fernandes or sustainiac ?

[MYLILSS]

no big fancy story, or anything like that, just curious who likes what in terms of sustainers ? I know EVH always used the fernandes stuff in his wolfgang's back in the late 90's, but have recently seen lots of guitars coming with a sustainiac set up. they both seem to function about the same, so which would yall recommend ? the guitar having the mods done has a big enough control cavity to be able to fit either one into it without modification

 

[cardinal]

I recently used a Schecter with some type of sustainer and was unimpressed. You could really hear an abrupt transition when the sustainer "grabbed" onto the note. I remember using a Jackson PC-1 years and years ago and didn't notice that, but maybe my memory isn't what it should be.

Not sure if the Fernandez system has the same behavior.

 

[MYLILSS]

I recently used a Schecter with some type of sustainer and was unimpressed. You could really hear an abrupt transition when the sustainer "grabbed" onto the note. I remember using a Jackson PC-1 years and years ago and didn't notice that, but maybe my memory isn't what it should be.

Not sure if the Fernandez system has the same behavior.

I wouldn't be sure either. The Jackson PC-1 uses a sustainiac as well as the schecter guitars if I'm not mistake. I've heard that they are very temperamental to set up, so that might be why the one was very smooth while the other one wasn't. I'll have to try and do some more research

 

[Valtyr]

It may have just needed an adjustment. I think there are sensitivity controls on the Fernandes unit to avoid it being too abrupt. There should be something similar with the sustainiac.

I used to have a Fernandes with the sustainer built in, but I have never tried to install one. When not in use it is a mediocre pickup. The sustain and feedback features work brilliantly though.

 

[cardinal]

Ah, I didn't know it was adjustable! That explains a lot.

 

[Purpleibby]

Sustainiac for me...I did the install on mine and made it where the 5 way switch does all of the switching between modes on/off. I know with the fernandez unit the switches are mounted on the circuit board...so it can really limit how the board is installed. The board is a lot bigger on the fernandez too. The sustainiac has a smaller board and you can choose any switches you like...much more flexibility when installing.

I installed the sustainiac in a USA charvel with a very small control cavity and limited controls and got all of the functionality with no real changes to the guitar at all. Totally reversable...Sustainiac is very high quality. I would go for the sustainiac. Wasn't tempermental for me at all...you have an internal gain pot, and you can do an external one too...you can adjust the tone/output level of the pickup when in "pickup" mode. NP!

Controls like this:
Positions 5 and 4(bridge and neck) are pickup sounds with sustainiac off
Position 3 is bridge w/normal sustain mode(sustainiac on)
Position 4 is bridge w/mixed sustain mode(sustainiac on)
Position 1 is bridge w/harmonic sustain mode (sustainiac on)

I set up the sustainer gain on the internal pot until it was just right....nothing to fiddle with....Quick switching, no bs.

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