unclej Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 ok, my #1 repair customer, a guy who buys and sells guitars and amps for a living, just brought me a fernandes guitar with the sustainer system in it and asked me to remove the sustainer electronics and the neck pup because it says sustainer on it and then to turn the guitar into a regular three pup guitar. he's susposed to bring me another guitar tomorrow to install the sustainer in. (i learned a long time ago not to ask him why he does things..i just do them and he pays me well and on time.) pretty straight forward to make a diagram, remove and re-install if the other guitar is routed properly. but my question comes from the fact that all three pups are wired into quick disconnects that plug into the board. is there anything about any of the pups that makes them different from other stock pups? could you wire any any single coil or humbucker into the quick disconnects and expect them to work in place of the ones that came with the guitar? as you can tell i haven't worked on one of these before and just want to make sure that i'm not going to a lot of trouble for something that won't work when i'm finished. thanks as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Hey there...what's with all the sustainer questions lately... Check out some of the links quoted on this recent thread...Telecaster Sustainer...I put a few links there to the Fernandes Install PDF and some installs. There is a recent article in GP too. They do suggest they use their pickups, but obviously Vai uses his own in his Gem "Evo" and EMG's are quite common. They do recomend a humbucker in the bridge. I have made my DIY Sustainer with single coils but my current setup is a strat with a stacked SC in the bridge position. I have not even seen a Fernandes Sustainer down here, but the important thing is the bypassing of the other pickups. If the driver is also used as a pickup, it is active and the preamp is on the board. If the pickup configuration is fairly similar between the two guitars, it sould go OK...but sustainers are strange beasts, so much can go wrong. Oh yeah...keep the driver leads well clear of other signal lines (like pickup leads) if you can... best of luck... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Hey there...what's with all the sustainer questions lately... Check out some of the links quoted on this recent thread...Telecaster Sustainer...I put a few links there to the Fernandes Install PDF and some installs. There is a recent article in GP too. They do suggest they use their pickups, but obviously Vai uses his own in his Gem "Evo" and EMG's are quite common. They do recomend a humbucker in the bridge. I have made my DIY Sustainer with single coils but my current setup is a strat with a stacked SC in the bridge position. I have not even seen a Fernandes Sustainer down here, but the important thing is the bypassing of the other pickups. If the driver is also used as a pickup, it is active and the preamp is on the board. If the pickup configuration is fairly similar between the two guitars, it sould go OK...but sustainers are strange beasts, so much can go wrong. Oh yeah...keep the driver leads well clear of other signal lines (like pickup leads) if you can... best of luck... pete well, you know, you ask your questions when you need your answers. thanks for the links..i'll definitely check those out. like i said, this is actually the first guitar that i've worked on with a sustainer built in so it's all a learning experiencce. i didn't remove it all today like i was going to. i'm going to wait until i see what he wants to have it installed in so i can see how much work it will be and how much i need to charge him...let him decide if it's worht it. thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 No problem...notice I didn't suggest you read the whole sustainer thread... It should work but fitting it into a guitar seems to be the tricky part...best to see what the transplant victim is I guess...good luck...let us know how you go!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 I would completely remove all of the electronics from the Fernandes, boards, switches, everything. Get a hold of the installation instructions for the FSK-401 kit and go to town on the new guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 I would completely remove all of the electronics from the Fernandes, boards, switches, everything. Get a hold of the installation instructions for the FSK-401 kit and go to town on the new guitar. thanks crafty..that's pretty much the idea after i see the new guitar. my question was simply are the pickups in this fernandes system any different than normal ones but a few more issues have been raised that i'll address when he comes in today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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