Your next guitar?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Only you can decide.
If used as an extension of a guitar's sonic options a Sustainer is cool.
If you're hoping for a (partial) substitute for learning the instrument it's pretty lame.

Fair enough. Lame is my M.O. for the most part.

I'd say I'm learning the instrument, but I'm not focusing on established technique. I'm not pretentious enough to say that I'm doing something "new", just that over the years I've figured out that I learn best by doing things my own way.

I think I have decided already but I'm thinking out loud. My question was more if the Sustainer is different enough from using an ebow to justify the cost. If the difference is in the playing technique that is cool, I have no qualms about learning. I just don't want to spend $250 to find that I was satisfied with the ebow and my regular guitar. I went to all three local Guitar Centers :suicide: and none of them had a rig I could demo.

Thanks.

Well it leaves both hands free, which for you needs/intrests Justin my friend i think might just be worth the money to you. Since twiddling whatever the guitar signal is going into/processed by is very important to you/your syle i think you could justify a sustainer unit. However the real call is yours and whether having two hands free oppose to one is worth the price

Hope that makes sense mate and helps you decide either way

Dean

[rectus_dominus]

Hey, opinions about cheapo Johnson Tele and Strat copies?

Aand, will a premium, shielded jack cable reduce my ground and static noise?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

It may help but have you shielded the electronics cavity with that tinfoil like material? That will help if you have not along with many other things - better quality pickups to begin with if they are stock cheapo jobs...etc. man

[rectus_dominus]

I really don't want to do foil and bipol cable whack jobs, I don't think they help that much, and a girl would be scared in my room too. It's certainly not (only) the pickup noise. My room is a noise paradise cause of the plasterboard frame and the 220v distributors. I don't think an EMG HZ does this high amount of noise.

[justin3am]

Hope that makes sense mate and helps you decide either way

That was perfect Dean. I like doing prepared guitar stuff and it can be tough to balance the ebow on the guitar while I'm doing other stuff with my hands. I guess the one thing that I find confusing is how you keep all the strings from ringing at once? Do you have to mute the strings you aren't using with your palm?

Youtube videos haven't been very helpful, at least not in the context of what I want to do with it. Though I saw a really funny one with Kerry King, where someone asked about his pickups and he forgot he was using a guitar with a Sustainer installed.

[Hink]

It may help but have you shielded the electronics cavity with that tinfoil like material? That will help if you have not along with many other things - better quality pickups to begin with if they are stock cheapo jobs...etc. man

I do not own a guitar that does not have the entire cavity covered with copper shielding tape, it's pretty cheap and worth every penny

[robogone]

I've been thinking about a sustainer for some time too, but it's not really that high on my list - think I'd like to get something with a Floyd Rose before I put a sustainer in it.

One thing that I have thought about though, is the difference between the Fernandes Sustainer and a Sustainiac. If I'm correct, the Fernandes pickup is not usable as a pickup in its own right - is that correct? I know you can use the Sustainiac pickup as a regular pickup. Not sure if anyone has any experience of comparing them.

[rectus_dominus]

It may help but have you shielded the electronics cavity with that tinfoil like material? That will help if you have not along with many other things - better quality pickups to begin with if they are stock cheapo jobs...etc. man

I do not own a guitar that does not have the entire cavity covered with copper shielding tape, it's pretty cheap and worth every penny

So, if I glue tin foil just all over the box it helps? (Only the stuff hid by the backpanel?) And I won't need to take out my pickups to cover their beds and stuff? I saw some guides with soldering and taking out the pickups from the front...

[Uncle E]

Maybe, maybe not my next guitar but my cheap-ish tele hunting uncovered this: http://www.imuso.co.uk/Electric-Guitars ... ar-Natural

seems a lot of guitar for the money, anyone any experience of them?

The design is certainly interesting. While it won't sound like a tele, due to the woods and construction, it could be a great guitar with a few modifications. Plan on getting a fret job, which is the first place I see Chinese guitars falling terribly flat, and I imagine that putting in some of the P90-voiced Dimarzio pickups would sound great in that mahogany body.

