Help! Help! Creaky neck and other neck issues Luke III

[Checkedcastle]

Hey guys,

Would like to get some insight to a problem I’ve been having with my Luke III HH.

I’ve had it for about a year now and it’s had some issues from the start. First issue with is was that the preamp was busted and wasn’t working. Turning the pots made crackle and there was only one spot where it gave any volume. Naturally it went back, it was serviced and it was replaced.

Next thing has been quite a lot of tuning problems. From what I’ve understood, most experience with Lukes is that they’re very stable and can handle quite a bit of trem usage. Not the case with mine. Even with some light flutters it goes out of tune, and mostly on the A and low E strings. They come back sharp of all things. The neck is also super sensitive to pressure and chords ring out of tune even with slight change to finger pressure. It’s well intonated and checked by a respectable luthier, but some chords still ring out very much out of tune if you don’t play them with a specific pressure and have your fingers in exactly the right place. It has a set of 9s on it as I thought that would be the ideal gauge since that’s how it comes stock. It just seems that the neck is super sensitive, has anyone had this kind of experience?

The last issue that’s been bugging me recently, and this has been happening since I got it, is that the neck is making this weird popping, creaking sound on occasion when applying any pressure to it. It happens after a bit of playing or when picking it up from a stand after it’s been sitting for a while. I actually got a video of it where the snap is quite audible. You can feel it through the neck but it sounds like it’s coming from the neck pocket. Any ideas?

FYI, I was sending the video to a buddy of mine here in Finland, so please excuse my Finnish speaking on it! The first snap is quieter, it can be heard at 0:22 of the video and the second one is quite loud at 0:29 in the video. Apparently the file was too big so I uploaded it to Drive.

Creaky Luke neck - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Any help would be much appreciated! Just feels like there is a lot of things with this particular guitar. Could it just be a lemon? Wouldn’t think so with EBMM!

 

[fbecir]

Hello

Did you check the 5 screws that attach the neck to the body ? Perhaps you have to tighten them a bit.
The crack in the neck pocket is a sound you can hear when you reset the neck in the pocket (like on this video :

)

Good luck with your Luke

 

[Checkedcastle]

Hello

Did you check the 5 screws that attach the neck to the body ? Perhaps you have to tighten them a bit.
The crack in the neck pocket is a sound you can hear when you reset the neck in the pocket (like on this video :

)

Good luck with your Luke

Hey,

Yeah double checked all the screws, all are as tight as you can do by hand! Thanks though!

 

[Rbg]

Can you please record just a video of the sound without you talking over?

 

[Checkedcastle]

Can you please record just a video of the sound without you talking over?

Yeah sure! I was just happy that I caught in on video, since it’s not happening every time. But I’ll try to do another one!

 

[DrKev]

@Checkedcastle I'm sorry I only know three words in Finnish: Suomi, kippis, and pipo. But online translations says I can say "Tervetuloa foorumille!" I hope that's right!

I have never owned a guitar in my life where the low E string didn't go a little sharp as a matter of everyday life. It's been annoying me for 35 years! Maybe there is some sort of weird force field following me around that makes this happen, I don't know. But I do know the problem is less annoying with lubrication in the nut slots and on the tops of the saddles but I have never made it completely go away. Each string change I clean and lubricate the nut slots and saddles and then lubricate with white lithium grease that cyclists use for wheel bearings. (I use Weldtite TF2, the little 5g tube lasts a long time so buy the smalles tube you can).

Re: the creaking, without the guitar in front of me it's hard to say what's going on but 1) I'm not worried about it unless it causes tuning issues itself and b) I would be looking at the neck joint, holes in the body for the neck bolts pass through are large enough (it should be a clearance hole not a pilot hole) and looking at increasing grip in the neck pocket somehow.

 

[Ted]

Sometimes when I pick up my BFR Valentine by the neck at some weird angles and move it with certain motions, I would get a kind of similar sound, like maybe what I heard in your video and I thought there was something going on with my neck. It didn't happen every time and I didn't know what it was.

