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What is in your opinion the best way to get a good sustain in the sound?

Pierre, il est impossible de répondre à cette question avec précison!

Too vague a question, and too many factors at play. I would start with sound joinery and well tuned top and back, individually and together. But that's too vague. Materials play a big role too, especially backs. Some harder tonewoods are more reflective.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

The last steel string guitar I built, about two moths old now, has the very best sustain of any guitar I have ever built, possibly ever heard for that matter. I built it the same way as dozens others as I am trying to perfect this body type (with the exception of a more narrow fretboard which does get me to thinking). But I really have no idea why it came out that way but i really wish I did.

Laurent is right - way too many factors. That said, The first two guitars I built had non-wood (plastic, ivoroid, whatever) binding and both sustain much less that the ones that I build now with wood (usually Ebony) bindings. Kent Everett talks about this in his voicing video (the candle trick) and I believe it makes a difference. Also, a solid neck to body joint and sufficient mass in the neck are factors in getting good sustain.

My 1-1/2 cents worth...
Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Yup, too many variables.

First, there are (at least) two kinds of 'sustain': 'solidbody' sustain, and 'banjo' sustain. On a solidbody guitar the body and bridge are made massive and stiff, so that the energy can't get out of the string. The string vibrates for a long time, and the pickup senses that, but there's not much 'acoustic' sound. On a banjo the top is so light that it doesn't take much energy to get it going enough to produce a sound you can hear. The sound builds up fast, and dies off at a high rate, but it stays audible long enough to have a satisfactorily long sustain. We're not really going for either of these extremes, but they do illustrate a couple of ways that 'sustain' can work.

On guitars we're trying to strike a middle ground. We need to be heard, so we can't do what Les Paul did, and we don't particularly want a 'banjoey' sound, especially since that tends to come with a lot of 'wolf' notes on a guitar. We can also design for different sorts of sustain in different registers: Dreads with scalloped bracing are going for 'banjo' sustain in the low range, but can have a more 'solidbody' type of sustain in the high register if the bridge is massive enough.

What you have to figure out is what aspect of sustain you lack, and then work out some way to enhance it. Since your guitars are probably not much like mine in some ways, things that work for me might not work for you. I'm afraid it's your problem.

Fair enough Alan. But could you point out the areas/items you feel most likely to contibute to the two ?? (banjo vs. solidbody) (eg neck mass or bridge weight for long sustain...or whatever)

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Dave
Milton, ON

Sure, there are too many variables. But, the way I read the original question is, ... what one or two variables would be the most optimum to focus on, and how? (being just a noob, I'd say, build it as light, yet solid, as possible. but that's the noob talking)

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."