Sustain of a Guitar

[eg]

Just a quick question.

What actually contributes to the sustain of a guitar and how? (ie. Bridge, pickups, wood, neck etc etc... )

Thanks.

[GreasyKid]

actually, everything and anything on a guitar contributes (or retards) to the sustain. even the amp setup you're using can have an effect. however, most of the sustain (or lack of) is a result of the wood the guitar is constructed of, and how well it resonates as a whole.

[reguv760]

Let's see how much factors are involved... quality of wood, construction of guitar, hardware, what material the hardware is made of, electronics, and of course, perfect (or close to perfect) setup. Oh ya, you can also consider the strings, the cable and everything else in your signal chain. I'm sure these are few generalized ideas on how sustain is affected... there's probably more but I haven't thought of 'em at the moment...

[eg]

Essentially just the guitar itself what are the most important factors??

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by eg

Essentially just the guitar itself what are the most important factors??

The wood is the primary one. It has to sympathetically resonate at all the right frequencies so the vibration of the strings is reinforced. If it doesn't resonate, it does nothing to support the string's vibration, and the string's energy dissipates.

There are conflicting opinions on other aspects. Most people would agree that having a fixed bridge with the strings mounted through the body is the best way to mount the strings for optimum resonance and sustain.

When it comes to mass, there are two schools of thought: Some feel it's best to have a light body, a compact headstock and low-mass tuners, while others consider the opposite to be true. Both are probably right, and it's more a matter of finding that magical piece of wood that has its own voice, regardless of what it weighs.

[Dave Goodland]

yes yes and yes but THE most important think is the pickups. You can have as much damn wood as you want but the only thing that is going to produce a signal is the pickup. Also gain on an amp. Resonance is what the wood makes, but that does not really last long. You can have a hollow guitar with kick ass pickups in it plug into an amp with great gain and sustain forever.

Think about 'sustainers' like in FLO, steve vai's guitar. The sustainer in it is a pickup. It keeps sustaining, but the other pickup (standard) in the same guitar, same wood etc.... doesn't have the same length.

[darren wilson]

I disagree, Dave. If the strings' energy dies, the pickups have no signal to send. Yes, pickups are probably the next factor after woods, construction (bolt on, set neck or neck-thru) and hardware. But i wouldn't place them first on the list.

The bottom line is you need to get those strings vibrating (and keep them vibrating), otherwise pickups and amp gain are moot points. You accomplish this by ensuring that the guitar itself isn't absorbing and dissipating the string's energy. Powerful pickups can even reduce sustain because the powerful magnets can significantly diminish the amplitude of the strings' vibration.

If a guitar doesn't sustain well when it's unplugged, it won't sustain well when it's plugged in. The sustain produced by compression and high-gain amps is artificial and really has nothing to do with the quality of sustain inherent in the guitar itself. Compression and gain also don't help much if you want a clean tone with lots of sustain and dynamics. That's why having a guitar with good fundamental (unamplified) sustain on its own is the key.

Electromagnetic sustainers like those from Fernandes and Sustainiac do not function as pickups when they're in "sustainer" mode. While they're built like pickups and can act as standard pickups (only while the sustainer circuit is deactivated, and only with an active pre-amp to boost their signal), in fact, they act 100% opposite to how a pickup works when the Sustainer circuit is engaged. They're driven by a small on-board amplifier that pumps out a strong electric signal to the coils, which then generate a strong, oscillating magnetic field to vibrate the strings. When the Sustainer driver is active, the string's signal is being detected by the standard bridge pickup.

[Dave Goodland]

yeah cool, which has nothing to do with wood right.

And yes i agree strings are probably the most important thing. But pickups were not even mentioned in previous post and i just couldn't believe it was overlooked.

[frankfalbo]

I'm with Darren, I wrote an article for Guitar Shop back in the mid 90's called Tone vs. Sustain or something like that, and it was about the battle between the two. Without doing a famous falbo 9 page rant, the basic premise differs from what Darren is saying in just one way. The wood's resonance is what creates your "tone", or tonal character. The point of origin is the strings. They generate your tone energy. You can waste the energy on things like bad hardware or loose, sloppy neck joints, soft plastic nuts, etc. Or efficiently drive the wood with it. But wood isn't really the catalyst for sustain. It is one of the things that reduces sustain by absorbing the vibrations from the string and then transfering them back to the string somewhat diminished, but altered based on the wood type, construction, etc. This is a GOOD trade, though. Because it creates tone. To prove this out, you could make a guitar out of steel, and it would sustain longer than any other guitar made. It would sound horrible. Generally, dense materials with solid contact leave more sustain to the string, while soft materials and less contact will eat sustain, and then you have all your exceptions. The reason you don't have to mention pickups, and everything after the guitar, is because they are all secondary. If your guitar has bad sustain, you compensate with your gear, and can get good results. If it has good sustain, you don't have to compensate as much. A pickup that helps your sustain is probably doing it through low magnetic fields and high output. But if you'd wanted an open vintage sound with some swell to the notes, then you HAVE to get your sustain from the guitar, because other things will deteriorate that tone image you have in your head, and turn it into a more processed sound.

[Texter]

I noticed that using your amp on a decent volume adds to longer sustain. It's feedback -ofcourse- and very useful when trying to sustain a note. More feedback will give more overtones ofcourse. Jems are really good at using feedback for sustain. Don't ask me how or what because I'm not planning on giving it any more thought than this. I'm only guessing it's the light wood they've used for the bodies. This should mean an advantage for the jem7Vs with their Alder bodies.

[eg]

Well, this post is really generating lots of information.
Perhaps I should change the topic to tone and sustain instead.

How about the neck and the fingerboard; do they influence sustain or tone?

And lastly; what does the headstock have to do with sustain?

[Drew]

Texter, the power tube compression you get going at higher volumes also helps...

-Drew

[darren wilson]

Originally Posted by eg

How about the neck and the fingerboard; do they influence sustain or tone?

Yes, in the same way that body woods affect sustain and tone. Certain frequencies are absorbed by the wood, certain frequencies are reflected back to the strings.

Originally Posted by eg

And lastly; what does the headstock have to do with sustain?

Probably not much. Just ask Ned Steinberger.

[eg]

Ned who??

[darren wilson]

Ned Steinberger.

Probably one of the most brilliant musical instrument designers in this century. He designed the Steinberger headless guitars with the double ball tuning system, and Spector NS series of basses, among many other notable inventions.