Bill Laurence LXR - 16

[Nick Waugh]

Hi All

I fitted my long awaited LXR16 to my carter. The only problem is that I need to adjust the height. My 705 was fine height wise, but this one is too far from the strings. There is no spring mechanism to allow for height adjustment. Any suggestions?

[Jon Light (deceased)]

My 1998 Carter had springs semi-embedded into holes in the body (to keep them from falling out.) Since you don't have the springs, I'd either look for the right sized compression springs or find a piece of dense foam (the size of the pickup base), around....1/2"? 3/4" ? and insert it in the cavity.

[Nick Waugh]

Yeas thanks I put in some foam, That solves one problem, but now I am getting distortion. Any ideas?

[Jon Light (deceased)]

The only thing that comes to mind is that the 710 (which is cosmetically identical to the XR16....I've never known what the difference is, inside) is notoriously hot and sometimes needs more distance from the strings than the average pickup so as to not overload the amp's (or any FX in front of the amp's) input. If screwing the pickup down lower doesn't fix the distortion....no other ideas, from here.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Let me add that the XR-16 is one of my favorite pickups. It was in my Carter and is now in my Fessenden. I never had problems with it being too hot.

[Jerry Overstreet]

The D10 Carter I'm playing has one ea. 710 and XR16. Unfortunately, the guitar is not here for me to measure string clearance, but neither pickup is distorted. I've forgotten what the recommended clearance is, but xr16's are on a lot of Carters, so perhaps someone can measure theirs for you.

I concur with Jon. If the height adjustment is not the problem, and all was well before you installed the foam, no helpful ideas here.

[George Macdonald]

The XR-16 in my Carter S12 universal is about 3/8 below the strings. My Carter came with an XR-16 in 2004, and over the years I've tried 6 or 7 different pickups. I can't say any of them sounded "bad", but some were too bright for me. I also like the George L 12-1 in my Carter, but for the last couple of years I'm back to the XR-16. The height of any of the pickups I tried never was an issue. My Carter does have the two springs recessed into the pickup cavity for adjustment.

[Gene Tani]

Is this to cure screeching/ice picking above 12th fret?

Dunno if this helps but i measured 705 vs 710

viewtopic.php?p=2947044#2947044

and people talk about dremeling baseplate to get more cavity clearance, but i'm guessing your pole pieces are sticking out the bottom of the pickup

viewtopic.php?p=2874351#2874351

[Nick Waugh]

Thanks for all your replies guys. The distortion is still there and the after a rehearsal last night I noticed that as well as distortion the pickup is really quiet. I had to use my fuzz pedal (with the distortion down) as a volume boost. Could this be a dud pickup? I find the wiring system strange - White to hot - black to ground - Red - insulate. This is on the wiring diagram on Bill Laurence website so it must be correct. Normally on a humbucker there are 2 wires to twist together and tape off. Could there be a missing wire?

This pickup is my last attempt to fix my terrible sound. I have tried every pickup going. I have never had a good sound despite changing every piece of hardware - amps, volume pedals, leads, buffers etc. I currently have a milkman pedal steel mini. The only thing I haven't changed is the pedal steel itself. I have a 2007 Carter SD10. I have spent the 13 years since I started playing fighting against a dreadful sound. I am currently signed up to the Paul franklyn method. He says it is not to do with my playing it is a pickup problem, and recommended the 705. This did improve things from the painfully thin weedy toneless sound, but now it is too mellow and has no cut through. It is dead. That's why I ordered the L-xr16. I heard that is has the mellowness of the 705 but with more bite. I hope it is a dud as this is my last hope.

Sorry to moan. I so much want to have a sound that is pleasing to my ears but have never had this. Is it possible that my Carter is a dud? Paul Franklyn says it is not me, that my right hand is good. Has anyone else ever been through this?