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Looper's Delight
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Per, I have never owned a fretless guitar -- nor ever tried to make one. My advice is strictly regarding the other half of your project. Your efforts at a DIY "Sustainiac." Long before I ever became such a big fan of the original Sustainiac I also experimented with placing small speakers on an old ES-335 copy that I played with all throughout the '70s. I had rather very mixed results though. Getting feedback (enhanced sustain) of the notes I wanted in a predictable fashion was the problem I most encountered when trying to put the speaker on or within the body of the guitar. Getting feedback when I didn't want it was the next most difficult aspect. Control was the issue Putting it on the headstock seemed to work best. I couldn't authoritatively really say why -- not being a luthier or acoustical scientist. But, my guess would be that the body was too resonant in a wide range of frequencies. Driving the strings from the headstock gave that extra vibrating energy less of a place to go -- other than back to the strings. Once I figured out that -- and the old Sustainiac Model B had appeared on the market in the mid 80s anyway -- I figured, "Why not use a commercial product." I'd already bought my first chrome Ebow in 1980 and IT was working out pretty well (if for only one string at a time). I picked up a Sustainiac a few years later and was totally hooked. Yes, the Sustainiac is clunky and funky and you've got a little black box and an exra black wire hanging from your headstock. But the darn thing works so well -- at least it has for me. In addition to my original Model B, I purchased the new Model C a few years back and it works like a charm. Anywho, if you are still in DIY mode, stick with placing it on the headstock somehow. I know it is not as hidden and "stealthy" of an effect that way. But it works better IMOHO. Also, I got the best results from small self-powered speakers I got from Radio Shack. They probably don't have Radio Shack in Sweden, but I imagine they have similar stores for electronic do-it-yourselfers. If I remember correctly. Didn't you receive and do a magazine review of a Sustainiac device in Sweden a few years back? Being an old guy my mind plays tricks on me. How did it work out for you? Best regards, Ted Killian > On 3/18/07, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Thought I should ask if someone on the list has experience and tips >> on this project. I'm thinking about rebuilding one of my guitars >> (probably a telecaster) into a fretless guitar. I'v been playing >> fretless guitar quite a lot in the past, but I was never happy with >> the short sustain. Today I'm playing my Stratocaster with "tone >> extention" provided by a tiny speaker cone gaffa taped to the neck's >> head, driven from an amplified signal tap taken from the guitar's >> pickups (i.e. a "poor mans Sustainiac"). So I just had the brilliant >> idea to combine these two somewhat dissatisfying experimental trips >> into something that actually works as a playable instrument to rely >> on.