Sustain?

I have a Line 6 Spider 2 112 combo that I bough a little under a month ago and noticed that some of the higer strings dont have the best sustain, they die out rather quickly. Is there any kind of gear I can hook up with my amp that will make the notes hold longer? If so how much will it cost, and what is it. Or is there something I can do while playing to make notes last longer.

I play with a Spider II 15 and I get sustain for days, but I'm also playing with a Gibson LP. It could be your ax. I've heard old strings kill sustain. With the Spider, I always use a little of the tape echo. With your playing just try adding a bit of vibrato.

Try getting your guitar set-up properly first.

I heard that bolt on necks don't provide as much sustain (more punch) whereas set/thru necks provide way more. You might also have to fiddle with the tone nobs as well if you're finding higher strings not sustaining well.

If you really really really want sustain.... you can buy something called a Fernandes Sustainer... I think a few other companies make them too... What they do is create a small magnetic pulse that pulls on the strings as the notes have been rung... this keeps the string vibrating for pretty ever... It's a neat little thing to install on a guitars. Or look into compressors... they compress the sound freuguencies and average them out... when the sound of the guitar starts to disappear the compressor compensates and keeps the notes ringing... but when the note dies completely so does the compression... Just a few things to look at... I could write a really long response explaining sustain and all the factors that go into it and all the mods that can be done to enhance it... But I don't have time right now... if you wish let me know and I'll post the information...

it sounds to me like the problem is in your guitar...what guitar are you playing? what wood is it made of? what is the neck joint like? (set or bolt-on) and how many frets does it have?what strings are you playing? all of these factors influence the sustain to a greater or lesser extent.

A good setup could fix the problem (especially if it only started now)...maybe a even a re-string could solve it...if needs be, get a compressor...no guitarist should be without a compressor

Check the gap between the strings and the magnet poles of the pickups. If the pups are too close, the magnets will damp out the vibration, killing the sustain.

If raising the pickup action doesn't help things, try using a compression/sustainer.
There's tons of them out there. Boss for instance makes a single pedal or you can buy a multi-effects pedal with one in it.
You can set it up so that either does just a little or a whole lot of sustaining.
Basically what it does is smooth out the notes overall, and while the note is starting to die out, it gradually raises the volume.
If you have High Bandwidth, there's a video here showing how it works and sounds like.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9478

Originally Posted by: schmangeIf raising the pickup action doesn't help things, ...

:confused:

Don't mess with the action - lower the pups away from the strings.

play your guitar unplugged and see how much fret buzzing there is. If there is a lot, that could be killing your sustain and your guitar would need a setup to fix that.

Really?
I've always done the opposite. Although there's a whole lot of experimentation involved.
The pickups on my L6S raise and lower by almost 1/2" and I've always found that in order to get the best sound I have to raise the bridge pickup as high as possible under the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings and lower it under the 4th, 5th and 6th strings.
That way I get more volume out of the higher strings than the lower ones ( I generally use the neck pickup for softer stuff without distortion).

On the bridge pickup, it's pretty much even under all 6 strings, but again it's as high as I can get it. (The bridge pickup is usually used for 'chunking, overdrive and leads... although for tapping I usually use the neck pickup.)

*Gibson L6S Deluxe Guitar (1975), customized with
Seymour Duncan TB-'59 and Joe Barden Dual Blade Pickups

I use actives, and as much as every1 hates them, you can put them mega close to the strings and they don't pull. really good that way. I got one pickup (the bridge one) really high up and the neck one really low down so i can switch between EMG60 blues clean kinda tone, straight to the killer metal distortion just with the pick ups (even when the gain on my amp is pretty hardcore). Haven't noticed too much difference in sustain if the gain is up, however if the gain is down the neck "clean" pickup will cut out after a while because it's so low and the bridge pickup will keep going even when I put my guitar down and go to the bathroom (string thru).

So i guess maybe muck around with gain settings? ultimately a compressor i've heard is the best (every1 here seems to be recommending them too).