Hello, I have just purchased a new American Standard sss and had to drive many miles to get it.
It is well set up and sounds very good.
I had never had an electric guitar before.
My question is ; is it normal on an electric that the high E does not sustain as long as the other strings and of course the b string does not sustain as long as the bass strings. The third strings oversustains everything.
They are Fender bullets.
Ronald

In a word Yes. It's quite normal as the lighter unwound strings just won't vibrate as long. You'd probably find that on an acoustic as well.

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MIM Std Tele, MIM HSS Strat, Homemade Mongrel Tele, Blues Jr, Champ600, coupla pedals...sweeeet!

Yes, on an acoustic and a lot more even on a classical.
In fact on a very good classical the sustain is very even on all strings.
I know that electric is new to me .
However, all the strings have a different degree of sustain ( to some extent) , the bass strings ring a lot longer than the treble .
Is this normal on an electric guitar.
Ronald

I had one of the old american standards, I believe it was a 98 model. The neck had a rollercoaster $@!&# to it, and the sustain on the high strings was totally wrong. I had to get a replacement guitar unfortunately...

Why can I not type sl - - ope?

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Some Guitars played through an amp...

Yes,
The high E I understand may not sustain has much as the others.
However the biggest culprit is the G string.
The high E opens with a normal pick force sustains for 4 seconds and then I can hear overtone for for another 3 seconds >009 gauge.
The B string 11 gauge for a couple seconds more,
But the G string rings for about 7 seconds and overtones for another 3 to four. Yet it is not a wound string.
When playing a chord and you let it die especially in first position non barre it just keeps on going after everything else is long subdued.
I drives me nuts.
Is this normal on a stratocaster.
My pups on the treble side are one quarter inch down to five sixteen on the bridge. On the bass side quite low ( when purchase).
It does this on any switch position.
Are most of your strat like this?
If not can you remedy this.
Ronald

Hi Ronald,

I also have a 1997 American Standard strat and that is also my problem. I brought it to a luthier here in the philippines and the problem is, the pickups are not adjustable. I mean the metal pole, (it is the tiny metal in the pick ups assigned in each string) can not be adjusted. There are strat with adjustable pole beside from the adjustable height of the pups. The pole assigned to the G string and the B string must be lowered to equalized the sustain in each string. The luthier knows that.

In my own opinion, you can't achieved a long sustained sound on a bolt-on neck guitar and with hanging bridge. Not like in set neck guitar, where the neck is glued, the tenon is better and you achieved longer sustain.

I love sustaining sound because I am a lead guitarist and it can only be achieved on a set neck guitar with humbucker pickups but I like the bright sound of a single coil. My suggestion is, you better bring your guitar to a luthier and have it set up again. Maybe with a good set up you might achieved the sound your looking.

Hope this will help you.

Hi Ronald: yes, it's a problem most of us have worried over at some point.

Some partial solutions. How do your strings compare to one another when played unplugged? Do they balance to your satisfaction? If not, you may be a candidate for a hybrid set of strings. Keep the lower ones the same gauge but use heavier for the treble. Perhaps just a heavier top e string.

If the strings balance all right unplugged then yours is an electronic issue. Assuming you have "staggered" pickup poles (where the metal slugs under each string are different heights) then you are suffering the unbalanced output described earlier on this thread.

Dropping the pickups further away from the strings will slightly alleviate that by de-accentuating the differences those pole heights make. Also, using the height adjuster screws you can drop the bass side further, so favoring the treble slightly. Dropping the pickups this way will reduce their output, but once you have turned the amp up to compensate you will find that apparent sustain has increased some.

Pickup height: higher = more output; lower = more sustain.

Lastly, if the string balance is still not satisfactory you may need to switch to pickups with non-staggered pole pieces. There's dozens out there to look at, from cheap to very expensive.

Also, part of learning the electric guitar involves discovering how to vary our picking attack across the strings to get the sound we want. I bet that even if you make no adjustments whatsoever you will find this issue bothers you less six or twelve months from now, because your picking hand will subconsciously be adjusting to compensate for it.

Good luck - C