Push pull sustain issues

[Nick Krol]

I've been playing a couple push pulls for the last few years, a 68 bolt on and a 71 fatback. I love them but I've recently played a few different Mullen G2s and the sustain is significantly better than either of the push pulls. Especially up above the 12th fret.

The 3rd string on the push pulls (especially the bolt on) seems to fade within a couple seconds whereas the Mullen ring out for twice that long. I've put them side by side and plucked them acoustically and the difference is very noticeable.

Fresh strings, tightening all the screws, messing with pickup heights, nothing changes anything. Does anyone have any other ideas? Everything I've read and heard about push pulls says they have great sustain.

[Mike DiAlesandro]

I've been playing a couple push pulls for the last few years, a 68 bolt on and a 71 fatback. I love them but I've recently played a few different Mullen G2s and the sustain is significantly better than either of the push pulls. Especially up above the 12th fret.

The 3rd string on the push pulls (especially the bolt on) seems to fade within a couple seconds whereas the Mullen ring out for twice that long. I've put them side by side and plucked them acoustically and the difference is very noticeable.

Fresh strings, tightening all the screws, messing with pickup heights, nothing changes anything. Does anyone have any other ideas? Everything I've read and heard about push pulls says they have great sustain.

The secret sauce has to do with how, when, and how much the keyhead and neck screws are tightened. I've experimented and achieved better sustain with light tightening of these screws with the necks fully strong.

Overtightening is the worst thing you can do on these screws.

But the pro's who were Emmons factory trained know the proper procedure to get your Emmons playing and sounding best. Hopefully a few may chime in.

[Ian Worley]

Another factor to consider is the age of the instruments, and the relative wear on the top surfaces of the fingers and on the axle. The random grooves and irregularities that develop over time on the finger surface will affect how cleanly the string vibrates, particularly on the smaller, higher pitched strings. The fingers need to be re-surfaced/polished periodically to overcome this. Galling on the axle over time will also affect the way the finger transfers string vibration to the body on a PP. Replacing or even sometimes just rotating a PP's worn axle can make a big difference in tone and sustain. In any case, comparing a 55+ year old guitar to a relatively new G2 is not going to be apples vs apples without some proper periodic maintenance on the older guitar.

[Marco Schouten]

Another factor to consider is the age of the instruments, and the relative wear on the top surfaces of the fingers and on the axle. The random grooves and irregularities that develop over time on the finger surface will affect how cleanly the string vibrates, particularly on the smaller, higher pitched strings. The fingers need to be re-surfaced/polished periodically to overcome this. Galling on the axle over time will also affect the way the finger transfers string vibration to the body on a PP. Replacing or even sometimes just rotating a PP's worn axle can make a big difference in tone and sustain. In any case, comparing a 55+ year old guitar to a relatively new G2 is not going to be apples vs apples without some proper periodic maintenance on the older guitar.

I once had a Sho-Bud with a lot of grooves on the changerfingers. Sustain was about 8 seconds. After polishing out those grooves, sustain was 25 seconds.

[Nick Krol]

I figured out the issue.

I had the 3rd string lowering adjustment screw pushed against the lowering finger in the changer. Never thought about it since I don't lower that string. Backed it off and that string is singing again. It had really killed some overtones.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, sounds like there's more stuff to try out too.

[Dennis Detweiler]

Buddy experimented with the neck screws and found that the sustained was killed when the aluminum neck is tightened. He said, barely snug created sustain. I found the opposite with wood necks. I experimented with my MSA necks and found tightening them created more sustain. Loosening them killed sustain.

[Mark Hepler]

I had the 3rd string lowering adjustment screw pushed against the lowering finger in the changer. Never thought about it since I don't lower that string. Backed it off and that string is singing again. It had really killed some overtones.

I backed 'em all off last night after seeing your post. Swear it sounds better! . . . can't verify that scientifically since I didn't make a "before" measurement (could be my imagination).