The Steel Guitar Forum

I just placed a deposit on a Williams S12U: excited doesn't begin to describe! At 65 yrs old, I'm divin' into universal: yeehaa!

There are scads of pickup options, and I have no experience in these. I like a VERY sweet sound, lots of high harmonics, and (of course) scads of sustain up in "HugheyLand."

Alumitone? George L? Which George L? You've all been SO helpful to this low-timer Thanks again for your input! (PS: boy am I excited: the wait will be excruciating!)

Why not the Telonics, whichever is the 12 string variant of the 84?
that way you can dial each string in, kinda important for working in Hugheyland.

Congrats on the order. You're going to love your Williams guitar.

You're going to get as many opinions as there are models of pickups here. Good Luck with that.

Fewer and fewer steel builders are winding their own due to the many pickup manufacturers' fine models, but I still tend to defer to the builder for what works best on their guitars.

Talk to Bill. Tell him your thoughts and how you'll be using the instrument. F.I., if you'll be doing studio recordings etc. I'm sure he can help you make an informed decision.

I agree with Jerry. Stick with the builder's standard pickup, as he's probably pretty familiar with what makes his guitars sound best.

Hi Claire,

Ask Bill Rudolph what he thinks is best-suited for you. That's the best advice you'll get.

I put Alumitones in my Carter D10 (replacing True-Tones which were great but picked up hum and noise) and never regretted it. They sound great, especially in "Hugheyland".

Alumitones are terrific pickups with superb string separation, but they may not suit your intended style(s).

Thanks so much, gentlemen: good advice, all. I will have Bill Rudolph install his recommendation on the guitar, AND pursue the Telonics as a second option to have on hand to experiment with (I checked the Telonics site, Lane, and was quite intrigued; just got my Telonics volume pedal and will try that out post haste).

Pedal steels have such incredible range; exploring all the tonal possibilities is one of the many things I will enjoy immensely with this fabulous instrument!

Bill will install a Telonics pickup on your steel.....it is an option. No problem, he did it on mine. He doesn't adjust them (if you get one with adjustable poles, i got the Model 84), because that is done to the player's taste and amp, but it isn't hard to do.

I just installed a couple of Telonics model 84 pickups in a Promat push-pull and they sound fabulous without even tweaking the pole screws yet. Highley recommended

Lynn-
To adjust the poles (I've done three of them now), I found it easier to just:
1. Adjust the pairs up or down to bring the thin strings volume up to the thick strings
2. stagger them somewhat - changer side low (5th string) to high on the low strings, further from changer poles low (5th string) on the high strings (staggered in pitch order, G# highest). do the stagger as they suggest - for each amount that you raise one pole, lower the corresponding other pole, to keep volume constant.

This gets you pretty close, and then just vary each string as they describe, a half turn or so in each direction, to see if you like it better...but you will be pretty close already.

If you have discovered another, better method, let us know!! It can be somewhat daunting to know what, exactly, you are seeking in these adjustments, and when you are "done"

Steve, will that same approach work for the ToneAligner?

Lane-
I'm not familiar enough with the ton aligner to comment....I know they are similar in concept....I believe that Telonics did a lot of research on microphone design and pickup history, and was certainly aware of the Tonealigner, before making its pickups, I'm not sure where the Tonealigner's heritage is...

But any pickup with two poles for each string would seem to have the same characteristic....emphasize the changer side of low strings for growl, tone down the changer side of high strings to retain bell tones without brittleness...increasing the effect as you move away (in pitch) from the 5th string, which stays relatively neutral...and keeping them balanced for output (i.e., if you lower one pole, raise its paired pole by the same amount, and vice versa)

Cool. I have a ToneAligner that'll go on my 12 next time I work in it (I found that while cleaning the fingers, I accidentally bent one, and it binds on its neighbor. GRRRRR), so I'll set it with the Live Steel strings

Lane-
Here are the official instructions for the Telonics
http://www.john-lemay.com/pu_manual.pdf

I think they are clearer about what you are trying to accomplish for the pairs of poles than JayDee's note to b0b's instructions for the Tonealignner
http://www.bobhoffnar.net/tone_three.html

....assuming that the idea is actually the same for both (which I can't promise)

I have Tone Aligners in both my Millys that were adjusted by Jim Palenscar. I asked him about replacing them with Telonics pickups, and was told that they were so close that it wasn't worth it to change them.

Jim sells Telonics products, and would have made some money if I had bought a pair of new pickups. But as everybody already knows, he is an honest man, and he told me the truth, rather than sell me something I didn't need.

Has anyone installed a Tonealigner on a GFI S10 Ultra.
If so, how was the fit?
Any modifications needed?

Another vote for the Telonics line of pickups.

I have the model 84 on my 9th neck of my Sho~Bud, and the 206 on the 6th neck.

I had the 206 in the top neck first. I really liked it. I could tell right away I liked it better than the 705 I had in there.
I played the guitar about 6 months that way and at the TX show, after talking to Dave, I got a 84 from Dave to try. I put it in the top neck (hesitantly, not really wanting to take the 206 out) and put the 206 on the back neck to try. That is when I figured out Dave was right on the money with his advice.

The 84 was great right out of the box. When I took the time to "dial it in", man did that thing guitar come alive!

I have always been the worlds biggest fan of the OLD 705 BL pickup. The model 206 Telonics which looks similar is just fantastic. It is so clear, yet punchy without being muddy. Even though the Telonics looks like the Bill Lawrence, it has something the 705 lacks. The 705 (at least in that guitar) could get a little too bright if you didn't watch it. The Telonics line is as good as I have found.



Lynn,
I'd like to talk to you about the 84 in the P/P. If you get a chance, holler at me pal.

Claire,
Good luck in whatever you decide. Those Williams guitars are one of the few modern guitars that have their own "tone". I think they are great! Congratulations!

Best,
Justin

Another vote for telonics, better than anything I've had in my guitar, I have the 206 and it's a fantastic pup

Yea, the Telonics pickups are really nice. I put them in a LeGrande and a Promat as Lynn did and it sounded great in both. They are very clean and bright and enhance the tone of every string.... and with no hum.