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Sustainer Ideas


psw

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I've just modified the wiring....again....and have successfully connected the mid and neck into the same shorting circuit...it's a comprimise in that the mid will only work when the in combination with the neck, or neck and bridge together (not bridge and mid, this guitar didn't have a mid alone option)

I have, as a result been able to completely remove the sustainer's input filter and as a result the guitar has got all the "sparke" back of it's natural clean sound, with sustain....

The pop, however is even more pronounced for having the filter removed, and has still yet to be addressed...still this mod has proved to be completely successful for say, a two pickup guitar.

A neck humbucker, with it's two opposing coils, may be a better bet, and the next pickup/driver combo will be a stacked humbucker I think...

On the "pop"...it only occurs when turning the sustainer off...It occurs to me that I added a diode between +ve and -ve power on the circuit to prevent damage from a reversed battery...perhaps this is stopping noise when turning on, and if so, the reverse when switching off might have an effect...don't quite know how to do that, but nothing so far has had an effect on it....

anyway...good news...I'll sit back and play it for a while...catch you when I can....

psw

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i was looking around on the net for a place to find the lm386 chip and discovered this

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.317485.../it.A/id.395/.f

would it be possible to use that instead of the fetzer/ruby amplifier???

Great link...

K17 is the LM386 poweramp part...it needs a preamp...This is just another variation....the output capacitor at 470uF is a lot larger than the 220uF that I and other's are using...the larger cap improves the bass...it's easy and cheap to replace with different values...a couple of other values are a little different but are not significant....

K98...is actually my preamp, it was designed speciffically for the LM386 by the Mag "silicon chip" :D ...Kitsrus, is actually an Australian based company and this is the identical design...you need to leave out R9, this is important....and with mine I've modified R5 to a 10k to provide more gain...check out the .pdf's for details...

PB183 looks like a neat preamp too...perhaps a better shape and size, but pretty much the same thing but with variable gain....

So these two in combination with switches, gain pot, etc, will work and really at $7.55(K17) and $6.60(K98) this is the easiest, simplest and surest way to go IMHO.

also... just wondering would the sustainer work on bass???

I don't see why not, I know it's been done but there's not so big a market and they just aren't going with commercial versions...may need a few modifications to accentuate the low frequencies in the circuit and a wider core in the coil would be two things I'd be looking at...

You probably would need more power, but it would be much easier...

The problems with the guitar one are the 2 smaller strings.

First...the smaller strings had been a problem, and still are for some :D but mines working perfectly now.... :D except for the "pop".... B)

It probably wouldn't need more power (gain) really...the thicker strings have more mass and steel in them and are a much lower tension, plus at low frequencies the move much slower...all this means that the driver has more to work with, is easier to move and doesn't have to respond as fast as you do with the guitar's high frequencies... B)

do you mean gain or the power supply?

if thats the case with the thinner strings then i'll be experimenting with a bass sustainer if it'll work. that'd be sweet, especially for some jaco stuff....hmmmmm....

He means "gain", but this is not necessarily so...see above

It may require some stronger magnets...something to experiment with...

It would be great on bass...it would create a really neat and realistic "bowing" effect, you could do really long notes and...in harmonic mode....all those Jaco harmonics and fretless stuff would happen automatically (though there's more to Jaco than his "tricks" of course!!!)...and more...and then there's your clasic feedback to play with....

The other good thing with the bass is that, as the strings tend to be higher from the face of the guitar you would easily fit the driver in there without having to hack into the guitar, and as basses dont have a "neck" pickup as such, and a longer scale length, there should be less interferance problems...cool

FWIW, my Ebow worked quite well on all my basses - if I could find one with the right string spacing, I'd use it for a lot of things, but that little narrow, guitar-oriented case is too much of a hassle.

LK...This is probably one of the few "sane" reasons to DIY one...with no preamp and a couple of hand wound potted coils, it's not really a hard one to do....I can just see something flatish that sticks to a holster by it's coil magnets to the front of the bass...hmmm....

I'm just sitting back learning how to get the most from my "new" toy and waiting for some brilliant "pop" solution for now...

good stuff...

pete

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:DIt's not often the sustainer thread slips off the front page is it... :D

Good stuff, BD...meanwhile I'm just kicking back with my recently rewired sustainer strat...

I did have a PM about some MP3's...hopefully I'll be getting some new sounds (of the current setup) done soon...having a little trouble encoding MP3's and I have no Host but both onelastgoodbye/Tim and LK have offered...

