Which bridge gets the most sustain?

[randysmojo]

I was looking at different guitars and was wondering out of all the different bridge designs, which one seems to get the most sustain? String through hardtail, stop tail, something else?

[Mark Davis]

Its not the bridge itself but the way the guitar is made.

A setneck like a Les Paul will usually have more sustain than a bolt-on neck like a Strat or Tele.

[rocksteady Max]

yeah, a set neck and a tune-o-matic ...

[rocksteady Max]

[Nick JD]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn't the set-neck of the LP that gives it more sustain than a bolt on neck, but rather the fact that an LP has the same density wood used in both the neck and the bulk of the body.

Fenders have very hard neck wood and softer body wood.

Transfer of sound waves through varying density materials often results in a loss of energy.

Same reason density variation in Telecaster body wood or slack truss rods might account for "dud" guitars.

But who knows?

[XKnight]

Try a wrap around bridge in a LP. Sustains for days.

[po-boy]

i'm no expert, but i am impressed by the sustain in G&L models with the saddle lock bridge - played my nephew's gibby lp a few years ago and it can't hold a candle sustain-wise to my G&L - it took leo a while, but he finally got the fixed bridge right when he was at G&L - ymmv -



- i'm not a complete idiot ... some parts are missing -

[tazzboy]

There are a lot factors that you to take into account to get sustain.

[randysmojo]

Going back to my original question and trying to add to it to get where I was trying to go, if the type of guitar was the same, which bridge would offer more sustain. Hypothetically speaker here, if I had several guitars, lets say all of them are Les Paul Customs, but one has a string through hard tail bridge via Fender, one has a Wilkinson tremolo, one has a Floyd Rose, one has a stop tail style bridge, and any other bridge designs you can come up with tho retro fit or custom install on a guitar. In this hypothetical world, they are all perfectly the same except said bridges. Which one should have the most sustain?

[marshman]

The one Carlos Santana is running through a Dumble.

[randysmojo]

I did see a video of Carlos Santana playing that explained his "sustain" a little better to me. He normally plays with his volume about half way up on the guitar. Then, when he hits a note he wants to sustain, he slowly rolls the volume up to keep the note the same volume instead of it decaying. Of course that video he was playing a Mesa Boogie. Has he been using a Dumble for while? The video I saw was from around 1993.

[WickedGTR]

The one that's on a guitar plugged into a decent compressor.

[bradpdx]

As said here, bridges by themselves do not control sustain; they are part of a system. However, they can have an effect - I have tried replacing the old traditional 3-saddle bridge on my 52RI with a heavy cast bridge (Allparts) and the guitar behaved VERY differently - most definitely more sustain.

Also a much less interesting tone, flattened out. The bridge came off within a couple of days and the original was put back. Much more interesting as a musical instrument, IMHO. Sustain comes at a price.

[Charlie Bernstein]

George Washington.

[mellecaster]

Originally Posted by WickedGTR

The one that's on a guitar plugged into a decent compressor.

Amen James !!

[jonzer]

[robt57]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

George Washington.

See, I resisted... Glad to see someone else was also on the same wave length. ;)

[TheBear]

I would think that adding more mass to the guitar and especially the bridge would help sustain. The Callaham bridges are supposed to be very heavy. You will sacrifice some twang though.

[randysmojo]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

Going back to my original question and trying to add to it to get where I was trying to go, if the type of guitar was the same, which bridge would offer more sustain. Hypothetically speaker here, if I had several guitars, lets say all of them are Les Paul Customs, but one has a string through hard tail bridge via Fender, one has a Wilkinson tremolo, one has a Floyd Rose, one has a stop tail style bridge, and any other bridge designs you can come up with tho retro fit or custom install on a guitar. In this hypothetical world, they are all perfectly the same except said bridges. Which one should have the most sustain?

If I was worried about twang in a tele or something, I would have put the question under tele-tech instead. I am going to try this again. If I were to order a custom built guitar from someone like Carvin, a two humbucker, neck thru, passive electronics, locking tuners, etc. guitar, which type of bridge should I order if I wanted the most sustain. I'm just trying to get an answer to one question and instead everyone turns it into three or four different questions. It's a hypothetical question. If no other guitar in the world existed but one neck through with two humbuckers, and there was nothing else you could change about the guitar but the type of bridge that is on it and you wanted the most sustain possible, which one would you use?

[WickedGTR]

If no other guitar in the world existed but one neck through with two humbuckers, and there was nothing else you could change about the guitar but the type of bridge that is on it and you wanted the most sustain possible, which one would you use?

A one piece non adjustable piece of steel imbedded into the wood might theoretically have the 'most sustain'.

A plucked vibrating string has a limited amount of energy. The laws of physics determine that each succeeding vibration of the sting after plucking gets weaker (unless its being acted upon by an outside fource, such as feedback, etc). A bridge of any type is not going to give it more energy, but something light and flimsy may cause it to lose some energy.

An old Gibson type 'wrap around' non adjustable compensated bridge mounted on heavy studs may have the 'most sustain'. Not sure.



Or a hardtail strat type bridge mounted into the wood with a string thru body arrangement. Better yet, inlay a big block of heavy hardened steel in the body and mount the bridge to that.

In any case- the amount of things you can do to a guitar itself to affect 'sustain' are basically negligible. If you are chasing a the archetypal 'rock sustain' sound, that is 99.999% a function of the output device chain: especially distortion, compression, and amplifier. With the 'right' output chain, you can make the flimsiest Danelecrto masonite guitar with thin strings and low output pickups 'sustain for days'.

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

I'm just trying to get an answer to one question and instead everyone turns it into three or four different questions. It's a hypothetical question.

Expecting a concrete answer to a hypothetical question is the road to madness my friend. The beauty of a hypothetical question is its ability to generate further questions, lateral thought and further understanding of a complex subject through discussion.

A T.O.M would suit this hypothetical Carvin well in MHO.

[JKjr]

Originally Posted by jonzer

You guys are nuts. The Brooklyn bridge has the most sustain...it's the masonry that does it. Both the towers AND the roadway are wrap-around. And I believe they've added a Carvin only lane as well.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by JKjr

You guys are nuts. The Brooklyn bridge has the most sustain...it's the masonry that does it. Both the towers AND the roadway are wrap-around. And I believe they've added a Carvin only lane as well.

Yes, but the caisson style construction is a real tone sucker. ;)

[randysmojo]

OK. I think I've got a good enough idea at what I was looking for, but now you've got me wondering. What is the actual radius of the Brooklyn Bridge, and did they use a compound radius?

[D.K. Buchanon]

I'm still trying to find the bridge , where's that confounded bridge ? - Robert Plant

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by WickedGTR

A one piece non adjustable piece of steel imbedded into the wood might theoretically have the 'most sustain'.

A plucked vibrating string has a limited amount of energy. The laws of physics determine that each succeeding vibration of the sting after plucking gets weaker (unless its being acted upon by an outside fource, such as feedback, etc). A bridge of any type is not going to give it more energy, but something light and flimsy may cause it to lose some energy. ...

Pretty close on the physics. Consider that if you stretched that string between two anvils in a total vacuum, it would, in fact, sustain for days. The string vibrates until its energy is dissipated.

In practice, a small amount of energy is dissipated into the air. Most of the energy loss takes place at the frets and saddles. That energy vibrates the neck and body and produces the acoustic sound of the guitar. Note that the louder a solid body guitar is acoustically, the less sustain it will ha