2012 Luke III Tremolo Base Plate Padding

**tbonesullivan** · 03-17-2021, 06:41 AM

I'm in the process of changing my Luke III to a "decked" setup, as floating fulcrum trems just aren't my thing. I love double stop bends, and I'd rather just have it for dive only. I've got some other guitars with less sensitive floating designs.

So, I notice that there is this thin black plastic looking pad on the bottom of the base plate. Is that the only padding that the vintage style tremolo comes with? I have a Stingray RS now, and I can see some felt padding under that, though only on the two ends.

Should there be felt padding for the Luke III trem as well, or is that plastic pad good enough?

**Fro** · 03-17-2021, 07:40 AM

It’s good enough.

**beej** · 03-17-2021, 08:03 AM

I decked mine and didn't add anything.

**tbonesullivan** · 03-17-2021, 09:29 AM

Sweet! Now I just need to finish replacing the output jack, which can be a PITA. A previous owner must have used one of those cables with huge ends, as it cuts out all the time when I move the cable.

**jayjayjay** · 03-31-2021, 06:27 PM

None of my MMs (all Axis) have padding under the bridge, and they're all decked. That said, I'm giving serious thought to floating at least one of my Axis (my Strat and Danelectro float, and my Gretsch has a Bigsby, which is inherently floating).

Why I like floating trems: you can perform flutters. Can't do that when they're decked (or if you can, then I'm doing them wrong) - it makes a loud "thwack" when the trem slams into the body.