With a 4PDT switch, all problems, other than the turn off "thump" have been overcome and the device is working perfectly...high strings, even in harmonic mode, no problem...As long as you don't turn it off... B)

So...I'll get onto it, and rest assured I'll be here to help if/when you need it, no matter what page the thread slips back to...

good luck with the circuit...

.

p

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Here I hope is something useful...I hope...

Here's a pic of the 4PDT activation switch as I've wired it...

switch4pdt1.jpg

Still get the "pop" and on the strat wired with the neck it will only work in combination with the neck...that's with the sustainer off...the bridge is the only pickup selected with the sustainer on...

Notice that both wires are taken from the neck pickup completely separate from the ground so that when the sustainer is on both the ground and hot of the neck pickup is lifted....

If anyone has some better ideas, i'd love to hear them, but as far as I can tell you cant just lift or short the neckpickup...it's got to be completely removed from the circuit....

Here's the harmonic switch...it's a lot easier to understand...

hswitchdpdt1.jpg

Changing from fundumental to harmonic mode is completely noiseless...

This is just the same as a pickup phase switch...as a matter of fact...the bridge pickup signal into the sustainer circuit, if phased with a switch like this has the same effect....

Haven't had a chance to get on to the sounds...it's on the list...

psw

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Hi there fellow sustainers...at last, here are some....

Sustainer Sounds

Ive actually posted these twice...here and over in the anouncements area on their own thread...you can access them here but it may be better that questions and comments about them be made over there and we'll continue with the technical stuff, over here....

Ok...so here they are in a typically long psw post....

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At last….Some long awaited Sustainer Sounds…

Now you can hear what the Sustainer Thread has been pursuing for so long and how close the project is to getting it all together….

This is my "Test Strat". It's a typical cheap japanese pawnshop (literally) number. It's got a maple fretboard and is very bright and typically strat-ish. The bridge pickup is a $A30 stacked HB single coil…very cheap, and low powered. This is what is used exclusively when the Sustainer is activated.

StratTop.jpg

The neck pickup is the guitar's original, a very low powered true single coil, modified into a passive pickup and Sustainer Driver…

pup-driver1a.jpg

The controls are an on/off bypass switch and a harmonic/fundamental switch, plus a drive/sensitivity control pot.

MP3's...just click on the title to download...first two are short (less than 1M the others a little longer....

I was having trouble posting some links...here's a link to all the tracks for your convieniance...and in case the links dont work right...

All Tracks

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Clean Chords

This shows how the guitar's natural sound has been preserved. Bass strings tend to predominate within a chord (this is typical of all sustainer systems). It's kind of neat though that you can have these long bass notes over the sound of the guitar, gives the impression of two instruments.

The whole thing is using the fundamental sustain mode…fretted notes sustain at their actual pitch…until the last chord where I've switched to the harmonic mode…that emerging high b harmonic is actually the open low E string (sounds the 12th fret b string)…then I switch it back again for the trem drop…

The last sound I intentionally put there and is the current fault still to be ironed out…when you turn the device off…you get a "pop"…that's the sound of the pop at the end there…

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Satch Harmonix

This was as requested by BDRockstar, the old Satriani "Always with You…" tune. Actually a good kind of melody to show off the sustainer as it produces some of the harmonic effects heard on the original. I played it from memory, so I'm not sure how I remembered it right, but you'll get the idea. This has a more saturated distortion tone which brings out the harmonics a little more, but the harmonic effects are the same even when played clean.

The whole thing is played in harmonic mode…it takes a little while for the harmonic to emerge so it's really only with longer notes that this comes through. It's also very sensitive to the way you play. This guitar, due to all the mods installing the thing needs to be re-setup…it has a pretty high action (even for me) and 10-46 strings…so apologies for the handling noise. This action also effects the way the Sustainer responds, that last phrase of harmonics come out almost instantly from the 20th fret (b string, sliding down)…this is due to the high action being pushed down much closer to the driver on the higher frets. A consistently low action guitar should produce this kind of response all over the fretboard…that's where the sensitivity knob comes in…to vary the speed of response from subtle to virtually instant harmonics.

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Thrash Trash

Apologies to all those metal freaks…I thought I'd better crank up the distortion a little and tool about with this sound. Those high notes at the start are not picked but brought out with the tremolo. There's a bit of a run down to an e note (a string, 7th fret) which is held and the harmonic emerges through a couple of octaves. The pinging at the end is my high e, having gotten caught on the pickup bobbin…they say if you screw up, repeat it like you meant it…actually I was just trying to release it!!! Sorry about the timing too…just tooling around you understand, I know tight timing is the essence of this style…forgive me!

