Sustain - Too Much vs Too Little, and Somewhere Inbetween

PhilUSAFRet

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After listing to the Blackbirds, and then the Clara's, I was struck by how much sustain they have. It got me thinking about the matter. I've heard the Luna Tatoo at one end. A sound cannon, but very little sustain, then there's Clara.....nearly endless sustain. How does this fit into your uke choices and playing style. Where would Clara's sustain fit? Tatto's? Would you choose one over the other or are you happy with a "reasonable balance?"
 
Nearly endless! Wow that's a long time. But I like cannons too but only when trying to frighten the enemy.
 
Sustain, like many of life's simple pleasures, can never be too much.
 
I like lots of sustain. It helps to make the instrument sound "big" and is what you need for slower tempo playing. Short sustain works well for fast tempo playing where it helps to maintain separation between notes. Also as a one man band I like to fill up the audio space with some sustain. If your playing with others then short sustain may work for you.

Anthony
 
Definitely more sustain
 
Give me sustain. You can mute it out if you need too. I used to play a Luna Tattoo. It was loud, but with little sustain it was pretty dull.
 
Most of my uke and string choices have been to gain as much sustain as possible, particularly higher up the neck. I can't imagine why anybody would want less, but I suppose it depends on one's playing style. I'll be curious to know if there are any who consider sustain a bad thing!
 
While I enjoy ample sustain, I would think some Jazz music would be best played with less sustain.
 
I dig the baritone low tuning, but the rubberband-like sustain just kills me.
 
I play tenor and since it's bigger, sustain is not a problem. Therefore I like as little sustain as possible.
 
I don't think there's such a thing as too much sustain. There are very easy techniques to stop a sound once begun. No way to lengthen one that has died out.

Funny thing though. I have a Blackbird Clara (on loan as a "traveling uke") which is reported to have lots of sustain, as you say. I plan to do a review and talk about that. I don't find the sustain anything special at all. I own three ukuleles, and all have equal or longer sustain. The Clara has a rather loud, (full?) percussive sound at the beginning of every note played which dies away very quickly. Then the remaining sound does carry for some time, about equal to my Oscar Schmidt. But that is pretty quiet.
 
While I enjoy ample sustain, I would think some Jazz music would be best played with less sustain.
I agree, but as others have3 said, there are techniques to dampen sustain, but not to create it if it's not there.
 
For me there is no such thing as too much sustain. It is easy to lessen the sustain but next to impossible to increase sustain on a dead instrument.
 
If you're looking for the longest sustain on a uke, steel string electric ukes are it for me.
 
Lots of sustain with a bad tone just sounds bad for a long time, but just a little sustain with great tone sounds great for a little while. I've found that if an instrument has great tone, it'll sound great with or without long sustain.

For soprano and concert ukes, I don't even consider sustain---it's all about tone. For larger ukes, it's only important to me that the tone sounds good as long as the note rings---the length of the ring isn't important to me.

Of course, if notes die away way more quickly than normal, I notice. But that's rare.
 
Lots of sustain with a bad tone just sounds bad for a long time, but just a little sustain with great tone sounds great for a little while. I've found that if an instrument has great tone, it'll sound great with or without long sustain.

For soprano and concert ukes, I don't even consider sustain---it's all about tone. For larger ukes, it's only important to me that the tone sounds good as long as the note rings---the length of the ring isn't important to me.

Of course, if notes die away way more quickly than normal, I notice. But that's rare.


Well of course we aren't talking about a bad tone. I choose all sizes including soprano on tone, playability, and sustain. Without sustain it is just dead.
 
I would like to hear the technique everyone uses to kill the sustain when strumming. Besides chunking for certain songs, I don't hear people killing the sustain. I am only talking of tenor or larger.
 
I would like to hear the technique everyone uses to kill the sustain when strumming. Besides chunking for certain songs, I don't hear people killing the sustain. I am only talking of tenor or larger.

Here's just one technique. Gerold Ross playing a Dave Talsma ukulele with truly great sustain. As I said, there's no such thing as too much sustain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YafhDexY6I
 
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Nearly endless! Wow that's a long time. But I like cannons too but only when trying to frighten the enemy.


Hey Icelander ....perhaps we should form a Flippancy Club ....a bit like a coin ...Flip an' see ?

:nana:
 
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