Hey guys -- I've been trying to build a sustainer-ish guitar for a few weeks now, without much luck, and just discovered this thread; looks like you can probably help.
I started with the stock pickup in a thrown-away Mexican Strat, and rewound it with some thin, insulated copper wire I had lying around (I'm not really sure of the gauge). That's basically all the "building" I've done, and it clearly hasn't been enough.
I want to be able to drive the strings from external sources as well as feedback, so I tried just using headphone outs on amps and stereos; nothing. A cranked stereo can drive it very, very feebly, and since the pickup isn't potted, it basically just ends up being a really horrible, really weak speaker, although it drives the string enough that I can feel it slightly and sometimes hear it. I did get great results from a 150-watt amp, just before melting the sustainer pickup a bit -- had to make a new one.
This time I only used three pole pieces, just in case the problem was that it wasn't concentrated enough; but the results were hardly any better, a barely noticeable difference.
So what am I doing wrong? Seems like there must be a much larger difference than I thought in the construction of a normal pickup and a sustainer, much more than just rewinding it to change impedance; what is it? Pole pieces? Magnets?
Thanks a lot,
Kenji
