Carter Steel Guitars - you like 'em?

Michael McNeill · Post by **Michael McNeill** » 16 Aug 2012 3:35 pm

Hey You Guys!

I have been playing a Double Neck Carter with 9 and 8 for almost 3 years now. It was the last order they took before the prices got bumped up. I remember talking to Ann on my cell phone and getting the pharmacist to fax the order to her while I was doing my grocery shopping.

I love this axe. It does everything I ask of it and more. I ordered all the junk I could think of because I was never going to be in the position again to have someone build me a pedal steel. I am still using the Franklin pedal very sparingly. Because I don't want to play something that doesn't belong there. Know what I mean?

I never see much written about Carter Steels, good or bad. Do any of you guys have an opinion? I have Wallace True Tone PU and use a Hilton Volume Pedal but my old Sho-Bud Pedal works just fine.

Just curious.

Steely

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 16 Aug 2012 3:54 pm

Nice guitar Michael.

I've never owned a Carter, but I considered them very heavily when I bought a new steel several years ago. I always sat them at St. Louis, or wherever they were displayed at Steel conventions.

They feel, look, play and sound as good to me as any professional steel guitar. They're compact and don't weigh a ton. They sold many of them while they were building them.

Bud Carter is as savvy as they come.

I believe I could play a professional model Carter exclusively and be quite content.

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 16 Aug 2012 4:04 pm

I love my Carter D-10, it's got great tone, it's easy to play, it's light weight. It stays in tune very well, and I've never had a single repair issue. I have no regrets at all.

George Macdonald · Post by **George Macdonald** » 16 Aug 2012 4:09 pm

I ordered a Carter S12 universal with 8 and 6 in 2004 and I'm sure it's the last guitar I'll need. I had a Bud Carter built MSA for 29 years before the Carter. Mine has a Telonics #151 pickup, [bar and poles] and I use a Telonics Vol pedal. I can't imagine another guitar sounding or working any better than the Carter. A lot of pros have owned Carters and yes some have moved on to other brands, but I believe Carters are among the best. Too bad they are no longer being built.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 16 Aug 2012 7:04 pm

Some years back Big Jim Baron hosted a event featuring Jeff Newman, David Wright, Bobby Black, and Jay Dee Maness.

Jeff brought a Carter and a Zum, and alternated between them. I felt that the Zum had a little (VERY little) more presence in the bass, but the difference between them was really negligible. Bobby Black also played a Carter on that occasion. (David played a Sierra and Jay Dee played his Emmons P-P.)

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 16 Aug 2012 7:13 pm

That's a fantastic looking Carter, Mr. Michael.
I'm a bit new to the steel, how is the Franklin pedal applied?
Thanks for posting.

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 16 Aug 2012 7:24 pm

Here's "Blondie" - again!

She arrived with Wallace TrueTones, which sounded great but were prone to picking up hum at several venues. I put a set of Alumitones in and the tone is perfect with absolutely no worries about picking up hum.

"Blondie" is a fine example of what was produced in the Carter Custom Shop. Wooden necks, sausage-quilt Maple front apron, ebony inlays for the frets. Abalone inlays on the front apron and a custom Carter logo with abalone inlays as well.

She is setup as straight Emmons 8X5 with the Franklin-change split between RKL (G# to F#) and pedal 4 (lowers 5 and 10 a whole tone). The bottom neck is standard C6th copedant with a high G instead of the more modern high D.

The undercarriage is exceptionally neat with rods running straight through split bellcranks, supported by plastic bushes (if the rod is long) to eliminate rattling. A copedent change takes just a few minutes. Very neat and easy to maintain. A big "thank you!" to Bud Carter for a superb design and sincerest thanks also to the late John Fabian for building them so well (with Bud's help, of course!).

There were over two thousand produced and they may well become very collectable as the decades roll on. Carters are great steel-guitars!

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 16 Aug 2012 8:36 pm

Love my D-10! Its a Custom Shop 8X7 with X16s.

Clete

Steven Finley · Post by **Steven Finley** » 16 Aug 2012 10:35 pm

The best steel guitar ever built period!!!!!!

Jean-Marie Raffault · Post by **Jean-Marie Raffault** » 17 Aug 2012 12:49 am

Here is my carter D10 bought from Al Brisco.
Blue lacquer, quilted maple, True Tone pickups.

Mark Dershaw · Post by **Mark Dershaw** » 17 Aug 2012 4:13 am

I've had my Carter for a little over a year now. I can't find anything wrong with it! Stays in tune really well and sounds great. I had no apprehension about buying one after I saw some of my all time favorites like Bobby Black, David Call and Rusty Young playing them. I have considered going back to an S10 but would certainly do that in a Carter too. Mine has the premium polished necks and I'm not sure what that means as compared to standard necks.

Michael McNeill · Post by **Michael McNeill** » 17 Aug 2012 4:45 am

"Blondie" is amazing. Good name for her. Look at that inlay! The Blue Lacquer model from France looks like it had some extra chrome! So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

I like the way "Blondie" split the 2 strings for the Franklin lowers to separate levers. When I do use mine, I use it for fills and runs (learned from David Hartley).

Michael McNeill · Post by **Michael McNeill** » 17 Aug 2012 4:55 am

"Blondie" is amazing. Good name for her. Look at that inlay! The Blue Lacquer model from France looks like it had some extra chrome! So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

I like the way "Blondie" split the 2 strings for the Franklin lowers to separate levers. When I do use mine, I use it for fills and runs (learned from David Hartley).

