Sustain

You know what? I didn't think of this the first time you asked me. What strings are you using? Gauge and brand

Damn. I would say go thicker but...putting .12s on would most likely require a truss rod adjustment and that's too much just to try a new string gauge.

You need to be turned up LOUD. That's the answer. Being near that loud ass amp will give you that "starting to feedback" sustain you're after.

What kind of bridge is on your guitar? Is it a bolt-on or neck thru? Those are both questions related to systain. A good way to compensate is to use a compressor/sustainer pedal very lightly.

And FYI: 12's require you drop a 1/2 step in tuning right across.. Too much tension.

Know what kind of trem or tailpiece? Usually anything with a tremolo will have less sustain.. And anything string-thru will have the most sustain.. With tuno-o-matics, wrap-arounds, and everything else similar falling in between.

Typically, neck-thrus and set necks are said to have more sustain then bolt-ons.

I do agree with Trashy up there.. Playing louder will give you more sustain.. Kind of. The only reason it seems like you're getting more sustain is because you're increasing (my analogy here) the height of the roof in the room. Think of it as tossing a ball up in the air in a room with a ceiling. The taller the ceiling is, the longer it takes it to fall.. Even if the same effort is put into how hard you throw the ball. So you throw the ball as hard as you can at a 10 foot ceiling.. It hits the roof, then falls to the ground in 5 seconds. You use the same kind of force to throw the same ball at a ceiling at a height of 20 feet. It takes 10 seconds for it to hit the ground after hitting the ceiling.. And so on. You strum a chord with force. Your volume is at say, 3. It takes 15 seconds for the sound to die down. Using the same force, you strum a chord with your volume on 6 and it takes 25 seconds for the sound to die down. All you're going is increasing the roof to allow more time for the reaction of your action.

Throwing Ball (Action) > Hits Ceiling and Falls to Ground (Reaction)
Strum a Chord (Action) > Chord Dies Down to Quiet (Reaction)

Perhaps that will help understand Thrashy's method for more sustain, haha.

The neck itself is throughbody. Ill see how it goes when I get home.

Or you could go off the deep end.

diy-fever.com/misc/diy-sustainer/