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Who Trembles

Ok…a strange one here to demonstrate the weirder side of this thing and how it can transform some pretty basic effects into something different. Here I've indulged my secret Surf Style appreciation with a reverb-laden tremolo-ed out, clean sound…(hey, Hendrix liked surf…). Anyway, got a bit of the spaghetti western thing going…but the trem brought out a little of the Baba O'Riely Synth effect from it…That constant drone is just the low e sustaining away, with the filter like effects made with the harmonic switch. Towards the end I play a b note on the high e (19th fret) but I lost the harmonic just as it was going into dog whistle territory (possibly a good thing)…any way, as I say these longer ones are just me fooling about and improvising…It's all just one guitar…no edits of overdubs on any of this stuff…

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Beckistan

Here's a little tribute to my favorite guitarist, Jeff Beck. Watch out if you're listening with headphones 'cause there's some very high notes, and I don't want any one hurt. I did better versions, but this is the improv that got recorded.

This is a kind of ethereal sound with a fair bit of delay and a British kind of crunch to the sound. All the harmonics are produced by the sustainer and should show that, made right this thing has no trouble sustaining those high strings…even in harmonic territory.

This track illustrates quite a few things.

First the neck pickup. The first phrase is the neck pickup (no sustainer)…this was recorded within 2 feet of a 17in CRT monitor BTW…pretty quiet for a single coil!!! The second phrase is the bridge pickup…you can use this to compare the difference to it's sound with the sustainer on, and how it effects the guitar's normal tone. On the last note of the phrase, as it dies away, I turn the sustainer on…notice no "pop" tuning the thing on…and the note builds up again.

This first part is the fundamental mode…you can hear me switch to harmonic mode when those high notes, go really high. Then I go and play a couple of power chords to demonstrate how the harmonics come out down there.

Then, I play a typically beck-like melody with harmonics provided by the sustainer…all this these high notes are on the g string below the 12th fret…you can see how the harmonic mode can be used to extend the guitar's range without having to reach for the cramped end of the fretboard.

By the way, that faint thumping sound in the background is my loose trem arm, there's a bit of spring noise too… There is also an effect in the delay's that you really don’t hear too often. As these pure high tones are bent (by the trem) they interact in a kind of psychoacoustic effect creating some really bizarre, but musical, interactions in with the echoes as they cascade over each other. Very Beck-esque!

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Jam'N

Here's the sustainer in an unlikely reggae and blues context…Shows how the sustainer can be used to add a bit of spice and squawk to typical blues riffs. Rough as Guts, and the battery was running low, but hey, it might be of interest. There's a bit there where I hold a low g note with my index finger (gm bar chord) while skanking some rhythm under this sustained bass. With practice, and a new battery, you could probably imitate an organ's pedal tones under your rhythm, bit of chorus for a Leslie-like effect, and you're cooking, maan!

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Ok…so, some sounds to enjoy. A big thanks goes to Tim/onelastgoodbye for hosting them, cheers mate (love the toaster :D ). The idea isn't to show off my playing (obviously), but to demonstrate just some of the things it can do and give you a bit of an insight as to what it might sound like in your hands.

It's also to show where the sustainer project is at and how close we are to a realistic and very good DIY Sustainer we really are. If you're interested about the device…don't be put off by the size of the Sustainer Thread (61 pages now)…just tag along and ask what you like…

I'd welcome any feedback by the way…so to speak…so feel free…

psw / pete

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I don't know if anyone realized it, but this thread hit its one-year-birthday on page 48...wow...

Old thread that is always new and alive. I'll eventually sift through all this to figure out what you actually were working on, as I was afraid to until you posted some results in announcements.

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I don't know if anyone realized it, but this thread hit its one-year-birthday on page 48...wow...

Old thread that is always new and alive. I'll eventually sift through all this to figure out what you actually were working on, as I was afraid to until you posted some results in announcements.

You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.... :D

I think the key word is sift...there's some great stuff there...but I wouldn't read the whole thing now...I'm a little embarrassed by some of it myself.... :D ...but, hey...that's what happens when you're learning...

I have had the feeling there for a while that people thought that this thread was just hammering an idea to death...it was actually about p48, as I recall, that we started to change direction from miniturized hex drivers that only I could build, to more conventional drivers that are truely DIY...it's been so great to be able to show with those sound clips that something has come of all this...

