| Author |
Topic: My Carter fixed itself.. !!! |
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 15 Feb 2004 9:16 pm |
|
| I haven't played it for over a week,it was in the case waiting to be shipped back to Texas upon the arrival of its black replacement. Just a few hours ago I uncased it,set it up and started playing it just to keep the fingers limber.. Whatever miracle occured I couldn't say,but all the muddiness,EXTREME overdriven distortion and nasty loud tone were gone. In its place was the sweetest,glassiest,clean sustain I have ever had on any steel I ever owned.I was stunned and have no explanation. The switch on these 10-5 pickups are a mass of terminals and wires,and something in either the switch or pickup was out of whack I guess. I must have jostled something somewhere and now all is well. I am so thrilled with the sound as well as the playability now I can't even tell you. The tone I was getting sent shivers down my spine. Great..the steel guitar of my fantasies [except for the color].. just in time for me to send it back!!. I only hope the new one sounds this good. If I were in a financial position to do so, I would email Carter tonight and tell them I wanted to buy BOTH guitars . I don't know how this happened,, I checked the resistance of the pickups and the only change I saw was a decrease of about 2k ohms of resistance from 23-24k to a little over 21 k.... I still don't trust this particular pickup as it may "revert back",but the sound is what I hoped for when I ordered it on this guitar.. just beautiful!.. This has been the strangest few weeks...from wanting to throw this steel out the window to hating to part with it[again ,except for the color].. anyway,sorry to all my friends here who chastised me for dumping my PRO III for this Carter,but there is NO comparison.. This guitar IS superior in EVERY way now.. just in time for me to send it back..this is just too wierd. bob |
|
|
|
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
|
Posted 15 Feb 2004 10:36 pm
|
|
| That's the new BLT technology. It corrects its own flaws by leaving it in the case for a shord period of time. BLT = best left there [This message was edited by HowardR on 16 February 2004 at 05:55 AM.] |
|
|
|
Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 4:24 am
|
|
What happened to Bob sounds like what the WWII generation used to refer to as a "Gremlin". 
A problem for which a cause is unknown and a solution cannot be found....and then an unexplainable self-correction without anything specific having been done!
www.genejones.com |
|
|
|
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 5:57 am
|
|
| You must have gotten a new model, outfitted with Carter's new "RRT" ("Remote Repair Technology"). |
|
|
|
autry andress
From:
Plano, Tx.
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 6:06 am
|
|
Bob, were you using the new NV-112?
Glad to hear you're happy with the Carter & pick-up. |
|
|
|
Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 6:20 am
|
|
A 2K Ohm change is significant.
Something was loose or shorting. I'd be suspecting the switch too.
This explains how it could have left the factory sounding so bad. (It was OK when it left, and developed the problem in route.)
Please post when you open the case and find the color has corrected itself. [This message was edited by Joey Ace on 16 February 2004 at 06:22 AM.] |
|
|
|
Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 12:17 pm
|
|
...keep checking...  |
|
|
|
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 1:58 pm
|
|
| Autry... Yes I was using the NV 112/... however that amp is now enroute to New Orleans La. to our friend Steve Spitz [ a member here]. I liked the sound just fine for pedal steel, but the sound for 6 string was NOT good. I can NOT play a solid state amp for some reason no matter haw good they sound, I ALWAYS prefer tubes.. In its place I will soon have a mint Peavey Delta Blues 1x15.. Steve and I finalized the deal a week or so ago.. The 112 is a GREAT little steel amp,, but I play more guitar than steel and just have that tube sound rattling through this quickly graying head..... bob [This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 16 February 2004 at 03:30 PM.] |
|
|
|
Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 2:15 pm
|
|
When I received my Williams, the back neck was dead. I know that there's no way Bill would have shipped it that way, so I figured that something had been jolted out of place and was shorting it out. I pulled the control panel from between the necks and the pickup sprang to life. One of the leads had been shorting against a mechanical part.
The wiring of a pedal steel isn't exactly rocket science. Anyone can trace the wires and in most cases see a problem with the naked eye. For stubborn electrical problems, a simple ohm meter can almost always pinpoint the cause.
A complex switch is a likely point of failure. Also, the hot pickup wire can get squeezed between mechanical parts in a way that shorts it to ground. A bit of shaking and these problems appear to "fix themselves", but it's best to get to the root of them if you can, for the sake of reliablity.
Back to the story, my short reappeared one night when I set up for a job. I unscrewed the control panel once more to play the gig, then fixed it once and for all when I got home. A little care in routing the wires was all it took. The problem was not easily forseeable when the guitar was built (mine was the first 400X model made), but it was easily remedied.
------------------
 Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax |
|
|
|
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 3:27 pm
|
|
| b0b.. your point is well taken.. The reason I did't start pulling the switch out was because the guitar was being returned anyway. Having owned this pickup /switch combination I know the switches ARE trouble prone. The wiring is very flimsy and there are so many tiny terminals,problems seem inevitable. If the guitar was going to be kept,I would have investigated further. Another odd thing was the fact that the pickup DID work. It was just horribly distorted and muddy and just unbelievably loud.. I don't how a switch could have caused THAT situation ,but it may have.. all I know is at the present time this very same pick up sounds like gold and glass bells.... bob |
|
|
|
James Quackenbush
From:
Pomona, New York, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 4:58 pm
|
|
You have just entered........
THE CARTER ZONE !!!......do do do do ...do do do do .....do do do do ....( as Rod Serling appears wearing a Carter shirt !! ) ... |
|
|
|
Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 5:57 pm
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 6:08 pm
|
|
| !!!!!! ?????? |
|
|
|
Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 8:41 pm
|
|
| I know that when pot-type volume pedals are hooked up backwards, their sound becomes terrible! Not saying this was Bob's problem, but I have fixed several players "terrible tone problem" by simply reversing the volume pedal wires. |
|
|
|
Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 9:06 pm
|
|
| Jeeez Donny, my friend!! Please give me a little more credit than that!! I have two volume pedals.. and I assure you that after playing using a volume pedal in the chain for close to 30 years, I have the intricasies of thier operation and proper wiring hookup in the hat!!! bob |
|
|
|
HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
|
Posted 16 Feb 2004 9:15 pm
|
|
| Quote: |
| I have the intricasies of thier operation and proper wiring hookup in the hat!!! bob |
There's your problem! The wiring should be in the housing! |
|
|
|
