The Art of Holding On

Charlie Wilkins explores why guitarists crave sustain, how to get it and why some guitars sustain better than others

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One of the first things I do when picking up a guitar is play it unplugged. Before I even think about plugging into an amp, I want to feel how the wood responds, hear how long a note rings out and sense whether the guitar has that certain spark, like it's alive in my hands. In my experience, natural sustain and resonance begins with the guitar itself, not the gear it's plugged into. If a guitar doesn't speak to me acoustically, I'll probably move on to something else.

Sustain and resonance are some of the most sought-after qualities in a guitar, giving the player more expressive control, dynamics and tonal richness. Simply put, sustain is how long a string vibrates after being plucked. Resonance refers to how freely that vibration travels through the body and neck. Together, they shape the instrument's voice. While many players chase sustain through pickups, amps and pedals, most of the magic (or lack thereof) happens before your signal ever hits a cable.

So why do some guitars seem to sustain and resonate better than others? The short answer is: it's complicated. Sustain is the result of many interwoven factors including wood type, construction quality, hardware, setup and even the strings themselves. But when you strip it down to the essentials, I believe it mostly comes down to the wood and the strings.

Each type of wood influences tone, sustain and resonance in its own distinctive way. Mahogany, for example, is dense and warm with excellent sustain. Ash is brighter, with good snap and moderate sustain. Rosewood is lush and harmonically rich, with deep bass and long note decay. But wood choice alone doesn't tell the whole story. How a guitar is designed and assembled matters just as much.