Glasstones

[Caevan O’Shite]

[trushack]

Am I alone in thinking sustain is overrated?

 

I believe you are.

 

Not that I think it's a bad thing if a guitar can sustain a note for 8,9, 10 seconds or more....it's just that no one really plays that way.

 

I do. Actually it is my position that sustain is the Holy Grail of electric guitar & that we do everything we can to alter the fundamental fact that guitar notes have a built in finite decay time, & what we seek is to break that barrier & have the sustainability of a bowed string or blown reed when played with circular breathing.

 

But what gives a bowed string or woodwind/brass instrument "sustain" is the continual application of energy to the note being played. A bowed note doesn't sustain on its own...you have to continually keep bowing. When we think of sustain on guitar, we tend to think of how long a plucked note lasts without additional energy being applied.

 

If I say "Watch how long my Telecaster sustains!" and then use an Ebow or Fernandes Sustainer to keep a note going, that doesn't tell you how well it sustains on its own. But that's the same thing that's happening with a continuously bowed note on a cello or a brass ensemble using circular breathing.

 

I'd offer that sustain on guitars has basically been conquered (Ebow, sustainers, compressors, standing in front of a wailing stack, etc). I don't think sustain in a guitar is undesirable at all; good sustain usually accompanies good tone and great craftsmanship. I just think it's way down the totem pole of what's really important. We revere guitars and guitar designs that aren't known for being sustain powerhouses.