PG's DIY Sustainer taking a new direction...sells out !!!!

[psw]

I am in the process of making a small scale production of the latest idea from the DIY sustainer project...

Basically the concept is a ultra thin coil that fits onto a standard single coil pickup and is held on by it's cover without any modifications. Here is a picture of the first prototype of the device...


Additionally I have a basic, but improved sustainer circuit that measures a tiny 35mmx30mm and is about 10mm thick. Installation may require a rewire for most guitars. I am working on a super switch installation where one pickup selection position will select the sustainer, bypass the other pickups and connect power to the circuit. There is an improved, more useful drive control that ranges from a clean but mild infinite sustain to full on feedback and distortion effect. This is a controlled feedback, predictable and will produce a very loud response through headphones if required.

Also, there is a harmonic switch that generates harmonics...I am hoping to make this a push/pull switch on the drive control on my guitar.

Switches could be substituted, but a 4PDT switch would most likely be required for the bypass/on/off function.

The beauty of this concept is that it will encorage futher development, people will be free to develop their own circuits to use with the driver and installation or to use the coil to make their own stand alone driver, or make their own driver designs to go with the circuit.

This device will likely to be far cheaper and easier to install (despite being hand built) and nothing like the costs of similar products like boutique stompboxes and such.

A sustainer guitar also offers interesting possibilities for the use of effects, infinite sustain can provide for interesting sweep, filter and trem like effects and pads. It can also produce it's own interesting effects like reverse attack.

There is still a bit of work to do, but the prototype circuit is working and the coil, and the machine that creates it are pretty much complete.

I need to develop systematic building and supply and a means to make it available, so it is a little time yet to go, but progess is well underway and the prototype seems to be working fine so far...

Discuss...

Pete

[Dragonfly]

Very cool....

reminds me of this.... http://www.sustainiac.com/ ...which is a VERY cool system.

[soggybag]

That is very cool. The magnetic sustainer is very different from compression type sustain. It makes a whole new instrument out of your guitar.

I have two Sustainiac sustainers. They are very cool. You can have a lot of fun with these.

[JimRayden]

Great to hear that Pete, I haven't visited the PG thread in a while. I might take another try at building this thing, the first one failed miserably.

Or I might just buy one from you. I'd love to see the finished product.

---------
Jimbo

[bancika]

Looking forward to see how it turns out Pete. One question: are you going to have fancy shmency PCBs mae for you or you'll use some kind of proto boards (perf, strip..). Doesn't matter much but I'm curious.

[psw]

Well...it is very much like those other, errrm, systems (the S-word is trademarked so I need a different name to refer to the thing!)...but this will be small, cheaper and open to experimenters as well...plus other benefits as I described.

I might take another try at building this thing, the first one failed miserably.

Sorry to hear that, many people have made versions of these things from that huge thread, but it has required a bit of commitment and skills outside peoples comfort zone. The coil in particular has been tricky for people, even finding the wire . I had been thinking of putting something together as a parts kit, but that would not ensure success. By making a working coil and a workable circuit for the thing, I should have something that can be fitted to Strat type guitars right out of the box with minimal mods (no structural guitar work like routing that is typical with these things).

Looking forward to see how it turns out Pete. One question: are you going to have fancy shmency PCBs mae for you or you'll use some kind of proto boards (perf, strip..). Doesn't matter much but I'm curious.

I need to keep this small by necessity, though there does seem to be an encouraging demand, at least at first. I have been using the DIY Layout Creator extensively and have a really cool, tightly condensed circuit on vero. A circuit board would be great to avoid the multiple track cuts, but it would not make it any smaller...already there are a few SMD and Tantalum caps on there.

For the initial "run" I will attempt to work with vero, but have not ruled out a circuit board approach, but I will have to see how it goes and this cottage approach is probably appropriate for such a simple circuit for now.

This will be a fairly labor intensive exercise but I suspect that the first circuit will be revised. Already there is interest in different circuitry approaches to mine and I have some ideas myself for an upgraded MKII version. One of the beauty's of this concept is that it still leaves open the experimental side of things, and could be a starting off point for may wishing to play with this effect once the system is installed (just substitute the circuit).