What's truely amazing to me is all the people who've stuck with me or joined in along the way...there's just too many to mention now but with over 900 contributions and now almost 19,000 visits, this thread has taken on a life of it's own....

So, with that, welcome to the Sustainer Thread StratDudeDan...hope you and others enjoyed hearing the thing.... B)

psw / pete

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Well the PM's have been running hot and we've had an enormous number of visitors come through in response to the Sustainer Sounds and some links to them on Aron's Stompbox Forum and the Unfretted Site...

DIY SUSTAINER - at Aron's Stompbox Forum

Definitely worth checking out for some more comments and suggestions...these guy's are getting really enthusiastic about it...cheers guys...

UNFRETTED FORUM...transient/emre's diy sustainer thread...

Are fretless guitar's the future...well you'll be wanting a sustainer then....

Here's a PM: sepultura999 writes

2 more questions about the sustainer.

1. When the sustainer is off, does the neck pickup still function like a neck pickup, or is it just a sustainer

Stratcircuit.jpg

2. What is that huge black thing in the control cavity there?

#2 The Battery...it's in a black plastic clip holder (on it's side) so it doesn't shake about in there...you can use it as a rough guide to the size of the thing...it really doesn't need to have a control cavity like that, I've just made it extra large to do more experiments with stuff...that's what I use this guitar for.

Oh...just behind it in the middle of the cavity is another big black thing...that's a stereo switching guitar jack...

#1 Absolutely...the driver built on top of the neck pickup allows the guitar to function just as before when the sustainer is off...when on everything is bypassed and the neck pickup selected...when turned off it returns to whatever the selector switch pickup selection is as normal...

But you could build the driver separately as a number of people have done, of course, it doesn't need to be on a pickup...

WHAT'S NEXT....

Well...I still have to fix the "pop" and have been given some ideas from the guy's at diystompboxes, so I'll have a go...

I've been checking out what bit's and pieces I've got here to make a test box and pickup "top" driver rig...

Basically, a small box for the electronics and a driver that can be mounted to the top of a pickup so it can be easily tested out on a few different instruments without having to do any mods to it, prior to installing...if you get my drift.

This will enable me to test a few things...how a modified humbucker would perform (I'll try it on my Les Paul) for instance...and see how it goes on other peoples guitars and with their playing styles....and to an extent what problems I'm having my be unique to this guitar...

Then, I think I've discovered some way's that the driver could be improved...if I can scrape together some money...I'll be making a new pickup/driver combo with a stacked HB (like the bridge) with a driver on top. I was lucky with the pickup I modified as it's cheap construction was unusual...it would be neat to see how it would go on a more conventional design...

So, just when I thought I could just sit back and play...more things to do... :D

check you later... B)

pete® /psw :D

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Personally, what i'm looking into is a little top mounted sustainer that would go between the fretboard and the neck pickup (on SSS or HSS guitars...). That would be sweet to keep everything stock and all... Have you had any tall coils that worked correctly??

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Hi Pr3Va1L...

I actually got some PM flak over the way this thread veered off into just this kind of territory...hmmm...but I knew it was important, as did others, so let's go back...

It was always my envision that this thing not only work but it be practical in it's implementation...though I didn't achieve even half of my original aims, significant progress was made towards them...

Here's a pic of a couple of drivers

driverphoto2.jpg

You can see the slimmer one could just about fit under the strings without routing on some guitars...some neck shimming, maybe cutting into the scratch plate...

The driver coil is about 4mm deep and 10mm wide. It is exactly the same as the one sitting on top of the pickup, heard in those sound clips (this is the original prototype for the idea). There's plenty of room on my strat to fit it on there between the neck and neck pickup, the wires could go down beside the neck pickup into the guitar and the driver mounted with double sided tape...

If you go back to the mid 30's pages you'll find ideas like this...

boxHblue2.jpg

Tim

We did a lot of work on trying to make this thing completely surface mounted, electronics and all...still valid concepts and astonishing artwork by Tim and Emre to inspire...it was also the era when I was still pursuing the micro hex drivers...well and truely abandoned, well, at least for now...

Boy, it's hard to navigate this thread...it took for ages to find that pic. If you check that pink arrow BTW you'll skip back to that part of the thread.... :D

Now...tall coils haven't been that successful, but I'm sure that something could be made...the taller the coil of course (plus magnet) the deeper this thing is going to have to go...

