Great comparisons! It really makes me appreciate Leo Fender and the great design work he did in the initial Teles and Strats...he nailed so many things that have passed the test of time.
Neck attachment type, high downward pressure on the bridge, bridge saddle and nut material, strings used. I'm not a luthier but I know they affect sustain.
Technique is true sustain. Guy picked up my guitar....and made it weep! We were the band, but the whole party stopped, and turned around...he stole the show. And we loved it!!
From a scientific perspective, the thickness should have less to do with it than the rigidity of the guitar (and the structure where the strings are supported)... If it is more rigid, the strings would be less dampened, therefore they should vibrate longer... You also have the magnets pulling the strings, you have to take that in mind too
Luis Coll if you really want to talk science.. Three things: 1- what you're actually testing for (open string sustain when plucked) is too easily influenced by the human variable (plucking strings differently every time). I find it hard to believe that the force with which he's hitting each string really is consistent. And by only giving each guitar one try, this really can't serve as very conclusive evidence. 2- Magnets: they're actually not gonna make a difference. WillsEasyGuitar made a video where he demonstrated this with a huge magnet, and there was no significant difference. 3- String gauge, anyone? Simple physics says heavier strings will sustain longer.. So why aren't we all loading up with 12s or 13s? That's something that I think would be worth confirming. But again, when it comes down to just measuring the end result (that being your guitar sound in a mix), these things are pretty trivial. Same applies to the whole tonewood debate. Now science aside, does it make sense to carry around a very heavy guitar just because it "has more sustain"? I don't think so man. I wouldn't do it. Just use technique, EQ and compression to get the sound you're going for. All this aside.. Those licks were amazing. I couldn't care less about what you're playing if you play like that. Great job
No. 2, very good point Ryan. Lots of people think that magnets pull on strings with any sort of significant effect. You can test this by holding a pickup above the strings while they vibrate. The only time it will dampen the strings is if you're doing something silly like having two neodymium humbuckers and a neo single coil in one guitar. Tried that. Never again! A note would last less than a second!
Ryan Georgi I think because of the seemingly sensitive nature of the guitar, minor things do affect the tone. Which is why I agree with the tonewood. Whether we can hear it is what’s at question. Now, if someone is using something to measure, eh... I can see their reason. Other than that the pickups, headstock, etc... is more important. I think carrying around a heavy guitar because it sustains better sounds like a good idea, if you don’t want to buy more than a few pedals. Which in my case, I’m not a pedal collector. I just need about 5 pedals to get my own tone. I would like that my guitar tone is just as much apart of my sound than just pedals. I also don’t care for light weight guitars. I’m used to heavier guitars, so, I’m comfortable. I do agree that the amount of force used when plucking the strings is important, but since as I said the guitar seems to be sensitive, it’s difficult to make accurate comparisons. Even in larger strings, that would be difficult. Unless someone builds a machine that has more control. Then you have made sure the guitar exactly set up the same, which according to some techs is nearly impossible. So many different variables. For that reason, the results would if anything just be what is very likely the case. As to the strings. I don’t think it would be necessary to do that since he was primarily comparing the body of the guitar. To my knowledge smaller gauge string are more common. So, using those strings make more sense. It would be cool to see how this goes for large strings, at least for those who use them. But if I’m just testing the body in a more general way, I think a general approach is good. However, if he were to use larger strings, that would be more about the strings ability to sustain than the body of the guitar alone. I think a more accurate way of being able to tell, is to do it in a way where the strings or certain factors don’t interfere much. I’m surprised no one has mentioned that the way the guitar is strung, and the full set up of the guitar makes a difference. For example, I have the Jimi Strat, which has the reverse head stock. It is said that the headstock being in reverse allows the low E to sustain. Les Paul’s are known for sustain, but this is said to be the design. How does this design compare to others? Is this design interfering with the results of the test of the body type? But again, the body is the focus, and since there are so many factors to consider, I can see the point. I wonder if a channel will come along and devote the time to doing an extensive scientific test on guitars. That would answer a lot of minor level questions but still fun to know.
The magnetic field has no real effect on sustain...UNTIL the guitar is plugged in. In fact, even unplugged, there is still a small current flowing through the volume pot. That current isn't free. Just like a dynamo that's easy to turn by hand, suddenly becomes harder when you put a load on it, same happens with guitar pickups. A guy just holding a magnet by the strings and expecting that to prove something, is just putting his own ignorance on display. How big the effect is, is another matter. 500mV is a lot for a guitar pickup, and the impedance of the circuit is pretty high, so we're not talking much power. But what there is, is all taken from the kinetic energy of the string. All the same...I have a feeling that a single pickup guitar would have better sustain, simply from not having a hole routed near the neck pocket. All these tiny details mean nothing. Great guitars don't make great songs; great songs make great guitars. A strat through a fuzz-face would sound like ass to anyone in 1940, cus they'd never heard a good piece of music recorded that way.
Darrell.. youre bad for my guitar progress ^^ i keep watching your videos instead of practicing more :( you just seem like such a super nice guy and your videos are so well made.. i cant stop
Epi make some very nice looking guitars. I've got a lemon/honey flame top SG with gold hardware. Not sure of the fretboard wood, but it's not rosewood. Looks awesome and never seen another in a store since I got it, but I'd imagine there's more around.
I've got one of those, too! I'm pretty sure the fingerboard is rosewood, though. I bought it used online. The back of the headstock says "Epiphone Custom Shop."
Mark - I can't get at mine right now (behind a pile of other guitars), but I seem to remember it had a got a custom shop logo on it as well. Yours might be rosewood, mine I'm not so sure as it's a lot lighter looking than rosewood is. It's almost like black butt. Being a custom it could have anything on it! Thick neck on them too.
Mine's behind a pile as well! LOL I wouldn't mind knowing the exact name that they were selling them as, to look up the specs. I saw one for sale on eBay almost 10 years ago... I think the seller listed it as a "custom SG" or something. He was asking almost $700 for it, used. I got mine for around $350. Your fingerboard could be Pau Ferro... it's lighter than rosewood
Could be right on the fingerboard. I bought mine new over 10 years ago from a local shop, setup was good and actually sounded good acoustically - that's why I bought it - didn't even plug it in! Think I paid around $700AUD for it at the time. But damn they looked good! Promised the missus I wouldn't buy a guitar at the guitar show, so I bought one on the way home!
The S series has a thin edges so the switch is large so the toggle switch has that black dome on it to raise it above the body and cover it up aesthetically.
Sustain too! A new S Prestige can really hold its own against a vintage Les Paul in loads of surprising areas. Their resale value right now is below par but I reckon they're going to be really collectible in 15-20 years time.
As a mechanical engineer, I can tell you that a guitar sustains better when you touch it less. Your body and fingers absorb the vibration. The thicker body has higher inertia and will tend to vibrate at lower amplitudes and thus allow your body to absorb less. On the other side a thin guitar will vibrate with the strings at higher amplitude and thus allow your body to absorb the energy faster.
Allen Hoover makes Sustainiac. Fernandes literally did a poor rip off. I have Sustainiac on two of my guitars and it is the instant smooth feedback, endless sustain
Great job on getting some good data on this... but all I can focus on right now is the soul stirring playing you were doing. Wow. Going back to listen some more now. Been sick for a while, and this is the kind of sound that makes me forget all that for a while. Amazing.
Awesome video again Darrell. You really opened Pandora's Box with this one! Hope you're prepared for the firefight! There is one definitive result shown, and that would be on the floating trem guitar. With so many variables it really is impossible to draw a super accurate conclusion with different materials and densities of the saddles and nuts, (insert inappropriate remarks here) how hard each string was plucked, etc. But, I do like the fact that there is someone with enough cajones to go down this rabbit hole and attempt to be objective about it. Thanks Darrell! PS. I've been quietly complaining about that horrid 5-way switch on the S series guitars for YEARS now. You're not alone.
An interesting inquiry, all right. Unfortunately, unless you have a mechanical mechanism for hitting each and every string with *exactly* the same force, small variations in your hand movement will account for quite a lot of the variations we're seeing with the instruments that are showing close results to each other. I'm pretty concerned with sustain, and I've noticed that there are four general areas where electric guitars sustain differently from each other. They are (i) the open strings (ii) the middle of the fretboard, (iii) the lower high register (12th to 15th frets), and (iv) the upper high register (16th to the 22nd or 24th frets). My experience is that guitars usually sustain in one, occasionally two, but rarely in three, let alone four of those areas. Different strings don't sustain equally up and down the frets, meaning sustain may increase or decrease as you move up the frets to a new area on a given string. I've checked to make sure there's no fret binding. I made an effort to make the pickup heights correct, too. In short, open string sustain seems to mean a lot less than I would have thought as you progress up past the 12th fret. Since I play open strings the least frequently, I'd rather have more sustain in the first 12 frets, but even more preferably in the upper registers.
+David Taubner Good observations! Most guitars do have "dead zones" where sustain is reduced. Some are really noticeable and others are more subtle. You can tell my pick attack is nearly identical (from decades of playing) by looking at the wave forms. Honestly, until a robot can go down a set of stairs without spilling a cup of water, I'll stick with my own picking 😄
imo An SG...YEA-ESSS! That said... I expect thicker guitars to sustain longer. It seems to me that the density of the wood would have a big effect on sustain. imo
Agreed, Tony. I was just glad to see an SG because my favorite of all my non-custom built guitars was a '72 walnut SG with a Bigsby. I'll never forgive myself for unloading it.
Man, the Japanese really stepped up with their instrument craftsmanship and playability. I now prefer Yamaha pianos over Steinway, both in tone and playability, (but Bösendorfer is still king). Ibanez guitars and basses are beautiful and practical- they both sound great and feel like a dream. I also play sax and yanisigawa's sound and play like heaven.
For a fair comparison repeat that test with - the same pickups in each guitar - the same strings on each guitar - the same nut material (TUSQ?) - the same saddle material (brass?) I don't think wood thickness will have a big influence, it's the wood quality & density. Then again, the wood type and density also have an influence on the tone.
Sustain isn’t how much vibration you feel in the body in fact it’s the exact opposite, that’s energy being absorbed or dampen by the body. The ideal would be strings that vibrate indefinitely with no loss to the bridge or body.
Of all the guitars I've owned or played, the guitar with the most sustain is my Carvin Bolt. It may be a fluke, but it's practically supernatural, no other guitars of mine have ever come close!
Hey Darrell .great video as always . I wanted to say this although you probably already know . When you buy a new classical guitar in the beginning it doesn't vibrate .After you play it for sometime (maybe months ) the body starts to vibrate when you play it and thus starts having a bigger sound . So its important when somebody buys a classical guitar to know that it won't sound as loud by day one
5:19 I thought I was the only one I guess that's because a lot of us leant on either classical or acoustic guitars. And because we practiced unplugged a lot
The way the neck is put on a guitar seems to have nothing to do with sustain. I've heard completely dead thru necks and I've heard long living bolt ons. Probably more to do with the quality of the neck joint fit, if not wood density.
Greate! Didn't know that.. But yeah, defenetly a fixed bridge or a vintage style tremolo will give you for sure more sustain and more middle/high tones as well.
I would like to see a shootout between pickups mounted to pickguard vs pickups mounted straight to the body, given that the guitars are similar in other aspects.
I once had an Epiphone USA Map guitar. The body was the thickest I have ever seen. It was made of mahogany(not sure if it was a 1 piece or not). That guitar sustained more than any guitar I have ever heard by a mile. I couldn't believe that sustain. It just kept going.
Those Ibanez S-series are great, my friend had a S2020 back in the early 2000's and it was the best guitar I've ever played. So small, fast and smooth with a ton of tonal options (especially with the Piezo pickup in the bridge). Having said that, I prefer thick, heavy guitars with thick necks.
In general, the most constant performance I see, is the one of Epiphone, even better than Gibson (that's much more expensive!). What impressed me is the sustain of Ibanez S taht often is even longer than Gibson Les Paul.. (4 times over 6) and Ibanez S is so thin! So I'm not so sure that thicker body is really giving the best sustain... This according to the graphic.
My guitars:2017 fender stratocaster American elite and 2016 squier stratocaster classic vibe both floating tremolos Results:to make it simple the classic vibe outlasted the American elite by as much as 10 seconds on every string, very sad considering the squier is only one 1/4 of the fender price, my loved squier ones again showed me why I love it so much, another great video my friend, life time subscriber here you are one of few I watch all your videos from beginning to end great work keep them comong.
The best thing about this channel, and the primary reason i keep returning again and again, is that at some point at the beginning of every video (no exceptions), Darrell says “And I hope you’re having a great day today!!”. And when he says this, Darrell’s sincerity practically leaps out of the screen and grabs you by the throat. It’s not just some idle, meaningless banality: Darrell actually does hope that I am having a great day today. I know it. And you cannot get that with any other guitar youtuber. Sure, I can watch, say, “Music is Win” and get lots of great guitar advice, but does Tyler care whether or not I am having a great day today?? I can only assume he doesn’t give a crap, because he’s never addressed the matter one way or the other, whereas Darrell does so every time. Or Ben Eller - in addition to giving the most reliable advice and having killer chops, he’s also funny as hell. But does Ben hope I am having a great day today?? I’d bet dollars to donuts that he could not care less.
