Sustain

[barrylicious]

Hi all. Which bridge type offers most sustain?
Also anyone have any tips on how to improve sustain on a build?

[dingobass]

Good question..
The best sustain is gained from a bridge that sits flat on the body, such as the Tele bridge for example.
If you want a real sustain monster i have found Babicz full contact bridges are the best.

Another way to gain godd sustain is to make sure the neck is really tight in the pocket..

[ponch]

What about string thru bridges? Also, wouldn't higher string gauges also increase sustain as there is more energy stored in them, being tighter, so they'd oscillate longer?

[Gavin1393]

Over the top Wrap around bridge with the tailpiece resting on the guitar body!

[ultpanzi]

Individual string bridges, strung through are designed for insane sustain plus a olid nut made of something like bone with a bit of foam under the strings on the headstock side of the nut. Also, a heavier body wood would give better sustain. This is cos all of these prevent loss of kinetic energy through movement. Also, heavier parts give better sustain. The formula for kinetic energy is Ek=mv^2, v is a constant (the speed of sound through whatever medium your wood is) so the heavier it is, the more energy it has. ALso, the heavier something is, the more atoms it has in it. Sound waves are mechanical waves which pass energy through the vibration of particles, so unlike electromagnetic waves, they proagate better with more particles. The other way to lose sustain is through destructive feedback. This is where a rarefaction and compression of the same wave meet each other, cancelling each other out. Individual string bridges prevent this. String through bridges also minimise this because you dont have something metallic and super hard vibrating the wave back along the string killing the vibration, because the direct contact with wood sends more of the vibration directly into the wood. THe foam under the nut prevents "ping" and also prevents the vibration going back along the string. All in all, a lot of these are theoretical and the actual effect is very subjective, so if you think part of this is a load of junk, thats fine, because the actual effect might be too small to make a large difference.

[dingobass]

And of course all of the above helps as well.... Not to mention neck through construction.

However, i believe the origional question was to do with our kits, hence i kept it simple

[jarrod]

Flat on body bridge is a big one and nut. Also the tune o matics sit in the body which is also good for sustain.

[barrylicious]

Love it. Cheers folks. The forum is always a wealth of information.

[DrNomis_44]

You'd probably get the most sustain from a bridge which allows the energy in a plucked string to stay in it rather than get sucked out, fixed bridge systems tend to produce the most sustain, but there's also the nut, I've read that the material that is used to make the nut has an influence on sustain too, what about the nut slots and their condition?, I've found that if a string doesn't pass through a nut straight, or if the nut slot isn't cut correctly, that can have a detrimental effect on sustain, I did some repair work on a friend's Slash Gibson Les Paul when it needed a set of replacement tuners, I replaced the tuners and noticed that the high E-String "buzzed" like a Sitar when it was plucked without fretting, I traced the problem to the nut slot for the string.

[moody]

Can I play devils advocate in this.

Why do you need more sustain?

Good thread on positives and negatives here:

http://www.guitargear.net.au/discuss...?topic=40673.0