No. They've been around for several decades, offered as options in many different guitars and also sold individually for custom installation. Even today, Schecter has many non-Syn models that come with a Sustainiac in the neck position, even though his current signature models don't come with them anymore (At least, I don't THINK they do, since his signature pickup set came out).
If memory serves, the Sustainiac was an offshoot of the E-Bow, which did the same thing, but was held in the player's hand. As far as I know, the first use of the e-bow on a major record was Def Leppard's Hysteria in 1987, but it certainly COULD have been earlier.