The other thing to note is that the DIY Sustainer project has always focussed on driver designs rather than circuitry to address phase problems and the like and used very simple amplifier circuits to run the devices. That is the true innovation of the thin coil concept I have been touting...this takes it a little further with an ultra thin coil and combines it with my previous pickup/driver modification scheme. This means that it will be very simple to devise alternate circuit approaches and play with the unusual effects that could be derived from the technology, without all the hassle of coil winding, etc.

Much of the cost saving is in the construction of this thing, no bobbins, metal or magnets or costly plastic specialty parts are required. This coil is not DIY friendly however, I needed to build a special machine that could wind them with epoxy.

The connections are fairly intuitive and I am using IC socket strips so that wires can be plugged in breadboard style for testing, soldered on or soldered to another strip for quick connection with very little space.

On the left side of the little board are two inputs...bridge pickup in and out effectively...connect the bridge pickup directly to the circuit and the circuit to the selection or sustainer bypass/on-off switch of choice. Other pickups must be completly bypassed and this may well require a 4PDT switch, I am intending to use a superswitch (4PDT) selector on a strat to have the sustainer as one of the pickup selection options.

On the right side, 8 connections...two for output, two for power, two for LED power (optional for those who want an indicator light) and two for a drive pot (an onboard trimmer provides that option if you don't want the pot on the guitar itself...the timmer if you do will provide an upper drive limit to the pot. The circuit will work without the drive pot (1k) by adding a jumper between the last two pins.

The output wires go to a DPDT phase reverse switch and then on to the driver coil...this provides the harmonic effect where the fundamental is suppressed by the device but drives the upper harmonics.

The range of effect goes from a very mild sustain effect, not infinite sustain but hedging on feedback... This is a subtle but interesting way of using it, particularly in harmonic mode because as the note decays, it fades to a higher related harmonic (usually an octave or fifth above)... to a full on raging feedback with distortion and infinite sustain. The notes bloom, and as the coils action is physically driving the string, a light approach is more rewarding and notes can be played automatically by simply tapping the fretted note, the tiny signal of this is enough to start the feedback process going. The main technique that needs to be developed is damping as the guitar will play itself!

It is polyphonic, but the lower notes tend to take over the infinite sustain and the rest of a chord play naturally. There will be differences in response with each individual instrument and player style...it can be inspirational.

The installation will require some degree of rewiring of the guitar, there is not going to be a simple drop in system, but it should not be much harder than installing a new pickup...once it is installed, the guitar will be available for upgrading of the circuit and experimentation. Fun things to play with for the experimenter includes adding "effects" into the drive signal and hearing how these affect the physical string vibrations.

I am on a steep learning curve with a lot of this, but it is an exciting prospect and one that has generated a fair amount of interest...thank you for yours and any advice or suggestions are more than welcome... pete

[bdevlin]

I sold some Switchcraft 4PDT slide switched to Aron and JD for DIRT cheap.  I know some think the slide switches are clumsy.  I don't want to put words in their mouths, but if you are interested they may be a source for switches.  I am talking CHEAP.  PM me and I 'll tell you how much I charged them.

By the way, I'd buy one of your sustainers in a heartbeat.

[R.G.]

You know, Pete, I think you could turn those out in a heartbeat with just a little mechanical fixturing.

Epoxy will not stick to polyethylene.

Imagine this: a polyethylene (PE) core in the oval shape of the opening in the coil. A flat piece of PE with a cutout for the oval shape in the center, and its outside shaped to just the dimensions of the outside of the coil, that just barely slides onto the oval center. The center is long enough for, oh, maybe six  coils and seven flats. You put the seven flats on the center, apply a turn of teflon plumbing tape to the bottom to keep the epoxy out, and then proceed to wind half a dozen coils, one in each section between the flats. When one coil is full, you pull out and tape off a loop to make the leads of the two coils.

When one stick is done, paint each coil with a bit of thin epoxy to soak into the windings. Leave to cure.

Take out your next center stick, put seven flats on it, and wind six more. Repeat until cross-eyed.

When the epoxy is cured, cut the in/out loops, and then remove one flat at at time, pushing off the coil with the flat. The teflon tape comes out of the middle of the coil.

Better: overwind the coil with one layer of teflon tape and leave it to protect the wire.

[JimRayden]

Why not also sell only the coil as a diy-option. Most of the people here can handle building an amp for this project, an available and surely working coil would make this quite a popular project around here, I dare to presume.

---------
Jimbo

[Paul Marossy]

Cool stuff!

