One aspect of guitar playing that can make the difference between a mediocre sound and an incredible sound is the issue of sustain.  There is nothing more frustrating than to hear another guitarist get these notes that seem to ring out for ever maintaining a lot of body, only to learn that your own rig produces notes that die off after just a few short seconds.  It is at about this point that a lot of guys run out to their local guitar shop looking for a sustainer pedal or other device, only to find out that the improvements to the duration that notes ring out are minimal at best through the use of many conventional products on the market.

  So, how does one solve this problem with sustain?  After a bit of analysis of the problem, a lot of guitarists learn that a guitar with a through neck design, rather than a bolt on neck, can significantly improve the duration of sustain.  But, still the improvements don’t seem to get the overall sound where it needs to be–especially when it comes to getting the note to fade out into a nice hollow sounding harmonic.  It is at about this point when you are left wondering if you have to have a team of guitar techs to really reach those longer duration sustained notes.
  Something you should stop to realize is that the idea behind getting longer sustain is a simple matter of physics.  As long as the guitar string vibrates, the note will continue to sustain.  And that was the insight behind a little device called an Ebow.  As you hold the Ebow over a string, it would continue to vibrate the string by way of electromagnetic influences on the string.  And though the Ebow made it possible to dramatically increase the sustain of a note, the fact that it was a hand held device makes the Ebow a little impractical to use.  What was needed was a hands free device that could give you lots of sustain.  That device is known as a sustainiac and you’re going to love what it is able to do to help your sound.  The following two videos demonstrate the sustainiac in action.

JACKSON DK2S WITH SUSTAINIAC DEMO

FERNANDES SUSTAINER DEMO

  Of course, if you are a real gear head, you can always modify your own electric guitar to incorporate a sustainiac system.   It’s not something I would do myself, because I am a klutz with tools and electronics.  But, for those of you who are more mechanically and electronically inclined, it might prove to be a rewarding DYI project to modify an old electric guitar in your arsenal in order to have the luxury of a sustainiac system on board.