Custom DIY Guitar Sustainer Driver Build Instructions

[aCloudOfHaze]

has anyone actually tried this? does it work well?

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@aCloudOfHaze I've built 4 drivers using these specs and all 4 worked well. I also know of at least 5 other people who have built drivers just like this that work.

[warmingtone]

Good to see you are back in sustainer land...psw

[CODMW219]

so my guitar has two dual coils (neck and bridge) and someone told me the singlecoils could be seperated. so could i do this with one of the single coils on the neck?

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@CODMW219 Sure. You'd have to tear apart the humbucker and re-wire it though if it doesn't have a 4 conductor cable on it. If you want to use one of the coils as a sustainer driver, that would involve removing the old coil and using 32AWG magnet wire to rewind it to 8 ohms, etc.... a lot more work.

[happydiskproductions]

@CODMW219 coil tap...will turn it into a single coil

[whereisthiscity]

Finish it please! I want all Schematic pleasssseeeeeeeeeee!

[dvlwrsprda74]

i guess i would connect my sustainer pickup to the output of my amp circuit.. but where would i be getting the input signal from?please answer

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@dvlwrsprda74 Yep, you connect the sustainer driver to the outputs of your onboard sustainer amp. You need to split the signal coming off of the bridge pickup -- one wire goes to your guitar output jack, the other goes to your sustainer amp. That is what the preamp on the sustainer amp is for -- it buffers the signal so you don't lose signal strength on your guitar output even though you are 'stealing' some of the signal to run to your sustainer.

[dvlwrsprda74]

@MRJSTUDIOS tha'ts what i did.. my amp circuit though is a recycled mini-speaker board.. --and i can't get it to work.. can you please post a link to a schematic of an amp circuit that is guaranteed to work on this project??i'm guessing it uses an lm386

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@dvlwrsprda74 The 'standard' sustainer circuit that has been proven to work fairly well in most cases is the Fetzer/Ruby 1 watt LM386 amp. Just google "Fetzer Ruby" and you'll find tons of info on it. Just remember you don't want to crank the gain on it -- you need CLEAN gain/signal to run the sustainer. The fetzer/ruby is capable of enough clean amplification to run a well-made 8ohm sustainer driver.

[dvlwrsprda74]

@MRJSTUDIOS i got it to wok a while ago. .but when i was installing/putting the finishing touches, it started making a whistling noise..like a really thin whistling noise.. what could be the problem? i am really pissed because it was perfectly fine.

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@dvlwrsprda74 Sounds like your driver coil may have issues, and is probably going microphonic. Did you pot it with glue or wax really well?

[dvlwrsprda74]

@MRJSTUDIOS Don't get me wrong it's not feed back it's a sort of a really thin hum. Yes i'm pretty sure I pot it with glue really well.

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@dvlwrsprda74 That kind of noise usually indicates a problem with the driver itself. You might also have some sort of oscillation in the circuit itself though -- but that's less likely, especially if it was a pre-made board.

[dvlwrsprda74]

@MRJSTUDIOS I finaly made it work! I trashed my old pre-made board and just went ahead and made a new one, and i pot my driver more. Works great now. Thanks for your help!

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@haloreachiful Hopefully soon!  I've got all of the parts to finish it -- now I just need to have the time to do it!

[fattirevsbud]

what's that song?

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@fattirevsbud youtube.com/watch?v=wCCAqE2ZRo­8 It's my song called "Eight Pennies".

[hipnoninja]

you rock!!!! you tube needs more of you!

[whereisthiscity]

Hello Michael, please finish the Fernandes sutainer, I will be very grateful!!!!

[simthebest9281]

hi,just a question...

is it possible to do (or better... "to avoid to build") the amplification (1w) circuit with a common low wattage amplifier (for example small pc or pod or smething else speaker), or better a VOX amplug (my favourite is an ac 30)

That's the way i'd plug it in

>>>guitar out

>>>Y connector (one part of the signal, to the amp, another to the circuit)

>>>the circuit

>>>output as a single coil like you built or better a single headphone 8 ohm "core"?

how about this "project"?

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@simthebest9281 Yes, this can be done. But you need a very CLEAN a flat EQ 1 watt amp. Adding distortion in with a vox amplug or any type of mini-amp simulator will make it much less efficient, and it might even make the sustainer not work at all. You want an exact copy of the bridge pickup's output cleanly amplified going into the sustainer driver.

[sirral11]

how long untill ya next sustainer video, really love the first but i want to make the rest :), and could you also make a fuzz pedal ?? :)

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@sirral11 With school, I haven't had time to work on the final circuit. I wanna make sure it works really well so everybody has a shot at building a working sustainer.

[100roberthenry]

aha....an update...nice one man.. :)

[liamzuid]

Any way of making a magnetic field just something you can hold in front of the string?

I don't want to purchase an ebow there must be an easier way.

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@liamzuid An ebow is exactly what you're talking about. A few people have built DIY ebows... not sure how well they worked though.

[sirral11]

hey, when are ya gonna put the next vid up, much appreciated, could you make a schematic if it needs a circuit board??

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@sirral11 In my next few sustainer videos, I will be showing how to make EVERY part of a sustainer and put it in a guitar from start to finish. I'm not sure when I'll get those videos all finished, but hopefully it will be soon!

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@sirral11 In my next few sustainer videos, I will be showing how to make EVERY part of a sustainer and put it in a guitar from start to finish. I'm not sure when I'll get those videos all finished, but hopefully it will be soon!

[cjdavda]

Thank you for putting this up

[MRJSTUDIOS]

@cjdavda Your welcome. More videos coming soon...