Of all the violin pickups I probably like and supply the KNA pickups the most. They are piezoelectric based, which is encased in a small wood substrate that slips into the wing of the violins bridge.They are competitively priced and can turn any violin into a respectable electric violin.
The insertion into the wings of a violin bridge can be mounted with little or no modification (usually the wing has to be opened up a little), and the choice of bass or treble side of the bridge gives a corresponding influence on tone. I find it to be a bit warmer than some of the other bridge mounted pickups…not sure why. The great thing about this pickup is that its removable, though in truth you can leave it on all the time if you like (there is very little influence on the acoustic sound of your violin). As its bridge mounted you are capturing mostly the string vibrations of your violin , before acoustic shaping by the body, so you lose quite a bit of the acoustic sound of your instrument – though some of it comes up the bridge.
The “mini carpenters” jack attaches like a chin rest to your instrument, for convenient lead attachment. Most people like this just below the bass C-bout.
Another product from KNA is a stick on transducer that you can place anywhere on the body. It gives by far the warmest most natural sound of any of the pickups, though the “price you pay” is sticking something on the body of your instrument – which affects its acoustic tone a little. It comes with a removable kind of blu-tack so you can find the right place to put it to shape your sound. The treble side of the lower bout is about right for most people.
Both of these are piezoelectric so to get the most out of them you may need to do some impedance matching through a preamp and EQ of the sound (see my notes on impedance matching)
Other Electric Violin Products