One of the most amazing finds of this year for me is the Sunyin Transducer Pickup SP-1001. It is a bargain at £16.99 and available on amazon.
Some intermediate and advanced cello students might be interested to try this pickup to play different styles of music.
I have been using this pickup for busking on the streets of Oxford (during these difficult times when concerts are not allowed). I connect the pickup to my small busking speaker and be heard widely in the street. The pickup could also be used to play cello in a band or in styles of electronic music. When recitals are possible again, I am looking forward to trying this pickup out in some different modern music. I’m really surprised by the tone, which is deeper and more complex than I imagined would be possible with a pickup in this price range. I have even played Bach suites on solo cello, and I feel that I sound relatively like an acoustic cello and not tinny or electronic at all.
This pickup comes with stickers for adhering the pickup onto the wood of the cello. I can’t bring myself to try these stickers on my beautiful old cello! But I am relieved to find that I can attach the pickup temporarily using blutack, and that doesn’t seem to leave a residue or mark, so I’m more relaxed about using that.
Cello pickups can get so much more expensive than this – perhaps costing several hundred pounds. I haven’t had the opportunity to try out many different brands, but there are some helpful reviews available here.