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Topic: Pickups for Carter Steels |
Pierre Belliveau
From:
New Brunswick, Canada
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Posted 5 Feb 2018 11:38 pm |
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| Hi , i currently have a Carter D-10 .. i’m a beginner .. which pickups do all you Carter players use in your Carter Steel ?Thanks ... also what does anyone recommend to get more sustain ? ... thanks |
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Ron Hogan
From:
Nashville, TN, usa
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Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
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Posted 6 Feb 2018 9:43 am
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My favorites are Bill Lawrence 710's.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, NV400, NV112 . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
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Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
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Posted 6 Feb 2018 11:03 am Re: Pickups for Carter Steels
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| Pierre Belliveau wrote: |
| Hi , i currently have a Carter D-10 .. i’m a beginner .. which pickups do all you Carter players use in your Carter Steel ?Thanks ... also what does anyone recommend to get more sustain ? ... thanks |
Pickups will not help your sustain. As you learn how to play better you will be more concerned with how to control all the sustain your guitar has already.
Find a player/teacher who can show you live, one on one, how to pick and hold the bar.
_________________
Bob |
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Kevin Mincke
From:
Farmington, MN (Twin Cities-South Metro) USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2018 5:18 pm
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What Bob said. I have the original GeorgeL on my 98 single neck. It sounds great & plenty of sustain.
Last edited by Kevin Mincke on 8 Feb 2018 1:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dick Wood
From:
Springtown Texas, USA
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Posted 7 Feb 2018 7:52 am
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I owned four Carter Steels and NEVER cared for the E66. The XR16,705,710,409 all worked great.
Trutones sounded good at home but noisy as hell at a few clubs I played.
_________________
Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 8 Feb 2018 11:57 am
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To maybe explain a bit further some of the previous comments:
Changing the pickup may change 1) the output level *to* the amp, which may or may not be a good thing. As pickups are made "hotter" (higher in output) they often transition into more bland or brittle tones with a loss of warmth; 2) the voicing - pickups are made with various magnetic alloys, magnet shapes/sizes/weights, different bobbin (the "cradle" that holds the windings in conventional pickups) designs/materials, different wire diameter ("gage") and number of windings - all these combine to change not only the output, but the frequency response and frequency "center(s)" - thew spot or spots on a frequency curve with the strongest response.
There are also "single coil" pickups and "humbucking" (dual-coil_ pickups; the latter use the second coil to negate the natural hum present in a coil of wire, but at the expense of a (hopefully slight) amount of high-frequency response.
About the only sustain-related quality of a pickup is the magnetic pull on the strings. The more magnetic pull you have the quicker a string will be pulled to a stop. The effect is not usually significant unless the pickup has very a strong magnet(s) AND is adjusted very close to the strings.
in most cases, regardless of pickup, it's not a good idea to position it TOO close to the strings - not only because of magnetic pull, but due to "wolf" tones that can be caused by close proximity.
If you "Google" subjects like "guitar pickup design" or "guitar pickup types" you'll find hundreds of sources of information. one fo the best is Dave Hunter's Guitar Pickup Handbook. While not specific to pedal steel it covers every type of commonly-found guitar pickup, and most (if not all) can be made and adapted to pedal steel.
Pickup varieties are sadly neglected in the steel world nowadays. I find the lack of on-guitar tone controls (which operate in a completely different way from amp controls) and single-pickup only guitars baffling, myself.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Cartwright Thompson
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Posted 8 Feb 2018 2:01 pm
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| What Bob said. You’re a beginner, there are much more important things for you to focus on. Just learn to play. With good technique you can make almost anything sound good. All that technical stuff about pickups is a complete waste of your time right now. |
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Pierre Belliveau
From:
New Brunswick, Canada
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Posted 9 Feb 2018 2:17 am
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| Thanks guys , i really appreciate all the comments , Bob your absolutely right , i 100% agree with learn how to play first and the rest will come with time .. when i bought the carter it had an Bill Lawrence XR16 , wich i found very harsh and my teacher gave me a L710 , wich i find a lot more mellow but with less attack .. has anybody ever experince the difference between the 2 .. i run a Nashville 400 ... |
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Dick Wood
From:
Springtown Texas, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2018 8:29 am
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I found exactly the opposite where the XR16 had more bass with no harshness and the 710 to have slightly less bass and good highs with no harshness.
Many people like the E66 but I find them to be thin and somewhat harsh on the high end.
_________________
Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night. |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 11 Feb 2018 6:23 pm
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I'm with Dick I found the XR-16 to be more on the mellow side but still with nice smooth highs - the 710 being a little "brighter" all round.. In the last few years of Carter guitars, John had a lot of XR-16's on guitars and they all sounded pretty good.
with George L's I have always found the E66 to be better suited to C6th - it is way too bright and thin sounding on E9th to my ears - the 10-1 is better suited to E9th I reckon. Thats the configuration I had on my MCI welded frame D10 and it always sounded great.
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Dan Robinson
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2018 8:34 pm
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Before judging a pickup harsh or brittle, try adjusting the height. Sometimes just lowering it can smooth things out.
The XR-16 in my Carter is anything but harsh. |
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