Pickup for Carter

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 22 Feb 2014 11:46 pm

Question for Carter players. What is your favorite pickup?

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 23 Feb 2014 12:16 am

XR-16

Bill Ferguson · Post by **Bill Ferguson** » 23 Feb 2014 5:28 am

Hands down. XR16

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 23 Feb 2014 6:54 am

Lace Alumitone (E9)

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Bill Moore (RIP) · Post by **Bill Moore (RIP)** » 23 Feb 2014 9:03 am

I have a Carter S-10, with a George L 10-1 pickup, it sounds exceptionally good. I had a D-10 with a Tonealinger that sounded great too. Carters seem to be pretty consistently good sounding,regardless of the pickup.

Stephen Cordingley · Post by **Stephen Cordingley** » 23 Feb 2014 9:14 am

my Carters have various George L pickups, which sound clear and even
one of my Carters has (stock?) single coils, which have a very appealing, slightly bassy, "classic country" sound, but hum a lot when I open up the volume pedal
a nice luxury would be to hear Carters with both types, then decide...

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 23 Feb 2014 10:50 am

I had an E-66 on a sd12 andit sounded pretty good. I've got an E-66 on my sd10 and it doest sound quite right to my ear.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 23 Feb 2014 11:07 am

I don't recall Carter's "standard" pickup being a single coil. Mine certainly were not.

h

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 23 Feb 2014 11:12 am

Steve--I put an E-66 on my Carter SD-12 specifically for a really bad room I occasionally played. My Lawrence pups just weren't quite as hum cancelling, for some reason. It was perfectly acceptable but not at all my preference. It only stayed on the guitar long enough to cover a couple of gigs at this place.

Except for this unique circumstance, XR-16 was the pickup that made me stop looking any further.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 23 Feb 2014 11:18 am

re: standard----Carter's web form for configuring and ordering a guitar gave options for pretty much any and all pickups.

These are the sound samples they provided:

****HERE****

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 23 Feb 2014 11:21 am

Thanks Jon!!

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Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 23 Feb 2014 12:49 pm

Alumitones sound great in a Carter.
Jerry

Dale Ware · Post by **Dale Ware** » 23 Feb 2014 5:27 pm

John always told me on his guitars use xr-16 pickups for the best sound. He said no other pickup brought out the best in Carter guitars. He would put whatever pickup you wanted but that is what he would recommend. Dale

Ron Pruter · Post by **Ron Pruter** » 23 Feb 2014 8:56 pm

Forgive my dumb question, but who makes the XR-16? Is that a Bill Lawrence?

Per Berner · Post by **Per Berner** » 24 Feb 2014 3:58 am

Shouldn't the first question be: What kind of music will you be playing, and what tone do you strive for?

C6 bebop, modern Nashville radio pop or 60's hardcore country aren't exactly the same.

I wouldn't want the world's best sounding humbucker anywhere near my Telecaster, and so on...

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 24 Feb 2014 8:54 am

I play what I call, Trrue country, 60's and 70's. From the description that I've been given and the sound clips that Jon provided, the sound that I'm looking for is gonna be from the XR-16 or the alumitone.

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 24 Feb 2014 10:59 am

Steve, In my opinion, you will be happy with the Lawrence XR-16. I have tried most of the popular pickups over the last 10 years in my S12 Carter. The XR-16 has been in it a lot of the time, but currently I have a Telonics 427 [12 string] with the two rows of adjustable poles. The bottom end seams a little clearer with the Telonics. If you are looking for an XR-16, Al Brisco at "Steel Guitars of Canada" has them.

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 24 Feb 2014 2:48 pm

I looked on Al's site is the LXR-16 the same as the XR-16?
Thanks everyone for the help

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 24 Feb 2014 2:58 pm

Yes Steve. The L stands for Lawrence. By the way, I don't think the Alumitone uses the same screw holes as other pickups and requires new holes drilled. I could be wrong though.

Ollin Landers · Post by **Ollin Landers** » 24 Feb 2014 5:19 pm

I have a Carter S-12U with a Wallace TrueTone. I love the sound but it's really noisy in the wrong environment. I am seriously considering an XR-16.

I have a USA Nashville Tele with the stock pickups and a Mexican Tele I upgraded with Lawrence L280 and L289 pickups.

I'll have to say the Nashville plays better but even though the Mexican does not play as well I think it sounds better.

I'm sold on Lawrence pickups.

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 24 Feb 2014 6:03 pm

My Carter D10 came with Wallace Truetones on it but they were prone to picking up stray electromagnetic fields so they hummed (no, it wasn't because they didn't know the words!)

I replaced them with Alumitones and have had no problems with hum since, and great tone with excellent string-separation into the bargain. Money well invested, and they were easy to install.

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 24 Feb 2014 6:22 pm

I've also considered that it may just be the guitar and a different pick up might not help, but I don't think so, so I'll try a different pickup before I condemn the guitar.

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 24 Feb 2014 9:06 pm

What do you find lacking with your current setup?

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Chris Johnson · Post by **Chris Johnson** » 24 Feb 2014 10:50 pm

I really like the new 705's in my Carter. I previously had the XR-16 in it for 2+ years and enjoyed them for the time being.

I still have my XR-16 if you're interested?

Chris

Steve Hackney · Post by **Steve Hackney** » 25 Feb 2014 9:39 am

Howard. I'm not as good at describing what is lacking as some people are. But I guess the sound I'm getting now is kind of lacking fullness, which could even be the way I'm playing.

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