does anyone know of any people making infinite sustain bass 'pickups'?

Cheers.
Cav.

http://www.sustainiac.com/stealth.htm#bass

or an ebow...

i have an ebow, its good..but not great...i want a hands free version!....and im talking 6 string bass.....the stealth guys you pointed me no longer make 5+ string models!

any other advice!

Cheers!

i have an ebow, its good..but not great...i want a hands free version!....and im talking 6 string bass.....the stealth guys you pointed me no longer make 5+ string models!

any other advice!

Cheers!

FWIW:

I don't dink with effects but I would look into that. There's bound to be a box that will sustain till you kill the string without altering the tone or other aspects. There's guy in that forum that know that stuff inside and out and could provide direction or, at the least, tell you it ain't out there anywhere. A box you could use with any bass and stick in, pull out, or by-pass in the chain to meet your need.

I only use TI flats but I'd also guess there are probably some strings that will ring forever.

There's also a possibility of some bridge/nut rig combo that produce extended sustain at the least. Hambone in the luthiers forum would probably be a good contact for something like that. I know he's messed with threaded neck inserts and said those enhance sustain noticeably.

Dharmabass may be aware of some onboard circuitry that would pull it off. There are a few other people that don't come to mind at the moment that may have some input in that respect as well. Maybe Passnwind and one other guy.

If you turn up loud enough, you can make a bass sustain infinitely by using feedback. I used to do it all the time. It was pretty easy to do with my SVT and 8 x 10".

Maybe if you blow really hard on your string you can keep it going for a while.

maybe you could figure out how the ebow works, and build one in your bass...when i explained the ebow to my dad, he said it sounded like the ebow acted as a reverse pickup, but i don't know as much about electronics as he does, so i don't know if he's right or not, but it made sense when he explained it to me!

There has to be more than one company that makes those. Or at least someone who could make it for the right price. Who makes the fernandez Sustainers? Maybe they contract that out and that company may make one for a 5+ string bass.

Just a thought anyway. Good luck! My bass already has 7 knobs, three pickups, a switch, two output jacks and three batteries... but I would love to have a bass that has a sustaining pickup in it.

fernandes makes the fernandes sustainer...i am pretty sure they used to make one for bass, or at least could custom make one for you...

fernandes makes the fernandes sustainer...i am pretty sure they used to make one for bass, or at least could custom make one for you...

FWIW:

that's a good point. My guess is it wouldn't have to be made for bass. It probably does whatever it does to whatever signal is put through it. At any rate, the manufacturer could answer that question.

I wouldn't be suprised if noone else makes it for bass cuase you've got one confirmation already there's no money in it. That's just an accepted fact for the bass world in general, the market for bass relative to guitars just isn't there.

FWIW:

that's a good point. My guess is it wouldn't have to be made for bass. It probably does whatever it does to whatever signal is put through it. At any rate, the manufacturer could answer that question.

true...any electric instrument with metal strings and a pickup

thanks for all the info..will no go and check other sources.....

for your info im looking for something (manufactured presumably) that i can fit into my coming custom bass....like the infinite sustain pickups...hopefully i can find a company that does make them or will make me a special one!

Cheers.

If you turn up loud enough, you can make a bass sustain infinitely by using feedback. I used to do it all the time. It was pretty easy to do with my SVT and 8 x 10".
This advice is amazing.

You can get pseudo sustain with some sort of high gain into a compressor, its not so much infinite sustain as it is really long sustain, at what I consider to be a fair cost to tone.

Regarding the ebow/infinite sustain pups: They are essentially like a pickup coupled with a reversed pickup. It senses the string, amplifies it and sends it to a wire coil, which acts exactly in the reverse of a pickup. The pickup works by changing a magnetic field, inducing a current in a coil, the ebow/sustainer works by creating a magnetic field from the amplified signal from its pickup component.

Hopefully that makes sense.

I wouldn't completely take my word for it but if you know someone who winds pups, they can probly make you what you need. All it should be is a wire coil, a pup without the magnets. You then take the signal from one of your pups, sufficiently amplify it and send that signal to the coil. The questions that remain are the dimensions of the coil and how much amplification.

I've also heard that if you modify an ebow to be powered by 18V, it works alright for a bass, because its tougher to vibrate a bass string than electric ones. YMMV.

Josh D

I did the same thing with an acoustic bass and a 4 x 10. Pretty freaky the first time it happened. I'd be interested in a sustaining pickup though.

I've also heard that if you modify an ebow to be powered by 18V, it works alright for a bass, because its tougher to vibrate a bass string than electric ones. YMMV.
With the regular 9v battery they tend to clip too much to sound good on the bass.

i know you didnt ask for a stompbox solution, but in case you're intersted there are effect pedals that have "sound hold" ability. it'll hld whatever you're playing as long as you continue to press down on the pedal.... and you can even play stuff on your bass while you're holding the note. some delay pedals do this as well as the boss me-50b

fernandes makes the fernandes sustainer...i am pretty sure they used to make one for bass, or at least could custom make one for you...

FYI, Fernandes does/did make some custom Sustainaic Basses for Type O Negative's Peter Steele. They even make a run for the Japanese market, but rarely turn up on eBay (I have the terms listed on my automated search so that I'll be informed if any get listed.)