Sustainer in a dual humbucker guitar?

[donovan.x]

Hi Guys. I want to put a sustainer in my Ibanez but it only has two pickup slots and both of those are occupied by Miracle men. Is a sustainer actually a pick up or is it something I could use in conjunction with my BKPs? I dont mind doing a small amount of drilling.
Any advice help and such would be awesome.

[Twinfan]

I believe it replaces a pickup, or at least one coil of a pickup?

[Kilby]

The Fernandes version is indeed a pickup, with one of the coils running as a driver. I think the single coil sized version is a stacked humbucker

I can't speak much for the other sustainers, but most of the Sustainiacs work in a similar fashion

[donovan.x]

Are there any other options?

[Twinfan]

There's the E-Bow?

http://www.ebow.com/ebow/flash/index.htm

[donovan.x]

I was looking for something that would fit in with my playing style. Something switchable. :?

[Twinfan]

I think those two are your only options.

[Philly Q]

Floyd Rose invented a sustainer system for Kramer in the late 80s, but again it was built into the neck pickup.  I don't think there's any system that doesn't involve replacing a pickup.

http://www.vintagekramer.com/sustainer.htm

[donovan.x]

:(  Whats the chances of Tim being able to come up with something?

[Kilby]

There is another option from the guys who make the sustainiac http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm but I have never heard of anybody using it (and I doubt that you will be so inclined)

Godley & Creme also produced the Gizmo which flopped, but produced a damn nice sound http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gizmo. I have the Violet Town recording mentioned (but always thought it was a very nice sounding EBow)

In theory you could use a piezo bridge to excite the strings, but havn't heard of anybody doing so

[Philly Q]

:(  Whats the chances of Tim being able to come up with something?

No harm in asking I suppose, but if it requires any special parts or tooling - which I imagine it will - Tim's not going to do anything as a one-off.  

Even if was possible, you're still going to have to replace a pickup.

[Lazy_McDoesnothing]

Route the middle position for a single coil and put it there.  If it's an S series there won't be much room for a sustainer.

[WezV]

the sustainer driver needs to be far enough away from the bridge pickup so it doesnt mess with it - thats why the sustainer driver only works whilst the bridge pickup is engaged

also, the sustainer will work better in the neck position because its easier for it to excite the strings where they move more

also, i may be wrong but i dont think you can use a sustainer driver as a pickup.  They use much thicker wire and only do a few hundred turns so have much less resistance than a pickup.  If you try and use a pickup as a driver i am fairly sure the isulation will be ruined and the pickup will short out as it overheats .  Driver coils are similar to speakers - we measure the resistance in Ohms rather than the k-ohms of pickup.

I know the fernandes system works as a pickup but sustainer drivers dont need to be huge to i reckon thats a normal pickup with a sustainer driver sitting on top... or there is a preamp on the circuit board to boost the drivers signal back up to pickup levels - thats how the sustainiac version does it.

i should point out my experiments at making a driver have been largely unsuccesfull so far :oops:

[FELINEGUITARS]

There is another option from the guys who make the sustainiac http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm but I have never heard of anybody using it (and I doubt that you will be so inclined)

I have one!
I am starting to use it as part of my guitar aging /settling in rig that I have discussed before.

It is fun but not so good to use on stage as you need a long cable running from the pedal to the headstock of the guitar. Makes some monstrous sounds though. Sounds like someone has clamped a loudspeaker to the headstock of your guitar.

George Lynch used one quite a bit on Back for the Attack (Dokken - 1987)

I have also started stocking the Transducer version of the Sustainiac although havent statted fitting them yet.

You cant fit them as the middle pickup - has to be in the neck position and it prefers 22fret to 24 fret guitars as the pickup that is acting as the source has to be as far away from the transducer as possible to avoid interference which is why it switches to the bridge pickup when you turn the sustainer on.

[Kilby]

There is another option from the guys who make the sustainiac http://www.sustainiac.com/model-b.htm but I have never heard of anybody using it (and I doubt that you will be so inclined)

I have one!
I am starting to use it as part of my guitar aging /settling in rig that I have discussed before.

It is fun but not so good to use on stage as you need a long cable running from the pedal to the headstock of the guitar. Makes some monstrous sounds though. Sounds like someone has clamped a loudspeaker to the headstock of your guitar.

I guess I should have qualified that as said live on stage as it's not the most practical device (if it can go wrong then it will go wrong). Theres a couple of videos of home made versions on youtube.

Personally I would sacrifice the neck pickup if I had a need for a sustainer.

However I vaguely remember Mark Knofler (sorry about the spelling) suggesting that simply holding the headstock against the speaker cab for additional sustain.