruments