
Sustainiac® Stealth Pro Semi Installation
Sustainiac® Stealth PRO prewired system ready to drop into your guitar!
Timeframe: 1 - 2 weeks after order is placed.
We do 90% of the work. We mount a completely wired and TESTED set of electronics for your guitar, including Sustainiac circuit board and controls, pickup selector, volume and tone controls. These are mounted onto a whiteboard replica of your control cavity. You simply remove all of your existing guitar cavity parts as a "glob", after disconnecting your output jack and pickups. You can then save this "glob" of parts to restore your guitar to its original condition if desired with only a small amount of work.
We can also do pickguard installations where the entire pickguard is wired and tested. We replace your neck pickup with our Sustainiac driver transducer.
SUSTAINIAC DRIVER: The Sustainiac driver pickup replaces your neck pickup, it works as a regular pickup when sustainer is off. It's available in black or white, and in the following options:
● Humbucker
● Threaded Single (For Strat or pickguard)
● Direct-Mount Single (For mounting directly onto the guitar's body)
● 7 string Humbucker (Only available in Black)
The humbucker size driver is 84mm x 35mm x 22mm.
The single size driver is 84mm x 18mm x 22mm.
A threaded pickup is to be mounted onto a pickguard or pickup ring.
A direct-mount (or wood-mount) is mounted or screwed directly onto the guitar's body.
SUSTAINIAC MAIN CIRCUIT BOARD: The Sustainiac circuit board can be installed into most electric guitar electronics cavities with little or no routing. Measures 90mm x 30mm (without connectors).
There are 5 different types of main boards, depending on your bridge pickup type:
● Main Board for Passive humbucker (Such as Seymour Duncan JB - Most common)
● Main Board for Passive single coil or P-90
● Main Board for Active EMG
● Main Board for Active Fishman
● Main Board for Bass
In most configurations, the Stealth Pro has an ON/OFF control switch and also a 3-position MODE control switch (standard, mix and harmonic modes).
We offer 3 types of Auxiliary control boards:
The Aux-TT board (most popular) is 1.8 in. (46mm) wide x 1.8 in. (30mm) tall. (Requires 1.35 in. (35mm) cavity depth). The two toggle switches are spaced 1.00 inches (25.4mm) apart.
The AUX-RG board is the smallest Sustainiac switch board, to be positioned horizontally, while other Aux boards are placed vertically. Measures 40mm by 25mm. About 1 inch of depth is needed inside the cavity.
The AUX-JS board (Joe Satriani signature) has a sustain ON/OFF push/pull pot (also works as your tone pot) and a sustain MODE toggle switch. Measures 55m x 35mm.
Auxiliary boards are not required, you can use loose toggle switches, or push/pull pots for turning sustain On and Off, and to switch between modes.
Operation of Push/Pull pots:
Pot 1 (Volume):
● Pushed in: Sustain Off.
● Pulled out: Sustain On
Pot 2 (Tone):
● Pushed in, knob rotated full clockwise = Normal mode.
● Pushed in, knob rotated full counter-clockwise = Harmonic mode.
● Pulled out, knob rotated full clockwise = Mix mode.
● Pulled out, knob rotated full counter-clockwise = Harmonic mode (with a few harmonics being different than pushed in).
USING A "SUPERSWITCH" FOR SUSTAINIAC CONTROL (one single control):
If you are making a custom guitar, you might want to consider using a Superswitch for sustainer control. This one 5-position lever-type switch can be wired to completely control the Sustainiac. The guitar will have two selector switches: One for pickup selection, the other for Sustainiac control. Use a Superswitch that you buy from us. The switch has to be modified slightly to insure non-shorting operation during ON/OFF transitions so that no loud POPS occur.
Superswitch sustainer control operation:
Position 1: Sustainer off
Position 2: NORMAL mode
Position 3: MIX mode
Position 4: Harmonic mode
Position 5: Sustainer off
The easiest positions to reach from the two OFF position are the #2 and #4 positions (NORMAL and HARMONIC modes). These are the most used positions. You can easily "slam" down to position #5 OFF from the #1 OFF, then one step back to the #4 HARMONIC mode. If you find two OFF positions inconvenient, we can possibly come up with a way to put a STOP screw in the switch to make it a 4-position switch.
We modify these switches to have "break-before-make" (NON-SHORTING) operation when turning the sustainer ON/OFF. (The switch is normally SHORTING (make-before-break) in operation. We also pre-wire the jumpers to make it operational. Therefore this switch sells for $30. You can select it on the ORDER FORM.
USING A "SUPERSWITCH" FOR SUSTAINIAC CONTROL AND ALSO FOR PICKUP CONTROL:
This is for a "minimal control" type of setup on a 2-pickup guitar. You replace your existing 5-way selector with the Superswitch (or VLX-91 switch). There is no position to blend the neck/middle pickups since the switch only has 5 positions.
Superswitch sustainer control operation:
Position 1: Sustainer off, neck pickup
Position 2: Sustainer off, bridge pickup
Position 3: Sustainer ON, NORMAL mode
Position 4: Sustainer ON, MIX mode
Position 5: Sustainer ON, Harmonic mode
Positions 1 and 2 cannot be interchanged. If Sust. = ON is entered from Neck PU selected, then loud pops will occur.
Package includes:
● Humbucker driver
● Stealth Pro Board
● Controls of your choice
● Wiring Harness set and connectors
● Battery connector
● Mounting screws and springs
● Stereo Input Jack
● Installation manual and wiring diagram
Battery compartment available separately.
For active pickups we recommend using the Gotoh® BB04W Dual battery box.
We offer Sustainiac kits with different configurations, including white drivers and spare parts. Feel free to ask questions!
Pickup currently not available