Pete has the tenacity of a bulldog. And a very good imagination. 

[psw]

Thanks R.G. This is somewhat how I do it, I am keeping the machine under wraps and hope someone doesn't just steal my idea. Epoxy is not that much fun to work with, and it has to be done fast. I have made accurate formwork and subsequent coils have worked out better than this first one. There is a lot of tension in a coil, especially one wound as tightly and thin as this and only the epoxy there to hold it's shape. I do not have a multi-coil version, but this is entirely possible if this thing is a success.

The coil is wound with epoxy then removed while still a little green, it is then pressed to keep it's shape in another form work. The form work is all polyethylene (PE) so cleans up pretty well, and a little acetone and you are ready to wind the next one. It is trickier than it sounds, but doable and certainly easier than constructing bobbins and cores, magnets and such for each driver.

Of course I have left out critical parts to this kind of innovative machine and procedures, especially the form-work.

I hope that people will respect my rights to the concept and the making of mass produced coils of this nature and design....

Why not also sell only the coil as a diy-option. Most of the people here can handle building an amp for this project, an available and surely working coil would make this quite a popular project around here, I dare to presume.

Absolutely, I'd almost rather do this, but I know people would more want a working device, circuit and all, and I would have to do a lot of troubleshooting on circuits others have devised (just like you guys do on here all the time ). I really want to keep the "open source" nature of this alive and see what others can develop for it, my abilities are limited. I hope that access to the driver or a working thing like this concept will inspire others to contribute their own ideas and unique twists to it.

So...while I wish people to respect my rights to the concept, acknowledge me as the source and allow me to produce the coils, I welcome people working on their own designs and concepts, even selling them with permission to use with my coils and concept...as long as they also help me and the whole project along.

I will not be making my own circuit open source and hope people respect that, but will always assist people with ideas of their own.

The answer is yes...just the coils should be cheap and easier for me, the rest is up to you how you use them...

To get you started...

These coils are designed to fit on a standard SC bobbin...they would most likely work under a P-90 SC pickup too, stack single coils and such. HB pickups and blade HB's are possible but will require a lot more development and be more expensive (two smaller coils and more trouble working out how to fit them (own covers and core inserts). You could however use it as a stand alone driver by adding magnets and or cores that could be mounted to the top of the guitar, if there is space up near the neck.

The device also works really well on bass (where a stand alone version comes into it's own) but the circuitry will need to be adapted to take these lower frequencies. It is much easier to drive bass strings...more mass, lower tension. The coil could also be adapted to seven or more strings...something desired but no longer offered in the market place.

On the circuit side of things, the simple fetzer/ruby will work for example and is a jumping off point. (my new circuit is more involved than this and is not related...I have never used it myself, but plenty of people have)

On developing my ideas lately, I have tried a lot of things that have had some unusual and possibly useful effects. For instance...in an experiment with the power supply, I tried adding a voltage regulator (I should have been working on a currcent regulator I think)...even though it did not do what I wanted, it did produce an amazing octave down jump effect!!! The string would sound at pitch for a moment then, with a glitch, drop an octave lower...still not sure why.

Other things to explore is the EMI distortion effects. We have tried to minimize these in the past, and I'd like to see more in this direction...but with my circuit I exploit this to create a distortion effect in the higher settings. The pickup can sense the magnetic signals from the driver and send this to the amp...the extreme of this is squealing oscillation...not good...but before that occurs you can get a combination of the guitar and the driver signal. As I am using small amps with minimum headroom, this sound is necessarily overdriven hence the distortion.

Very early on (before the sustainer thread) I tried putting flangers and such into the drive signal and got weird kind of bird chirp harmonics as it sweeped through the strings frequencies and hit upon nodes...weird stuff! Tremolo has a nice choppy effect bring the sustain and the harmonic drive in and out.

So there is lots that you could explore if you have a mind to...getting it all into a guitar might be a problem, as would powering it of course.

The driver is the key to opening this area up to more experimentation....I am sure there are lots of analogue synth type sounds in there...

I sold some Switchcraft 4PDT slide switched to Aron and JD for DIRT cheap.  I know some think the slide switches are clumsy.  I don't want to put words in their mouths, but if you are interested they may be a source for switches.  I am talking CHEAP.  PM me and I 'll tell you how much I charged them.

