BDRockStar Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 i'm looking for some DIY methods to increase sustain while i try putting my homemade sustainer together (courtesy of that psw thread)... anybody got any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zionstrat Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Well the tried and true and extremely simple answer in today's world of ubiquitous modeling is feedback- I develop all my models in my studio so I can run it through a full range non-colored system - It seems so strange to get feedback in such a pristine envirornment, but some models are so foucsed that you really can'l help getting feedback on many of them- Try 2 or 3 models that provide an overlapping range center frquencies and you can tune the sustain-Or use the old Tom schultz trick and include wah in the modle and use the wah to chang the frequency focus on the fly- Another cool think about such control is that you can get usable feedback with practically no distortion- Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy_Squirrel Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Well the tried and true and extremely simple answer in today's world of ubiquitous modeling is feedback- I develop all my models in my studio so I can run it through a full range non-colored system - It seems so strange to get feedback in such a pristine envirornment, but some models are so foucsed that you really can'l help getting feedback on many of them- Try 2 or 3 models that provide an overlapping range center frquencies and you can tune the sustain-Or use the old Tom schultz trick and include wah in the modle and use the wah to chang the frequency focus on the fly- Another cool think about such control is that you can get usable feedback with practically no distortion- Hope this helps ← I did a few things to my Ibanez GAX70 guitar that increased sustain two-fold! Unfortunately this only works if you have a TOM bridge. 1. I turned my TOM bridge into a Tone-pros TOM using only a drill, and a tap. Just drill two holes in the TOM through to the post, tap the threads into the holes you drilled and buy the appropriate size threaded screws. $11.00 for the tap. 2. I measured the space between the body and the bottom of my TOM, cut a solid block of wood to fit under the TOM, release the thumb screws so that the TOM rests on the block. 3. Grover locking keys ----------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Its simple. EMG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 I don't know if you've discussed it elsewhere, but if we knew what kind of guitar you had then we could probably make more specific recommendations. I don't know whether to tell you to block your Floyd or mod your T-o-M with locking bolts. Aaahhh. I've followed your link to find a picture of a Danelectro. If that's the guitar in question, you can tighten the trem springs so there's ample downward pressure against the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 EMG's won't make a guitar string vibrate any longer...no pickup will do that...it's got more sensitivity and a little less string pull...so you hear the string till it stops vibrating... You can get things to feedback...and with more control, by filtering to specific frequencies like with a wha...still got to play reasonably loud...but the tone man, got to sacrifice tone to get it... Try this old trick...stick your headstock up against the speaker baffle (the actual wood, not the cloth). This causes the speaker's vibrations to travel through the neck and vibrate the strings like a sustainer... John Jorgesson did this on the Hellecaster's track "Like Father, Like Son"...neat trick for recording.... pete Oh...It might even work better on a guitar like the Dano...more sensitive to vibration than a great big heavy LP... And...here's something interesting...I saw some research somewhere where they measured the sustain of an LP vs. A Strat...the Strat had more "Sustain"...the fact is the LP is louder for longer, it's a fat sustain...the strat has a really sharp, short attack, then sustains quietly...it might be longer but you don't really hear it... BTW...I've been playing with the Sustainer on an LP and I've got to say, I prefer it on the strat...The LP already has that big fat sustain, that's what it does...with the strat you get the percussive stuff, and the big fat sustain...a lot more variety to play with...!!! pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappy_Squirrel Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 EMG's won't make a guitar string vibrate any longer...no pickup will do that...it's got more sensitivity and a little less string pull...so you hear the string till it stops vibrating... You can get things to feedback...and with more control, by filtering to specific frequencies like with a wha...still got to play reasonably loud...but the tone man, got to sacrifice tone to get it... Try this old trick...stick your headstock up against the speaker baffle (the actual wood, not the cloth). This causes the speaker's vibrations to travel through the neck and vibrate the strings like a sustainer... John Jorgesson did this on the Hellecaster's track "Like Father, Like Son"...neat trick for recording.... pete Oh...It might even work better on a guitar like the Dano...more sensitive to vibration than a great big heavy LP... And...here's something interesting...I saw some research somewhere where they measured the sustain of an LP vs. A Strat...the Strat had more "Sustain"...the fact is the LP is louder for longer, it's a fat sustain...the strat has a really sharp, short attack, then sustains quietly...it might be longer but you don't really hear it... BTW...I've been playing with the Sustainer on an LP and I've got to say, I prefer it on the strat...The LP already has that big fat sustain, that's what it does...with the strat you get the percussive stuff, and the big fat sustain...a lot more variety to play with...!!! pete ← So, what is it about an LP that would sustain louder and longer than a strat? Woods? bridge? scale? set neck? combination? I wonder if the springs on a strat trem sustain much of the vibration they are talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted July 19, 2005 Report Share Posted July 19, 2005 Everything about the Les Paul is built for Sustain...Les himself ahd some far out ideas on it...here proposed making a guitar out of a railway track but his mum said it was a bad idea, cause it would look funny...he built "the log" and stuck acoustic sides on it by cutting a guitar in half and bolting it together...what a guy... Everythings solid, thick...I mean mahogany, ebony, steel hardware bolted into the top...solid as a rock...heavy as a boulder... The strat though...strings mount directly into a solid block of steel...the springs only serve to sap sustain...the sustains there, but the bolt on neck, the trem springs, the light wood...everything conspires to dampen down the harmonics very soon after you strike the string... psw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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