Thanks for the response. I've spot read most of the thread, but will see what else I can glean from it all. I'm interested in a # of things with a hexaphonic sustainer. (Actually I don't truly need a hexaphonic sustainer, as I typically would only be playing triads or tetrads, which could make things easier w.r.t. the driver if I could arrange things for every other string.) My most immediate desire is to play sustained intervals/chords. Some of the impetus came from listening to Toshio Hosokawa's compositions on the album "Deep Silence" (for Sho and Accordion), an admittedly cringe worthy title, but beautiful music nonetheless. Also Ellen Fullman's long string pieces and much of Phil Niblock's work come to mind. The guitar does seem potentially well suited for much of this. It has been something I've wanted to do for a while, and have achieved with limited success via a high gain setup at as low volume as possible. My best configuration has been w/ a cranked low watt tube amp (tube gain and compression) through an attenuator (low volume) with a cranked gain pedal. It works reasonably well w/ interval/triad playing on my humbucker (ES-335) guitar, but the constant noise/hum is a problem since I generally tend to play very quiet music w/ woodwinds, etc. I've also been using the Sustainiac Model-C in small group contexts, but the limitations are too great for what I want. It only works on a subset of the notes/frets, and electromagnet sustainers seem to be much more consistent/reliable.
Also Nic Collins, who is head of the Sound department at the Art Institute of Chicago, has apparently built a hexaphonic sustainer. He says he uses his more as a filter for external sounds, by which I presume he means something similar to David Tudor's Rainforest pieces (w/ Cage et al). In this context, the guitar is effectively a resonating lap steel. He probably isn't concerned with true hexaphonic capabilities, note isolation, etc. From what I've heard, he is doing awesome work with it. I'll see what more I can glean from him.
This is a great resource. I have a limited knowledge of electronics, but will contribute what I can.
BTW, Graphtec also has a drop in hexaphonic bridge transducer (strat or tune-o-matic) with preamps for mono or hex/midi output via the roland 13 pin connector. This seems a bit more flexible than the LR Baggs T-Bridge -- I learned about this after purchasing the LR Baggs T-Bridge on ebay. The T-Bridge should be fine for my interests anyway, and the acoustic blending it offers will be useful even if the hex sustainer doesn't pan out. Here's a link to the Graphtec Ghost products:
http://www.graphtech.com/prodghost.htm
That could build a very versatile guitar.
Oh, another spin would be to use the bridge transducers in reverse to drive the strings. After thinking about the Rainforest pieces, in which Tudor uses transducers on hanging metal sculptures, milk jugs, etc., to build compositions, it occured to me that this could potentially work for guitar strings as well, which is actually what I think Nic Collins does. I wonder if they would have enough power for this, especially given that they are at the end of the string. If it did work for a driver, the problem would be how to sense the signal, in which case a magnetic hex pickup would probably be required. Hmm....