Slide switches are not everyones cup of tea, but certainly an option. I've always wanted an electronic switching system devised so that momentary control could be used to switch the thing in an out with SMD tactile switches.

So...good stuff and very encouraging...will keep working on it and resist the temptation to overdevelop it and so delay it ever getting out there... pete


ps...that is true, paul...obsessive more like it!!!

[T_u_b_e]

I need to develop systematic building and supply and a means to make it available, so it is a little time yet to go, but progess is well underway and the prototype seems to be working fine so far...

Discuss...

Pete

Hi
Awesome development and very interesting idea 

I am just a bit curious about the legal side and in what sense the concept differs enough from patent 4,907,483 (and some others) so that you feel confident enough to sell parts

It looks quite a bit like the concept is close to some sort of "signal from a guitar pickup that  is amplified, in turn driving a coil which vibrates the strings.
I am not saying that you are violating anything at all (and do not really care about that either) but someone could probably argue that selling parts (despite just beeing a little coil) and circuit boards with the sole intention for reaching the same end result is some kind of violation.

In such a case (if they feel that their market is threatened just a bit to much) I guess it is probably more important to have (a lot) money and endurance/patient over the years than being right  .

I assume that you have researched all aspects of this allready and know a lot about it so my  thoughts probably may seem silly at this stage 

Cheers

[psw]

Not at all, and I would welcome comment on this. Yes I have seen most of the patents but consider mine to be significantly "novel". There are patents on this type of device that predate the twentieth century I have seen...valve sustain piano anyone...and plenty of very like patents from Sustainiac, Fernandes and Rose...as well as a lot of others...plus things like the ebow!

I'd love to patent mine, but these things are expensive and difficult to defend.

This thing is very different in many ways. The driver design and it's concept of retrofitting to a conventional pickup is completely novel...there are no patents on this idea. The whole thin coil design is also unique. The use of simple amplification with an efficient, fast responding driver is also unique...the ebow may be a bit of an exception.

In an ideal world, fender or a pickup manufacturer would pay me a royalty to incorporate the idea...most likey they would steal it however, then sue me I suspect.

Most of my ideas, including those mentioned have been freely explored for years and any google search on such devices imediately calls up my work. I have had people try to "rip off" my ideas and pass them off as thier own in other coutry forums but I am aware of them as they emerge. As they don't have the research to back them up they tend to fall away pretty quickly without my intervention. Mostly, someone will post a link to the huge thread, and they get the idea and join at PG!

So...not only am I confident that my ideas are patentable, but that they are so well embedded in publicly documented work for so long, that they would be deemed to be un-patentable by anyone else as I could claim prior art, and that it has been in the public domain for a significant amount of time.

Making it commercial probably only cements my claim to make them. I am unlikely to be able to afford to patent the thing (though not out of the question) but will be making efforts to be suitably obscure in the processes I use to prevent eBay copists...there are several things I have not mentioned that are important and really, making the coils is a messy toxic job that involves rubber gloves...not everyones idea of a good money spinner!

The lack of protection of ideas has stopped many an idea ever getting to the light of day. Better to let the idea out into the public for everyone to explore, than to let it slip away.

The cost of protection would dramatically lift the price of such a device and the small cottage industry that is required to support it.

Happy to discuss it, trademarked names will have to be dispensed with, as I have alluded to...got a good name for this thing? Also, I am offering an "experimenters kit" here, no crime in experimenting with these ideas is there?

Also, no manufacturer has ever contacted me at any time, they must know about it, probably study it quite a bit...maybe they are developing similar ideas as we type. The beauty of the small operation and the way I envisage working is that I can be adaptable where as a mass manufacturer is committed to their "product". They can't afford to scrap their ideas to follow me, too much investment...and why should they...it actually promotes the whole concept more...I am sure/know they have sales as a result of my promotion of the whole thing from those who don't want to DIY...they make a very good, but different product, good luck to them, and I have been very generous in promoting them both...never have I suggested that my ideas are necessarily "better", even if I like my features more than theirs in lots of ways.

Anyway...good post and happy to discuss or have more input... pete

[bancika]

How do you plan to make coil as a final product? You need some makeup to make it look professional, just a coil with thin wires sticking out seems little unfinished. Did you consider making some kind of connector, a'la EMG or something.

