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austin

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Aug 14, 2003
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Mineola, NY
Done some searches here but can't find anything definitive. I know the Luke III Starry Nights have stainless steel frets.

Am I correct that the size is "High profile, medium width" like the BFR Tumescents (although those don't have stainless steel frets) and that the corresponding fret specs are 095" wide x .047" tall?

Its confusing because every place they are listed online just pastes in the usual generic Luke specs.

Thanks in advance for the info!

Austin
 

beej

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Afaik, there's only one kind of SS fretwire they use. So it'll be the same as any of the other MM instruments with SS frets.
 

austin

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Aug 14, 2003
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Mineola, NY
Afaik, there's only one kind of SS fretwire they use. So it'll be the same as any of the other MM instruments with SS frets.

I don't know if this is the case?

Virtually all models that have SS frets are listed as "High profile, medium width, Stainless Steel".
However, almost all the JP model frets are listed as "Medium Jumbo profile, Stainless Steel"
and the JP6 frets are listed as "High profile, wide, Stainless Steel"

So I'm guessing there are at least 2 different types and I would assume the Luke would be using the high profile, medium width ones. It would be nice if they provided the actual height and width measurements though.

Austin
 

Fro

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They’re about the same height as a fender med jumbo FWIW.
 

austin

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Mineola, NY
They’re about the same height as a fender med jumbo FWIW.

Fender medium jumbo frets are .106″ x .036″, so maybe that's the regular Luke fret size since that seems pretty low to me (it's the lowest fret Fender uses at any rate). I would hope the Starry Night frets are larger than that!

Austin
 

austin

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Mineola, NY
The Luke III BFR Tuesecents do indeed have SS frets

In July, MusicMan customer service told me:
"The frets on the Luke III Tumescent necks are 18% Nickel Silver .095" wide x .047" tall."
And on the MusicMan website, they're not mentioned as being stainless steel.

If you go to WildWestGuitars website, they list the frets as being
22 - Low profile, wide
which they are not. Regardless of material, they would be High profile, medium width.
Ernie Ball Music Man Luke III BFR Tumescent 189/300 Ebony Fretboard - Wild West Guitars


Ernie Ball customer server tells me the frets on the Starry Night are:
"stainless steel and .039" in height and .100" in width"
Which would make them the same dimension as regular Luke III frets.

So it appears there is a lot of incorrect information/ideas out there. Unless MusicMan customer service is not to be believed? In which case, that's a big problem!

Austin
 

Axis_SC

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Apr 27, 2014
Messages
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In July, MusicMan customer service told me:
"The frets on the Luke III Tumescent necks are 18% Nickel Silver .095" wide x .047" tall."
And on the MusicMan website, they're not mentioned as being stainless steel.

If you go to WildWestGuitars website, they list the frets as being
22 - Low profile, wide
which they are not. Regardless of material, they would be High profile, medium width.
Ernie Ball Music Man Luke III BFR Tumescent 189/300 Ebony Fretboard - Wild West Guitars


Ernie Ball customer server tells me the frets on the Starry Night are:
"stainless steel and .039" in height and .100" in width"
Which would make them the same dimension as regular Luke III frets.

So it appears there is a lot of incorrect information/ideas out there. Unless MusicMan customer service is not to be believed? In which case, that's a big problem!

Austin

Yes, I own the guitar and they're definitely SS... Ive seen them also listed as such. Let me see if I can find it
 

Axis_SC

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Joined
Apr 27, 2014
Messages
20
The problem is, there's no reason to believe those listing over listing that don't list them as being stainless steal. And certainly no reason to believe them over the word of Musicman themselves.

Austin

I hear you except for the fact that I own one... Along with a JP15 with SS frets... And this particular Luke III is definitely SS.
 

Kvaksalver

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Dec 3, 2018
Messages
29
Hi Kvaksalver,

We have not recently offered any Luke models with stainless wire.
When we use stainless wire on a Luke, Axis, Morse, Silhouette the size is 0.047" x 0.104". (bass wire)
It does have a different feel compared to standard Luke wire: 0.039" x 0.100"
Runs with Stainless fret wire:
PDN #3 "Honey Roasted" 2012
PDN #7 "Neptune Blue" 2014
PDN #9 "Starry Night" 2016
Nothing on the drawing board at the moment.

Willyd

Should be pretty official...
 

jones4tone

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Jun 24, 2016
Messages
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Texas
Not sure who WillyD is, but he should tell that to the people answering their customer service emails LOL.

WillyD is Billy Imperial, who IS one of the people answering customer service calls and emails, among other things.
 

GWDavis28

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Jun 23, 2003
Messages
12,474
Location
Mass
I wish there was a like function on posts! Thanks for the info Kvaksalver, jones4tone and Glenn.

Austin, so in Kvakslver's post in the section that you see WillyD's name if you click the arrow next to WillyD's name it will take you to the original post and there you will see, it says CS, like this:

WillyD
Ernie Ball, Inc.
Ernie Ball Customer Service

Glenn |B)
 
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