Fernandes Sustainer Kit

[stratovarius]

This looks like a very interesting idea. It says it takes up the neck pickup cavity, well I have a LP with 3 pickups. Could I put the sustainer in the middle and leave the neck and bridge pickups normal? Is this kit even good and has anybody ever used a fernandez sustainer?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

The Sustainer is great ... you have to mount it in the neck position, tho.

 

[NickCormier]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

can someone explain why it has to be in the neck slot??

 

[Fikealox]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

I thought the rationale for having it in the neck slot was twofold: the strings vibrate more freely up there, so it'd take less power to drive the strings (for the same reason neck pickups don't need to as high output as bridge pickups); and I remember reading for the Jackson sustainiac (which is similar) that the driver in the neck works with the bridge pickup, because you want the driver as far from the pickup as possible, because of its intense magnetic field. If you had the sustainer in the middle, you wouldn't have a pickup free of the field.

Hope that helps These things intrigue me!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

i never knew you could buy the sustianer as an aftermarket piece... i always assumed it was on Fernandess guitars only

 

[NickCormier]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

Yea, you can buy it as an aftermarket piece.. Altho part of me thinks, if you could find a cheap Fernandes guitar on ebay for say, like $200-250, maybe it would be worth it to buy that and rip the sustainer out, and sell the guitar for like $100.. might save some money that way.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

For the price of a sustainer kit you could just buy a Fernandes with one pre-installed. I see guitars with them on Ebay for around $299 quite often.

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

I have wired up a few sustainers. The thought of buying a sustainer equipped guitar to strip it is a task for a fairly experienced guitar tweaker - it is some serious soldering and drilling depending on the configuration.

The Sustainiac brand is a little nicer than the Fernandez, and more flexible with different bridge pups.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

I agree with Binner Scott on the Sustainiac, it's a superior device with more features, go for that instead if you can get a hold of it, you wont regret it.

 

[J Moose]

Re: Fernandes Sustainer Kit

twofold: the strings vibrate more freely up there, so it'd take less power to drive the strings (for the same reason neck pickups don't need to as high output as bridge pickups); and I remember reading for the Jackson sustainiac (which is similar) that the driver in the neck works with the bridge pickup, because you want the driver as far from the pickup as possible, because of its intense magnetic field.

I think it's something like that...

Ebow's work better when they're away from the bridge pickup too!

I picked up a MIJ fernandes superstrat from one of the guys on this forum... nice guitar but the sustainer puts it over the top. I prefer it to an Ebow... you can play normally and then get the sustain, or even get sustained chords... do big "synthy" pads that normally couldn't be done on a guitar or even with an Ebow.

The sustainer kit drops into a "Strat" routing or guard... I was about to pull the trigger on one for the Iceman body when I found the whole MIJ guitar loaded with Duncans at a price that was too good too pass up.