Give us a vision of what would work for you, and well toss about the practicalities...

Another thing that may be of interest is an idea I'm about to start working on...a driver that's made to sit on top of your pickup...without having to be made from the pickup...take it off and you're back to stock.

The most invassive things are the wiring and finding room for the battery, switches, etc...but mostly the invasive wiring...it's practically a whole rewire to install it properly...it does become an intregal part of the instrument, even if ultimately removable, this is no simple stompbox type effect, it does take some commitment to convert the guitar...

Anyway...hope that's of help and of interest... :D

pete®

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I'd need to digest it all before I could even think of what I truly needed, but I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the sound clips. You're getting some wicked stuff outta the latest creation!

Greg

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Thanks GregP, appreciate that...it's a whole lotta sound out of one guitar...

BTW...those clips were recorded into the soundcard at 16bits with a cheap Korg ToneWorks AX1G digital effects pedal as was suggested...works a treat..

I purposely didn't compose or rehearse the stuff or edit in anyway...as is (pretty obvious)...as I really did want to show there was no trickery...in fact I played it with very little volume coming out of the computers mini speakers and could just as easily used headphones...it just sounds loud... B)

All those volume swells are the sustainer too...notes can be drawn out of it simply by fretting the note and a little finger vibrato or trem action...way cool, and very expressive...!

I've actually come back from a little shopping on the sly...(I really should be doing other stuff...like getting my life back together :D ) but all this is a pleasant distraction and it's really jumping now people can hear what all this has been about...

So, what's up is that someone has offered to independantly evaluate the thing, so...it's onwards with my test box project. I've got some old drive circuits and am going to put together a black box that you plug the guitar into. You plug the box into the amp and a wire will come out to a driver that will simply stick to the top of a typical pickup.

The driver will be made from the prototype pictured above...so it's really a matter of just putting it all together...sould be some interesting results come from it that might help others looking at different pickup configurations. One of the first tests will be to sustainerize a conventional Humbucker by sticking it to the slug coil.

If it works, what I'd propose is a driver like this and a fake top of the same thickness screwed down with the pole screws so the whole thing looks like a conventional HB somewhat, and people won't have to contemplate permanently modding their precious SD's or anything.... :D

These are the kinds of issues that I really think put people off the idea and denies them access to something pretty darn good...and something the production companies just aren't addressing

I want to hear someone do something musically great with this thing (that's what this is all about after all)...the more accessable I can make it, the higher the chance that it will fall into the hands of people who will do just that...!

Thanks for all the positive comments, there's been hundreds of visits and plenty of encouragement from everyone in the few day's those sounds have been up...sound speaks more than words it seems...maybe Zappa was right and I should "shut up and play yer guitar".... :D

pete®

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What i'd do (since i don't have any guitar that i want to mod) is have a surface mounted driver and just have an on/off and phase switch for it. You still have to plug it to the bridge pickup somehow, but that would be IT... I don't mind having to switch off everything except that pickup and stuff...

You know... if Rolang can make the electronics for the GK pickup fit in a lil box surface mounted, why wouldn't it be possible with a sustainer?

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Psw, if you wanted something so you could take it off, and on, the only path I can think of taking is the way Graphtech did with the Ghost piezos. You can't take them in and out in a flash, but no soldering is required because the pots come soldered, and to connect it to the preamp, it uses some kind of quick connecting cable, kind of what you see with computers. You could make it so that people have them installed in their pickup cavity, but when they want to remove the sustainer, they can just unplug it.

-Jamie

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No there doesn't seem to be any quick absolutely no mod solution...but even this DIY wersion of a sustainer is much smaller than current commercial units and the circuitray smaller too if Fetzer/Ruby turns out to work OK...using surface mount devices SMD even my circuit would be no bigger than a pot.... :D

As for how to implement such a device that's up to you and the guitar you're planning to install it on...there are so many variations. A Les Paul for instance...where's the driver going to go....well, my solution is on top of the pickup of course...

As for connectors and stuff...I've tried them and they really take up as much room as the circuit itself! Since you're going to have to take a soldering iron to the wiring anyway, and this isn't a clip on/off device...I tend to think, why not just solder the thing in...it's still reversable and not a visible mod...

Taking a Les Paul again as an example...it's so thick that you'll find plenty of room in the control cavity for the circuit, battery, the works. Rewire for a master volume and tone, replace one pot with the sensitivity control with a push/pull harmonic sector function...the other with a rotary on off switch...no routing at all, all wiring and parts.

