The percentage of Carter dogbone failure?

John Swain · Post by **John Swain** » 28 Jan 2017 1:32 pm

I've had my D-10 Carter for 15 years and never had a failure..

Howard Parker · Post by **Howard Parker** » 28 Jan 2017 1:46 pm

A 2002 BCT guitar. No failures. A drop of triflo once a year, fwiw.

h

Bruce Derr · Post by **Bruce Derr** » 28 Jan 2017 5:04 pm

My main gigging guitar these days is a 2004 Carter S-10 that I bought used in 2011. Between me and the previous owner it's had the tar played out of it. I don't know if he ever broke one, but I haven't. I did notice that some of them were worn, though, when I first got the guitar and rerodded it to my setup. I changed those for some less-worn ones. Like Howard, I oil them with Tri-Flow. At some point I may switch some of them over to the setscrew type.

I have, however, broken pull rods. I've had a few break at the hook end when rerodding. I wasn't bending them; they just broke when taking the rods off of the puller, with very little provocation. They must have been already cracked from bending. Apparently the alloy is a little brittle for such a tight bend.

John Swain · Post by **John Swain** » 28 Jan 2017 5:12 pm

Yes, I've had other issues with Carters but let's keep this thread on the dogbones. I know in another thread it was said they were a major problem.

Ron Hogan · Post by **Ron Hogan** » 28 Jan 2017 5:15 pm

John,
We may find out it's not a big issue. It's like the nightly news where we hear some bad reports but there are a whole lot more positive things.

Ron

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 29 Jan 2017 11:54 am

I have had 2 break. Of course they broke on a gig.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 29 Jan 2017 1:07 pm

Well, the Achilles Heels of most guitars are still not hugely problematic.
A lot of Super Pro players have had no problem with the pot metal brackets, but they're still worth noting.

Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 29 Jan 2017 9:11 pm

I played a tons of Sho ~ Buds and Carters, and never had any problems, only guitar I broke a knee lever on was my Excel D10 , but it wasn't me playing, so not sure if that counts

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 30 Jan 2017 11:18 am

Bruce Derr wrote:My main gigging guitar these days is a 2004 Carter S-10 that I bought used in 2011. Between me and the previous owner it's had the tar played out of it. I don't know if he ever broke one, but I haven't. I did notice that some of them were worn, though, when I first got the guitar and rerodded it to my setup. I changed those for some less-worn ones. Like Howard, I oil them with Tri-Flow. At some point I may switch some of them over to the setscrew type.

I have, however, broken pull rods. I've had a few break at the hook end when rerodding. I wasn't bending them; they just broke when taking the rods off of the puller, with very little provocation. They must have been already cracked from bending. Apparently the alloy is a little brittle for such a tight bend.

My old Carter! That guitar was played by me for years and years, no breakage, no problems, never out of tune..
Very few steel guitars will see the amount of play time Bruce's little black S10 has seen. Played and loved by 2 different players for so many years is a good legacy for any instrument.

I never did much work to it as I bought it new, but as Bruce has stated, those Carter pull rods are ultra brittle.. I snapped a bunch of them simply re rodding my last carter. Dog bones?- for me, never an issue with 2 different carter steels... bob

Bill Ferguson · Post by **Bill Ferguson** » 30 Jan 2017 11:31 am

Carter sponsored me over the years, so I have had at least 10 Carters, from the very early ones to my present 2004 D10.

I have never experienced a broken dog bone, pull rod or knee lever bracket.
A little gun oil does the trick for me.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 30 Jan 2017 2:24 pm

I've owned 3 different D10 Carters, the last one for over 10 years, never any issues.

Gabrial Mayer · Post by **Gabrial Mayer** » 6 Feb 2017 6:01 pm

I play a Carter U12... I think it's 08 or 09. A few times I have had the dog bones fall out. Which isn't too big of a deal unless you don't have spares handy. In a pinch a small nut and bolt will get you through a gig.

To put it in perspective, I've played approx 150 shows on it and another 50 rehersals. So with unpacking at home I've probably packed/unpacked it 400 times and it's only happened 3 or 4 times.

I have a dozen dog bones in my pack-a-seat now so no worries.

