Hello PSW and all.
This is my first post to this forum. I have spent the past 2 weeks reading through most of the 279 pages, on a learn as you go type basis, after a chain of mind-blowing experiences that went sort of like this...
Six months ago, while surfing youtube, stumbled across the awe of the Moog guitar. I pondered how the infinite sustain might be achieved and recalled my middle school days and learning how speakers and microphones are very much the same animal and realized the same thing could theoretically be done with pickups. Given the Moog's $6,500 price tag, I then wondered if such a thing could be done for less $$$$$ and began speaking with an R&D tech at my place of employment about this topic, who believs this can be done. So, at that point I made up my mind to take on the project, but first, I wanted to scour for every little bit of knowledge I could find on this topic. A few days later, I stumbled across the sustainiac site and was again wow'd as I was with the Moog guitar. It occured yet again when I saw that Jackson makes one stock in the DK2s. After all, I was in the mindset that there was going to be little or no information on the subject until I luckily stumbled across this forum. I must say that after playing electric guitar for 15 years, regularly buying Guitar World magazine, surfing their website and ultimate-guitar.com, I feel completely ignorant to this world that exists beneath the surface that is you guys and this site... simply amazing!
As I mentioned I have been playing guitar for 15 years and through that time have played with all sorts of effects, but the sustainer has really got me, I WANT ONE! However, I only have $6,499 EXTRA just lying around, so I won't be making that purchase anytime soon... that last $1.00 is hard to come by you know, especially when you support a family... they just always seem to need that last $1.00. Anyway, I do like the sound out of the Jackson, but I am not a shred/metal player, so the rest of that guitar does not really appeal to me. Lastly, the Sustainiac kits are a lot cheaper, but I am not sure I want to go modding up one of my American strats just yet, so here I am. I want to probably do as PSW and the rest of you have done and experiment on a cheapo guitar, although the end result I am looking for is a sustainer in my Fender American Special Mahogany HSS strat, which I swapped out the stock pickups with a Duncan JB in the bridge, Duncan Hot Rails in the middle, and a Duncan Vintage Rails in the Neck. This guitar also runs the Fender S-1 switching system which adds some slight complexity to the system over a standard strat.
I have a background in electronics manufacture, being currently employed at a manufacturer of interior/exterior lighting (electroluminescent, LED, and HID) and power systems for commercial and military aviation applications. I hold ANSI/IPC certifications as an instructor in all areas of electronic manufacture, serving as company technical trainer and soldering/rework and test technical expert. I have been working with through hole and surface mount product in high-volume, high-mix as well as low-volume, high-mix environments. My current evironment does include transformer production and we do have several automated, high speed winding machines. That being said, I know how to build and rework/repair efficiently, explore cleaner, more efficient, cost-effective materials and methods for processing electronic assemblies, and train others to do the work using worldwide, industry standard techniques properly, but this is where my expertise ends. I do not design assemblies and my troubleshooting skills are limited, though rapidly growing as my interest in tese aread has increased in the past few months. Lately I have been learning the how's and why's of simple current-regulating transistor and timer circuits employed in our blinking LED assemblies.
It is my hope that with participation in this thread I might learn a few things to increase my knowledge in my weak areas and be able to contribute in the areas I am strong. I do admire greatly the show of perseverence here. Wow, four + years at this! Congratulations are due!
There we have it. Please excuse the lengthy introduction. I do have a few questions and comments that I did not see addressed previously. Please excuse if I missed them being addressed. I was up at all hours of the night for a few days as I sifted through this thread.
1) For the driver design. has the idea of off-the-shelf SMD inductors such as these been explored for driver design? They can be purchased in a variety of package sizes and values. I know the hex idea has all but died off, but I am thinking part of the reason for this is manufacturing difficulty. I am also thinking of the possibility of chaining them together closely as a singular coil in series or parallel.
2) As magnetics can be reversed, ie. mic to speaker and vice versa, can the same be applied to piezoelectrics? Is it theoretically possible to use an under-saddle piezo as the driver in a sustainer circuit? I recall reading about the experimental implementation of vibrating motors, but have any other sources of creating the string vibration been explored?
3) How similar are your blade/bobbin designs to contemporary blade pickups? Could a standard blade pickup (rewound) be used for the driver? I have not disassembled one, but for instance, my Duncan Vintage Rails... might it be feasible, to remove the cover and wind a separate coil in conjunction with the one that is already there as the driver, thereby having driver and pickup in the same thin package? What if the pickup was completely unwound, then rewound with pickup and driver wires simultaneously (two strand of different thickness and number of turns, but originating from the core)?
4) I have been thinking about Moog's string-damping. I wonder if what they are doing is creating a "magnet full-on" upon sense of string movement. Not amplifying the string signal, but using the string signal as the "magnet on" trigger, then after some timed delay, applying the field as a straight current magnet, sans the signal from the strings. When the trigger sound subsides, the driver turns "magnet off". Would this be an easy experiment to try on one of your current working prototypes?
Thanks for your time and patience.
-Donovan from New Hampshire, USA
