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brokenvail

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So I was wondering has anyone changed out the 85 in their Luke for an 89 and then wired it like a SS so that in the 3rd position it has the rear coil of the humbucker and the neck pickup on at the same time?
 

glockaxis

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I haven't. I think the Luke is perfect is fine just the way it is and wouldn't change a thing on it.
 

kbaim

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Didn't do the mod the original poster asked about but...

Just yesterday I FINALLY had the 2 EMG 89's I bought in FEB, installed on 2 of my Lukes. One with piezo, and one w/o. Tough to find a git tech I trusted to work on the Lukes besides Jon at EB and they don't do mods at SLO.

Anywhoo--I've always been a single coil guy and like rob I wanted a more useable tone from pos 2 (hum&middle). So I had it done on my favorite sounding Luke (the piezo one that Pete sold me and I picked up at Open House 1) and also the purple Luke which was my first EB guitar.

I had it wired so its split in the down position (the ones I would use the most) and you pull up to engage the full humbucker. I'll need more time for a fuller report but if you have more than one Luke and like single coil tones, I think its a no brainer to do it. Especially if your style tends to be more clean settings than distortion. Don't think I'd spend the money on the PU and install if i played with distortion the majority of time.

The tech raised the humbucker as having it in the original height made the single coil tap quiter than the other single coils. Not sure how much louder the hum will be but that's less important to me.

The different color writing on the pickup does look a little weird but small price to pay imo.
 
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look_at_her

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I`ve replaced 85 with 89-the same cause-i wanted that st@#t sound in 2nd position.
My guitar tech found the way to avoid push/pull coil tapping-he wired it very straight-1st position HB,2nd split coil and middle,the rest is as in the original setting.
Besides of red colour of EMG logo I`m very happy with that improvement.IMHO 89 does the same job as 85-personally I can`t tell the difference in HB mode.
 

kbaim

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^

If you didn't want or need the single coil bridge tone, wiring that way makes a lot of sense.

Haven't played w distortion yet, still comparing pos 2 to pos 4 and my initial thoughts are the 89 gives me more options for my particular style than 85 so I'm very happy I spent the money (though I'm not sure position 2 sounds quite as good as position 2 on the Albert Lee...but diff p/u, wood, etc. That's my fave tone position on the AL)

Have to wait for a live setting to see how it sounds, but so far so good.
Good luck.
 

look_at_her

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Yes,Kbaim,you`re right-that was my choice-since i don`t use bridge SC i prefer that type of wiring.Indeed,the 89 expanded the sonic options of my Luke-I have to try out AL someday,especially it`s 2nd pos.:).And then JP,then Silo,the ASS...A lot of Balls to play with:D!
 
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Dead-Eye

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I'm not convinced about wiring it like an SS, the push-pull gives you more options. But generally: With that mod it's the most versatile guitar I know
 

brokenvail

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I would do the push pull poy. I would just set it up like an SS for position three and 2 and be able to activate the full humbucker by pulling the pot
 
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