While My Guitar Gently Sustains

[twistor59]

I did this to my old strat (well, had someone competent do it for me!)

It is amazing! Just working on Hackett’s Firth of Fifth solo now. Will post in AVOYP when it’s done.

[brianlarsen]

Wow, that looks like a serious piece of kit, Phil
If it’s ‘infinite sustain’, how do you control it when you want it to stop? Selector switch? Volume pedal?

[Malz]

Love that album, look forward to hearing the solo Phil.

[twistor59]

Hi Brian, It only rings out while you’re fretting the note - as soon as you move off, it stops. It’s not like a sampler that bangs out the note constantly. Back in the day, there was a device called the Gizmotron which had a set of rotating wheels at the bridge that actually sort of bowed the notes. 10cc were famous for being early adopters of it. This is a more sophisticated version of that which excites the string with an electromagnet, rather than a wheel which wears out! Imagine trying to get a spare wheel for your Gizmotron these days.

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

Cool piece of kit Phil. Look forward to hearing it in action.

[jBreck]

Wow. I just went down a bit of a rabbit hole. Lots of great videos out there demonstrating this thing. Here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT3BUM-19fk

Can’t wait to see what you do with it.

[twistor59]

@jBreck

Here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT3BUM-19fk

Well, I’m hoping that by using it, I’ll grow hair like Ola’s!

[jBreck]

[sclay]

I thought, "what in the humbuckers is a ‘Sustaniac’? Off to edumicate me’self.

[DarrellW]

There used to be (maybe still is) a device called an ebow, which was basically the same but hand held - I used to have one, they’re great fun!
Yeah Steve Hackett, the GOAT of infinite sustain
Edit: you can still get them - a demo!

FIVE cool things you can do with an eBow! | Demo & Tips

[Libitina]

cant wait to hear.

R

[Kasper]

Why do you do this to me?
Been GAS’ing for a sustainiac guitar for a couple of months, but was almost cured…

Congrats! Can’t wait to hear it!

[twistor59]

@DarrellW I still have an e-bow. I had a go at Pink Floyd’s Celestial Voices with it last year.

Twistor59's Spring 2023 Thread - Pink Floyd: Saucerful of Secrets

I had a go at the “Celestial Voices” part of the Saucerful of Secrets track (the rest is an atonal jam, so I didn’t try that bit!). On the first 2 choruses I used my Ebow to try to get that sustained slide sound that David Gilmour gets. The next 2 I just tried to diddle over the chord changes. Chorus 5 was just the chords, and the final one was a transciption of Gilmour’s “Ah s” (need careful context setting to say that one out loud ). Bass pedals were a bit too low in the mix, but I’m…

The first couple of choruses use the e-bow. When Gilmour plays it he gets the sustain by bowing the notes with a steel bar (like they use in pedal steel guitars) - looked really cool in the Pompeii video.

@Kasper It wasn’t cheap - I could have got a decent guitar for the cost of the unit + installation! I’m happy I did it though - it’s on the guitar I bought when I started on this path in 2019.

[Notter]

Sure you’ll be doing some seriously good stuff with this Phil, can’t wait!!