How much do you really care about sustain?

[Tidal Rhythm]

Based on how much it gets mentioned in the description or add of just about every guitar out there, I'm guessing I might very well be alone on this, but I care very little about how much sustain a guitar has on it's own. I'm not saying it's a complete non-issue, just one that ranks much lower on my overall list of priorities - even some cosmetic ones - when it comes to picking a guitar. Is sustain a huge isue for you when deciding how much you like a guitar?

[D Carroll]

In all honesty, it is very rare to find a guitar with an unmanageable lack of sustain. I love sustain, but most guitars have enough to get by Not a non issue, but damn close.

[songsforbears]

 

In all honesty, it is very rare to find a guitar with an unmanageable lack of sustain.

 

 

I agree. The only sustain issue that makes me not want to play a guitar is when you combine worn-out vintage frets with a 7.25" radius. The notes just die. Makes me sad to play an otherwise pristine vintage guitar that can't hold its notes after being perfectly set up.

[CoqBelliqueux]

Any guitar in reasonable condition has enough sustain for me.

[BrokenFighter]

I used to think I didn't care about sustain until this past Sunday when I was playing a worship song at church and no matter how hard I tried to keep the notes alive, single notes would not keep ringing for more than two beats... I was borrowing a friends "$12k vintage guitar"... BS... And if it really is, than vintage is a waste of time. Sustain sucked... Made the song sound way harsher than it was supposed to. If you just shred, then sustain doesn't matter. If you ever need to hold out notes, its crucial cuz without it, the guitar will kill a mellow song.

[jrockbridge]

Who cares about sustain?! I just set my action so low that NONE of my guitars sustain. Works for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:poke:

[Doctor49]

not at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall

 

well, except for the dead G at the twelfth fret on my PRS-esque...so like the original, it even has the dead note.

[twotimingpete]

I care about it, but it's not something I think about because I have never owned a guitar that didn't have enough sustain.

 

making a big deal of "sustain" from this doohickey or that, like most gear stuff, is pure hype.

[Brown Rug]

i don't care enough about sustain to sit there and test out every note to see how long they last.

[PanaDP]

As long as it will sustain through the lines in Black Dog, it's good enough. I've never played a guitar that won't do that.

[Pascal]

Not much: I mostly play guitars that were designed to have a strong attack and short sustain.

[Engl Kramer]

Wow it seems I'm in the minority but I would never keep a guitar that didn't have great sustain.

You can extend notes on a guitar with not such great sustain using vibrato or feedback but to me it doeasn't sound the same.

You could play a chord that may sound for a while but to me it will have faded too quickly from the initial attack.

 

A guitar with excellent sustain sings through a good amp.

 

Sometimes this subject comes up and I'm completely non-plussed.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

Wow it seems I'm in the minority but I would never keep a guitar that didn't have great sustain. You can extend notes on a guitar with not such great sustain using vibrato or feedback but to me it doeasn't sound the same. You could play a chord that may sound for a while but to me it will have faded too quickly from the initial attack. A guitar with excellent sustain sings through a good amp. Sometimes this subject comes up and I'm completely non-plussed.

 

Gotta agree with this, but I'm looking from a tech/build sorta view.

 

When I pick up a guitar theres a few things I feel/hear straight away, and though I put little store on acoustic properties of electric guitars, I know in my head that a well put together guitar with good timbers should feel good when the strings are struck.

 

A guitar plugged in that doesn't sustain well at all, is a candidate for further investigation, so yes I consider it important.

 

Bottom line is if it don't sustain, I wanna know why, as the chances are there is a problem, could be neck pocket, could be badly seated frets, but I wanna know and cure it

[Faber]

Wow it seems I'm in the minority but I would never keep a guitar that didn't have great sustain. You can extend notes on a guitar with not such great sustain using vibrato or feedback but to me it doeasn't sound the same. You could play a chord that may sound for a while but to me it will have faded too quickly from the initial attack. A guitar with excellent sustain sings through a good amp. Sometimes this subject comes up and I'm completely non-plussed.

 

I agree. A guitar should have good sustain. I might not always use it to the fullest, but it should be there when I choose to do so

[Doctor49]

 

Bottom line is if it don't sustain, I wanna know why, as the chances are there is a problem, could be neck pocket, could be badly seated frets, but I wanna know and cure it

 

 

found this while wondering about my dead G string.

http://www.acoustics.org/press/137th/fleischer.html

[DaleH]

A sales pitch to newbs in most cases. Same as really cuts through the mix.

[EADGBE]

Is sustain a huge issue for you when deciding how much you like a guitar?

Yeah I gotta have it. I rarely use distortion or overdrive pedals. Instead I use a hot bridge humbucker to get my tone. A super distortion or JB. So sustain is a necessity for me. I've heard that a marble body will give phenomenal sustain. But that the weight would be a big drawback. So I'll just stick with wood.

[EADGBE]

 

Wow it seems I'm in the minority but I would never keep a guitar that didn't have great sustain. You can extend notes on a guitar with not such great sustain using vibrato or feedback but to me it doesn't sound the same. You could play a chord that may sound for a while but to me it will have faded too quickly from the initial attack. A guitar with excellent sustain sings through a good amp.

 

You're exactly right.

[A-20]

Sustain is very important to me... a moderate amount at least. I don't notice amazing sustain as much as missing sustain, if that makes sense. Last night I had a baritone guitar out and was playing through a nice clean fender amp. The 2nd string (B on a regular guitar) was just dead with no sustain on frets 9-14 or so. I was trying to hold out these two notes up there together, and the "g" string (3rd) would hold out while the the other string died. It was a pain ...

So having "moderate sustain" at least is very important to me. Crazy sustain is just a nice cool bonus on a guitar.

[soundcreation]

Along with resonance of the body I think it's very very important. Now I'm not expecting a strat to sustain like a Les Paul, but it should still sustain like a great strat. The notes shouldn't die. They should pop off the guitar and ring out. If it doesn't sustain well unplugged it will be just as much a dog plugged in.

 

Thing is, you can always control a guitar with lots of sustain to give you less...but it's basically impossible to take a guitar without sustain and improve it.

 

I'll stick with Gary's opinion. 40 seconds on...

 

[YOUTUBE]mCvgE6yzoAM[/YOUTUBE]

[billybilly]

I like sustain, but have only really had one cheap electric and have never run into a problem with it. My strats sustain well too, although they all of american standard plus.

 

Actually, my gear far exceeds my talent (lol)!

[billybilly]

 

found this while wondering about my dead G string. http://www.acoustics.org/press/137th/fleischer.html

 

 

So, in reading this article, it appears that sustain is largely to do with the neck. Interesting.

[Doctor49]

 

So, in reading this article, it appears that sustain is largely to do with the neck. Interesting.

 

 

scary stuff. Now we can argue about the effects of fretboard and neck woods instead of body woods!

[Willyguitar]

I once had an SG Classic with terrible sustain (it had a really really bad dead spot on the G string at about 12th/13th fret - much more than usual). I couldn't stand it. I agree that having a guitar that sustains is important. In a way, it's not the fact of the sustain, so much as how, when a string is struck, the sound forms, blooms and decays. If there is no sustain, this affects the quality of the sound in a bad way.

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

 

:lol::lol:

 

That vid is just so full of so many different kinds of awesomeness:)