Tested: Where Does The Sustain Come From In An Electric Guitar?

Marching forward with the electric guitar experiments.

0:00 - What is good sustain?
0:52 - Amp feedback
1:40 - How long should a note be able to ring?
2:42 - Quality of sustain
3:24 - The spreadsheet
4:23 - The amp's role
5:07 - Testing break angle
6:11 - Testing saddle material
7:14 - Testing string tension
8:01 - Testing absence of neck pickup
8:42 - Testing resonant mass
9:50 - Testing the finish
12:18 - But what makes an obvious difference?
14:00 - Outro jam

Tests were done plugging the guitar directly into the computer for a clean signal (except the amp feedback test and neck pickup test).

I'm @jimlill on instagram.

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It's really cool to see people enjoying the tone tests video I put out 2 weeks ago.

Sustain wasn't on my mind when I was making it, but there were some people in the comments talking about sustain so I thought I'd spend some time figuring out where it comes from.

It was fun coming up with the tests, trying to find limits and do everything I can to stop the guitar from being able to hold a note. Hopefully people who watch this video will have a better idea of which things play a role in sustain, and how big that role is.

Also, I bought 2 of J.T. Corenflos' cabs on Saturday and the background music for this video is the first thing I've used either of them on.

-Jim, 2/7/22

[MetalMan]

This guy's dry humor combined with total willingness to shatter most guitar players' concensuses without even saying a word about it is amazing.

[JamesVanderVeen]

This was a good video on sustain. It could have been longer though.

[SashaGarcia]

This is like "Mythbusters" for guitar, and I am loving it.

[tanglewife]

Seems like a lot of these myths about tone and sustain relate to acoustic guitar, but don't really carry over to electric in reality, yet have been perpetuated for decades in the musical community. Brilliant, enlightening video, as always!

[JustinSmith]

"... so I did that" had me rolling. WOW DUDE. The commitment to these tests are just insane.

[stevesoldwedel]

It's really a pleasure to see an empirical approach to what so many people treat like magic.

[gavinjones]

"So I did that!" Hats off for thoroughness and commitment. Love these videos.

[keegancurry]

The combination of these 2 videos really makes me think that practically the only things that truly matter to a great sounding guitar are a good pickup and a good setup. And a great player of course!

[SirSneakerPimp]

The fact that you put yourself through all of these tests is insane.

[tykjpelk]

As a physicist, I find it interesting that the sustain was better with lower tension - with open strings. When the tension is lower the frequency is lower, and that means the string goes through fewer resonance periods in the same time. The Q (quality) factor is an important parameter for a resonator, and it tells you the fraction of power lost in a single period. If the Q factor stays the same but the period increases, you have more sustain.

[andrew-pc]

This series could be used in schools as an applied science class. So freakin’ clear and thorough. And zero time wasted.

[TheEnderBand]

These make me so happy because it just confirms that as long as a guitar is built properly and the pickups are ok, there’s no reason it can’t be a usable sound

[misterknightowlandco]

This is going to turn into a series called “everything you know about guitar is wrong” and we’ll all be playing the Jim Lill signature squier bullet telecaster with Seymour Duncan pickups that only costs 249.99…

[hybro]

I fucking love this guy man. I can hear the cork sniffers sharpening their pitchforks.

[brianframe]

As a builder and repair person, i rate this guy as a national hero.

[latheofheaven]

It's always struck me that keeping the energy of a vibrating string in the string is the best way to sustain the vibration. Taking a significant part of that energy and using it to make other things vibrate means the string doesn't have that energy any more.

But then I'm just another person with a half-baked understanding of physics having an opinion. What we need is tests. Thanks Jim Lill for providing them.

[UncleWalter]

Interesting. Makes me think that perhaps the higher perceived sustain on a Les Paul vs a Tele might be the fact that the Les Pauls will tend to have higher output pickups, causing the amp to break up more easily.

[Chord_The_Seeker]

One thing that always cracks me up about sustain is when guitarists say, “Listen to the sustain on this guitar!”, and then apply vibrato to the string the whole time. If you’re physically manipulating the string the whole time it’s going to keep producing sound. To me sustain is best tested the way you did it the first time in this video, by simply strumming the strings, and then letting them ring, and measuring the decay of the output level of the resulting sound.

[ralphz]

I'm convinced. I'll never soak my guitar in glue again.
Kudos to Jim Lill and his "Tested" video series for creating the most interesting guitar content on YouTube.

[jtobrien_]

I’m fatter after covid and my general sustain in each of my guitars is by far better…
When I was less soft, things had less resonance for sure.
You and your studies are incredible! Stay Awesome