Sustainer/sustainiac pickup mod

alex1fly

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Joined
May 12, 2020
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Has anyone added a sustainer or sustainiac type of system to one of their PRS? I'm eyeballing them as a mod and looking at options. I've watched some installation videos so I'm familiar with what it entails, more just curious if anyone has put one in a PRS specifically and would share their experience with it - how was the tone of the pickup, was it musically satisfying, things like that.


Thanks! Alex
 
I put one into a Music Man Albert Lee. Musically, it was just meh. Not a dynamic sounding pickup. It was kind of just there.

It was a cool gimmick to use occasionally. It was fun to just ride the tremolo while the sustain just goes on forever. But it got old quick.
 
I had a Jackson PC1 as my main guitar for 10 years. The sustainer was fun at first, but I ended up pulling the whole system out and putting a regular single coil in there. The guitar sounded better without the added circuit. Jackson used the Floyd Rose sustainer system. All the pickups were attached to the circuit board.
 
Thanks for sharing. Maybe it's not worth the trouble to retrofit. I'm just intrigued with the idea of being able to build chordal soundscapes similar to an organ or synth pad, and the sustainer in theory could help do that. I've played with delays, compressors and long tail reverbs to achieve a similar goal.
 
Try a plus pedal and a looper. I used various iterations of the sustainiac for years. It worked fairly well, but there was one consistent problem. The units kept breaking down no matter what the brand, including the original. I had a metal Strat with a Floyd that had the unit replaced 3 times, along with a Fernandes with the same problem. Then I saw the light, and started with PRS. My teeth are now whiter, my car gets 5 miles more to the gallon, and I haven’t had anything thrown at me at a gig in years. And I do have a plus Pedal, but loopers bore me.
 
I had one I installed in a schecter years ago. It works great for Slow moody soundscapes and things but wasn’t anything I couldn’t do with an ebow or digitech freqout pedal.

I never got it to work as a pickup even after following the instructions very close and trying to fix it several times. I eventually tore it out and went with something else.
 
Thanks for the ideas. It does seem like a pedal may be the way to go to get this effect. Then you could use it with any guitar!

So there's some options for a "latch" style effect.

The plus pedal: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...wI2y_Hh2ARmuPCSF-f8aArX4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
The SuperEgo: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...monix-superego-plus-synth-engine-with-effects
The Walrus Slo: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SLO--walrus-audio-sloe-multi-texture-reverb-pedal

Wish it wasn't so expensive to try effects!
 
I had Neal Schon's guy, Gary put one in my Core Tremonti. Was expensive. However, I use it all the time.
 
‘danny’, sting’s tech, did one for me back before sting started saying no. it of course broke and i ended up getting johnny from radiohead to switch out the daughterboard with one he had from a fernandes thurston (maybe lee?) smashed at woodstock 94 or whenever it was that green day was there.
 
EBow works great for a violin-style lead, but not well at all for mimicing the chordal flavors of the keyboardist or organist :)
 
Would you mind sharing the cost of parts and labor for the mod?

It was around $1,000 usd a few years ago. I decided to keep the PRS trem instead of going with the Floyd. Changed bridge pickup to an SH custom custom and the neck pickup as well (forgot which one now). Also has a split.
Send me a pm and I can give you a link to it last time I played. It's my #1 along with a stock 245.
 
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