# As requested, my Carter acoustics...



## grumpyoldman (Jan 31, 2010)

Hello to all

After my comments in the "big three" thread (which I feel may have been misinterpreted), I have had a few forum members ask about Carter guitars - stemming from my mention of my two Carter acoustics. I had not posted pictures of them previously, but here they are (disclaimer: it is an odd day weather-wise in Sarnia, sometimes sunny and other times cloudy, with a cold wind and occasional flurry thrown in, so these pics are taken indoors...some are with flash for crispness and clarity, others without for a truer representation of colour). 

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v242/grumpieroldman/Acoustics/

The six string is from 1991, and the headstock inlay - "Carter" in mother of pearl - wasn't something that Don had offered on his guitars up to that point, so I cut the logo myself using his typical headstock decal, and he inlaid it. He ended up liking the way it looked so much that he ended up using that inlay for other builds after mine. That guitar has seen a lot of usage....I was in a country rock band at the time and played it on stage for a few years.

The twelve string is from 1998, and you will note that it also wears the mother of pearl "Carter" inlay. I had moved away from the country rock themed bands, so it hasn't had nearly the exposure that the six stringer had. I requested the jumbo body (something that wasn't on Don's 'menu'), but he filled my order just the same. When I had it in for some adjustments a few years after it was originally built, he tweaked it and had placed it in his store awaiting my arrival to pick it up - others would come in and play it a bit, or just have a look at it, and he told me that he was receiving orders for others just like it.

Around late '98/'99 Don changed the headstock design, and started to focus primarily on jazz guitars. He is still building today, although he no longer operates his own music store in Sarnia.

Thanks for looking

John
thegrumpyoldman


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Haven't heard of that brand before. They look gorgeous. The back and sides on the cutaway model are really nice.


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## wingsfan (Aug 26, 2010)

I believe there is a Carter 12 string for sale on Sarnia kijiji (not mine) its a beauty too. Nice pics Grumpyoldman.

Cheers


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Nice. Years ago I played one of his archtops which was quite nice. Tough way of making a living, though satisfying.

Curious, do you tune your 12 string to concert pitch or lower?

Peace, Mooh.


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## grumpyoldman (Jan 31, 2010)

Mooh said:


> Nice. Years ago I played one of his archtops which was quite nice. Tough way of making a living, though satisfying.
> 
> Curious, do you tune your 12 string to concert pitch or lower?
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


For the longest time, I tuned to 440, but for the last few years it has been tuned a half step down (as per singer requests). 

John
thegrumpyoldman


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

Grumpy, your guitars look really nice, timeless even!
Thanks for posting!


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