What is the best pick up

Mike Heavner · From: Fallston,N.C.

I hope this is in the right section of the forum? Any way, I'm curious as to what pickup to buy for my carter d10. The pickup on the guitar are the ones that come with the carter from the factory. I hear that the George L-66 is a real good pickup. Is this true?

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

What is on it now? After several varieties on my SD-12 I came to the Lawrence XR-16 and it is the keeper. I tried an E66 and didn't care for it (didn't hate it either). I find the Lawrence more even, less spiky. There are guys who like the GeoL and I don't think poorly of them for it.

Mike Shefrin · Posted 31 Mar 2008 9:04 am

Mike,
George L pickups are good. So are Bill Lawrence pickups, and so are Jerry Wallace truetone pickups, and so are Bob Hoffnar's tonealigner pickups. Which pickup sounds the best to you is entirely subjective. You just have to try them out to see which one sounds the best to you. One person will tell you that he likes such and such a pickup, and then somebody else will tell you that they like another kind. Sorry I can't be more helpful but it's all a question of what sounds best to your ears and not someone else's. Good luck, and I hope you find the one that sounds best to you. By the way, you can order a truetone pickup from Jerry Wallace, and if you don't like it, you can return it, and he'll give you a complete refund. I don't know if the other pickup companies offer that same kind of a deal, but it's something to consider.

John Sluszny · From: Brussels, Belgium

www.steelguitar.com/resource/pickups/pusounds.htm

Robbie Daniels · From: Casper, Wyoming, USA

I personally prefer Danny Shields pickups. He builds gret sounding pickups. I have a George L and a Shields modular pickup for my Sierra U12 and rarely ever use the George L.
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Carter D12, MSA S12, 12 String Custom Made Non-Pedal, Evans FET 500LV, Evans SE200, Peavey Nashville 400, Fender Steel King

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

Best (favorite) pickup in a Sierra has very little bearing on best (favorite) pickup in a Carter. Or a (fill in any name).

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

This is sort of like asking "what is the best car". Everyone has their personal preference. I have four sets of pickups for my MSA's, Truetones, George L's TW's, Lawrence XR16's, and Tonealigners, and I can tell very little difference in the sound of any of them. There's sure not enough difference "to get all het' up about" as we say in Texas.
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Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, a restored MSA Classic SS, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Also a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored Rose S10, named the "Blue Bird". Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also have a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks, and a showroom condition Sho-Bud Super Pro.

Eddie Cunningham · From: Massachusetts, USA

For the life of me I don't understand why guys buy a GOOD expensive Pro built name brand steel and the first thing they do is rip out the pickup and replace it with one or several $200.oo pickups!!?? I am sure the original builder put in the best available pickup and as Darvin states there isn't hardly any difference in tone !!?? You can get any tone you want thru a good amp by just adjusting the tone controls !! I've owned many steels and never changed any pickups and have been happy with the stock pkup. Maybe someone can explain the reasoning to this old fool !!! This is my H O !! Eddie "C" ( old non-pedal geezer )

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

I've owned 4 Carter steels and had 10-1's E-66, Truetones and XR-16's and here's what I found.

10-1 Not Bad but a little harsh

E-66 Thin with shrill highs

Truetones very nice glassy tone rich bottom and mids,good string separation but hum made them unusable in many clubs I played.

XR-16 No hum, full tone,good highs,the best I've found for the Carter.

I haven't used it in a Carter but you might also consider the BL710 which I feel is very close in all repects to the XR-16 to my ears.

I forgot,I played a friends Rains recently with the Tonealigners and I liked the sound and the ability to adjust the poles.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Mike,
Feel free to get in touch if you are interested in a tonealigner pickup. I can wind one to suit you if you like. I've got them so that they fit in Carter's fine now. Keep in mind that all the pickups mentioned are great, high quality pickups. They all just have slightly different sounds. The old Danny Shields pickups are great but might be difficult to fit into a Carter.