I did the same little experience. But, I realized that an electric guitar isn't supposed to be played directly plugged into a laptop computer, so I did it again with my amp turned up fairly loud (about the same as when I rehearse with the band) and with a tad little bit of crunch. And the results changed quite significantly. Directly on the laptop the overall winner was my ESP LTD Viper 1000 Deluxe (Seymour Duncan + tunomatic bridge), then my ESP LTD EC-1000FM (Seymour Duncan + tunomatic bridge), then my PRS SE ONE P-90 (BIG SURPRISE !!! wrap-around bridge), then my Gibson Les Paul Less Plus P-90 (tunomatic bridge), then my Paul Reed Smith S2 Standard 24 (tremolo), then my Ibanez S5470 Prestige J-Team Titanium (ZR2 tremolo). I didn't expect both the LTDs to have more sustain than my Les Paul. Anyway, when plugged into an amp, and recording via a microphone, the game totally changed. The PRS SE ONE was the winner, then the LTD Viper 1000, then the LTD EC-1000FM, then the Ibanez S5470, then the Les Paul Less Plus, then the Paul Reed Smith S2 Std 24. I still don't get it !?!!???!?? The LTD Viper 1000 is the heaviest one, the Ibanez S5470 is the lightest one and with a tremolo, but had better sustain than the Les Paul ... and finally the cheap PRS SE ONE with one single P-90 (that i normally only use in open tuning for slide) gave surprisingly good results (but is noisy as f*** due to it's cheap P-90). ANYWAY ! All that doesn't matter one tiny bit. What matters is which one do I prefer playing, which one sounds the best, which one stays the best in tune, which one has the best neck, etc ... and for me the LTD EC-1000FM surpasses all the others ... I just love that guitar to bits, and after adding a coil-plit (outer coils) on the volume pot and a phase inversion on the tone pot, I can have all the tones that could wish to have. Have fun Darrel ! Play loud !
The PRS having a vintage trem would have more sustain than a Floyd Rose every time. Eddie Van Halen used Floyd Roses live because he had to with all the crazy bends but he preferred to record with a traditional strat tremolo system because it allowed way more sustain. He said the Floyd Rose not only killed sustain but had a thinned out sound to it; which I believe go hand in hand. But if you think about it with a Floyd Rose, you have the strings locked twice and no where to go. The string vibrations and the strings themselves are essentially shortened and don’t allow for vibrations to go into the tuning posts where a lot of the string is left; then on the other end at the bridge, you have your strings suspended between a block and an alloy that’s not very resonant, and the entire Floyd Rose bridge is suspended and barely connected via many different connections in the back that end with two screws lol. That was a mouth full.
i would like to add that one of the reason the LP has such a great sustain is also the type of nut that is involved. For a Rounder Bluesy style of songs, LP has been perfected to sustain a lot exactly like the 335. SG even if it was meant as the original LP, has been perfected to be more crisp and for heavier music, wich does not imply usually a lot of sustain (think Black Sabbath, AC/DC, etc)
Great video once again, no surpise there so thanks Darrell! Just to add my personal experience, I've owned quite few really good guitars and they were all modded in some way. Tried different pups, setups, electronic upgrades etc. My current guitars are a wonderful LP deluxe, a Chapman Ml3RC and the one I want to come to, the underdog, a 1990 Washburn N2 all stock. It's a wee guitar, thin and small bodied, very similar to the S series but that thing out-sustains every single guitar I 've ever owned or played. So much so that every time I went guitar or amp shopping I always bought her with me as a reference point and still haven't found one to beat her. And of course never crossed my mind changing anything on it fearing I might spoil it. Don't know, maybe they hit some kind of sweet spot when they made it and the woods-pups-electronics all came together. Only goes to show that sustain is a combination of many, often not thought of, factors
Hi. Yesterday i posted a response on the discussion about sustain vs electric guitar body size. Sustain depends mainly on guitar's body stiffness and hardware construction stability. Body stiffness is related to the wood hardness, therefore electric guitars are usually built of hard kinds of wood like maple, ash, alder, mahagony, etc. Bottom line is: comparing various guitars made of different materials, while considering only their thickness is meaningless
If you bin the cheap plastic nut, replacing it with brass or bone and clean the bubbles of finish out of the back of the neck pocket of a typical Indonesian Ibanez they show considerably improved sustain and brightness. I have a Fujigen S540 and an Indonesian Iron Label SIR70FD and they were incredibly different beasts. Japanese S is incredibly bright, sustains forever and goes into harmonic feedback at the slightest provocation. The Iron Label has more of a bark to it. Of course the Iron Label is a hard tail and the S540 has an locking trem, so a rocking steel and zinc bridge and steel nut, but I think a lot of the remaining difference is in the finish. S540 has a really thin matt purple finish, iron label has a thick glossy metallic black, and a whole load of bumpy clear coat in the neck pocket. Cleaned that out very carefully with a wide chisel and it a bit better, but they are still a perfect example of how different two similarly constructed instruments can be.
So a few more things that will impact the validity of the comparison. 1 - pickup types: humbucker vs single coil. 2 - pickup covered or uncovered. 3 - Type of body wood (eg. swamp ash vs alder vs mahogany) . 4 - neck wood (maple vs mahogany). 5 - fret board type (rosewood vs maple)....
Good day, Darrell. Thanks for your new post. As my hands prefer the classical guitar width for string crossing arpeggios with the great sounding chords I've learned from you, I've been experimenting with 12 string electrics, set up for six string playing. Having used only two, a Dean double cut-away semi-hollow, and a Grote semi-hollow: both professionally set up for me, evenly spacing the strings for the wide neck, the sustain of the Grote HJZ-01 from Skyline Musical Instruments ($260 delivered) with factory pickups dwarfed the Dean with Gibson 491&498s as well as my Epiphone Prophecy with the same Gibsons, and my Squire with aftermarket Fender pickups. Every note will go for half a minute before decay! I've never seen anything like it. And the balance of the tone with Fender .10 strings is far more even throughout the range than my other instruments. Not a single "dead note." I'm selling them! Thanks again, Darrell. Oftentimes you encourage us; but sometimes you discourage us. But that's not your fault! :^)
Les Paul experimented way back when and found that a piece of railroad track gave the longest sustain of any material, when he strung one up with a pickup. The string vibrated longer because the guitar (track) *DIDN"T* vibrate and all the energy stayed in the string. This experiment ( proof of concept) led to the solid hardwood body guitar Then along came Carlos Santana and he said "i want even more sustain ...so I'll just turn the thing up and the feed back loop from speaker to string will sustain all day long, if I ride the volume control and adjust how close to the speaker I am... I can control it!" Paul's goal was to increase sustain by eliminating hollow body feed back... Carlos thrived on feedback but now directly to the string with high volume, a solid body guitar and proximity to the speaker. Volume has to be a factor when measuring sustain in any practical way. Some guitars are prone to string feedback ...others not so much. If you don't turn it up you will never find out . Jus'sayin'
I have a bolt-on neck Kramer with a SD humbucker in there bride position, a through-neck Ibanez C-1, and a glued-in neck Epiphany Les Paul. What mayors the most is what I pump them through. With bass I find it a bit different; my through-neck basses set up standing waves that feed off the strings, neck, and air vibration, and these I need to control the sustain on. This really only makes a difference if my bass amp is moving enough air the vibrate the guitar. I think the biggest thing is how hard it's driven.
