The Steel Guitar Forum

There is NO pull on the strings.

I have my Alumitone set at about "one quarter" (god i love science) and it doesn't pull any - I can't really see why you'd want them located like traditional pickups, unless it was in your way (Strat middle, say). Philosophically, I like to get all the tonal range I can from a guitar and then cut frequencies, rather than find pickups without highs to start.

My acid test for tone is how the low strings sound way, way up the neck, and the Alumitone is a winner. It's an awkward name though, I think we need to call them "loomies" instead.

To one and all -

I sent an email to Craig Davidson regarding the foam pads which he mentioned. Only after hitting "send" did it occur to me that others may be interested in the same solution that I came up with.

I've owned several 6-string arch-top guitars over the years and I remembered a mounting technique which may not be new to some of you but worth relating.

Yes, the foam pads are to be placed under the flanges, "ears" at the end of the pickup. I was concerned that, over time, the pads would compress, sack-out, dry up, whatever - and no longer serve their purpose. The solution is one stolen from one of my earlier guitars.

I found 4 light guage springs which just slip over the mounting screws and which are sufficient to hold the pickup in position while allowing for adjustment. These were 1" in length and slightly less than 1/4" in diameter. Further, they may provide a crude form of shock mounting. Can't give you a compression figure in, say, ounces. You'll just have to heft the pickup and choose an appropriate spring to get the job done. Very unscientific, but it works like a charm.

Hope this will help someone.

Respectfully,

Richard

David Mason -

FYI and for whatever its' worth.

Before buying the Alumitone, I spoke at great length with Danny at Steel Guitar Nashville. He's mounted these pickups on a bunch of guitars and his assessment of them is generally positive.

HOWEVER - He related the fact that, on a couple of instruments, he had to remove them since the end result approached being less than desirable - in his view! Ditto with 705's. Can't remember the make and models of the instruments but Danny's experience with a couple of guitars is in stark contrast to the fact that my GFI has literally "come alive" with them.

Seems that we can apply the old adage "caveat emptor" once again to seemingly attractive mods that we might make to our instruments. It's apparent that it simply does nothing for some instruments. Sorry that you had a distasteful experience with the Alumitone.

Maybe the lesson to be learned is that we should pick the brains of someone truly in the know - and then still cross our fingers that the end result will be satisfying. I know - that's not too comforting a thought but it appears to be true. What other recourse do we have?

Respectfully,

Richard

There seem to be two kinds of people in this world,
the crooks that steal and rob us and the great folks that help us get it back. I like the good folks best!

I wish I had read the post Richard about the springs before I installed mine. I should have realized it anyway since that is how most pick-ups are installed. It is going to stay right where it is at unless it gives me fits. Going into a Fingertip takes a bit off modifing anyway. I think I am going to like it. The bad thing about that is then I will have to get one for the back neck also.

This may sound very self-serving but which camp do I fall into, Bobbe?
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Be kind.

Richard

Richard, you like most of the forumites are in the highest class possible. The best.
It's pretty easy to tell on this forum after a year who is of the highest quality.
I'm not really a very good judge of this, but I know who treats others like they would like to be treated.
Its the ole' golden rule trick! Works every time!

Blobster

HEY BOBBIE, WILL THEY WORK ON A CARTER STARTER OR HAVE YOU OR ANYONE ELSE TRIED IT? I LIKE THE WAY
MINE SOUNDS BUT WOULD LIKE TO IMPROVE THE SOUND,
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

Yes, they fit very well on your Carter Starter!

Bobbe

THANKS FOR THE INFO. MAY CONTACT YOU LATER.

After playing about a dozen gigs with the Alumitone installed in my Williams, here`s my 2 or so cents:
These are the best pups I`ve tried: no harsh upper mids, really smooth highs,clear but strong bottom and, like the man (Buddy E) once said, the goose is gone...

Bobbe,

Will they fit in a Mullen RP?

Jim

Jim, yes, in any guitar with a big enough hammer.

Has anyone installed an Alumitone in a PSG that has a tone control? I've read that they are VERY responsive to tone controls.

Has anyone fitted one on a Rains.. ?

If you fitted it yourself, what PU did you remove..?

and, was it easy to fit..?

and of course, does it sound good..?

