A couple of Luke III questions

[KasperFauerby]

Hi guys,

I was hoping someone here could help me with a few questions regarding the LIII, or at least be kind enough to offer your opinions.

I've been playing my '97 Luke (the model with Floyd Rose trem) a lot since I bought it. Love it to bits, but it's also starting to become quite worn, especially the frets. Now I could of course have that fixed, and I probably will, but I've also come to find the Floyd Rose trem more and more annoying to work with. Therefore I've been considering if, after almost 20 years of loyal service, it wasn't about time to upgrade to a new model

First concrete question - I've heard some people mention (and complaining about) a very low fret height on the LIII. Is it about the same a the original Luke, which also have quite low frets, or are they even smaller? Do you guys find them to be a problem?

Secondly - the standard PUP configuration of the LIII seems to be HH. That actually surprised me a bit, because I'm most tempted by the HSS config. I've been using my old Luke in a cover song band where I need quite a wide range of tones. There I find myself using the middle single coil pickup a lot for cleans. I just saw Toto on tour, and Luke played HH guitars exclusively. Again a bit surprising to me, since I would have thought many of the classic Toto tones to be best expressed with a neck single coil. Any opinions?

I've considered whether it is because he can split the humbuckers - but if they sound anything like what I get from my Reflex HH when I split the coils, then I would still prefer a true single coil tone for those cleans...

So help me pick a LIII model!

Cheers,
Kasper

 

[steevo]

You could replace the floyd. Not sure if youre aware but the trem post wear and flatten off, as does the base plate of the floyd. That said, the standard music man trem is the best ive ever come across.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[mikeller]

I have both the Luke 3 HH & SSH. They are both great, the SSH pups some awesome (as do the HH). The HH's pickups are wired so that selector position 2 is the two outside coils of each humbucker, and position 4 the two inside coils of each humbucker.

As far as the frets - I have never had a Luke 1, but I believe frets on both my L3's are the same as they were on a Luke 2 I owned. They are low profile-wide frets and I don't find them to be a problem for me at all.

 

[kbaim]

Can't help answer your questions, but just wanted to make mention that you might be one of the longer Luke players around here.
So congrats for that! Wow....since 97?
I'm since 02

 

[KasperFauerby]

Thanks for the answer to the both of you.

@steevo: Yeah, I know it can wear out... but it's actually working fairly well still. It's just that since I don't dive-bomb that much it has become a bit of an annoyance to work with the Floyd for tuning etc. Would like the newer MM trem system, which seems to be really stable and easy to work with!

@mikeller: Thanks! I can see you own quite a few MM guitars. How would you compare the sounds you can get from your L3 HH to the ones you get from the 25th (which I assume is HH)? Thanks for clearing up the fret size question. I don't have any problems with playing my current Luke, so they are probably fine! Although to be honest, after I got my Reflex I've come to appreciate the somewhat taller frets...

 

[KasperFauerby]

@kbaim: Thanks! Well, I've never been a guy that went for having many guitars... always found it more practical to find that one axe that works well for me. I mostly play smaller gigs with cover bands, so small stages and no room or time to constantly be swapping guitar anyways.
Was playing a Fender Strat Plus back in the days, but wanted something with a bit more punch for the rocking songs. Picked up the Luke late 97 and was simply amazed by the feel, the build quality and the range of tones that one guitar could produce. Everything from 80s hard rock to the sweetest pop cleans. Instant love, and haven't looked back since! For me it's MM for life I think - like many other people around here I would guess...

It's only recently that the GAS is starting to get the better of me. My wife says it's a mid life crisis kicking in

 

[mikeller]

Thanks for the answer to the both of you.

@steevo: Yeah, I know it can wear out... but it's actually working fairly well still. It's just that since I don't dive-bomb that much it has become a bit of an annoyance to work with the Floyd for tuning etc. Would like the newer MM trem system, which seems to be really stable and easy to work with!

@mikeller: Thanks! I can see you own quite a few MM guitars. How would you compare the sounds you can get from your L3 HH to the ones you get from the 25th (which I assume is HH)? Thanks for clearing up the fret size question. I don't have any problems with playing my current Luke, so they are probably fine! Although to be honest, after I got my Reflex I've come to appreciate the somewhat taller frets...

Going off memory - the L3 HH pickups are crisper/clearer maybe and the positions 2 & 4 sound different.

 

[kimonostereo]

I've had a number of Luke 1's and without measuring, I do think they are smaller than the current LIIIs. My current Luke 1 feels very different from my Luke II and LIII as far as frets are concerned. I am debating getting it refretted with larger frets like my previous Luke 1.

As far as replacing the Floyd, you might have troubles finding a replacement due to the staggered bridge used on that model. Last I checked, EBMM does not have any old stock on those.

 

[Magic Jason]

Hi Kasper,

Just in case.... I'm selling a LukeIII HSS Olivegold/rosewood neck. Mint.

I'm in Belgium.

 

[ZeroFivefour]

Hi guys,

I was hoping someone here could help me with a few questions regarding the LIII, or at least be kind enough to offer your opinions.

I've been playing my '97 Luke (the model with Floyd Rose trem) a lot since I bought it. Love it to bits, but it's also starting to become quite worn, especially the frets. Now I could of course have that fixed, and I probably will, but I've also come to find the Floyd Rose trem more and more annoying to work with. Therefore I've been considering if, after almost 20 years of loyal service, it wasn't about time to upgrade to a new model

First concrete question - I've heard some people mention (and complaining about) a very low fret height on the LIII. Is it about the same a the original Luke, which also have quite low frets, or are they even smaller? Do you guys find them to be a problem?

Secondly - the standard PUP configuration of the LIII seems to be HH. That actually surprised me a bit, because I'm most tempted by the HSS config. I've been using my old Luke in a cover song band where I need quite a wide range of tones. There I find myself using the middle single coil pickup a lot for cleans. I just saw Toto on tour, and Luke played HH guitars exclusively. Again a bit surprising to me, since I would have thought many of the classic Toto tones to be best expressed with a neck single coil. Any opinions?

I've considered whether it is because he can split the humbuckers - but if they sound anything like what I get from my Reflex HH when I split the coils, then I would still prefer a true single coil tone for those cleans...

So help me pick a LIII model!

Cheers,
Kasper

You should sell me your 97 luke 1.
Buy a L3

and then I'll

Adjust the Floyd,
If it needs replacing I'll put a gotoh ge 1996t in it.

And play the heck out of it.

Cheers.

On a serious note.
You could throw a trem block in there if you don't want a floyd to dive.

 

[sanderhermans]

The luke3 hss is great. Extremely vesatile. You can boost the single coils to match the humbucker volume or dial the boost down to have strat-like single coil sound. Also the push/push boost is great for overdriving a clean amp!
The frets feel great to me too. But they are low.

 

[KasperFauerby]

Thanks for all the replies, I think I got my answers now!

If upgrading I still think I'll go with the HSS config. It does make some sense what mikeller writes about the split coils though; My Reflex does indeed sound a bit "muddy" in those two split positions - although not in a bad way exactly, just different from the sparkle I would expect from a real single coil. Makes sense that the Luke sounds brighter....

I also realize it probably seems quite silly to ask someone else about these things, which one is best etc, so I thought I would clarify. Unfortunately I cannot seem to make any of the local dealers here in Copenhagen add MusicMan guitars to their stock. They will occasionally have one or two in the shop, and for some reason they keep having the Luke 2 model as part of their stock, but not the newer models. So I'll have to shop online, which is a bit of a leap of faith...