Oh cool we get to see your funny guitar face. HA HA Yep got that mouth wiggle going and the one where you just bitten into a grapefruit face. Cheers and more plz :-)
What about the effect of bolt on necks compared to set necks? The PRS has a set neck (as does the Les Paul which were both up against bolt-ons) - That may be why it also sustained longer in this test. We know PRS believes that a guitar that 'rings' longer is a 'better' guitar so makes every effort to ensure that the sound is transferred to the body...
Very well made video comparison! Thank you! Ibanez s is close to les paul in sustain, being better than Gibson, but weighs quite a bit less. I'd say, Ibanez S is your new Gibson LP! =)
Interesting video Darrell. What modifications have you made to your LP Traditional? I have a 2015 model in Ocean Blue. I swapped the G-Force unit for Hipshot open gear locking tuners, replaced the brass nut with the custom made for Les Paul height adjustable GraphTech nut, then took it to a shop for a full Plek set up. It plays amazingly now and of the 11 guitars I own wins hands down for sustain. But it's as heavy as a lump of granite and not one I can play comfortably for any long periods.
Hey Darrel, have you played any Reverend Guitars? I'd be curious to hear your take on the Kingbolt, Buckshot, Charger, or Double Agent. In my experience they've stacked incredibly well with other guitars, but with your range of instruments it would be awesome to hear your thoughts!
I think it would be interesting to expand on this experiment. Like, neck-thru vs bolt-on vs set-neck, or expensive vs cheap guitars. I mean, the Epi having better sustain than the Gibson kills the idea that more expensive guitars naturally have longer sustain, I suppose. Great video!
What I love about this video.. is that it addresses true sustain. That is the inherent sustain of an instrument... and not how it sustains being plugged in and subject to feedback. Les Paul had a goal to have a guitar sustain for 20 seconds .. unplugged.. this is a great vid with a scientific method to it... thanks.. my experience?... it varies.. on guitars.. I have many guitars.. some sustain better then others.. I have a thin guitar I built that sustains incredibly well... better than most.. it is very thin.. why?.. my explanation is the bridge... I made it out of solid Iron.. including the bridge.. all welded together as single piece.. that's the only thing that explains it.. I play lap steel.. and the 2 I have that are made of a single plank of wood .. achieve Les Pauls goal... they play forever... I have no guitar that gets close..even through body construction.
When it comes to the duration of sustain on any string, the guitar running through a competently set up compressor pedal always wins. The pedal route is much cheaper and fool-proof, too. Sustain is significantly dependent on the "system"s rigidity, which is in turn dependent on endpoint (nut and bridge) material and overall construction. Things like nut material and neck joint type would definitely affect it more than the magnets in the pickups. The guitars in the comparison definitely differ a lot in that aspect.
That Ibanez is so beautiful, I wouldn't care if it sustained like a ukulele.
not my taste the j custom is more nice looking
@@BFHPET this is the internet, no ones really cares about your opinions here.
@@JohnPork912 well you did obviously. lol
@@BFHPET J customs are nice,,I have 2. I also have a prestige that is a beat
@@realtruenorth im whaitting for a j custom in red they look so awesome wish they gonna make them next year when do they usally update the colours ?
*grab popcorn* and read the comment section
you read my mind. tis gonna be fun :)
, 😂noice
Great comparisons! It really makes me appreciate Leo Fender and the great design work he did in the initial Teles and Strats...he nailed so many things that have passed the test of time.
T H I C C 👌
I think there are so many factors when it comes to sustain
Absolutely.
Also one can buy things to increase sustain beyond its usefulness for any guitar.
Neck attachment type, high downward pressure on the bridge, bridge saddle and nut material, strings used.
I'm not a luthier but I know they affect sustain.
@@orlock20 can you recommend one such thing to increase sustain?
@@greenchilaquiles Yeah, stick with hardtail neck through mahogany guitars, like Les Paul.
Technique is true sustain. Guy picked up my guitar....and made it weep! We were the band, but the whole party stopped, and turned around...he stole the show. And we loved it!!
From a scientific perspective, the thickness should have less to do with it than the rigidity of the guitar (and the structure where the strings are supported)... If it is more rigid, the strings would be less dampened, therefore they should vibrate longer... You also have the magnets pulling the strings, you have to take that in mind too
Luis Coll if you really want to talk science.. Three things:
1- what you're actually testing for (open string sustain when plucked) is too easily influenced by the human variable (plucking strings differently every time). I find it hard to believe that the force with which he's hitting each string really is consistent. And by only giving each guitar one try, this really can't serve as very conclusive evidence.
2- Magnets: they're actually not gonna make a difference. WillsEasyGuitar made a video where he demonstrated this with a huge magnet, and there was no significant difference.
3- String gauge, anyone? Simple physics says heavier strings will sustain longer.. So why aren't we all loading up with 12s or 13s? That's something that I think would be worth confirming.
But again, when it comes down to just measuring the end result (that being your guitar sound in a mix), these things are pretty trivial. Same applies to the whole tonewood debate.
Now science aside, does it make sense to carry around a very heavy guitar just because it "has more sustain"? I don't think so man. I wouldn't do it. Just use technique, EQ and compression to get the sound you're going for.
All this aside.. Those licks were amazing. I couldn't care less about what you're playing if you play like that. Great job
Also dare I say type / properties of wood used.
And whether chambered for other guitars.
No. 2, very good point Ryan. Lots of people think that magnets pull on strings with any sort of significant effect. You can test this by holding a pickup above the strings while they vibrate. The only time it will dampen the strings is if you're doing something silly like having two neodymium humbuckers and a neo single coil in one guitar. Tried that. Never again! A note would last less than a second!
Ryan Georgi I think because of the seemingly sensitive nature of the guitar, minor things do affect the tone. Which is why I agree with the tonewood. Whether we can hear it is what’s at question. Now, if someone is using something to measure, eh... I can see their reason. Other than that the pickups, headstock, etc... is more important. I think carrying around a heavy guitar because it sustains better sounds like a good idea, if you don’t want to buy more than a few pedals. Which in my case, I’m not a pedal collector. I just need about 5 pedals to get my own tone. I would like that my guitar tone is just as much apart of my sound than just pedals. I also don’t care for light weight guitars. I’m used to heavier guitars, so, I’m comfortable.
I do agree that the amount of force used when plucking the strings is important, but since as I said the guitar seems to be sensitive, it’s difficult to make accurate comparisons. Even in larger strings, that would be difficult. Unless someone builds a machine that has more control. Then you have made sure the guitar exactly set up the same, which according to some techs is nearly impossible. So many different variables. For that reason, the results would if anything just be what is very likely the case.
As to the strings. I don’t think it would be necessary to do that since he was primarily comparing the body of the guitar. To my knowledge smaller gauge string are more common. So, using those strings make more sense. It would be cool to see how this goes for large strings, at least for those who use them. But if I’m just testing the body in a more general way, I think a general approach is good. However, if he were to use larger strings, that would be more about the strings ability to sustain than the body of the guitar alone.
