Re: "self resonating" fretleess electric guitar -- ideas?

[tEd ® kiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>]

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.