John Fabian wrote:The Alumitone packs lots of punch without that nasally, compressed sound you get out of many humbuckers. The pickup is even across the strings and up and down the neck. Most of the people who have tried it say it has "a lot of air". (It breathes kind of like a single coil.)
We should have sound samples in a couple of weeks. We are in the middle of re-doing all the pickup sound samples on our website.
Since my first reaction to the introduction of the Lace Bass Bars pickup was, "That looks like a steel guitar pickup." and the videos of basses with Bass Bars demonstrated a clear sound with no harshness and solid lows, I am not surprised by the positive reactions I'm reading.
I'm wondering what the dimensions of the pickup are; will it fit in an old MSA Classic S10?
I have been interested in these PU's since John's first post. I wish I could have been at the show in Dallas to see for myself.
If Al Briscoe played a set using a rig with these pick ups, I would like to hear a testimonial from Al. I like the way he plays and I was lucky enough to talk to Al one time when I called Carter with a question .
i'm afraid that if you've got a hybrid zum and you're already not satisfied with the tone to the extent that you're swapping pickups, you'll never be happy with anything...and the problem is not with your equpment.
i'm afraid that if you've got a hybrid zum and you're already not satisfied with the tone to the extent that you're swapping pickups, you'll never be happy with anything...and the problem is not with your equpment.
I am not changing pickups in my Hybrid Zum because I am unhappy with the tone. I have a Truetone for it which sounds great and currently have a Tonealigner in it which also sounds great. I will be trying the Alumitone also when it arrives. I am a gear nut and enjoy fiddling with different options. The Zum is a fantastic sounding steel with all the pickups I have tried so far. I fiddle because I can.
Unfortunately, Alumitone pickups are not in stock. They are back-ordered and we expect them soon. When they come in they will be added to our accessories cart for online ordering.
You can register to receive notification of in stock availability at the link below:
(when Dean Parks talks about tone, my ears perk up)
That pickup looks like it might be possible to build one that is *very* low profile, low enough to use as a second neck pickup on a standard steel without routing out the neck.
I've been looking for something like this for years for use with my Franklins. I'll have to talk to Lace.....
Yes, I used the new Alumitone pickup at the Dallas show in a Carter S-10DB & really like it.
I got to test the pickup against other pickups in various guitar models at the Carter factory before the show, & just had to play one on stage to be sure.
As noted by others, the lows have bite while the highs have body...with a very balanced sound across the whole frequency spectrum.
I have ordered some for my guitars. Can't wait to hear one in my Carter LE.
Al Brisco
I have been a proponent of these Lace Alumitones since I bought 308 of them from Lace when they first came out in 2007. I have built several electric Spanish guitars with Aluma-90's and Alumibuckers. I have sold over 180 on eBay and I still have some gold Aluma-90's listed for about half of their retail price.
Although these alumitone pickups don't look like they should even work, they are like nothing else out there.
Imagine a P-90 with no noise! I put a bass pickup on a 10 string pedal steel (an early solid maple Sho-Bud Maverick) as a test and it was fantastic. I used an Alumitone bass pickup so it was wide enough for 10 strings. Jeff lace recommended that I use a 250K pot and he also told me that Lace could easily modify their bass Alumitone pickup for optimum steel guitar performance. It appears that this is exactly what Carter is doing. I am not surprised, since Carter was the only pedal steel builder at NAMM last January, and the Lace booth was only a few feet away from Carter's.
1940 Vega Double 8, 1 Bakelite and 1 Metal Rickenbacher, Oahu Tonemaster. '66 Fender Twin, Bogner Alchemist and vintage Baldwin amplifier.
I talked to a tech at Lace. Unfortunately, it looks like the legs on the pickup are functional, So I can't chop them off and use this as a neck pickup on my Franklins without routing a hole. Which I am *not* going to do, thank you very much.
I tried both of these guitars while I was at the Dallas show and I was very impressed by their performance... I ordered one to try on my standard changer Zum, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they go in a different guitar.
My Alumitone pickup has arrived and been installed in my Hybrid Zum. I ordered it from Carter and it comes with a base plate already installed and fits into the Zum with no problems or minor mods required. The mounting screw slots line up perfectly. It will definitely be staying in the Zum and sounds exactly as mostly described by everyone who has tried one, definitely more single coil than humbucker sound. I have had a Truetone and a Tonealigner in this guitar previously which both sounded great, but I prefer a brighter more old fashioned tone and the Alumitone gives me that without any harshness or icey highs. I think this pickup will sound great in most steels and has a very wide tonal range from bright to full and mellow.
I can't find anywhere to order this item on their web site. When you click on the links they take you everywhere except the order page. What's going on??