Thanks,

David Hartley

Dave, i replaced my Emmons PU ( 6190 SC) on my Rains with the alumitone, it came with the mounting plate from Carter but i had to modify the plate a little by grinding the edges of the plate to get it to fit in the PU cavity, it fit great but i could'nt get 2 quarters between the strings and PU all i could achieve was a quater and a half so i drilled four holes in the original plate on the guitar and tapped them out so i could use the 4 screws that comes with the lumies that go through the top of the PU, after all that i found you realy don't need the full 2 quarters, and i'll goe as far as saying i think it sounds a little better at a quarter and a half. The magnet on these are'nt very strong so i don' think you'll have to worry about being to close. If you have the plate it's allmost a plug and play situation, and these do sound great on a Rains, and guiet as a mouse. They do have the single coil sound to them. Hope this was of some help to you. Roger

Does the mounting plate for the PU come through the rectangular hole ok and go in again once the PU is mounted to it?

How long does the job take if drilling the new holes in the existing plate..

Can you see the old drill holes after changing the PU?

Regards
DH

The plate was allready attached to the PU when i got it, i had to take it off and grind the long edges down some so it would fit down into the pickup cavity, remounted it to the PU then it would fit in to the guitar, then mounted it to the exisiting plate, and it fit great, but i did'nt have the 2 quarters distance , thats why i did the other way of mounting, if you buy it from cater i think the only thing you'll have to do is grind the plate a little and mount it rite on top of your other plate, ajust it down about as far as you can, that should be about 1 & 1/2 quarters clearance which i think sounds great at that distance. To answer you other questions, it did'nt take long to mount it the other way but i've had quite a bit of practice at drilling and tapping. The original holes do show on the guitar plate if you don't use the plate carter sends with the PU. If you use the plate you can screw it rite into the existing holes of the guitar plate. I think you are realy going to like this PU if you get it. Roger

Hi.
Been lurking and listening. Has anybody got the physical measurements of one of these Alumitones?
The reason I ask is I have a 70's Excel that is all metric and I think the pickup cavity might be too small.
The hole where the pickup drops in is 1.48 wide and 4.35 long. So length and width are the limiting numbers. Depth I think would be fine.

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

-Paul

Paul....Go here for specs:
www.steelguitar.com/resource/pickups/BB_specs.pdf Please note on the address it is "BB_specs". The underlining of the total address superimposes itself on the single underline. This is from the Carter website...Bob
FWIW: I installed one in my S10 Excel (later year model than yours) and didn't like it. The TrueTone that I took out never sounded so good when I put it back in!

Paul -

Bob Ousby posted as I was dredging out my printout of the pickup. One thing should be noted, however: - the dimensions that you need are to be found in the column labeled "4.0". Those are the dimensions on the one that I installed on my D-10. Double check your width measurement - "1.48". The chart shows the width to be 1.5". You may need a shoe horn or a milling machine to make it work.

The same diagram can be had at the Lace site.

www.lacemusic.com/

FWIW. Bob's experience was the exact opposite of mine. The Alumitone put the GFI II to shame - for my taste. This should remind us of that thing called "personal preference".

And Bob - I should mention that my instrument is BLACK.

Hope this helps,

Richard

Thanks for the info Bob and Richard!
Try as I might, I was never able to stumble on those dimensions before. Guess I'll have to wait until I get some machining done...
-paul

I finally installed the Alumitones into my GFI D-10. At first I was concerned about not having the so-called mounting plates that you would get attached should you purchase them through Carter. But I didn't want the Alumitone to come up any closer to the strings as did the GFI-II humbucker's. The GFI pickups have a mounting frame which can be slid off over the the pickup after removal from the guitar. For cosmetic purposes I replaced those frames back into their original place and was able to still mount the Alumitone's within the frames. By carefully tapping the four necessary holes first with a 1/16" drill referencing the depth to about a quarter inch and then widening the holes with a 3/32" drill. It was not difficult. Only care must be taken as one hole comes somewhat close to the hole used for the wire passage through the body. Also, using those included foam pads under the ears to seat the Alumitone didn't make much sense for this application. Instead, I cut and placed in under the ears some thin dense black rubber. With this GFI you don't need any height adjustment. The Alumitone's as they are will come as close if not a tad closer to the strings. The sound from the Alumitone was and is a big improvement. I find that Humbuckers by their very design made to suppress hum, also suppress output gain as well as the base overtones making the base strings sound somewhat on the thin side. Output gain from these Alumitone's is a mark improvement, equal to the single coil pickups I have on my old PP Emmons. And of biggest concern, the base strings now sound fatter having more life and guts to their sound. But isn't that what this Alumitone (base bars) was originally designed to do?

Hi Richard...Yeah those black guitars do have the edge! My Excel is "kuro" in color...Bob