Sustain, is more always better??

[robey]

Originally Posted by Kinda Old

Is maximum sustain always desirable? I like a sense of separation between chords and individual notes. Sometimes too much sustain makes an acoustic guitar sound a bit mushy (to my ears anyway)

I prefer a guitar that has a dryer tone, so no. For me, just the opposite.

[mr. beaumont]

Heck no!

Sometimes sustain is exactly what I DON'T want.

[RussL30]

I actually prefer quick decay for most of the country, blues and rythm playing I do. I guess that’s why I really enjoy Gibsons.

[muscmp]

as usual, it depends. if you want it, yes, if not, then no. you can hit one note and let it sustains for umpteen seconds. sounds cool, huh? but is that your goal, or is it to write or play a song? your choice.

play music!

[Mbroady]

Loads of sustain with loads of overtones to my ears can be a bit much.
A drier sound with sustain to me would work better.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

I've never played a guitar with too much sustain!

While I would generally agree with this, I like to have choices. Probably the main reason I keep a few guitars with different woods.

Don't use picks; I mostly fingerpick. And there's nothing like striking a note and have it double as a drone while I'm playing something else over, under, or around it. Besides, sustain can be controlled if necessary.

Gibsons were previously mentioned in this thread. My rosewood Gibson has as much sustain as I want it to.

Don

[musicman1951]

I suppose it depends on what kind of music you're playing, but to me the more the better. When I audition guitars the low sustain instruments stay in my hands for about 20 seconds.

But you don't have to agree with me. I can't force you to be right.

[min7b5]

The more the sustain the better for what I do

[BT55]

You can control the length of sustain but if a guitar has short sustain you can’t lengthen it. More tools in the toolbox are better than less tools.

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by Kinda Old

Is maximum sustain always desirable? I like a sense of separation between chords and individual notes. Sometimes too much sustain makes an acoustic guitar sound a bit mushy (to my ears anyway)

There's your ears and then there are others, or so I've been told. Strike any note and let it ring. Not a bad thing. The longer it rings, the better, if the piece being played needs sustain. If the guitar has it to give then all is good.

Sustain is player-controlled. If it's needed it can be allowed to ring out, if not, it can be muted. If the piece needs sustain but the guitar doesn't have it to give, then all is not good. Not only does the piece being played suffer, the player does not have the opportunity to learn the nuances of muting when needed. His skills are determined by the guitar as the tail might wag the dog.

Any guitar with exceptional depth of tone, resonance and projection is by far a more noteworthy tool than one that does not embody those attributes.

Or, the player feels he doesn't need to learn how to control those attributes and gives the guitar that has them poor marks.

[3notes]

For my style of playing I love sustain. The more the better. I love overtones, too. I love the Larrivee for these qualities.

[DukeX]

Sometimes I like more sustain in a guitar. Sometimes I don't. I personally do not have the skill to perfectly duplicate the natural note decay of a guitar with less sustain while playing a guitar with lots of sustain. I can dampen the notes or cut them off with palm muting, but that is not the same as the sound of natural note decay.

[TBman]

The more advanced (more than me anyway) finger style players use fret hand dampening (muting) as well as the easier technique of palm muting to control runaway sustain.

[Glennwillow]

I like guitars that have very good sustain. To me, it's like having a power amp turned up to its max. You don't have to feed the amp the max volume, you control that by what you feed into the amp's input. When you want (or need) volume, it's there for you.

Same for a guitar with good sustain. The player controls the sustain that shows up in a song or a piece; the guitar is waiting for you to let it go, but the player is in charge.

- Glenn

[3notes]

Originally Posted by BT55

You can control the length of sustain but if a guitar has short sustain you can’t lengthen it. More tools in the toolbox are better than less tools.

Good point.

A lot of my stuff is pretty slow going, and that's one reason why I like sustain. I can control it and that's not a bad thing in my mind.