increase sustain as much as possible

[squeakyd]

The "magnets in the pickups reduce string movement" thing is true, but really almost negligible. Active pickups, long scale, and a stiff neck and body will do it. Many feel that neck-through basses sustain better, and I kind of agree.

 

[MrLenny1]

Fresh strings and a compressor.

 

[micguy]

A Kramer metal neck bass will give you tons of sustain. You'll get to learn a lot about string damping playing one. Seriously, if my back would handle the weight and neck dive, I would have kept my Kramers forever.

 

[Stewie]

Buy an upright, stand right in front of your amp, turn it up just a wee too loud. Every note will sustain so much that you will have to back away from the amp before something breaks. I had a parts Precision with a Schecter imbuya body and a really thick neck. It had a Ken Smith bridge. You could hit an open string and it would ring for a long time. The bass weighed about 18 pounds. I sold it to a really large guy who could hold it up.

 

[Nev375]

My bass sustains like mad. I usually have to physically mute the strings to get them to stop.
I blame it on the Moses Graphite neck.

 

[Hounddog409]

guys i understand, that you can increase sustain with pedals or built in preamps, but i want to achieve maximal sustain passively
will custom pickups work ? if i wind extreme amount of thin wire on one string pickup, or mount pickups horizontally ?

by a neck through bass and make sure the bridge is up to par. easy.

 

[physics]

As others have mentioned, increasing sustain basically amounts to reducing the bleeding of vibrational energy within the strings.

In terms of basic instrument build: a multi-laminate neck thru or carbon fiber neck that reduces neck flexure; a long scale versus shorter scale lengths; the use of hard and dense woods.

In terms of things that you can change: roundwound strings that are more flexible; heavier gauge strings; a high mass bridge, or one that is mounted on a brass or tungsten tone plate; a hard bone or brass nut; single coil pickups; pickup pole pieces not any closer to the strings than necessary to get adequate output; lower neck relief and string action, reducing neck flexure.

 

[ofajen]

Some things that might help:

A particularly thick and heavy thru neck with little flex in the audio band.

Mechanical perfection in terms of how the nut is cut and the bridge is installed.

Frets, perfectly set up.

A single pickup towards the bridge and not too close to the strings.

There are probably other things. But making it out of concrete would be a great start.

Otto

 

[friendlybass]

Yeah, a compressor will do you. you will go through so much garbage to try to get a naturally sustaining bass that you might as well drop the 80-200 bucks on a compressor.

 

[gidbass]

Great advice here, but I have to ask how much/long do you need?

I have four basses and each sustain differently (depending on note and neck position). I have two set neck, two bolt on and in a live mix if one isn't sustaining to my liking, I just subtly hit the note again...

Your needs may differ but good luck!

 

[AndyPanda]

in addition to what's been said already .... for a given neck/body/nut/bridge, lighter gauge strings will sustain longer than heavier strings (counter intuitive, I know, but testing shows this). And a lightly plucked string with the amp turned up will seem to sustain longer than one plucked really hard with the amp turned down.

 

[Blankandson]

Got around $200 - $250? Get a good compression pedal. That's all. One with maybe only 5 knobs. Just follow the directions that will come with it, listen, then begin adjusting to taste. On mine, I have fast attack, slow release, and set threshold at 4:1. On my low B and E I can get easily 15 seconds even sustain. By even, I mean the compressor keeps your volume level. On my A and D strings I can get longer sustains, even continuous sustains. This works with any bass I play, but works better on rounds than flats. Just my two cents worth.

 

[anotherhomeysan]

I don't think anyone has said single cutaway yet. Like the Ibanez BTB Terra Firma.

 

[aprod]

I will reiterate, neck thru body and compressor. I have a Spector neck thru body and it sustains forever.

 

[NortyFiner]

 

[HolmeBass]

guys i understand, that you can increase sustain with pedals or built in preamps, but i want to achieve maximal sustain passively
will custom pickups work ? if i wind extreme amount of thin wire on one string pickup, or mount pickups horizontally ?

No that won't work. You need to either mechanically or electromagnetically excite the string itself, or excite the signal in the circuit through compression or fuzz.

A passive transducer can't add sustain. As someone else mentioned, since it absorbs energy, it actually reduces sustain through the drag its magnetic field imparts on the string.

 

[orange joe]

Why do you need that much sustain?just how many measures are you holding one note down for?

 

[farace]

My Ampeg/Dan Armstrong See Through has quite impressive sustain (even though I probably haven't changed the strings in fifteen years or more). The power of lucite!

 

[brutuscheezcake]

Jeez, I remember putting a thin brass plate behind the headstock on my old precision bass circa 1983. The plate was precut right to my headstock. Darn thing musta weighed 2 plus lbs. As a result my headstock pointed at my shoes whenever I let go. Yeah, it was nice. I eventually removed it.

What about the old sustain trick? Take your bass, jam the headstock into a wall and play a few notes. Works great with a steinberger.

 

[StevieM]

Or, you could perform open-heart surgery on your bass and install a 2Tek bass bridge........ Talk about a hunk o' metal. And, they actually work great. But, I wouldn't go installing one on any of my vintage Fenders anytime soon. And, if I do, you all are more than welcome to murder me.

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