String Sustain Time

[sixstringoverdrive]

Hey Everyone,

I have seen a few videos where Paul Reed Smith discusses at clinics testing how long strings ring for on guitars. Specifically, he mentions old Strats and LP's as well as his own guitars.He said the old vintage ones and his private stock tend to ring out for 45-50 seconds. Does anyone know how this is actually tested?

I have a 2020 Silver Sky and sitting down, hitting the low E string and letting it ring - it makes it like 15 seconds at the most. I'm wondering where 45 seconds comes from - loud amp? overdrive? Just the guitar acoustically? Are they just that much better?? How long does your guitar ring for if played acoustically?

It's got me thinking how long a string should ring for acoustically.

 

[11top]

Interesting question. Woods (especially neck) have something to do with length of sustain, too. I swear BRW necks ring longer.

 

[Wakester]

My mother used to say 'If you turn that amp up again, I'll ring your neck'

Sustain can be influenced by the note/string being played. Wood of the neck, wood of the body, nut material, bridge type and position. Etc. On my acoustic (A55e) when properly tuned, the B string will ring forever it seems. E1 won't ring as long, but it is a good amount of time. E6 has the shortest duration, and i suspect that has to do with string gauge.

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

An overall lighter string gauge goes a long way. Action that is not the comfortable low action many of us like. Also the pickup height can be a variable. And then there is all the other stuff.

 

[Fram]

I agree with all the above, but specifically pickup height can have a big effect.

If a string is plucked with a louder amp volume, it would make sense that we hear it for longer. The drop off from the note decay would be a physically louder noise than a note plucked on half the volume ?

does that make sense, I think it does

 

[veinbuster]

I often let my last chord/note ring before putting the guitar away.
Most of them ring a really long time, though I haven't ever watched the clock, I would say 30 seconds is pretty typical. I wouldn't argue against 45. Maybe I'll give it a try next time I'm in the music room

 

[veinbuster]

I did a simple test with 3 guitars. I just ran a stopwatch on my iPad and watched it count when I played a chord.
Electrics: mahogany/rosewood neck and an all Brazilian neck. For both, my ears were only good enough to hear the sustain for about 30 seconds, but at 35 seconds I could tell that I muted the strings. So...I couldn’t hear the notes after 30 seconds, but I could detect them being silenced at 35 seconds.

I was curious what an acoustic would do, so did the same with my pernambuco Tonare. This was very sensitive to how I held the guitar. You almost have to be hands off to avoid damping the wood vibration - I might get a different result not wearing a sweatshirt. Unplugged sustain was shorter than the electrics, which surprised me - might have been longer if my ears were in front of the sound hole. However, with very little amplification (clean channel to slightly above unplugged volume), the Tonare would carry the note as long as I let it.

Still fingers are essential to long sustain. On all guitars, the note died very quickly with a tiny finger twitch.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I think the string continues to resonate even after it’s too quiet for us mature dudes to hear.

 

[sixstringoverdrive]

I did a simple test with 3 guitars. I just ran a stopwatch on my iPad and watched it count when I played a chord.
Electrics: mahogany/rosewood neck and an all Brazilian neck. For both, my ears were only good enough to hear the sustain for about 30 seconds, but at 35 seconds I could tell that I muted the strings. So...I couldn’t hear the notes after 30 seconds, but I could detect them being silenced at 35 seconds.

I was curious what an acoustic would do, so did the same with my pernambuco Tonare. This was very sensitive to how I held the guitar. You almost have to be hands off to avoid damping the wood vibration - I might get a different result not wearing a sweatshirt. Unplugged sustain was shorter than the electrics, which surprised me - might have been longer if my ears were in front of the sound hole. However, with very little amplification (clean channel to slightly above unplugged volume), the Tonare would carry the note as long as I let it.

Still fingers are essential to long sustain. On all guitars, the note died very quickly with a tiny finger twitch.

Did you amplify the electrics for the test?

 

[veinbuster]

Did you amplify the electrics for the test?

I did. Clean channel, modest volume - about unamplified acoustic level. I didn’t think to play into my Kemper with headphones.

 

[HANGAR18]

I was thinking 30 seconds was the standard for regular core models.

 

[aphantomvaper]

They may be recording the note(s) and then analysing the sustain decay using "technology"

 

[Greywolf]

I used a tuner to time mine , (Snark +) as it's picking up the string vibration acoustically . My 335 is consistently 35 seconds.
Haven't timed the solid bodies yet .