"Sustainer" - ok - i give up...wtf is it?

[kennydoe]

I keep hearing about the 'sustainer' that SSV has been using lately on his guitars.

Usually I'll just read thru all the posts and figure it out form there, but I just can't get a grip. *Could somebody please sustain....er....explain it to me? *

I thought it was a specific model of pickup, then i thought it was a pedal, now i'm just completely lost. *I have a pretty good knowledge of eletctronic thingy-dingys too.

:help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:

~kenny

[jay ratkowski]

It's more of a system than anything else.

Sorry, my explanation will be nowhere near perfect, but hopefully I can get you started.

It pretty much works by the neck "pickup" using feedback from the other pickup in order to artificially create string vibration. *So you can fret a note, not pick a thing... and the system will use its magical powers to make the string vibrate, causing an odd swell/feedback sound.

Sorry, that was bad. *Check out either the Fernandez or Sustainiac websites for a GOOD description.

[trouble311]

What it is is an electronic device called the "Sustainer driver"....it takes a LOT of routing to fit it to a guitar....what it does is it takes electrical energy to generate a strong magnetic field that keeps a string vibrating long after you pick it....no normal decay like on a normal guitar....but yeah, check out Fernandes' web page for a better description.

[HIS ROYAL DARKNESS]

Jay,

Not a bad description! *From what I've gathered, it does create a magnetic field which will vibrate the string indefinately, and therefore, create infinite sustain! *What I like, and I'm not TOO sure of this, is that you can turn this function off and on, so it will act like a normal pickup when turned off. *Like the Ebow, I'm guessing here that when its on, your volume needs to be turned WAY down. *But anymore info would be appreciated. *It seems to me there's a lot more controls that go with it, than when it only came on the Fernades guitars.

Chris

[SalemB]

The sustainiac site is under reconstruction and I could not find Fernandes site. I do however know everything there is to know about Fernandes Rum.

You know the correct url?

[ripl3y]

http://www.fernandesguitars.com/sustainer/


Steve

[kennydoe]

Thanks all!

That link will definiitely be adequate explanation. *i think i get it now.
~Kenny

[jemsite]

also here:

http://www.sustainiac.com/

please do a search on the Forum Archive (discus board) for more sustainer talk... glen

[plantboy]

easy explanation: it's a built-in Ebow.

[BloodySwirl]

Plantboy, you and I must be on the same wave, I was about to post the exact same thing.....

Must be an Arkansas thing, I was born in Little Rock

[Courjan]

Is the long bar dive in 'Frank' achived by using a sustainer?
I don't think a normal pup can produce a sustain that long.

[Vai is God]

Actually, I have one in my Fernandes Monteray. On mine there's a switch to turn it on and off, and the tone control is a push pot that changes it from harmonic sustain to feedback. There's also another knob that controls the intensity of the sustainer. So no, you don't have turn the volume way down.

[jimmi]

I won the one at Jemfest this year (thanks again Todd's guitars!!). *I just got it into a guitar (not a jem because It did not come with a double coil for the neck pickup).

Let me help since I just went down this road.

1) *It does use a electrical current to make a magnetic field that moves the string

2) It has 3 modes, sustain, feed back harmonic (5th above the note even when it is not pluged in, neat!), and off.

3) You have to use the pickups supplied by Fernedez for it to work the best. *THis means that FLO may not have EVO's . *Actully the tech guy at Fernendez says he is doubltful Evo's will work because PU's with strong magnets get in the way of what the sustainer is trying to do.

4) There is a little bit of routing needed but to be honest not as much as I feared. THe main problem is the switches are wired into the chipboard instead of being independant an just wired to it. *This limits where you can put it. *IF this were not this way I probably could have done it w/out any routing. *As it was there was onlya little, and really I did not even have to change the cavity cover.

5) there is a third knob that you can adjust the attack of sustain

6) the bridge PU is the only one that carries sound while the sustainer is on.

(Edited by jimmi at 6:11 pm on Aug. 2, 2001)

[guitargirl]

Quote: from jimmi on 4:10 pm on Aug. 2, 2001
I won the one at Jemfest this year (thanks again Todd's guitars!!). *

Thanks to Jay, too! The one we ordered didn't show up in time (STILL hasn't!) so Jay let us give his away...so hes' patiently waiting for us to receive our Sustainer from Fernandes. (actually, he said he forgot about it...to bad I reminded him...could've saved some money)

[rickboot]

Terri,

How much does a Sustainer sell for now? I have seen a few on ebay for $139-150. I didn't know if that was good price or not.

Rick