[Uncle E]

Hey, opinions about cheapo Johnson Tele and Strat copies?

They're made by AXL, the same company that does the current VHT amps and their own brand of guitars. While I'm personally not interested in them, they'd be cool after swapping the pickups and getting a fret job.

Aand, will a premium, shielded jack cable reduce my ground and static noise?

Yes. Other things will likely have greater effects (humbucking pickups, shielded cavity, etc.) but a decent cable will certainly help to some extent. Try the Elixer or Mogami Platinum cables, you'll hear a bigger difference with those than with just about anything else.

[Uncle E]

If I'm correct, the Fernandes pickup is not usable as a pickup in its own right - is that correct?

The Sustainer behaves as a normal pickup when not being used to sustain. However, if the Sustainiac can be used as a pickup while simultaneously sustaining, it's certainly better.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Hope that makes sense mate and helps you decide either way

That was perfect Dean. I like doing prepared guitar stuff and it can be tough to balance the ebow on the guitar while I'm doing other stuff with my hands. I guess the one thing that I find confusing is how you keep all the strings from ringing at once? Do you have to mute the strings you aren't using with your palm?

Youtube videos haven't been very helpful, at least not in the context of what I want to do with it. Though I saw a really funny one with Kerry King, where someone asked about his pickups and he forgot he was using a guitar with a Sustainer installed.

Yes that is exactly how it is done via the palm mute which is not so easy at all with a big clunky ebow/ebow plus in that same hand (the weighting and pressure have to be compelety compensated for and i am not into that, adjusting everything i am used to for adapting to one piece of gear). Hence the reason i think/thought that the Sustainer system is more useful and practical of the two and for your own needs especially but as already mentioned by someone else - you could use both together even!!! So the ebow is not deemed useless if you do fit a sustainer system) So that is my take on that one my friend for what it is worth and i guess the only way is to fit one and see as you are unable to demo a guitar fitted with one

Regarding King - LOL. The guy mucks up all the time when questioned, once he forgot to mention the 'Jackson' endorsement days of Slayer which covered some of thier best records! but he was like erm 'BC.Rich and ESP' and the guy interviewing said i thought that you guys (him and Jeff) used Jackson guitars at one point? Then he was like 'oh right i forgot about that' KK also did a massively shit job of explaining what the 'beast' switch does on his signature JCM800 head recently also...amusing (it adds more gain and a custom EQ curve basically lol). His MXR Custom 10-Band EQ (whats the difference between that and the standard one? Some KFK paint job and an additional output lol)...Etc. Never heard/read Tom Araya or Jeff talking about gear and getting it wrong but i realize they are not packing as many signature stuff as KFK

All the best and take care mate

Dean

[robogone]

If I'm correct, the Fernandes pickup is not usable as a pickup in its own right - is that correct?

The Sustainer behaves as a normal pickup when not being used to sustain. However, if the Sustainiac can be used as a pickup while simultaneously sustaining, it's certainly better.

I think they're just the same then. Any idea if the pickup is worth using without sustaining? Is it a decent sounding pickup?

[Hanglow]

My latest, another cheapo, another Vintage brand - the VSA535 -New for £160.






Pretty good so far, nice neck and solid hardware from Wilkinson. No fret job needed this time around although I had to lower the nut slots slightly. I don't feel the need to change the pickups yet either. I still need to put a new set of strings on

[tapper mike]

I got tired of shopping for b grade copies. Occassionally you find a real gem. But more times then not the neck warps the frets pop out or are easily nicked and the bodys are make of such soft material you can't take em anywhere for fear if a nick, stratch in the body, and you might need to rewire it.

Any advice I give to younger collecters goes like this.
Save your pennies, you can get more out of one great guitar then three crappy ones. Don't buy it if you think your going to stuff it away in a broom closet or are embarassed to play it publicly.