Carter Gauge String Question

[Tom Hackett]

I bought my Carter S10-DB 20 years ago and have never played it. It has sat in its case. I had hand issues arise the week that I bought it that are all now fixed and I'm ready to go. Mine came with some unopened Carter strings plus the 10 on the guitar. The gauges in the package of Carter strings are 12 15 11R 14 17 22 26W 30W 34W 36W. I'm sure they're all no good now. My quesion is I don't see any sets with these exact gauges and I don't know if using similar gauges will screw up my pedals and such. Any ideas would be great. Thanks all. Most appreciated.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Differences I see in your set and available sets currently is the 22 plain in that set. Also, many sets have a 38 instead of a 36.

Check the forum store from the above header. Their SIT sets are very similar in the EM or Nashville sets. They might even substitute strings to match up with your set. Even so, the gauges are not different enough to cause any issues. Just have to tweak the nylon tuners a bit for the pedals/levers.

The 11R is a good choice as is the 17R [reinforced] or what the forum store lists as High Break.

Changing strings is a little bit of a headache so I'd hate to advise you wrongly, but I wouldn't be one bit afraid to install that old set that came with the guitar. Worst could happen is they're no good and you'd have to replace them?

Anyway, congratulations on getting back to playing your same as new old guitar, good luck and Merry Christmas.

[Tucker Jackson]

Hi, Tom. Welcome to your first pedal steel.

Jerry is steering your right.

I'm not so sure those old, unopened strings are automatically no good unless they've been exposed to high humidity and show corrosion. Metal is tough stuff, especially when it's sitting around doing nothing in a climate controlled space.

To answer your question, yes, you should be able to buy pretty much any set of strings you can find that are made for E9 pedal steel -- and the gauges that are different from what you currently have shouldn't require any re-rodding of the guitar. As Jerry said, you will have to retune the pedals and knees, but you have to do that anyway on a string change, and maybe every few weeks thereafter.

Having said that, when buying strings keep in mind that the 6th string is a special case since a few sets come with a wound string rather than a plain. You will want to avoid those sets and buy one with a plain 6th string since that is what your guitar is currently rodded for. If you ever do end up wanting a wound string, you will need to flip the guitar over and relocate the pull rod on the B-pedal for the 6th string to get more leverage.

The easiest thing is to just ensure you never install a wound string on the 6th. Luckily, most sets come with a plain 6th string. They will be labled .020 or .022... and then the wound that you want to avoid would obviously have a 'w' after it '.022w'

The Steel Guitar Forum's store is a great place to buy strings because it supports the Forum, and they usually ship orders the same day, or the next if they are placed later in the day.
https://steelguitarshopper.com/10-string-sets/

Note that the the listing in that link has both C6 and E9 sets. Also, Nickel wound strings are slightly warmer, Stainless wound strings are brighter. Either work fine based on what you like to hear out of those lower, strings that are wound. Meanwhile, the plain treble strings are all made of piano wire, in either sets.

[Tom Hackett]

Thanks to both of you. I'll install the set I have and see how they do. I'll buy next sets here. Thanks again.

[Tom Hackett]

Just bought 3 sets of GTS strings and noticed the one string is .20 and not a .22. Will that make much difference folks? Thanks so much.

[Jerry Overstreet]

No, in fact the set that came with your guitar is a bit odd with a 22 since most Nashville sets come with a 20.

I guess Carter had their reasons for this combination, but a 22P is more common in the heavier BE Buddy Emmons E9 set which uses an 18 on the 5th and a 22 for the 6th.

You'll just need a little less tension on the nylon pedal tuner. It'll be fine.

[Richard Sinkler]

I see more sets come with the .022p strings. And if a set doesn't have the .011r, you can use either ,011 regular or a ,012. The Carter handles the .012 well. I haven't broken a string in over 10 years.

[John Sims]

I just buy numerous individual strings of the required gauges and make my own sets from those.