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I;ve pretty much got my ideas down for my first guitar from my new shop. Nashville sounding, I think.

Sculpted top strat so it raises the relative string height to the alder body, fire engine red lacquer, no coverplate - all electronics mounted Les Paul style, coil switching humbucker at the bridge, sustainer at the middle, single coil at the neck, strat length bolt-on maple neck and fingerboard, no whammy strat style bridge, locking tuner pegs, graphite nut, 22 medium frets, all internally emf shielded, and double action truss rod.

Sustainer for slide players, sculpted top for a sorta Les Paul feel.

My spray room wont be ready for quite a while, but I got a buddy who works in a body shop who is willing to shoot it on the side, if I do the priming and sanding.

Questions, comments?

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

Post pix!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

The more I think about it, there is a company on the other side of Baton Rouge that actually builds fire trucks, and would have the true fire engine red. I wonder if I could get them to paint it for me.... That would be unique.

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

Im not absolutely positive....
But I belive a sustainer is significantly less effective in the middle position... also, I've also read the sustainer can interfere with the pickup in use if they are too close together...
You may want to put the sustainer in the neck position.... Just my 2 cents...

Sustainer at the middle works for Steve Vai, that's what I'm basing it off of. Besides, you can't have a country picking guitar without a single coil at the neck.

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

My apologies - rewatching the Steve Vai DVD he did in London, and Flo does indeed have a sustainer at the neck - Hm.

Time for a rethink.

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

OK, after much thought, an classic single coil at the neck, maybe a lipstick, would give the classic tone I'm looking for.

Use some high-end pickups, a coil switched PAF in the bridge, Classic hotrod at the middle and a good old fashioned single coil at the bridge. Simple and classic.

Any thoughts?

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

A sustainer will not work next to another pup because it will cause feedback squealing. Like a microphonic pup. It will sound like a pig being murdered.
It works by a magnetic pulse which is vibrating at the same rate the bridge pickup tells it to (the note you played), thus the bridge pup must be as far as possible from the sustainer to avoid feedback, just like a microphone from a speaker. It has been said that it won't work on the bridge either since the electromagnetic pulse will be interfered by the metal in the bridge. Only on neck, and when used the middle pup is turned off.

There is also a sustainer which works by physically making the neck vibrate called the Model C, it looks horrible on a guitar but if you're building it you can place the wiring beneath the fret board. You can use your neck pup with this, here's the page: http://www.sustainiac.com/model-c.htm
Good luck.