No room for another control knob...leave it out...all those sound clips were done with the thing flat out and controled with touch...how important is the sensitivity contol is actually debatable...now you're only looking for room for two switches...

With some fancy digital switching system you could actually use a single 3 way switch...off in the middle fund/harmonic to either side...use a rotary switch on the mid tone of a strat to achieve a similar effect with no visable switches...

All that's required is a bit of imagination and commitment...all the testing to get the thing working BTW can be done outside of the guitar by holding the driver above the strings...

psw

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Now if you'd want to make the install ultra-simple and perfectly reversible, maybe it would be worth exploring a fully independent system, as in a driver with it's own pickup coil (and that pickup coil sits on top of the bridge pickup, or it might be some sort of piezo system, what sepultura999 said) It would cancel out the need to adapt it to each guitar's wiring. Problem is you'd might change the stock sound of the bridge pickup. Think of it as a big ebow with 6 cm wide coils that sits on top of the pickups :D

well, just a thought

Tim

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Now if you'd want to make the install ultra-simple and perfectly reversible, maybe it would be worth  exploring  a fully independent system, as in a driver  with it's own pickup coil (and that pickup coil sits on top of the bridge pickup, or it might be some sort of piezo system, what sepultura999 said) It would cancel out the need to adapt it to each guitar's wiring. Problem is  you'd might change the stock sound of the bridge pickup. Think of it as a big ebow with 6 cm wide coils that sits on top of the pickups :D

well, just a thought

Tim

Hmmm...well that's certainly a thought...then we could utilize those fabulous box designs I guess...

It looks like that wont work easily because there is still an inherient need to bypass the selector and automatically select the bridge pickup...or are you suggesting that this new pickup is also the "sound" to the amp when the device is turned on and the whole guitar is bypassed...that just might work...but it wouldn't sound like the guitar anymore...doh!

Of course such a small pickup will require a lot of amplification and be difficult to wind given the fragility of pickup wire...Even with the tools materials and will, if you're prepared to go to such lengths as a DIY project, You'd probably be of the kind of mind to simply rewire the guitar...

As a hypothetical product...well it possibly does have legs...maybe such devices will appear after the device's potential is more fully recognised...perhaps Vai will do something truely amazing with his...

The idea of an external box still appeals to me...especially when you see something aesthetically designed :D , not just a black plastic box....It solves the installation of a battery (really the biggest item) and provides easy access to it, and avoids the need to drill into the guitar...

Still, with my current set up, you'd be looking at a 10mm multicore cable (probably entering via the output jack) with multiple connections and disconnections to the guitar's wiring...it's hardly plug'n'play....

However....something like this is well on the way with my new gadget. I've just about finished the black box (which contains the electronics) and then I'll convert the prototype slim driver for a temporary pickup driver top (or add a magnet for an independant driver). Hopefully (if the neck pickup doesn't squeel), this will be a test bed for temporarily trying the device out on a guitar by just plugging into the guitar and the amp into the box, taping the driver to the neck pickup and NOT selecting the neck pickup during sustainer operation.

I have to point out that I've spent way too much time developing this already...that's why I changed course towards more conventional drivers than my hex designs which were clearly not DIY...and the pursuit of pickup selection with the sustainer on and the like...

My work now is focused on improving this thing and making it more versitile and widely available. My thoughts on this then is to loose the "pop" (obviously) and refine the switching interface with the guitar. Once that's done I'd be inclined to give an explicit tutorial showing how the thing is built and installed successfully in a typical guitar. I have even contemplated supplying a "kit" of materials, if there is a demand, so people can easily replicate it without all the hassle of finding the right parts... It was also, quite rightly (I suspect), pointed out that the LM386 amp is as old as the hills and much better lower drain amps now exist (that don't "pop" either) that might even run on verey low voltages. That could mean a much smaller iPod like rechargable battery, just plug your guitar into the wall to recharge overnight like a mobile phone, and much more compact installation.

That's plenty to keep me occupied for now I think you'd agree...unless someones going to pay me...I think I'll just continue to follow my own selfish whims...and along the way, help you with yours... B)

pete®

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hey psw man that thing sounds really good, good news on the home front i am in the process of recording some of my own clips finally. Through much bartering i got a computer worth salvaging. it has to be reformatted an put xp on it but aftert that its ready to roll it has some of the same software from the studio it came from. keep on with this thread man really good work.

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