Re: Sustainiac/Parker Fly

[sine@zerocrossing.net]

Speaking of... maybe a few of you kids remember me asking questions
about installing the Sustainiac in a Steinberger M series guitar.  I did
finally give up, as it really didn't fit in the cavity of the
Steinberger. (no room for the second battery)  Rather than send it away,
I brought it to Gary Brawer guitars in SF and he did a great job making
it look as if the guitar came from the factory that way.  He even
installed this flip up battery compartment that makes changing your
batteries a no brainer.  Having to deal with a dozen screws to change a
9 volt is not my idea of good design.

Anyway, the Sustainiac is very cool.  It hasn't really replaced my eBow,
as I thought it might, but it's more subtle sustain and harmonic mode
are very cool.

Mark Sottilaro

Hoover Alan wrote:

>
>
> A number of people who subscribe to this list have contacted me during
> the last couple of years about putting a Sustainiac Stealth Plus
> system into their Parker Fly.  Until very recently, I have had to
> respond that this has not been possible (although it has worked fine
> in Niteflys).  The main problem is that Fly pickups are a special
> low-profile design that is not used by any other manufacturer.  Our
> Sustainiac magnetic driver transducers are standard humbucker/single
> coil profile.  Also, Parker electronics cavities tend to be
> jam-packed.  We asked for volunteers to send a Fly and let us evaluate
> it, but we had no takers.
>
> Finally, a brave Fly owner recently sent us his guitar and said "Do
> whatever it takes"!
>
> Here is what we had to do to make everything fit:
>
> 1. We had to build a special base to hold the driver.  Also, we had to
> rebuild our coil bobbins by hand in order to shorten them.  This
> requires that we custom-wind each bobbin.  Then, the drivers are
> simply glued (with silicone adhesive) to the neck pickup cavity.
>
> 2. Some slight routing of the electronics cavity is necessary (located
> underneath the large plastic cover on the back) in order to make room
> for the Sustainiac circuit board.  About a half inch is added to the
> cavity adjacent to the tremolo spring cavity.  This is not visible
> externally, and doesn't appear to affect the body strength in any way.
>
> 3. Replacement of the existing output jack with a special 9-pin jack,
> so that the guitar battery and also the Sustainiac battery can be
> disconnected whenever the plug is not inserted into the jack.  A jack
> plate must be added to the body, and the existing jack hole enlarged
> to accept the 9-pin.
>
> 4. Placement of the Sustainiac battery is on top of the tremolo
> spring, underneath the electronics cover.  It fits very well there.
>
> If any of you Fly owners decide to take the plunge, we recommend that
> you have us do the installation.  There is an extra charge of $75 to
> do this, over and above our normal $100 installation fee.
>
> The end result is that the Sustainiac Stealth Plus works great in the
> Fly.  You can email me for more info if any of you Fly owners are
> still interested.
>
> BTW:  The Fly we did had a Fishman piezo system in it which took up
> most of the room inside the existing electronics cavity.  It also had
> an externally-mounted GK-2a pickup/electronics system.  If you have a
> Fly with internal GK-2a electronics, we will have to take a look at it
> to see how/if the Sustainiac will fit.
>
> Alan Hoover
> Maniac Music