This is always an interesting topic to me. But one I've since quit scratching my head about. The three best sustaining guitars I own (to my best recollection, I have about 16 now) are these:


Pieced together franken-strat, Basswood body, cheap bridge and block, bolt on maple/rosewood neck, plastic nut, custom pickups.


Squier Stagemaster, Alder body, floating Floyd Rose locking bridge and nut system, Neck-through maple/rosewood neck, Seymour Duncan Trembuckers Blues Saraceno.


Les Paul Studio, Mahogany/Maple body, tune-o-matic bridge, Set-neck maple/rosewood, Burstbuckers.

And yet, my one of my very least sustaining guitars is my '57 AVRI strat.

Alder body, Fender vintage bridge w/ big steel block, bolt on maple neck, bone nut, Fender '57 avri pickups.

What does all of this mean? I really don't know and I don't care all that much either. They are what they are, and they all get used for different reasons. I can't decipher one way or the other why these particular guitars sustain well ( or in the case of my AVRI why it doesn't). Each guitar seems to employ a certain property that goes against the grain of what you hear about " how to get increased sustain".

A Floyd Rose system is rarely talked about in a sustain discussion, and usually neither is a cheap bridge with a cheap typical block. Bolt on, set neck, neck through.. Basswood, Alder, Mahogany/maple..High output humbuckers, medium output humbuckers, low output singles, doesn't seem to make a whole lotta sense in how these guitars sustain relatively the same.

It has all left me to just continue to play them and enjoy them for what they are and do, and quit wondering why. I'd lose all my hair if I tried to figure it all out.

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Shredd6 you are absolutely right. It is what it is , just play them and enjoy them !!

IMO I think everything on a guitar affects sustain and sound, from the wood to the neck, finish, how many knick's and chips are in the guitar to the guitar bridge type, string type EVERYTHING. Some things may play a .0000001% part in the matter but it still plays a part, just depends how you look at it. if you feel everything that doesn't give you an obvious in you face tonal difference doesn't work, then in your opinion you are right, but in mine, wrong. Isn't that the fun of these subjects

a great sounding Guitar = "your" Preference's

Hi Shredd: want to tell us about that hat you're always wearing?

Cheers - C

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Hahaha.. The hat is due to the thinning of my hair that has already been lost by my tone searching endeavors Ceri.

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It's a great cause!

Cheers - C

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Yea, it's been a great journey in that department for me. In all honesty, the Red Frankenstrat was the straw the broke the Camel's back. Given what it is, by all conventional wisdom, it should sound and play like nothing more than a starter pack guitar. The parts are pieced together from a J. Reynolds guitar body, a Hamer Slammer neck, a $40 set of pickups and a Lace Sensor silver middle.

After piecing it all together, it feels, performs, and sounds far beyond what I ever expected. I just threw my hands up in amazement and couldn't explain it anymore.

What's more important to me these days is WEIGHT. I have back problems, I play and sing, and a lot of times I use a wah when I'm playing and singing, so I'm basically playing and singing while standing on one foot. With a heavier guitar like the LP (11-lbs) and Stagemaster (10-lbs), my stomach wants to crunch and it's harder to use my diaphragm properly. So lately, I've been using Basswood bodied guitars. That Red guitar weighs just over 4lbs.

That being said, I do wish Fender would offer at least a Basswood bodied MIM. To my knowledge ( I could be wrong) , the only Fender guitar I know of being produced out of Basswood is the James Burton Tele which is way out of my price range.

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So you're good once a month on a full moon?

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Two guitars that I own are sustain monsters, 335 and Yamaha SG2000, oh the LP too, but nothing comes close to the 335! My Strats will sustain but do require some work... loud amp and being close to the amp help.

I always thought your guitar strap had a huge impact on sustain...

Anyways... I use to complain about the bad sustain my strat would have through this distortion pedal I would use. But now I got my new muff I can get some pretty nasty sustain.

Not to mention, I was getting some pretty screamin' harmonics out of the guitar
Love that pedal...

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travis bean guitars have fantastic sustain thanks to the aluminum necks.... granted they go for $3500 + these days....

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Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Are we talking about sustain using pedals as someone wrote or are we talking just guitar
straight into an amp ? To me, sustain is determined using just guitar and amp. IMHO if pedal's are used then the pedal's are doing the sustaining. I just use amp and guitar at a
low (2) volume and hit an open string and see how long the note sustain's. My LP not so good, my masterbuilt strat will ring for 20 to 25 second's before the note is finally gone.
Try this and see what you get. Hit the string neither hard nor soft.

Back in the late '70s, I think Kramer also made some aluminum neck guitars. A buddy of my had one. It was a very nice playing and sounding guitar, but the neck always freaked me out a bit ...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

the kramer guitars had wood inserts as well to avoid legal issues with travis bean

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

I have a question...How can one tell the difference between sustain and resonance? >_>

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