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Hi all,
I need some advice from you guitar players as Iīm a
novice to stringed instruments. I have used quite a few lap steels in the past,
but only with an E-Bow. The thing I disliked about the E-Bow was its buzzing
tone, no matter how I placed it. It always tended to sound too "bluesy" for what
I had in mind. Iīm more after that sweet, singing tone Robert Rich coaxes from
his lap steel. And thatīs why I did this:
I recently acquired a Sustainiac B model NOS which
I mounted to my old Guya Stringmaster (two single coils) lap steel.
Unfortunately, the effect of strumming strings which then start to resonate
forever is rather minuscule. I tried various placements of the transducer magnet
and ended up mounting it sideways near the tuning pegs. The only string that
really picks up vibration is the low E string, the rest hums very, very lightly,
but thatīs it. I talked this issue over with Alan Hoover of Maniac Music,
and he pointed out that the placement of the transducer was okay. He told me the
following:
"With a lapsteel, headstock mounting doesn't really
accomplish anything since you don't fret a lapsteel. Energy must enter the
strings through the bridge. I don't know what Robert does to accomplish
this, because this puts the transducer near the pickup. You would have to
provide some kind of steel or aluminum extension to mount the transducer on,
which would simultaneously transfer the vibrations to the bridge, and keep the
transducer away from the pickup."
Hm, what puzzles me is that I know of musicians who
actually used their Sustainiac with a lap steel guitar without any further
modifications, and the C Model pamphlet points out that it can also be mounted
on a lap steel. Can anybody on this list help me a little further? Does anybody
around here happen to have first-hand experince with that? I guess Iīm just too
ignorant when it comes to guitars :-).
Thanks in advance,
Stephen.
____________________________________________________________ "Pay your respects to the vultures, for they are your
future." (Jhonn Balance / Coil)
Finally available: Stephen Parsick -- Traces of the Past
Redux, reissued with three previously unreleased bonus tracks.
Itīs out: [īramp] & markus reuter -- "ceasing to
exist", a gorgeous dark ambient album. available through our webshop at
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