Tman5293 Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 My SG has some awful sustain for reasons I cannot comprehend. My action is a little high because I like it that way. How can I get some more sustain out of it? Does it have something to do with the fact that my stopbar is kinda low? All of the strings touch the back of the bridge because my bridge is high and the stopbar is low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Get a good Amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Get a good Amp. Â Has nothing to do with the amp I think. I've had this same problem with tubes and solid states alike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 What kind of strings do you use and how long have they been on your guitar? Â You might want to raise your stopbar a bit. I thought about it and if they touch on the back of the bridge, it may be reducing the downforce on the bridge and killing sustain. The force of the strings might be being distributed to the back of the bridge as opposed to right on the saddle where you want it. I don't know how much of a difference that would really make though. Â If your guitar has terrible sustain to begin with, a good amp won't really help much. You could use a compressor pedal but it's better to just have a guitar that sustains forever to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KL Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Â You might want to raise your stopbar a bit. Â Â +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 What kind of strings do you use and how long have they been on your guitar? Â You might want to raise your stopbar a bit. I thought about it and if they touch on the back of the bridge, it may be reducing the downforce on the bridge and killing sustain. The force of the strings might be being distributed to the back of the bridge as opposed to right on the saddle where you want it. I don't know how much of a difference that would really make though. Â If your guitar has terrible sustain to begin with, a good amp won't really help much. You could use a compressor pedal but it's better to just have a guitar that sustains forever to begin with. Â I use Ernie Ball Titanium Coated .10-.46. They've been on there for less than a month. I suspected it was the stop bar. The strings aren't supposed to touch the back of the bridge are they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Ok so I guess we can rule out the strings (although I've read that titanium strings destroy your frets). Â I'm not sure there's a "rule" saying your strings can't touch the back of the bridge, but I set my SG up so that the stopbar is as low as possible without the strings touching the back of the bridge. Â I just raised my action on the treble side of my SG the other day and it really improved sustain. I found the sweet spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Wash the Vaseline off of your hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahKeen Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 What pickups do you have on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shnate McDuanus Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Wash the Vaseline off of your hands. Â Now that's mean! (I gave you a plus, BTW.) Â Y'know, it could be your technique. How close to the frets do you fret your notes? How is your touch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahKeen Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 This thread might be getting a bit sticky.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Â Y'know, it could be your technique. How close to the frets do you fret your notes? How is your touch? Â Well, that's what I meant. Technique includes optimizing all variables... Â Clean hands (gunk dulls sustain) - lots of folks clean their guitar when they're finished playing, but some don't always wash their hands first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahKeen Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Have you held it like this? Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 Now that's mean! (I gave you a plus, BTW.) Â Y'know, it could be your technique. How close to the frets do you fret your notes? How is your touch? Â Depends on how fast I'm playing. it's usually pretty damn close to the fret. I tend to press down on the strings a little on the harder side. But lately I've been working on playing lighter both with my picking hand and my fretting hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 I took some pictures for reference: Â Â Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Adjusting the tailpiece really isn't going to add sustain to the SG. I have two SG's and they lack sustain in comparison to my Les Pauls. Â I use a Keeley 4-knob compressor and adjust it a little differently to help out my guitars that lack in the sustain department. I don't like turning up the gain to achieve more sustain... Too much fuzz kills the warmth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 If my sustain last longer than 4 hours will I have to call my doctor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman5293 Posted October 12, 2010 Author Share Posted October 12, 2010 If my sustain last longer than 4 hours will I have to call my doctor? Â Â If were still taking about guitars, you might have to call god cause you just found his guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Well, my best advice is, if you want sustain buy a bow...or play a Cello Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shnate McDuanus Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Try top-wrapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahKeen Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Get a bra.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 A bra would add support not sustain  Oh and as to your issue with sustain It's a SG so not much will help get a LP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondJig Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 How is the neck relief nut adjusted, if you have it cranked down it could be compressing the wood too much, you could try and give more bow and lower the bridge to keep the string hieght the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 try hitting the note over and over again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Owl Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Heavier gage strings, or split packs of strings with heavy and light gages in the same pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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