The Steel Guitar Forum

Joe, maybe this will help. Here are a few posts I found regarding other players having problems with string breakage on their Carters, of which the Carter folks replied to one about breakage at the tuning peg:

Tony Prior: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/003327.html
Colin Gross: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/003873.html
B Cole: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/003951.html
Thurlon Hopper: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/004073.html

OK guys here what I found after taking the changer loose and getting a better look at it I found bad worn slots and burrs at the slot to the point where it has wore the siver off, this has to be cheap material for sure, now how can i say that some might ask, well 2 and 2 if still four and if a guitar is only a few years old and worn like that thats cheap, so im taking it to a machine shop and a friend of mind says he can fix me up. but hmm how long will it last before doing it again, should have bought a dell lol. anyway its worn bad at the third thats why its poping the strings, and number 5 is showing the same wear. Ill post when i get it back together.
and oh i would like to add for the record that all I could get out of ann is call call call on the week days when they are open, well some of us cant do it that way, I ask to take care of it though email but still all they would say follow instructions to call call call, well ive washed my hands of carter guitars, and although i cant sell it for what i have in it Ill have to fix it and babyset it for years, and i might add that this guitar only has a trade in value of 795.00 wow im shocked. again should have bought a Dell. thanks guys for your help Joe of West Virgina.

Joseph-That sure is wierd. After all the advice on this post, they still break? I have owned 4 different Carter Guitars, and have never broke a string on them.

I just put a set on my D10 2001 Carter and run her right up to G# , no problem at all.

If all the things mentioned on the forum isnt working, You must have bad strings, or not stringing it right. Try a different brand of strings.......al <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 06 July 2002 at 09:43 PM.]</p></FONT>

I once knew a guitar player who constantly broke strings when he was putting a new one on. He blamed the guitar, then one day I was there while he was putting a new string on. He wound it up to pitch and didn't stop winding. It was way to high. I asked him what he was doing, and he said it hasn't got to pitch yet. He was going for the next octave, he just couldn't tell with his ears that he had gone past the note. I wonder if this is the case here, with respect?

To Ann

Ann, I live in South Africa and long distance telephone calls are expensive. From your posts I gather that email support is out of the question. Because it is not the best way you deal with your support.

So if I wanted to get a Carter there will no support available, except for expensive phone calls during midnight South African time.

When a Company tells me how it delivers Customer Support the best, I find with other products I purchased, that the Company is usually flexible. But then, this is South Africa, located on a third world continent.



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hey Joseph there must be something wrong with your guitar to have this problem. i have owned 1 carter and soon my 2nd will be here sometime next week. if you have a problem with it send it to carter and they'll fix it .they now how when and where there product works. if there is a defective part i'm sure they'll replace it.and if it's not the guitar and it's something your doing you would then know for sure..acording to ann's post this has been going on for almost a year.if your car breaks to take it in to be fixed.if your washer or dryer or stove breaks you get a repair guy to fix it don't you?..it sounds to me that your doing what my customers in the boat bis. do to me all the time...ie:they figure there engine needs spark plugs,that's what they want to here ,when the truth of the matter is they ran there outboard without oil and now they need a new power head...now you have got alot of great responces from alot of great people here and this problem still seams to be there .and now you have a buddy that's going to fix it...hmmm sorta like sending it to carter mabe a year ago eh. so don't whine about the carter being a bad guitar when you just wanted someone to come into your house and fix your guitar and you wouldn't have to do anything just play it... sorry buddy but that's not how the world works. i know for a fact that carter is 1st rate as i deal with there product all the time.

LET THE FLAMIN BEGIN

wayne

I would like to say that I have two Carters and have always received great service from them. If it were my guitar, I would ship the guitar back to Carter and let them fix it.


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Playing PSG keeps you on your toes.

hmm about sending it back for repair, its hard to have so much in a guitar, and have to pay this ( 1.consider sending the Carter to us to look at and fix.
Of course, you will pay freight both ways and $35/hour + parts prices.)
And yes of course if something breaks down here at home and i cant repair it ill all someone that knows but if they come in my home negative out they go, and besides for the prices they charge for service calls another rip off lol, but my point is that this guitar should have lasted longer then it did, I dont play a heck of alot really its been in home more then out. id say in the past year i played out maybe 10 times. and its always covered no scatchs, dings, cig smoke,
And i have to agree with the support, what in the heck would be wrong with email support, if carter cant or dont have time to answer a few emails how you going to get them on the phone(Joseph:

When you have the time:

follow the instructions we've given you.

Ann Fabian
Carter Steel Guitars
(Any further requests of SUPPORT from you MUST be done
by REACHING us on the PHONE.
We will NOT respond to any other form of requests
for assistance you, Joseph Barcus, make of us
(by email or by posting on the forum or by fax or by letter, etc).
It HAS to be by REACHING us on the telephone
I dont need there help i can and i will repair this myself, I must add that if not from the help of the responces here on the forum i would not have looked closer into it.
thanks again for all suggestions, I have received and responded in a very positive way I hope i did anyways lol. Joe

Bob would you be so kind as to close this thread before it gets too negative, and thanks too all that replied. Joe

Glad you found the problem Joe. Since you already have the changer out, the easiest temporary "fix" would be to swap the worn fingers with some that don't have as much wear. The 7th and 9th string fingers probabably have the least and since they're both wound strings, the worn slots shouldn't be a problem. I'd still file off the burrs first though.

If you or a friend have a digital camera, get some good close up pictures of the problems first. I don't know what Carter's warranty is, but with as little playing as you say you have on the guitar, it's possible they may have had a bad batch of metal and will send you replacements. If not, the parts shouldn't be very expensive.

Good luck pal and let us know how it works out.

I would be surprised if a guitar purchased from a 3rd party (used) instead of new would still have a warranty after 3 years. One can only speculate as to the actual usage the present and previous owners put the guitar through.

I also am puzzled by Joseph Barcus' refusal to pick up a phone and call and get the support and answers he needs direct from Carter Steel Guitars, as it appears that he has been invited to do numerous times.

It seems that Mr. Barcus just would rather do it 'his way'. Strange -- but, then that is his choice.

Alan,
thanks for your responce, But like I told them at carter I cant call within there time requested, I dont get home till late, and the last person i would want to answer the phone there would be Ann, i dont care for the woman, we hit it off wrong the first phone call, and i think i dislike her more so then my ex wife, so when someone demands me that I have to do this or that I just dont care for that kind of person.
oh im going to get this guitar fixed then im going to donate it to some cause or paint a lemon on it and place it on my car lol i dont think i would put my car though that though.
bobbie of steel guitar nashville has a nice new emmons that im about ready to send payment in for. if i could get him down a few hundred it would have a home right here. take care alan and have a good day. Joe<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Joseph Barcus on 07 July 2002 at 10:10 AM.]</p></FONT>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>
"Bob would you be so kind as to close this thread before it gets too negative, and thanks too all that replied." Joe</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK.