Can I increase the sustain in My Mosrites???

[oipunkguy]

Hey All,

My only real beef with my Mosrites is I wish they sustained a little longer. I’m use to a sustain of a Les Paul, and I don’t know for sure if basswood sustains as long, or not as long as a mahogany body. Do you guys have any suggestions to get my Mosrites to ring longer???

[Veenture]

Hey All,

My only real beef with my Mosrites is I wish they sustained a little longer. I’m use to a sustain of a Les Paul, and I don’t know for sure if basswood sustains as long, or not as long as a mahogany body. Do you guys have any suggestions to get my Mosrites to ring longer???

oipunkguy,

if you find you can't get more sustain by making (hopefully minor)adjustments/alterations on the guitar itself, I can highly recommend using the BARBER TONE PRESS pedal. I've just recently managed to lay my hands on one and it's teriffic. Tons of sustainnnnnnn!

check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTWbFjOciE4

[oipunkguy]

hey,

thanks veenture. I'll check it out. I've used a big muff and a mxr dyna comp before as well for added sustain, but the problem with that is it adds a lot of extra noise to my tone at the same time.
what I think might be the issue however, is the neck joint construction on the mosrite ventures one, mark 1 body. I'm gonna take mine apart and see what i can do. it seems like the neck joint might be a little loose. we'll see.
maybe dub can help me out on this one.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Hey All,

My only real beef with my Mosrites is I wish they sustained a little longer. I’m use to a sustain of a Les Paul, and I don’t know for sure if basswood sustains as long, or not as long as a mahogany body. Do you guys have any suggestions to get my Mosrites to ring longer???

Aaron,
Whether anyone agrees or not, it's a proven fact, that the ONLY way for ANY Mosrite to get more sustain,
is by changing over to Humbuckers, which also gets rid of the hum if you are too close to a high powered amp,
and to install thicker frets on the fretboard. This is why the 70s Mo's have better sustain, due to the thicker frets.
CAUTION!!............However, before you do that, you have to ask yourself, do I REALLY WANT to do that?
Especially if we are talking a Vintage Piece, then don't go that route. Can you get by, just using some kind of an
Overdrive Pedal (fuzz,distortion, etc)? If you don't care how long your sustain is in a 'clean' mode, then LEAVE IT ALONE!
I myself, was looking for longer sustain in the clean setting, and I went ahead and made my 'sacrifice' knowing I wasn't
going to sell these guitars. BUT, I now can go up against any PRS, any model Gibson, or anything else with thicker frets
and humbuckers, and Kill them in the Tone Department!

[Veenture]

Yes, sustain...
The Barber Tone Press is really somethin' else 'though...no pop- or other noises! It has dealt with all the problems other compressor/sustainer pedals have and with this one you can even mix or blend the compressed and/or sustained signal in with your clean signal. A bit pricy 'though but you get professional quality in return.

If it's a neck-joint problem, that'll be somethin' else too I guess... unless the sustain issue is a common factor in most Mosrites I'm wondering, since I know little if any about Mosrite guitars. The thing is I like to increase my knowledge as I go along and can't help but to see such matters as a challenge in solving them.

We sometimes forget too what wonders a new set of strings can do for a guitar. I'm always amazed at the difference in tone and sustain with new ones. It's like having a different guitar suddenly!

Good luck,
Paul

[oipunkguy]

hey guys,

veenture, that barber pedal kicks butt!!!! i'll have to get one. thanks again!!!

also, good points Dennis. I'm not too worried about long sustain in clean though. it's getting those long drawn out sustaining solos in overdrive i'm looking for. kinda like santana maybe.
the other thing is the guitar I'm referring to is my 70's Mosrite V2. it has humbuckers, but they are fairly under powered, they measure around 5.05k on my ohm meter. I'm wondering if I'd get longer sustain if I rewind the pickups to something like 12k instead.

One other thing is, I've noticed is that the neck can shift very slightly in the neck joint and I'm wondering if I'm losing sustain because there's not enough wood contact inside the neck joint. I'd hate to disassemble a guitar this old, but I think I'm gonna have too. I'll let you guys know what I find out.

[Dennisthe Menace]

hey guys,

veenture, that barber pedal kicks butt!!!! i'll have to get one. thanks again!!!

also, good points Dennis. I'm not too worried about long sustain in clean though. it's getting those long drawn out sustaining solos in overdrive i'm looking for. kinda like santana maybe.
the other thing is the guitar I'm referring to is my 70's Mosrite V2. it has humbuckers, but they are fairly under powered, they measure around 5.05k on my ohm meter. I'm wondering if I'd get longer sustain if I rewind the pickups to something like 12k instead.

One other thing is, I've noticed is that the neck can shift very slightly in the neck joint and I'm wondering if I'm losing sustain because there's not enough wood contact inside the neck joint. I'd hate to disassemble a guitar this old, but I think I'm gonna have too. I'll let you guys know what I find out.

Other things to take into consideration..................
1) the Pick-ups height:........How close are the P'ups to the strings??
2) Although there might be a slight gap, the Neck should not be able to shift
with 4 screws holding it in place, unless the Neck Screws are not fully tightened.

[mosman]

I think It's Rio Grande that make a pickup called the Surfmaster or something, which they claim to be a perfect Mosrite replacement with more grunt.
Anybody know what they're like?

[Dennisthe Menace]

I think It's Rio Grande that make a pickup called the Surfmaster or something, which they claim to be a perfect Mosrite replacement with more grunt.
Anybody know what they're like?

And the other thing I forgot to mention, is if you are determined to replace the pickups
with 'something else,' than the first step I would take, would be to check with EFElliott .
He worked at Mosrite and is a Member here on the Forum ......

[oipunkguy]

hey,

I haven't used the surfmaster pickup, but I have used rio grande's babybucker. it's a uncovered mini humbucker. I got to say, it's an awesome sounding pickup. super high output with lots of bass and mids. not janglely sounding like the older epiphone mini's. the only beef i have with rio grande though, is their customer service is bloody awful. I had one heck of a time getting any info out of them when I needed help on the phone.

that was 2 years ago, so hopefully, they've improved since then. also seymour duncan makes a mosrite replacement, and can custom make stuff. their custom shop pickup person, MJ, is pretty helpful. she told me she would rewind my mosrite pickups for 75 bucks a pickup.
And I recently found out from Dennis that Hallmark is making Mosrite replacement pickups, and can be custom ordered.

Tim from timsguitar.com/au will make custom spec mosrite replacement pickups, from really any era of mosrite's history. even the uber rare original slab body ventures 2 pickups.

However, I think i'd prefer if Ed will work on them, to me it seems like the guitar will be more mosrite stock, if I have a real ex mosrite employee work on them. when we build a new mosrite factory, we'll have to put him back to work full time!!!