sustainer/pickup questions

[uethanian]

so i'd like to start some experiments with sustainers (floyd rose sustainer, ebow) but i want to know wats ok or not. mostly so i dont destroy my amplifier.

they say that it you run a signal thru a pickup, it will set into motion any ferrous metal, in this case strings. does that mean you could take any regular guitar pickup and get some result out of it? would it even be safe to run a signal from a head thru a pickup? if so, would u go about doing that by just connecting the leads of the pickup to an output jack?

my other question is a little strange, but here it is: is it possible to have a pickup that picks up the string from the sides? i was either thinking a bar with high poles or a horseshoe with the strings between the two legs. im not really familiar with magnetic poles and how they apply to pickups. thanks for any help.

[uethanian]

BUMP

cmon i know someone here has a good knowledge of electromagnetics.

[Shiro]

I don't think it would be safe at all to run the output of a head into a pickup. The head would not have enough load and could possibly blow, as well as wrecking the pickup.

From what I know the sustainer pickup works by receiving the vibrations of the strings (whether from the other pickups or the sustainer itself i'm unsure) and sending that signal to a small onboard preamp, that preamp then sends the signal to the sustainer causing the strings to vibrate.

It's basically a feedback loop of sorts, the string vibrates and that signal is sent back to vibrate the strings, which is how it works really.

From what I remember not just any pickup can be used, it has to be around a certain range\size\output to be most effective, not to mention you'd need the preamp and to hook it up to work properly.
I'm sorry but I can't really remember the specifics of the pickup.
I do remember reading up on people winding their own sustainer pickup as well as making their own preamp and making it work, so it's not impossible and with electronic\pickup winding knowledge it shouldn't be too difficult.

I really don't remember where I got the information though, sorry, but it was while searching for sustainer pickups for guitar, not bass. You could google "diy sustainer pickup for guitar".

Edit :
Well whaddyou know I found some stuff, these threads\pages should help.

http://www.storm-software.co.yu/diy/...ject=sustainer

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/in...showtopic=7512 224 pages though! Watch out!

[ehque]

Originally Posted by uethanian

would u go about doing that by just connecting the leads of the pickup to an output jack?

Most people who do this wind their pickups with a lot heavier wire (im seeing 0.2mm) and wind to 4-8 ohms instead of the kiloohm range of normal pickups. I wouldn't plug this this way.

[uethanian]

thanks for the info guys

what im really looking for is a way to take the signal from the head and put it thru a driver to set strings into motion. this is not feedback loop.

i was thinking that this could work by taking the voice coil off a speaker and directing at strings. so the strings would take the place of the voice coil and respond to the magnetic fluctuations of the driver. maybe this would be the better way to go, since i know that nothing would blow out (hopefully). anyone have experience with drivers in this application?

[jointus]

You may find this link useful:
http://www.sustainiac.com/aboutsus.htm

[Barkless Dog]

A long time ago I called Fernandes about if they made sustainer pickups for basses or if the guitar ones would work. They said they tried a bass version, but had bad results as the low strings

[newfuture]

Originally Posted by uethanian

thanks for the info guys
what im really looking for is a way to take the signal from the head and put it thru a driver to set strings into motion. this is not feedback loop.

It is actually a feedback loop: output from the instrument goes into the amplifier, the amplifier returns a signal to the instrument, exciting a transducer which further induces movement into the strings.