Cheers

[psw]

Good Question B

I have been thinking about it a bit...the coil is fully saturated in epoxy and has an inner and outer layer that protects it a little...the wires aren't as thin as pickup wires, but they are fragile. A lot of people have been asking that the whole system be kind of solderless...I don't think this will be practical.

At the present time, I am using IC socket strips for connections to the circuit board. I have not found anything small enough and cheap that will do the job as well yet.

For the coil there is the problem that the wires need to fit in under the cover and sneak past the bobbin. A high powered pickup does not leave much room for connections between the pickup coil and the inside of the cover. That means that thin wires will need to be used within the cover....hmmm

What I was thinking was that the wires could be brought out to one side, doubled back and twisted and lead wires connected with enough room to exit the cover. A short length of shrink wrap could cover them and the solder join...once shrunk, hopefully this will still be thin enough to still fit in. If I were to put any connectors on the coil leads, it would also be difficult to thread them through control tunnels and such (as on my guitar). Also, I would like to have the leads exit and tie to the pickup wire mounting on the lower bobbin piece for strain relief.

This is not something that you will want to routinely remove or re-solder. Some of this will have to be worked out, if they are issues, with the beta testers of the concept...there will be a way, I am not quite sure what it is yet.

The pictured coil was the first one made on the machine. The one I am testing is a little better and I think that when the design and procedure is complete and issues like this will emerge. I am also considering post winding encapsulating the coil with further epoxy, setting it in a consistent mold shape with the final pressing. All of these procedures need to be done at speed...once the epoxy is mixed I have about 3 minutes to have the coil complete, and another 5 to have it in the final pressing stage while still "green"...all this with rubber gloves on, etc. That means that there is no time for coil readings and the machine needs to run accurately...hence these ultra thin coils are not suitable for one off construction methods like hand winding.

Making suitable connections will need to be made in this context...I don't really want to be soldering around the epoxy process. The weak point will always be where the thin wires exit the coil, if they break there is little chance of repair at that point...hmmm. The coil is only 1mm thick, no room to allow for soldering within the coil itself to thicker wires to avoid it.

That being said...I have had this "installed in my guitar for a couple of weeks now with the thin coil wires exiting the cover and across the guitar for about 6 inches before the wire connections with no sign of them breaking as yet, and a little rough handling with connecting different circuits and such....they are not as fragile as they may seem and the epoxy only adds strength.

Other connectors also take a lot of space and you still need to make your own connections from the guitar to many of these female connectors which can be tricky...they can also be a little expensive. Anyone know where to get those EMG sized ones...or something more suitable?

I take your point though and this is a concern...open to suggestions.

Will continue to work on it. Have been exploring having circuit boards made as they may be cheaper than vero in the end and a lot easier. I am having trouble getting a gerber file, the DIY creator makes a great PCB for it, but not in a form that can be manufactured from. Any volunteers to turn my PCB into a suitable file? Anyone got any ideas and where I can do this in a cost effective manner...costs seem to vary widely... pete

PS...I was aiming for a price of about A$80 or about US$65 plus postage and switches of choice for the circuit and coil. The first batch will be very labor intensive but am hoping that if it is successful, I will be able to make some profit and reclaim some R&D by purchasing in bulk...too cheap? I may eventually be looking for distributors, if it goes well...that is a lot further down the track... p

[bancika]

I was thinking similarly about that, leads twisted together, heat shrinked and some form of connector at the end. I have having "flying" solder joints and it wouldn't require any modification to the existing pickup.
Check out mouser, I'm sure they have connectors that are great for this. When I get back from work I can take a look in catalogue and get back to you.
Cheers

[psw]

Thanks B and everyone for the encouragement and suggestions...all very positive.

Here's an open question, does anyone have any suggestions about pad size and hole diameters for typical through hole components for hand soldering when getting PCB's made. I am settling on the Pad2pad service...the layouts are easy to reproduce without doing a schematic with their software (solving the problem of transferring a proven design from Bancika's DIY layout Creator Designs without drawing up the schematic, steep learning curves and huge chance of errors) and the prices are pretty competitive and instantly quoted on from the software to scale numbers to costs. Anyone used this service? Advice?