I think a more accurate way of being able to tell, is to do it in a way where the strings or certain factors don’t interfere much. I’m surprised no one has mentioned that the way the guitar is strung, and the full set up of the guitar makes a difference. For example, I have the Jimi Strat, which has the reverse head stock. It is said that the headstock being in reverse allows the low E to sustain. Les Paul’s are known for sustain, but this is said to be the design. How does this design compare to others? Is this design interfering with the results of the test of the body type? But again, the body is the focus, and since there are so many factors to consider, I can see the point. I wonder if a channel will come along and devote the time to doing an extensive scientific test on guitars. That would answer a lot of minor level questions but still fun to know.
The magnetic field has no real effect on sustain...UNTIL the guitar is plugged in. In fact, even unplugged, there is still a small current flowing through the volume pot. That current isn't free. Just like a dynamo that's easy to turn by hand, suddenly becomes harder when you put a load on it, same happens with guitar pickups. A guy just holding a magnet by the strings and expecting that to prove something, is just putting his own ignorance on display. How big the effect is, is another matter. 500mV is a lot for a guitar pickup, and the impedance of the circuit is pretty high, so we're not talking much power. But what there is, is all taken from the kinetic energy of the string.
All the same...I have a feeling that a single pickup guitar would have better sustain, simply from not having a hole routed near the neck pocket. All these tiny details mean nothing. Great guitars don't make great songs; great songs make great guitars. A strat through a fuzz-face would sound like ass to anyone in 1940, cus they'd never heard a good piece of music recorded that way.
Darrell.. youre bad for my guitar progress ^^ i keep watching your videos instead of practicing more :( you just seem like such a super nice guy and your videos are so well made.. i cant stop
+Alex R 😄 Thanks man!
Damn that epiphone had a much nicer looking finish than the traditional Gibson
Epi make some very nice looking guitars. I've got a lemon/honey flame top SG with gold hardware. Not sure of the fretboard wood, but it's not rosewood. Looks awesome and never seen another in a store since I got it, but I'd imagine there's more around.
I've got one of those, too! I'm pretty sure the fingerboard is rosewood, though. I bought it used online. The back of the headstock says "Epiphone Custom Shop."
Mark - I can't get at mine right now (behind a pile of other guitars), but I seem to remember it had a got a custom shop logo on it as well. Yours might be rosewood, mine I'm not so sure as it's a lot lighter looking than rosewood is. It's almost like black butt. Being a custom it could have anything on it! Thick neck on them too.
Mine's behind a pile as well! LOL I wouldn't mind knowing the exact name that they were selling them as, to look up the specs. I saw one for sale on eBay almost 10 years ago... I think the seller listed it as a "custom SG" or something. He was asking almost $700 for it, used. I got mine for around $350.
Your fingerboard could be Pau Ferro... it's lighter than rosewood
Could be right on the fingerboard. I bought mine new over 10 years ago from a local shop, setup was good and actually sounded good acoustically - that's why I bought it - didn't even plug it in! Think I paid around $700AUD for it at the time. But damn they looked good! Promised the missus I wouldn't buy a guitar at the guitar show, so I bought one on the way home!
I would expect the hardness of the materials to have more of an effect than the thickness of the body.
Agreed. Also a fixed bridge sustains better than a floating bridge.
What about the guitars being set neck, bolt on, or neck through, wouldn't that affect sustain in pair with body thickness?
Everything effects everything, including pickups.
just like tonewood, it really DOES NOT MATTER
Yes, the difference is very very small tho
@@whatskraken3886 doesn't matter is opinion. But it changes things 100% no doubt.
@@realtruenorth eh
thicc vs stick
*sticc*
@@codythedoggo7671 Sthicc
*T H I C C* vs *sticc*
Now that you pointed out the toggle switch on the Ibanez I can't unsee it. Such a silly move by Ibanez.
metalheadblues, I'm sure there is a reason for it, maybe to keep dust out so it doesn't get "scratchy" over time?
Tony Colantonio could be yet most guitars don't have it
+metalheadblues Sorry!!
The S series has a thin edges so the switch is large so the toggle switch has that black dome on it to raise it above the body and cover it up aesthetically.
Kiyu Madkick, makes sense
3:24 that solo makes me keep coming back to this video it just beautiful
That ibanez s series is a beaut.
Sustain too! A new S Prestige can really hold its own against a vintage Les Paul in loads of surprising areas. Their resale value right now is below par but I reckon they're going to be really collectible in 15-20 years time.
This video, while well thought out and informative, proved one thing to me.
I need more guitars.
Nice work!!
+Shaun carter 😄😄😄
Thanks man!
Fun Fact:
Gibson wanted the Les Paul to have a good sustain but not too much(idk why?)!
that bit of lead you played on the les paul traditional sounded great
+Music Playlists Thanks!
The intro with the Ibanez earned a like off the bat. I'd love to hear you do an album of tracks like that on that Ibanez. It was beautiful.
As a mechanical engineer, I can tell you that a guitar sustains better when you touch it less. Your body and fingers absorb the vibration.
The thicker body has higher inertia and will tend to vibrate at lower amplitudes and thus allow your body to absorb less. On the other side a thin guitar will vibrate with the strings at higher amplitude and thus allow your body to absorb the energy faster.
I have an interesting experiment to try next: See how variations in scale length and string gauge effect sustain!
Put a sustaniac pickup in any guitar = virtually infinite sustain!!!!
+Into The Forest 😀👍👍👍
Who makes sustainiac pickups?
Fernandes Sustainer
Allen Hoover makes Sustainiac. Fernandes literally did a poor rip off. I have Sustainiac on two of my guitars and it is the instant smooth feedback, endless sustain
Who want to hear 1 single note ringing for hours? For me if it can sustain like the cheapest squier then i'm quite happy
"Team chunk and team skinny-minny" 😆I love it! Awesome playing as usual!
+Andrew Stump 😄 Thanks!
:23 seconds was really something I haven’t heard quite like that before. Very cool.
Great job on getting some good data on this... but all I can focus on right now is the soul stirring playing you were doing. Wow. Going back to listen some more now. Been sick for a while, and this is the kind of sound that makes me forget all that for a while. Amazing.
+Anthony P Thanks Anthony!
Feel better soon ☺
Darrell Braun Guitar Thank you!
Awesome video again Darrell. You really opened Pandora's Box with this one! Hope you're prepared for the firefight! There is one definitive result shown, and that would be on the floating trem guitar. With so many variables it really is impossible to draw a super accurate conclusion with different materials and densities of the saddles and nuts, (insert inappropriate remarks here) how hard each string was plucked, etc. But, I do like the fact that there is someone with enough cajones to go down this rabbit hole and attempt to be objective about it.
Thanks Darrell!
PS. I've been quietly complaining about that horrid 5-way switch on the S series guitars for YEARS now. You're not alone.