Have you checked the Carter pickup page ? It has some very good info on it. Bud Carter has a couple of the best ears ever for testing pickups.
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Bob

Mike Heavner · From: Fallston,N.C.

I've checked out the carter steel page and it was pretty helpful.Thanks for all the replies fellas.

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Well..this page was new to me and I must say I was impressed. I never realized the existence of this page until now.
I only listened to a part of each clip and the initial feeling I come away with is: All the pickups sounded the same to me.
I will give it a better chance later on.
The only one left to test would be Bob's Tonealigner pickup. Now I am really curious (and hopeful) that his pickup will sound different.

By the way all pickups sounded great. I wish all the builders would run this test. Great stuff!

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I recently tried out a Tone Aligner (I just love the Sierra and MSA modular pickup systems that allow one to change pickups in seconds) and was startles at how much louder it was and how much more presence it has then the stock Millennium pickup.

I will definitely get one of these in the near future.
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Jake Palmatier · From: Michigan, USA

I HAVE TO SAY THAT THE TRUETONE PICKUPS ARE THE BEST IVE EVER HAD.

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

I've always favored the George L's 12-5's or 10-5's. I started using them when they first went on the market over 20 years ago and found them to be real quiet when recording. I really don't think there is a 'bad' pickup out there today. It's a matter of personal choice...what sounds good to YOU. I've stuck with G-l's a long time. I tried a BL Sidewinder back in 2000 and loved it. It was 'edgy', but really cut thru the fog. The only reason I went back to the G-L on that guitar was for recording purposes. The G-L was simply better suited IMO. For live gigs, the Sidewinder served me well for seven years. I never tried any others because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. As suggested, you can do more by changing amp settings than by changing pickups. Most steel builders try to mate up their steels with the p/u that will enhance the sound of their guitar to the max. It does seem odd that the first thing a lot of pickers want to do is rip out that p/u and install something that may not even remotely be suitable for that particular instrument. BTW I use only one of the 'new' style G-l p/u's...the ones with the injection-molded covers. All my others are the old 1984/1985 'ice-cream-sandwich' hand-wound p/u's with the hand-made coil forms inside. Nothing like they are making in this day and age and crude by comparison. They sound great and work well in the studio so why look for a better mousetrap?
PRR

Mike Heavner · From: Fallston,N.C.

Bent,I really couldn't tell the difference between the pickups from the carter website either. To be honest they all sounded pretty dang good.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Mike H
Yes, of course I should have added they all sounded great..

Fred Nolen · From: Mohawk, Tennessee, USA

I have spent a several dollars chasing after the latest and greatest pickups - I, however, have gone back to single coil Wallace True Tones. IMHO, NOTHING can touch them.

Ol' Fred

Mike Heavner · From: Fallston,N.C.

Donny, I was just trying to get everyones opinion on the best pickups. My carter has the factory pickups on it and I just was curious if a new george L-66 would add a little flavor to the carter. So keep your sarcasm to yourself friend.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

OOOOOOooo, touchy, touchy! Laughing

I forgot you can't take a joke.

It is nice being your friend, though.

Bent Romnes · From: London,Ontario, Canada

Mike H,
I do hope that Carter will do the test with the Tonealligner as well.
I'm very curious about that product. Imagine...adjustable magnets! Serious tweaking possibilities! Jay Dee Manness uses it and he sounds ok Laughing

John Fabian · From: Mesquite, Texas USA * R.I.P.

Mike,

Call me next week and I'll be happy to discuss this with you. The GL10-5 will not be what you want.

Mike Heavner · From: Fallston,N.C.

No hard feelings Donny, just seemed a little sarcastic,Maybe I just took it the wrong way.No hard feelings O.K.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

No Mike, no hard feelings. I do admit I come off as a smartass, sometimes (no, make that most of the time). Take John up on his offer, see what he has to say. Everybody likes something a little different, but maybe if you tell him what you're looking for, he can steer you in the rtight direction.

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