Meanwhile, with the circuit design pretty much bedded down, I will return to the driver and try to address these issues as best I can. I don't think connectors are going to be too practical, perhaps easiest would be simply connecting a suitable length of wire (to reach back to the circuit) and heat shrinking the join and vulnerable leads. Improving all this will take some experimentation because the construction technique requires the use of fast acting epoxy and I only have a few minutes to successfully wind the coil and remove it to a setting press. Doubling back the wires, twisting them and exiting them from the side, is probably the best I will be able to come up with. As long as this is not played with too much prior to installation, it should be plenty strong enough. Once installed, there should be no excuse for them breaking.

It would be nice to have this thing really well presented, but the coils will be completely hidden anyway and most  cosmetic improvements add to cost and the practicality of the design (you don't want the thing to get thicker or the wires to necessitate a cut in the pickups bobbin side for instance). A vero circuit though, does look a bit amateurish and not cost effective in any quantity. However, it is still a prototype and vast cosmetic improvements, that do nothing for it's functionality, would follow if the thing is any kind of success.

Oh...another question...this little circuit (37x22mm ish) will be floating around the control cavity of the guitar. I wouldn't want to have it short on anything after installation...what do people think of encapsulation or other such measures for protecting the circuit and to an extent, protecting the design? Perhaps it could be used to enhance the look of the thing if a mold is used. I am a little concerned about the trim pot too...I don't think that would like to be around encapsulation stuff. One thing that came to mind is brushing on domestic waterproofing paint...kind of dries rubbery...any thoughts?

One last thing...I have thought of a name for the device that avoids the s-word and perhaps better describes what is intended to do. Should I trademark the name or something, is there an easy way to copyright such a thing? How do you stompbox makers handle such things. It is a name unlike any comparable or related device and a Google search reveals no similar names out there. Is there a risk in revealing it? (last time I proposed a name for the device, some wise guy immediately registered it as his user name over at PG!!!)

Any thoughts, always welcome... pete

[bancika]

How about this, should be simple, more sturdy and doesn't include a connector: Once you're done with winding coil just make sure that both leads are at the same spot, leave enough length and twist them all way (this should make them radiate less, right? I mean this signal is higher than pickup signal, some feedback/noise can occur if this wire runs near pickup leads and it will, at least for neck pickup) and then heat shrink them together all way. After that's done you could add a drop of epoxy at the beginning that will stick heat shrink to the coil. That way you'll completely avoid having fragile wires floating around.

Just a thought

Cheers,
Bane

[psw]

That's the idea, but the join of the wires as it goes over the coil is the fragile bit (where the heatshrink joins the coil) and also the spot where it needs to turn over the bobbin and still fit within the cover.

As for noise...the device only works with the bridge pickup and I have found that the entire pickup coil needs to be disconnected (hot and ground) to avoid this... As a successful installation will have these provisions, the fact that the wires are close to the pickup coil will not effect either the driver or the pickups performance or add noise to the system.

I will attempt this kind of thing with the next driver...doubling back the driver wires effectively doubling their thickness and provideing more strength. They really aren't that fragile a wire and if handled carefully, once installed should be well clear of any harm to them as they are protected from movement and the like. Wiring a suitable length of wire to them is more secure and compact than any connector and eases installation and taking away the risk of damage by people trying to wire directly to the driver leads or handling them excessively...

Well, that's my present thoughts. 1mm thick and the full width of the coil is not a lot to play with, the tolerances are pretty tight. I guess I will have to rely on the initial experiences and opinions of people who install the device. Am searching out suitable candidates to test the thing. People with successful DIY sustainer installations are an obvious candidate for swapping out my circuit for direct comparison, others with the instrument and suitable knowledge and who are prepared to make the alterations required (mainly, disconnecting all other pickup beside the bridge and wiring it direct to the circuit and controls), could test the coil and the circuit, as well as the concept as a whole.

Will return to driver development soon... pete

[R.G.]

You know, why don't you just wind a layer or two of thick wire as the first layers on the pickup bobbin, bring out the end of the thick wire, and then wind normal, thin pickup wire onto the pickup bobbin? In normal operation, the bottom of the thick wire driver section is ground and the top of the thin wire/pickup section are the outputs. In driver mode, the top of the driver section is ignored and you drive the middle tap so only the driver to ground gets activated. If you can get by with as little coil cross section as you show, the losses inside the winding volume would not prevent you from using it as a normal pickup too.

In keeping with the spirit of the 200+ pages of sustainer development, I have withheld several critical details and I'm going to make up kits and sell them; I hope no one steals my idea and jumps out there with a knockoff product.