+DaveR 😄 Thanks man! Good to know I'm not alone.
An interesting inquiry, all right.
Unfortunately, unless you have a mechanical mechanism for hitting each and every string with *exactly* the same force, small variations in your hand movement will account for quite a lot of the variations we're seeing with the instruments that are showing close results to each other.
I'm pretty concerned with sustain, and I've noticed that there are four general areas where electric guitars sustain differently from each other. They are (i) the open strings (ii) the middle of the fretboard, (iii) the lower high register (12th to 15th frets), and (iv) the upper high register (16th to the 22nd or 24th frets).
My experience is that guitars usually sustain in one, occasionally two, but rarely in three, let alone four of those areas. Different strings don't sustain equally up and down the frets, meaning sustain may increase or decrease as you move up the frets to a new area on a given string. I've checked to make sure there's no fret binding. I made an effort to make the pickup heights correct, too.
In short, open string sustain seems to mean a lot less than I would have thought as you progress up past the 12th fret.
Since I play open strings the least frequently, I'd rather have more sustain in the first 12 frets, but even more preferably in the upper registers.
+David Taubner Good observations!
Most guitars do have "dead zones" where sustain is reduced. Some are really noticeable and others are more subtle.
You can tell my pick attack is nearly identical (from decades of playing) by looking at the wave forms.
Honestly, until a robot can go down a set of stairs without spilling a cup of water, I'll stick with my own picking 😄
Yes, sometimes I do get too 'picky'. ;-)
+David Taubner 😄 Nice!!!
Glad this was a measured experiment! Good stuff man
imo
An SG...YEA-ESSS!
That said...
I expect thicker guitars to sustain longer.
It seems to me that the density of the wood would have a big effect on sustain.
imo
Charlie Newman, that SG has 3 pickups so more magnetic pull. Interesting to see all guitars with set neck, 1 pickup.
Agreed, Tony.
I was just glad to see an SG because my favorite of all my non-custom built guitars was a '72 walnut SG with a Bigsby.
I'll never forgive myself for unloading it.
Charlie Newman
here we go again. The wood toners strike again.
no argument here, Kris...there's more the one reason, obviously...
maybe you're confusing tone and resonance
i enjoy your playing so much man! lot of gilmour in there!
+Bullnec You are too kind! Thanks ☺
Man, the Japanese really stepped up with their instrument craftsmanship and playability. I now prefer Yamaha pianos over Steinway, both in tone and playability, (but Bösendorfer is still king).
Ibanez guitars and basses are beautiful and practical- they both sound great and feel like a dream.
I also play sax and yanisigawa's sound and play like heaven.
This would be interesting with semi acoustic guitars thrown into the mix
Thanks for yet another informative video. Awesome.
+Mutant Baby Anytime! ☺
Those jams in between, loved them :D
+Jawless Python Thanks man!
For a fair comparison repeat that test with
- the same pickups in each guitar
- the same strings on each guitar
- the same nut material (TUSQ?)
- the same saddle material (brass?)
I don't think wood thickness will have a big influence, it's the wood quality & density. Then again, the wood type and density also have an influence on the tone.
Sustain isn’t how much vibration you feel in the body in fact it’s the exact opposite, that’s energy being absorbed or dampen by the body. The ideal would be strings that vibrate indefinitely with no loss to the bridge or body.
Of all the guitars I've owned or played, the guitar with the most sustain is my Carvin Bolt. It may be a fluke, but it's practically supernatural, no other guitars of mine have ever come close!
Cool shootout. Let's get down to brass tax. It's the wood that makes a difference. Just kidding, not going down the tonewood debate.
Brass tacks.
A tax on brass would be unsustainable. :D
The cherry sunburst Les Paul sounded awesome very sweet and great tone
Hey Darrell .great video as always . I wanted to say this although you probably already know . When you buy a new classical guitar in the beginning it doesn't vibrate .After you play it for sometime (maybe months ) the body starts to vibrate when you play it and thus starts having a bigger sound . So its important when somebody buys a classical guitar to know that it won't sound as loud by day one
That top on the ultimate Epi! I'm on the hunt for my own!
+Sean Holifield Good luck! I hope you can snag one 👍
5:19 I thought I was the only one
I guess that's because a lot of us leant on either classical or acoustic guitars. And because we practiced unplugged a lot
does a set neck sustain longer than a bolt on too?
td tom not if you have 6 bolts
next test... passive versus active pick-ups?
+td tom I'll add it to my list ☺
Bolt on sustains longer also depends on the bridge
The way the neck is put on a guitar seems to have nothing to do with sustain. I've heard completely dead thru necks and I've heard long living bolt ons. Probably more to do with the quality of the neck joint fit, if not wood density.
I love your videos. It is amazing how much can be said about 6 wires stretched over a piece of wood!
Greate! Didn't know that.. But yeah, defenetly a fixed bridge or a vintage style tremolo will give you for sure more sustain and more middle/high tones as well.
I would like to see a shootout between pickups mounted to pickguard vs pickups mounted straight to the body, given that the guitars are similar in other aspects.
Awesome work man, u are the best
+Hilai YOLO Thanks man!
Right back at ya ☺
Nigel was right
Mike Roberti you could just go and have a bite and come back and NYAAAAAAA you'd still be hearin' that one
+Mike Roberti 😄😄😄
Listen.... Just listen...
Monotone If it were playing....
Ok, you've seen enough of that one.
You had a spelling issue in the title I think what you meant to say was "T H I C C"
Nicely done Sir Darrell.
+Citadel Thanks! ☺
I always wondered if raising the tailpiece on a Les paul/SG reduces string tension and increases sustain. Would be a cool thing to test.
Scale length, tuning, and string gauge all affect string tension, but the tailpiece height does not.
Why di you believe that less string tension = more sustain???????!!!
I once had an Epiphone USA Map guitar. The body was the thickest I have ever seen. It was made of mahogany(not sure if it was a 1 piece or not). That guitar sustained more than any guitar I have ever heard by a mile. I couldn't believe that sustain. It just kept going.
Brian May made his guitar out of an old oak table and he sustains pretty good
Those Ibanez S-series are great, my friend had a S2020 back in the early 2000's and it was the best guitar I've ever played. So small, fast and smooth with a ton of tonal options (especially with the Piezo pickup in the bridge). Having said that, I prefer thick, heavy guitars with thick necks.
In general, the most constant performance I see, is the one of Epiphone, even better than Gibson (that's much more expensive!). What impressed me is the sustain of Ibanez S taht often is even longer than Gibson Les Paul.. (4 times over 6) and Ibanez S is so thin! So I'm not so sure that thicker body is really giving the best sustain... This according to the graphic.
2:01 why some youtube guitarist always shake the guitar, its not even change anything on the sound?
Great test!
My guitars:2017 fender stratocaster American elite and 2016 squier stratocaster classic vibe both floating tremolos
Results:to make it simple the classic vibe outlasted the American elite by as much as 10 seconds on every string, very sad considering the squier is only one 1/4 of the fender price, my loved squier ones again showed me why I love it so much, another great video my friend, life time subscriber here you are one of few I watch all your videos from beginning to end great work keep them comong.