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 17 Aug 2012 5:08 am

Jean-Marie Raffault wrote:

That's one of the most beautiful steels I've ever seen. If I ever buy another, it's going to look like that.

The reason some people look down on Carter is that they were not made by hand, one at a time. Instead they had the parts pre-manufactured, so they could assemble the guitars quickly and less expensively than some of the other builders.

To which I say, "so What?" Does anybody here drive a hand made car? They did it right and made excellent steels, every bit as good as any other out there and better than many of them. The only reason I don't play one is that John Fabian told me they couldn't make one with a wrist lever.

I wish he was still alive. Damn cancer. I hope they find a cure very soon.

Mark Dershaw · Post by **Mark Dershaw** » 17 Aug 2012 5:17 am

Fred Justice has his parts machined for him and then he does the assembly work. As testimony to the quality... look who's buying them.

Larry Behm · Post by **Larry Behm** » 17 Aug 2012 6:58 am

I have had 2 of them over the years, they are light weight, play great, stay in tune. The best sound I ever got was with a stock Emmons pickups stuck in them, and I tried several other brands.

I went back to a PP each time, it is just what I like to hear, but the Carter works great. I never have a problem recommending it.

Larry Behm

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 17 Aug 2012 8:28 am

I don't think there's any problem with a Carter guitar.
My problem was with Ann Fabian.

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 17 Aug 2012 9:03 am

Michael...absouletly love my Carter Universal. I've been on pedals since 1970..had all the others,ZB..Emmons p/p..Sho-Bud Universal which I still have, then finally my Carter. It's a 1999..a guy here who had "never" ever played a steel ordered it. Needless to say he couldn't get to grips with a full blown universal. The only thing I changed was the Lawrence 712...I sent off to Carters for a Wallace TT. This guitar sounds great,plays great...what is there not to like with one of Bud Carter's creations. Look on google for Bud Carter's inauguration to the steel guitar hall of fame. See what Emmons says about him.

Micky Byrne U.K.

Micky Byrne · Post by **Micky Byrne** » 17 Aug 2012 9:13 am

Michael...me again...you bought the right colour

..you guys say color

Micky Byrne U.K.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 17 Aug 2012 12:27 pm

I owned a Carter for a couple of years, it had the modern, nasal steel sound that a lot of players call 'The Tone', it was mechanically excellent, but I soon went back to my mechanically inferior Emmons push-pull.

Apologies to all you Carter lovers out there, but I just don't like that nasal tone, which in fairness is exhibited by virtually all contemporary pedal steels.

Jake L · Post by **Jake L** » 17 Aug 2012 1:31 pm

I have had 3 Carters. I liked 2 of them alot, and one not so much. I am a smaller guy, and they always seems to "fit" me better than some of the other, larger brands.

Dustin Rigsby · Post by **Dustin Rigsby** » 19 Aug 2012 4:01 pm

Carter made a fine professional product. The first steel guitar I owned was a carter starter,which I was not fond of. Their professional model was a very nice well built guitar. As far as the hand built vs. assembly line....my Dodge truck was built on an assembly line and it's been the best dang vehicle I've ever owned. John and Bud were onto something IMHO . They sure sold a lot of guitars and had a lot of happy repeat customers. The "Henry Ford's" of steel guitar is a good thing to be.

Clete Ritta · Post by **Clete Ritta** » 19 Aug 2012 6:19 pm

Dustin Rigsby wrote:...The first steel guitar I owned was a carter starter...

Me too, but unlike you, I was quite fond of mine because it was my first. It stayed in tune, sounded good and had the basic Emmons changes to learn. For a year, I didnt know what I was missing. It served its purpose very well to me. YMMV.

Even with its shortcomings (due largely to its less expensive design), it was not mass production that made it inferior to pro level steels IMO, but merely the cheaper parts it was made of, and its inflexible copedent. It is still a very affordable beginners instrument. Im glad I had the opportunity to start on a very inexpensive used Starter model. I was instantaneously and thoroughly hooked on pedal steel from the day I got it. There are many threads here, pro and con on the Starter, so I will just leave my positive note here on that.

On another note, since they are no longer in production, I think many Carters will continue to be collectable, not only for their fine craftsmanship, playability and design. I like the Ford analogy of Bud as a pioneer who took modern steel guitar building in new directions. Thanks Bud! For me, getting a very well built Carter D10 years later was my graduation from a Universal 12 string tuning to the C6 neck. This steel is amazing to me, and I can no longer blame my bad tennis game on the racquet anymore, haha. But, Ill be happily learning how to play the pedal steel well into my golden years with this one. Hopefully, I'll be a really good player by then!

Clete

Bill Miller · Post by **Bill Miller** » 19 Aug 2012 6:33 pm

Apologies to all you Carter lovers out there, but I just don't like that nasal tone, which in fairness is exhibited by virtually all contemporary pedal steels.

Now here is an example to back up my contention that people hear things very differently. No need to apologize to me Richard, but I just don't find my Carter sound nasally at all. To my ears it sounds warm and mellifluous as do most Carters I've heard. In fact, at times I find myself tweaking EQ to try to obtain a little more nasally tone. But for the most part I'm happy with the tone.

Robbie Daniels · Post by **Robbie Daniels** » 20 Aug 2012 10:31 am

I had my carter D12 with 8 & 6 built in December 2005 and I love it. Great tone ease of operation. My last steel, I am too old to get another. Bud is a great designer. My Carter is very close to the MSA I had built in 1974 and played until I recived my Carter in 2005.

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