Sustain in 20th+ frets

G

greekdude

New member
Hello,
this is again about my ibby uv70p. It has great sustain generally, despite being very loud acoustically. Problem is that sustain after and including 20th fret suffers in comparison to my other ibby arz800 (set-in neck, single cut, LP style), but also to my neck-through Carvin dc135.
Is there anything i can do to increase sustain in frets 20->24?
I like the sound as it is. I would not like to alter the tone. So upgrade blocks that would alter the tone maybe would not be ideal.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

considering that ur frets are in good condition (level, radius, etc.), i would suggest you check the fret surface condition. due to relative minor usage of frets 20 -> 24, they tend to go dull with metal oxidization forming on the fret surface, reducing string to fret contact. if that is the case bit of fret polishing should fix it.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

nice idea, however the guitar is new, and i shred on those frets all the time. I am getting about 3-4 seconds on those, whereas normally i get at least 5 seconds on rest of frets (e.g. 17th fret), which is more than enough for me. I would be ideal if I could get those from 20th->24th to ring for about 5 seconds or so.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

Given your reported action height, I'd try raising it to at least 2mm at the last fret. Trust me, no matter the fretwork quality, 1.35mm at the last fret is just gonna choke the strings. This might explain the greater sustain near the middle of the neck as you are likely experiencing; the added neck relief gives the strings a bit more room to breathe.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

There are limits to the laws of physics.... have you every played a piano, say a baby grand with the top open? The higher notes (say the last octave and a half or so) do not have, or do not require dampers.... they damp themselves out. It's a combination of many factors. Here: string material, tension, wood type, bridge material, neck to body interface, relative string movement over the pickup, pickup output, distance from string to pickup, etc all influence the sustain.

There might be some ways to optimize it. Check to make sure the neck/body interface is clean and tight. Ibanez seems to have good quality control, so I doubt anything is wrong but you can check. Adjust pickup heights. Change strings (brand, gauge, material). Maybe spend some time making sure your bridge is perfectly set up. Or turn the gain up on the ole Carvin....
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

Archer250 said:
Given your reported action height, I'd try raising it to at least 2mm at the last fret. Trust me, no matter the fretwork quality, 1.35mm at the last fret is just gonna choke the strings. This might explain the greater sustain near the middle of the neck as you are likely experiencing; the added neck relief gives the strings a bit more room to breathe.
Click to expand...

ok, but this does not justify e.g. why the sustain on 19th fret is 5 seconds while on 20th is 3-4 seconds. There is no buzz, no choking at all. Strings ring freely.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

Jason_The_Angry said:
There are limits to the laws of physics.... have you every played a piano, say a baby grand with the top open? The higher notes (say the last octave and a half or so) do not have, or do not require dampers.... they damp themselves out. It's a combination of many factors. Here: string material, tension, wood type, bridge material, neck to body interface, relative string movement over the pickup, pickup output, distance from string to pickup, etc all influence the sustain.

There might be some ways to optimize it. Check to make sure the neck/body interface is clean and tight. Ibanez seems to have good quality control, so I doubt anything is wrong but you can check. Adjust pickup heights. Change strings (brand, gauge, material). Maybe spend some time making sure your bridge is perfectly set up. Or turn the gain up on the ole Carvin....
Click to expand...

very helpful post. thanx. I disagree about ibanez's QC. In fact this guitar had a lousy joint from the very start. I made it good. The mystery here is that upto and including 19th fret this guitar can rival all the rest. Its only on the higher last frets where sustain gets poor. Regarding that I get similar sustain on same notes, bended on other frets, leads me to think this is smth about frequencies/vibrations/synchronization of some sort. If this would be neutralized maybe it would ring longer.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

greekdude said:
very helpful post. thanx. I disagree about ibanez's QC. In fact this guitar had a lousy joint from the very start. I made it good. The mystery here is that upto and including 19th fret this guitar can rival all the rest. Its only on the higher last frets where sustain gets poor. Regarding that I get similar sustain on same notes, bended on other frets, leads me to think this is smth about frequencies/vibrations/synchronization of some sort. If this would be neutralized maybe it would ring longer.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, I haven't bought a brand new Ibanez in years. I've picked up a few used ones, though. I always thought that for the price, they paid better attention to detail than some of the other manufacturers. Anyway....

I always recommending "pulling all the levers and turning all the knobs" in terms of adjusting the guitar and pickups first. If all else fails, it might be time to change some parts out.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

I have a similar problem on my favorite Warmoth. I used to get about 5 seconds on frets 15 and up but when I lowered my action a bit it jumped down to about 3 seconds. On top of that, I am pretty sure mine could use a bit of a fret poilish. Anything under fret 15 and I get about 4 seconds, and under the 12th fret I get close to 8 seconds of sustain. On the low E and A string I get over 10 seconds of sustain. That guitar has always been a bit of a mystery to me in that regard and I have brought it in for pro setups as well as inspections. That guitar is just a bit of voodoo but it is my favorite.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

greekdude said:
ok, but this does not justify e.g. why the sustain on 19th fret is 5 seconds while on 20th is 3-4 seconds. There is no buzz, no choking at all. Strings ring freely.
Click to expand...

Sometimes, a string can choke without buzz. But forget it. You like the guitar's sound as it is, having the strings ring out the way I mentioned would make the tone less punchy and a bit more boomy.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

Fretted notes generally don't sustain as long as open strings, it's not so much the higher note but the fact that you are shortening the string length and adding more tention the higher up you go
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

It is not so simple. This cannot justify the sustain droping from 5 seconds to 3 seconds just one fret away.
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

greekdude said:
It is not so simple. This cannot justify the sustain droping from 5 seconds to 3 seconds just one fret away.
Click to expand...

one fret up makes the string shorter than before....its physics. I still think its dumb that you're crying over 2 seconds, but anyways.....

A) Raise your action
B) Play with more gain
C) use a compressor
D) put a sustainer system in your guitar
E) Forget it and play
 
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

Christopher Caruana said:
one fret up makes the string shorter than before....its physics. I still think its dumb that you're crying over 2 seconds, but anyways.....
Click to expand...

Not again the "its physics" argument...... What I think would be trully dump is giving silly advice to people who saved your a$$ before. You didn't seem content with your sitar sounding EVH right? So you asked for help, and I guided you through my OWN DEVELOPED technique of solving this problem, (you won't find ANYWHERE ELSE on the internet) you never came back to say thanx, and now you are giving lectures to me about raising my action and play with more gain ... LMAO SURREAL!


Christopher Caruana said:
A) Raise your action
B) Play with more gain
C) use a compressor
D) put a sustainer system in your guitar
E) Forget it and play
Click to expand...

Or solve something that you would never dream of.
 
Last edited:
Re: Sustain in 20th+ frets

In all honesty, you probably just have a high fret maybe. But don't get irritated just because you didn't like the answer I gave you
 
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