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45 second sustain "good guitar" test

3250 Views 76 Replies 31 Participants Last post by  xevek90490
In a recent article I came across, Paul Reed Smith says:

"A great electric guitar is harmonically rich and bright on the low strings, thick-sounding on the high strings, and rings about 45 seconds," Smith told Guitarist. "A very poor electric guitar is bassy on the low strings, tinny on the high strings, and rings for about 16 seconds. No pickup is going to fix that!"

I'm guessing he means unplugged? A casual test of a few of my guitars revealed about 16 seconds of sustain when I strum a chord (not an open chord). Open string, sure a bit longer, but not 45 seconds.

I guess my guitars have shitty unamplified sustain. Oh well. It's a good thing I have amps, then. 😁
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Ok, all you PRS guys give us the results of your sustain tests please.
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To use that standard means you will miss out on a lot of cool and unique sounding instruments.

I totally agree with him about "bad" guitars having woofy low end and thin top end though. There can be many reasons for that of course- not just tonewood.
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