+1111stunna1111 Wow!!!
Thanks for taking the time to report that.
I really appreciate your kind words.
The best thing about this channel, and the primary reason i keep returning again and again, is that at some point at the beginning of every video (no exceptions), Darrell says “And I hope you’re having a great day today!!”. And when he says this, Darrell’s sincerity practically leaps out of the screen and grabs you by the throat. It’s not just some idle, meaningless banality: Darrell actually does hope that I am having a great day today. I know it. And you cannot get that with any other guitar youtuber. Sure, I can watch, say, “Music is Win” and get lots of great guitar advice, but does Tyler care whether or not I am having a great day today?? I can only assume he doesn’t give a crap, because he’s never addressed the matter one way or the other, whereas Darrell does so every time. Or Ben Eller - in addition to giving the most reliable advice and having killer chops, he’s also funny as hell. But does Ben hope I am having a great day today?? I’d bet dollars to donuts that he could not care less.
Sounds like you need a HUG!
I did the same little experience. But, I realized that an electric guitar isn't supposed to be played directly plugged into a laptop computer, so I did it again with my amp turned up fairly loud (about the same as when I rehearse with the band) and with a tad little bit of crunch. And the results changed quite significantly.
Directly on the laptop the overall winner was my ESP LTD Viper 1000 Deluxe (Seymour Duncan + tunomatic bridge), then my ESP LTD EC-1000FM (Seymour Duncan + tunomatic bridge), then my PRS SE ONE P-90 (BIG SURPRISE !!! wrap-around bridge), then my Gibson Les Paul Less Plus P-90 (tunomatic bridge), then my Paul Reed Smith S2 Standard 24 (tremolo), then my Ibanez S5470 Prestige J-Team Titanium (ZR2 tremolo). I didn't expect both the LTDs to have more sustain than my Les Paul.
Anyway, when plugged into an amp, and recording via a microphone, the game totally changed.
The PRS SE ONE was the winner, then the LTD Viper 1000, then the LTD EC-1000FM, then the Ibanez S5470, then the Les Paul Less Plus, then the Paul Reed Smith S2 Std 24.
I still don't get it !?!!???!??
The LTD Viper 1000 is the heaviest one, the Ibanez S5470 is the lightest one and with a tremolo, but had better sustain than the Les Paul ... and finally the cheap PRS SE ONE with one single P-90 (that i normally only use in open tuning for slide) gave surprisingly good results (but is noisy as f*** due to it's cheap P-90).
ANYWAY ! All that doesn't matter one tiny bit. What matters is which one do I prefer playing, which one sounds the best, which one stays the best in tune, which one has the best neck, etc ... and for me the LTD EC-1000FM surpasses all the others ... I just love that guitar to bits, and after adding a coil-plit (outer coils) on the volume pot and a phase inversion on the tone pot, I can have all the tones that could wish to have.
Have fun Darrel ! Play loud !
Very nicely put
The PRS having a vintage trem would have more sustain than a Floyd Rose every time. Eddie Van Halen used Floyd Roses live because he had to with all the crazy bends but he preferred to record with a traditional strat tremolo system because it allowed way more sustain. He said the Floyd Rose not only killed sustain but had a thinned out sound to it; which I believe go hand in hand. But if you think about it with a Floyd Rose, you have the strings locked twice and no where to go. The string vibrations and the strings themselves are essentially shortened and don’t allow for vibrations to go into the tuning posts where a lot of the string is left; then on the other end at the bridge, you have your strings suspended between a block and an alloy that’s not very resonant, and the entire Floyd Rose bridge is suspended and barely connected via many different connections in the back that end with two screws lol. That was a mouth full.
Another great video Darrell !! The Ibanez S series surprised me, since it is so thin.
I just have to say you have very tasteful playing and economy of note choices and phrasing. Would like to hear more of your solo work.
i would like to add that one of the reason the LP has such a great sustain is also the type of nut that is involved.
For a Rounder Bluesy style of songs, LP has been perfected to sustain a lot exactly like the 335.
SG even if it was meant as the original LP, has been perfected to be more crisp and for heavier music, wich does not imply usually a lot of sustain (think Black Sabbath, AC/DC, etc)
Great video once again, no surpise there so thanks Darrell!
Just to add my personal experience, I've owned quite few really good guitars and they were all modded in some way. Tried different pups, setups, electronic upgrades etc. My current guitars are a wonderful LP deluxe, a Chapman Ml3RC and the one I want to come to, the underdog, a 1990 Washburn N2 all stock. It's a wee guitar, thin and small bodied, very similar to the S series but that thing out-sustains every single guitar I 've ever owned or played. So much so that every time I went guitar or amp shopping I always bought her with me as a reference point and still haven't found one to beat her. And of course never crossed my mind changing anything on it fearing I might spoil it. Don't know, maybe they hit some kind of sweet spot when they made it and the woods-pups-electronics all came together. Only goes to show that sustain is a combination of many, often not thought of, factors
Anybody else wanna go grab their guitars, after watching Darrell’s videos?
i grab first, strum some and turns out i dont want to watch anymore
Hi. Yesterday i posted a response on the discussion about sustain vs electric guitar body size. Sustain depends mainly on guitar's body stiffness and hardware construction stability. Body stiffness is related to the wood hardness, therefore electric guitars are usually built of hard kinds of wood like maple, ash, alder, mahagony, etc.
Bottom line is: comparing various guitars made of different materials, while considering only their thickness is meaningless
If you bin the cheap plastic nut, replacing it with brass or bone and clean the bubbles of finish out of the back of the neck pocket of a typical Indonesian Ibanez they show considerably improved sustain and brightness. I have a Fujigen S540 and an Indonesian Iron Label SIR70FD and they were incredibly different beasts. Japanese S is incredibly bright, sustains forever and goes into harmonic feedback at the slightest provocation. The Iron Label has more of a bark to it. Of course the Iron Label is a hard tail and the S540 has an locking trem, so a rocking steel and zinc bridge and steel nut, but I think a lot of the remaining difference is in the finish. S540 has a really thin matt purple finish, iron label has a thick glossy metallic black, and a whole load of bumpy clear coat in the neck pocket. Cleaned that out very carefully with a wide chisel and it a bit better, but they are still a perfect example of how different two similarly constructed instruments can be.
Nice playing btw Darrell!
You are my favourite guitar channel.. like by far. Just to let you know :)
+Josh Clarke Thanks Josh!
So a few more things that will impact the validity of the comparison. 1 - pickup types: humbucker vs single coil. 2 - pickup covered or uncovered. 3 - Type of body wood (eg. swamp ash vs alder vs mahogany) . 4 - neck wood (maple vs mahogany). 5 - fret board type (rosewood vs maple)....
