Sustainer + Pu Covers, Any Match ?

[Soulgolem]

Hello, just found out about this forum the other day while researching information about sustainers, came into the sustainer ideas thread by a search on yahoo... so much information in there, i read a big part of it, though' i'm not sure i understand how it works and all and now my eyes hurt from reading too much, this thread has been going on for so long, it's crazy.

Anyway, i'm looking into making a sustaining system in my guitar, I really love how my guitar looks and wouldn't want to change it in anyway, is there any way to have a sustainer under a cover plate over the pickups ?

I emailed fernandes and they told me that it was possible, but it will slightly affect the performance of the sustain, but that this can be rectified by simply adjusting the effect gain. But since you seem to have to use "their" pickups, i'm a bit reluctant as to do this.

So i went to the sustainiac website and read their information page, they say that putting a cover will not work with the sustainer because it will impair the sustain effect a by a great deal.

I really want to put a sustainer in my guitar without changing it's looks, does anyone know of any alternative, exept the ebow, or any solution to this ?

Thanks,

Francis.

[Soulgolem]

Bump... Please anyone ?

[onelastgoodbye]

It's possible, no one here has tried it yet though, so you'll have to experiment a little.

Take a look here

That's sort of the condensed version of the sustainer ideas thread. If you scroll down some you'll see the "latest" driver psw made. It's basically a driver on top of a single coil pickup. I think you could do the same thing, and then put your (original?) pickup cover over it. The driver in itself is only 3.5 mm thick, so if your lucky, it'll just fit underneath the strings, otherwise, you'll have to lower the pickup some.

Here's the tricky parts:

a: the driver uses a blade instead of separate pole pieces, so you'd might have to adjust the size and shape of the hole in the cover.

b: the driver needs to be as close as possible to the strings. As the cover adds some thickness, the driver may be less powerful

c: you could also use a completely closed (no holes), emg-style pickup cover, it's less work and looks really clean, but keep problem ( in mind

d: if you need to lower the neck pickup (where the driver works best) to fit the driver,you're pickup tone can change.

e: mounting the driver on top, will change the sound of the pickup somewhat, though it seems to be minimal.

Welcome to the forum,

Tim

[Soulgolem]

Thanks for the reply Tim.

Did anyone try this as of now ? If not, can you post here once you did ? I really want to get a sustainer system, it's getting harder to switch from pick to eBow in some situations. This would facilitate things in such a great amount !

And as of psw's sustainer, it looks nice, i've read a big peice of the thread, tho' i'd never be able to build one myself, i don't understand much of the deep technical stuff. The sound clips are great, really great, I think i like the effect sound more than the eBow... but this sustainer is not for sale right ? I was looking to mod my guitar this summer.

Any further help in my project would be well apreciated. Or has anyone tried any other sustainer systems with a pu cover ? I'd really like to find comments on this, I've looked everywhere in every forum I know...

Francis.

[psw]

Welcome...keep checking the sustainer thread for developments....

And as of psw's sustainer, it looks nice, i've read a big peice of the thread, tho' i'd never be able to build one myself, i don't understand much of the deep technical stuff. The sound clips are great, really great, I think i like the effect sound more than the eBow... but this sustainer is not for sale right ? I was looking to mod my guitar this summer.

←

Thanks... ...

I really am not sure about standard covers...are we talking humbucker here? On testing with my LP (which doesn't have covers BTW) I suspect it would work but the "sustain box" is not really the best for this. With a HB, once lowered the PUp doesn't work as it should. With a single coil the strings vibrations are simply sensed through the driver (which is steel) and the difference is minimal, if any, as I've reported and can be heard on the track "beckistan" on the sound clips.

What I would propose (but am not currently in a position to test anything at the moment) is a driver that sits on the flat slug side of the HB and a dummy over the screw side. The screws could be removed and rescrewed down to attach the whole unit to it's top. With a cover on top, the screws would be visible just as before but the whole unit would be thicker and the cover may need to be attached by means other than soldering in the usual way.

The standard humbucker also has the screws closer to the neck. I would propose turning the pickup around so that would be a slight visible change.

Otherwise...I believe that there is enough power in the systems based on my design to cope with the thickness of the cover but it really depends on the guitar. A 24 fret twin HB buitar might have trouble with the closeness to the bridge HB but I believe this may be accomodated...

I would really love to be able to make this thing available but as it would be entirely hand made and still require installation, I'm not really sure of it's cost in relation to other commercial systems. Still, as far as I know, this is the only system that promises the choice of neck pickup (albeit modified) and very little other modification...battery accomodation is probably the biggest stumbling block, but on an LP for instance the control plate hides plenty of room for everything.

I am considering making the circuitry, and possibly drivers available in the future but it would still take some work and the costing may be a problem, especially if you don't feel confident to install it yourself. The main problem is that each guitar presents it's own set of problems...even Sustainiac suggest they install it, and Fernades really leaves this type of thing to you or a guitar tech, anyway.

It could be that, should I get enough interest, that I could supply guitar techs with the supplies and kits to make it all come together, by passing retail and making it all worth while for all parties...but these are a lot of maybes and it will certainly be some more time...perhaps the more interest, the quicker... (hint, hint)

Anyway, interesting question, don't worry about the early development discussions on the giant Sustainer Thread, just tag along on the end...there really isn't a solution other than making a whole new sustainer thread...but then there would be two. The "project" also has a presence over at diystompboxes too now that has some interesting stuff too...

psw