Do the PDN Luke III's have bigger frets?

[eightsixboy]

Hi All,

I am contemplating getting a Luke III very soon, will be trying one out tomorrow.

I have read a lot of people complaining about the small frets, which up until me just seeing the PDN Luke's I thought it might be something I just have to get used to if I buy one.

Upon doing some more research I have seen mentioned that the PDN Luke III's may come with larger frets higher profile frets?

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks.

 

[Gsharp9]

Hi All,

I am contemplating getting a Luke III very soon, will be trying one out tomorrow.

I have read a lot of people complaining about the small frets, which up until me just seeing the PDN Luke's I thought it might be something I just have to get used to if I buy one.

Upon doing some more research I have seen mentioned that the PDN Luke III's may come with larger frets higher profile frets?

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks.

Excuse my inexperience. What is PDN?

 

[Larry]

Excuse my inexperience. What is PDN?

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[mtrejo]

Gsharp9, do NOT look at those PDN's yet, your head might explode from all the cool runs MM has done
I'm going to play fortune teller for a sec…"You joined the wrong forum if you want to save money and limit your guitar collection."

Lol, seriously though, you may end up with just a few MM guitars and be able to walk away. I think there might be 1 or 2 forumites that have managed.

 

[Gsharp9]

Gsharp9, do NOT look at those PDN's yet, your head might explode from all the cool runs MM has done
I'm going to play fortune teller for a sec…"You joined the wrong forum if you want to save money and limit your guitar collection."

Lol, seriously though, you may end up with just a few MM guitars and be able to walk away. I think there might be 1 or 2 forumites that have managed.

LMAO. You're assuming that was ever my intention... BUY, BUY, BUY ! (wow, that was weird, a random "Trading Places" reference....)

I am fully aware of the the danger. I made up my own "waiver" and signed it.

G

 

[DrKev]

AFAIK, the two PDN runs with the roasted maple neck (Honey Roast and Neptune Blue) all came with the same jumbo stainless steel frets no matter which guitar you ordered. The regular Luke are of course more vintage style, wide and low.

 

[look_at_her]

What Kev says : Frets: 22 - Low profile, wide - Stainless Steel
copied it from specs chart of HSS Luke II , but looks like LIII is exactly the same fret wise

 

[Magic Jason]

Gsharp9, you are now dooooomed!!!

 

[eightsixboy]

AFAIK, the two PDN runs with the roasted maple neck (Honey Roast and Neptune Blue) all came with the same jumbo stainless steel frets no matter which guitar you ordered. The regular Luke are of course more vintage style, wide and low.

So looks like they do come with bigger frets. Why do they do that? Basically not going to buy a normal Luke III cause of it now.

 

[meloney0]

Don't know their reasons but DrKev is right. The PDNs have bigger frets compared to vanilla LIIIs. Plays like a dream. I am seriously tempted to pull the trigger on a Neptune Luke II with piezo, just because of the fantastic all-maple neck and the bigger frets. I would have to part with my beloved Olive Gold LIII though, so I'm still on the fence...

 

[eightsixboy]

I tried the normal Luke III on sat, and it played really well considering the extremely crap setup it had, to the point where I felt like saying to the shop WTF is with this setup, I reckon the string height was 3mm or more from the frets.

But, that aside, the guitar was lovely but I really think it needs the jumbo frets, it might just be me but the frets felt like it hampered playability a fair bit, especially bending, like Yngwie I like to grab the note by the balls, can't really do that with pissy little frets. I'm sure Steve had his reason, but it means that buying a Luke is 99.9% not going to happen unless by some freak occurrence a PDN version appears is Australia.

On a little side note, I have been looking at other makes as well, and man Ibanez and some other brands have really turned to poo in the last few years. I tried a few prestige guitars and the fretwork was crap, so was the overall fit/finish. Considering that the Luke is not much more expensive it makes me want a EBMM even more now

 

[ksandvik]

This is interesting as me thinks Steve Lukather has one of the best vibrato techniques in this universe.

 

[Dagget]

Hi guys,

sorry for bumping this old thread with my first posting here. I am thinking about getting a LIII PDN as it looks amazing (and of course I am a huge fan of Mr. Lukather). The problem is, I am not able to play it before buying it. My hands are relatively small, the 'normal' LIII feels great. How big is the difference between the fretboards? Do the PDNs have SS frets?

Offtopic: Where can I find specs from 'all' PDN LIIIs on the net?

Best regards!

 

[Dagget]

Found a store that has the normal LIII and a 'BFR PDN' today and played both. The frets on the BFR PDN are definitely wider and the neck feels a lot thicker. Unfortunately I prefer the normal neck and fret combination by far... but dislike the colors and would love to have a maple fretboard. Hard decision.

Any chance that the 'normal' BFRs (not PDN) have the normal neck and frets?

 

[DrKev]

Any chance that the 'normal' BFRs (not PDN) have the normal neck and frets?

Yes, I believe they do.

 

[Dagget]

Yes, I believe they do.

Thank you, that would be great. Trying to get my hands on a
BFR now.

God, that Vintage Tobacco BFR PDN (2015?) is such an amazing and
beautiful guitar. It's a shame that my small hands prefer the neck on
the normal version.

 

[michaeld13]

My PDN Starry Night has what I'd call medium stainless frets. Definitely not jumbo- but I think a little bigger than what's on the standard version- but I do not have a standard Luke to compare it to.