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 7 Feb 2017 4:14 am

Carter U-12 knee lever

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Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 12 Jul 2017 7:07 am

I broke just 1 Carter Dog-bone in many years of gigging when health permitted me to work. It was the 3rd string pull on an Emmons set-up. Having said that I snapped a "Tear-drop" knee lever on my Sho-Bud steel. Not the usual "pot metal" variety. That dog-bone might have been a batch made in a company where quality control wasn't too good as Bud Carter did use other firms to make some parts.It was a 1999 universal.
Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Carter and Sho-bud universals

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 Jul 2017 8:03 am

I think it was more that the rods are hard stainless and the dogbones are softer brass. Which is going to win that fight? I'm trying to replace all dog bones with the barrel and screw, but they are are so expensive. $10 each from Al Brisco, and no other source. I have my A, B, and C pedals converted. Much easier to time pulls, adjust slack, and you can take out the rod from the changer end without having to remove other rods. Need to replace the socket head cap screws with set screws though, to keep the screw out of the way of other rods.

Ron Hogan · Post by **Ron Hogan** » 12 Jul 2017 8:44 am

Richard,
This source has several barrels you can use. He lists three sizes. Five for $9.00.

Let us know which ones you get.

http://www.psgparts.com/Barrel-Locking- ... BL-250.htm

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 12 Jul 2017 9:37 am

I owned four over a 12 year period and never broke one.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 12 Jul 2017 11:11 am

Ron Hogan wrote:Richard,
This source has several barrels you can use. He lists three sizes. Five for $9.00.

Let us know which ones you get.

http://www.psgparts.com/Barrel-Locking- ... BL-250.htm

The one's that Michael sells are 1/4" diameter. Carter uses 3/16". I asked Michael if he would consider making the 3/16 diameter ones for the Carter. His answer was that as long as the parts were available from Al Brisco, he would not make them. I really wish he would reconsider. Maybe I'll ask him if he would drill the rod hole in some brass collars I could send him. The accurate drilling of the collar is my problem.

Dan Robinson · Post by **Dan Robinson** » 13 Jul 2017 7:26 pm

Ken Metcalf wrote:Carter U-12 knee lever

C

Yep, this. Mine broke in the same place, stress fracture where it actuates the reverser.

I spoke to Al Brisco today, as he was making a replacement for me. Al told me that just before John Fabian died he was planning to radius the edges of that piece. Hmm, better make two of them while you're at it.

No broken dog-bones (yet). But ordered a handful of the barrel nuts with 4-40 set screws as replacements. They're a little pricey, but the exchange rate is favorable right now.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 14 Jul 2017 6:15 am

Curiosity question. How does the exchange rate figure into this? $10 is still $10 here. The exchange rate will affect Al. It will determine the amount of profit he does or doesn't make.

Dan Robinson · Post by **Dan Robinson** » 14 Jul 2017 6:50 am

Al's price list is in Canadian dollars. Knee lever bracket is 20 bucks Canadian. He will calculate the entire order plus shipping in Canadian $. It gets converted when he submits charges to the credit card.

Right now a 100 dollar order will be about $75 US Dollars charged to my card.

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 14 Jul 2017 12:59 pm

(I posted this before but here it is again) I had two brass dog bones fail, both right where you would expect: broke in two at the thinner center section. Here's my quick but long lasting fix: drill out some brass stock and replace with steel drill rod for the center part.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 14 Jul 2017 3:12 pm

Dan Robinson wrote:Al's price list is in Canadian dollars. Knee lever bracket is 20 bucks Canadian. He will calculate the entire order plus shipping in Canadian $. It gets converted when he submits charges to the credit card.

Right now a 100 dollar order will be about $75 US Dollars charged to my card.

I never noticed any difference when I ordered from him.

David Spires · Post by **David Spires** » 15 Jul 2017 12:18 pm

My 2000 Carter has been gigged hard for 17 years and counting, and never a mechanical failure of any type.

Still my main axe.

David Spires

Bob Knetzger · Post by **Bob Knetzger** » 15 Jul 2017 3:46 pm

I also had a knee lever fail in the same manner (sharp inside corner stress cracks). It happened to be the RKR lever so there was room in the mounting to make this repair. Stronger than original.

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The percentage of Carter dogbone failure?

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The percentage of Carter dogbone failure?

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