Good day, Darrell. Thanks for your new post. As my hands prefer the classical guitar width for string crossing arpeggios with the great sounding chords I've learned from you, I've been experimenting with 12 string electrics, set up for six string playing. Having used only two, a Dean double cut-away semi-hollow, and a Grote semi-hollow: both professionally set up for me, evenly spacing the strings for the wide neck, the sustain of the Grote HJZ-01 from Skyline Musical Instruments ($260 delivered) with factory pickups dwarfed the Dean with Gibson 491&498s as well as my Epiphone Prophecy with the same Gibsons, and my Squire with aftermarket Fender pickups. Every note will go for half a minute before decay! I've never seen anything like it. And the balance of the tone with Fender .10 strings is far more even throughout the range than my other instruments. Not a single "dead note." I'm selling them! Thanks again, Darrell. Oftentimes you encourage us; but sometimes you discourage us. But that's not your fault! :^)
+Gary McAleer Very cool!
Forgive my exaggeration of "half a minute" sustain. But that's what it seems like.
Idea for a video: Do thicker strings really sustain longer?
+Marcus Lecký I'll add it to my list ☺
Yes
No
Thanks for the very useful presentation
+O T Anytime! ☺
Les Paul experimented way back when and found that a piece of railroad track gave the longest sustain of any material, when he strung one up with a pickup.
The string vibrated longer because the guitar (track) *DIDN"T* vibrate and all the energy stayed in the string. This experiment ( proof of concept) led to the solid hardwood body guitar
Then along came Carlos Santana and he said "i want even more sustain ...so I'll just turn the thing up and the feed back loop from speaker to string will sustain all day long, if I ride the volume control and adjust how close to the speaker I am... I can control it!"
Paul's goal was to increase sustain by eliminating hollow body feed back... Carlos thrived on feedback but now directly to the string with high volume, a solid body guitar and proximity to the speaker.
Volume has to be a factor when measuring sustain in any practical way.
Some guitars are prone to string feedback ...others not so much.
If you don't turn it up you will never find out .
Jus'sayin'
I put Dimarzio Evolutions on all of my Ibanez RG's and JEMs(standard). No sustain worries.
Yeah. These pickups are sustain monsters.
Very Good vídeo Darrell.
Thanks! ☺
SG an RG have a extra midle pickups to more pull magnétic strings padding
I have a bolt-on neck Kramer with a SD humbucker in there bride position, a through-neck Ibanez C-1, and a glued-in neck Epiphany Les Paul. What mayors the most is what I pump them through. With bass I find it a bit different; my through-neck basses set up standing waves that feed off the strings, neck, and air vibration, and these I need to control the sustain on. This really only makes a difference if my bass amp is moving enough air the vibrate the guitar. I think the biggest thing is how hard it's driven.
Isn't sustain only dependent on how long the strings vibrate? Why would the body have anything to do with that?
Oh cool we get to see your funny guitar face. HA HA Yep got that mouth wiggle going and the one where you just bitten into a grapefruit face. Cheers and more plz :-)
+Snooze00 😄😄😄👍
That's why I usually cut my face out of the frame!
i have never thought about it. that was very good to learn
I think good setup is the key. Truss rod and string action can make huge difference.
What about the effect of bolt on necks compared to set necks? The PRS has a set neck (as does the Les Paul which were both up against bolt-ons) - That may be why it also sustained longer in this test. We know PRS believes that a guitar that 'rings' longer is a 'better' guitar so makes every effort to ensure that the sound is transferred to the body...
Very well made video comparison! Thank you! Ibanez s is close to les paul in sustain, being better than Gibson, but weighs quite a bit less. I'd say, Ibanez S is your new Gibson LP! =)
That SG fingerboard looks beautiful for some reason.
I always thought it was the weight and density of the wood which helped sustain. Great vid btw :)
nothing nerdy about it dude ! rock on .
Interesting video Darrell. What modifications have you made to your LP Traditional?
I have a 2015 model in Ocean Blue. I swapped the G-Force unit for Hipshot open gear locking tuners, replaced the brass nut with the custom made for Les Paul height adjustable GraphTech nut, then took it to a shop for a full Plek set up. It plays amazingly now and of the 11 guitars I own wins hands down for sustain. But it's as heavy as a lump of granite and not one I can play comfortably for any long periods.
What kind of strings were used? And was the string type the same for each guitar?
Mr ClassicMetal when I first read the title I thought it was string tickness comparison.
Hey Darrel, have you played any Reverend Guitars? I'd be curious to hear your take on the Kingbolt, Buckshot, Charger, or Double Agent. In my experience they've stacked incredibly well with other guitars, but with your range of instruments it would be awesome to hear your thoughts!
+Travis Heystek They are hard to come by around here, but I'll keep my eyes open ☺
That's too bad, I'd volunteer to ship you mine as a loaner, but it's currently the only guitar in the stable...
I think it would be interesting to expand on this experiment. Like, neck-thru vs bolt-on vs set-neck, or expensive vs cheap guitars. I mean, the Epi having better sustain than the Gibson kills the idea that more expensive guitars naturally have longer sustain, I suppose. Great video!
You are the best. Keep making videos. And may one day we can play together. 😀
+Pakiplexx Thanks man!
Right back at ya ☺
Pakiplexx dude has 191,000 subscribers! He's not going anywhere!
Rooster 7six 🐓 funny name. You have to believe in your dreams. 😉
Btw ! Another great comparison Darrell👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
+Dana Everhart Thanks Dana!
Great video, you’re really good 👍🏻
+Acxel Jimenez Thanks man!
What I love about this video.. is that it addresses true sustain. That is the inherent sustain of an instrument... and not how it sustains being plugged in and subject to feedback. Les Paul had a goal to have a guitar sustain for 20 seconds .. unplugged.. this is a great vid with a scientific method to it... thanks.. my experience?... it varies.. on guitars.. I have many guitars.. some sustain better then others.. I have a thin guitar I built that sustains incredibly well... better than most.. it is very thin.. why?.. my explanation is the bridge... I made it out of solid Iron.. including the bridge.. all welded together as single piece.. that's the only thing that explains it.. I play lap steel.. and the 2 I have that are made of a single plank of wood .. achieve Les Pauls goal... they play forever... I have no guitar that gets close..even through body construction.
Why does a thicker guitar sustain longer on each string? What is the mechanism behind this?
i like this video but i want to ask your opinion with the single coil pickups @ fender? i saw Jeff Beck have more sustain with his Fender 🤔
+GuitarUniverse10 Hi!
With distortion, compression, and delay / reverb sustain can be greatly enhanced ☺
When it comes to the duration of sustain on any string, the guitar running through a competently set up compressor pedal always wins. The pedal route is much cheaper and fool-proof, too.
Sustain is significantly dependent on the "system"s rigidity, which is in turn dependent on endpoint (nut and bridge) material and overall construction. Things like nut material and neck joint type would definitely affect it more than the magnets in the pickups. The guitars in the comparison definitely differ a lot in that aspect.