Sustainer project

[Stratman57]

Finally, after a 10+ year gestation, my Strat has got it's Fernandes Sustainer wired up, thanks to Mark at Jam Jar Amps. I'd routed out the guitar body, and fixed all the pickups to the new scratch plate. (Left handed guitar). But after a lot of personal shit, the final wiring was beyond my eyesight and soldering skills. It was also complicated by the fact that I'd previously fitted some Mike Christian piezo pickups (in the early 1990's), so that had to be incorporated. It sounds great. No more juggling with the E-Bow.

Then, bugger me, Johnny Marr has got one on one of his guitars at Glastonbury. I may be back in fashion!

Regards, Simon.

[Martin Walker]

Nice to be fashionable Simon - they say it comes in waves

Mind you, Johnny Marr seems to manage to stay fashionable whatever he does, so there's some hope for us all

We do need a pic of your Fernandes-Sustainer-fitted guitar now though

Martin

[MOF]

My uncle Colin (RIP) said he had three suits, one of them was back in fashion at any time.
Cue purchase of two more guitars by you to stay in fashion at all times.
If this causes arguments in your household blame me.

[Music Wolf]

Quality never goes out of fashion - buy a couple of good ones

[Stratman57]

I already have too many guitars for the house.

How do you post pictures? I've tried copy and paste but that doesn't seem to work.

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

You need to host them elsewhere and then link to them. It helps keep the site costs and storage requirements down, but it is a bit awkward if you don't already have a photo hosting site.

[Stratman57]

Oh, right. which photo hosting site is the most used on here? would a link to the photos on OneDrive work?

Regards, Simon.

[Drew Stephenson]

One drive is problematic. Most folks seem to use imgur now.

[ManFromGlass]

Imgur always works for me. Looking forward to the photos.

[Martin Walker]

I bag first peep, as I was the first one to suggest photos

Martin

[Stratman57]

Here we go, hopefully. Sustainer Strat and matching cat.



Close up.

The first two knobs are for the Mike Christian piezo bridge pickups, the two large ones are volume and tone and the last one is sustainer intensity. the small silver switch is for selecting piezos or magnetic pickups. the two black switches behind the bridge are for sustainer on/off and normal/mix/harmonic, which selects the empahasis for the feedback.

The only problem is that both the piezo preamp and the sustainer are prewired, which is great for assembly, but not for lefties like me, the knobs work backwards!

Took it to band practice tonight, it's amazing where one can sneek in a bit of feedback.

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

Knobs galore!

[Stratman57]

Yes, it's amazing what you can fit in a Strat control cavity.

I'm not sure how Mark managed to fit all the wires in, but I'm not going to peek in case I can't get it all back in again.

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

Thare's probably not a lot of wood left under that pickguard!

[Stratman57]

Strangely enough there is still quite a lot. I had to rout out the rear pickup cavity to accommodate the humbucker, and I mistakenly routed out a space to fit the circuit board in, below the centre pickup until I realised that I would need access to the bottom of the circuit board to adjust the 4 trim pots that are there.

The largest area routed out was for the circuit board, and for the battery box. The guitar still weighs 8.0 lb .



I have a black tremolo cover on order to cover up the circuit board.

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

Purrrr-fect!

[Wonks]

There is just enough space to rout out a battery position under the trem cover if you're careful. Done it on a Strat I'm repainting and fitting a Clapton circuit in.

[Martin Walker]

Looks like I only got second peek (after Wonks ) but it's nevertheless a fascinating looking instrument, and as Wonks mentions, lots of knobs!

Now all we need is a small audio snippet demonstrating the sustainer in action

Martin

[Stratman57]

I'll see what I can do about a sound clip over the weekend.

It will upset the cat though.

Would a OneDrive link work for that? or do I need to sign up to an audio sharing site?

Regards, Simon.

[Wonks]

You can but try.

[Honch]

Mmmm...yummy..
Nice build I'd say.

But one thing I am eager about. You have equipped with both a piezo and a Fernandes sustainer? And you have only ONE 9v battery compartment? To drive both the Piezo and the Sustainer? I have doubts about battery lasting more than one song only...

But if it works for you then it does. I wouldn't want to have that many knobs onboard. All controls I want to turn with my picking hand pinky without having to relocate or dislocate the pick I am holding. But it if you're a fingerpicker then it's a no-brainer.

Question, in that case:

1. can you run the sustainer at the same time as the piezo system active? So, sort of get infinity sustain with an acoustic guitar sound?

[Stratman57]

I play with a thumb pick and fingers, so not a problem.

Yes, the piezo preamp and the Sustainer both work of the one battery. However it's setup to either have the piezo routed to the output jack or the Sustainer, not both at the same time.

I used to have a stereo jack so the piezo signal could be routed to an acoustic amp. I never found a need to have a mix of piezo and magnetic pickup sounds.

Regards, Simon.