All Activity

It is a Tele I bolted together using new parts from various places. I then saw a Fernandes Sustainer guitar being sold cheap. I bought it, paid someone to gut the pickup and controls and then plumb then into this. Sadly it looks as if he did it out of phase but being that I am not a guitarist and had no reference points I have only just clocked it.

Dense..? Not at all, or maybe I am, too..! It's a new-fangled 'thing', explained here on the Sustainiac site ... Light is shed on those little black switches, too, which are part of this 'Sustain' effect thingie. It seems to want to give the effect of everlasting feedback, as if howling from a cranked Marshall stack, one metre away, but without the volume. New to me; every daze a school day, eh..?

Might seem a bit dense, but what does a sustainer actually do for the player in the real world? I have read up on them before so I understand the general premise, but how do you fit that into a song?

Eek... I wouldn't go messing around in there and I am generally happy with soldering pickups... Too many circuit boards in there. Yes, take it into a professional. Probably won't cost much as they can isolate the wires and re-solder them.

Very nice. I also like the idea of a classical guitar after a few years of playing and loving the ukulele, but have been put off by the wide nut. This looks like a nice compromise. Enjoy!

That's not a normal Telecaster, though, is it..? It has an active circuit, and those little black switches have some effect, Shirley..? What make is it, and did you buy it new, with its current features, or has it been 'upgraded' by someone..? What do those switches do..? Learn to solder if you want, but not on that guitar before becoming proficient and capable, t'would be a massacre and a waste. It may well already have coil switching and/or phase switching. Pray tell...

Lots of fun, but probably complicating matters.

I cannot get the front plate off. So I opened the back. I perhaps should have mentioned that I have an Fernandes Sustainer pickup in there. I think I will take it to a grown up.

YouTube is your friend. Basically, you locate the wires coming from one of the pickups (hopefully just 2 wires, it gets complicated if there are more) and swap them around. If in doubt, take it to a tech.

You make it sound so easy. Will the internet give me pictures? I would go and look, but would not know what I was looking for. I can borrow a decent soldering iron from work. How hard can it be? Super famous last words.

I’ve had an itch to go full circle and acquire a classical guitar. There’s something about the sound of nylon strings that always seems so pleasant to my ears. Then I had a couple of videos come up on my YouTube feed that featured jazz being played on a nylon strung guitars, which pretty much sealed the deal. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but a cutaway seemed like a good idea and as I had a bass to trade in, that pretty much set the budget. A little browsing on local (for a value of local, still an hour+ driving, each way) guitar shop websites and I settled on trying the Alvarez AC65HCE. This a hybrid model where the neck meets to body at the 14th fret, instead of the 12th and the nut width isn’t quite so wide. Went to Guitar Guitar in Edinburgh , tried it, sounded and felt good to me, so rather than do due diligence by trying some others, I bought it. With the trade in it cost me a whole £40, so I’m well pleased. What’s that, where are the pics you say? Very well… Big shout out to the staff at GG, Edinburgh, who couldn’t have been more helpful if they tried. Even after I had parted with my £s, they were quite happy to shoot the breeze about guitars and players. I’d definitely go back, despite the journey.

Just swap the hot and earth leads over on one of the pickups, all sorted.

Just to say that there is no 'correct'. Regarding phase, many guitars offer a switchable phase in/out, so that the player may choose the sound that best fits the music. It's all good.

I checked my Tele by playing one which I knew to be correctly wired. Night and day difference.

Interestingly, I went back to my Telecaster this morning which is where this started for me. My Tele has a sustainer humbucker in the neck and a standard Catswhisker T birdge pickup. I had played my Tele and then the Ricker-thang a few days ago which is what started this quest. It turns out that my Tele is all sorts of out of phase. So the neck pickup on my Ricker-thang is not actually full of magic, it is just actually wired correctly Because I am not a guitarist I am not attuned to what "should" be happening. Every day is a school day. As usual, thanks for humouring me.

With a thread title like that, I think you are looking for www.murderdetectivechat.co.uk

Neither better nor worst; they're complementary. I'd suggest using both; no kittens die as a result (but one's ears may start to tingle a little...). Hope this helps.

Thank youuuuu!!! During my exploration of the ToneScholar app, I stumbled upon an article delving into functional ear training. Do you believe this method is as effective as the one you suggested? You can view the article by following this link: https://tonescholar.com/blog/functional-ear-training-explained.

Something the OP may find interesting, especially the roundup of pros and cons at the end.

Fantastic. Good job.

That's a good point really. At those costs, you can upgrade all the hardware and electronics if you want to, and get some good experience at the same time. I have looked at the HB but don't have one myself. Do you get people turn their noses up when you bring one out or are people a bit more accepting during our times of austerity?

I've recently bought a HB PB50 bass. I rolled the fingerboard edges and gigged it last week. £105. unbelievable

It's not dissimilar to a Vester guitar I had years back, you could look them up and see what you can find. Good luck !

Sounds very familiar! Welcome to the forum. Plenty to discuss here. Sounds like you have a nice collection there too.

In which case, buy one and insert it into the guitar of you choice. It might sound a bit different, but it’ll be very much in the same ballpark. Finding a different bridge pickup (should you want one) that couples nicely with it is another journey, but a fun one.