iconic Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 (edited) Ok, you need to bear with me here, I can be a bit slow, I'm still learning a lot about bass..... ..........but just why is sustain one of THE benchmarks for a good bass, or bass review, or anything when mentioning a bass of any flavour? ....the only time I need any 'sustain' is when playing The Chinese Way...there is long open E string note during the bridge/chorus and even then it isn't a problem, apart from that song I'm usually struggling to play while muting all my ringadinging strings.... I have even read of guys putting foam over strings in their Jass bass ashtrays, I have an elastic band on the end of my neck....so I'm a little puzzled by the 'sustain' thing. [size=1]...or this an elephant in the room phalic thing, you know, long type car bonnet thing....my bass has oodles of [i]sustaaaaaaaiiiiin[/i][/size] Edited May 19, 2010 by iconic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 (edited) A bass that has good sustain usually has good tone as well. It is often the sign of a well-designed and well-made bass IMO! I wouldn't say its a "bench-mark" though. If you play predominantly staccato style, the sustain is superfluous anyway... Edited May 19, 2010 by Conan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 It's easy to take sustain away by doing any of the things you mentioned, but it's much harder to add more if your bass doesn't already have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 BRX's statement captures it in a nutshell. There are TWO aspects to sustain, though. Quantity or duration (which has just been covered above), and Quality- The way in which EVERY note you play decays. Does the sustain drop away gently in an almost exponential fashion, leaving a greater emphasis on harmonic content as it goes, finishing an a warm glow that echoes the original note? Or does it sound like a wounded Wildebeest on its last legs? Sustain is an important characteristic of a fretless instrument, IMO at least... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 Sustain is a pointer that all is put together well. It isn't the open strings that are an issue..it is the sustain across the board on fretted notes. And as said...it is something you can get rid of with decent damping should you want to...but if you don't have it..there isn't much you can do to call it up. Playing the fretted fifth note on the E string and getting a big dull thud is a serious pile of poo which you just can't have, IMV..or any other note for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 [quote name='BigRedX' post='841756' date='May 19 2010, 09:52 AM']It's easy to take sustain away by doing any of the things you mentioned, but it's much harder to add more if your bass doesn't already have it.[/quote]Amen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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