Then in my case, I realized the sound was just coming from the battery moving inside the battery compartment. And once I figured out that was the culprit it didn't bother me anymore. I could probably stuff something inside the battery compartment so that battery has no room to move, but it's not a big deal.

Of course the battery compartment in the Valentine is closer to the neck area that it is in the Luke model. So perhaps your issue really is something with the neck, but I just wanted to offer an idea of something else that it could possibly be besides the neck.

That Luke is beautiful too.

 

[Checkedcastle]

@Checkedcastle I'm sorry I only know three words in Finnish: Suomi, kippis, and pipo. But online translations says I can say "Tervetuloa foorumille!" I hope that's right!

I have never owned a guitar in my life where the low E string didn't go a little sharp as a matter of everyday life. It's been annoying me for 35 years! Maybe there is some sort of weird force field following me around that makes this happen, I don't know. But I do know the problem is less annoying with lubrication in the nut slots and on the tops of the saddles but I have never made it completely go away. Each string change I clean and lubricate the nut slots and saddles and then lubricate with white lithium grease that cyclists use for wheel bearings. (I use Weldtite TF2, the little 5g tube lasts a long time so buy the smalles tube you can).

Re: the creaking, without the guitar in front of me it's hard to say what's going on but 1) I'm not worried about it unless it causes tuning issues itself and b) I would be looking at the neck joint, holes in the body for the neck bolts pass through are large enough (it should be a clearance hole not a pilot hole) and looking at increasing grip in the neck pocket somehow.

Hey man, thanks for the input! Yeah, the lubrication helps a ton on the tuning stability, that's for sure!

 

[Checkedcastle]

Sometimes when I pick up my BFR Valentine by the neck at some weird angles and move it with certain motions, I would get a kind of similar sound, like maybe what I heard in your video and I thought there was something going on with my neck. It didn't happen every time and I didn't know what it was.

Then in my case, I realized the sound was just coming from the battery moving inside the battery compartment. And once I figured out that was the culprit it didn't bother me anymore. I could probably stuff something inside the battery compartment so that battery has no room to move, but it's not a big deal.

Of course the battery compartment in the Valentine is closer to the neck area that it is in the Luke model. So perhaps your issue really is something with the neck, but I just wanted to offer an idea of something else that it could possibly be besides the neck.

That Luke is beautiful too.

Hey, thanks for the input! Yeah, had to check and see, but sadly not in this case! You can feel the pop in the neck when you're holding your hand on it. So sadly, not the case here.

 

[Checkedcastle]

Can you please record just a video of the sound without you talking over?

Hey man, here's a video of it popping with no talk! I tried gently pressing it in a few different places, usually it comes when applying a bit of pressure near the headstock. As you can hear, it's quite a loud pop...

Creaky neck Luke 2.MOV

drive.google.com

 

[Checkedcastle]

All the screws are tightened and that part should be good. I've noticed that maybe there's a slight change in tuning when that happens. Nothing drastic, but something in the lines of some chords might ring a bit differently after it pops...

 

[morsecode]

So I have a neck that does something similar on a JP of mine, and for me, lack of humidity and extreme changes in humidity seem to be the culprits. Since keeping it in its case with a humidifier inside the case whenever I am not playing it, I don’t have this issue anymore. I cannot hang it or leave it on a stand for any real amount of time especially in colder dryer months. That’s what has worked for me with this particular guitar.

 

[Checkedcastle]

So I have a neck that does something similar on a JP of mine, and for me, lack of humidity and extreme changes in humidity seem to be the culprits. Since keeping it in its case with a humidifier inside the case whenever I am not playing it, I don’t have this issue anymore. I cannot hang it or leave it on a stand for any real amount of time especially in colder dryer months. That’s what has worked for me with this particular guitar.

Hey man! Good to know that I’m not alone! Yeah, that’s something I’ve been considering as well. Might have to try to see if that would be of help! Thanks man!

 

[morsecode]

I think it is the nature of the beast when dealing with wood. Each piece of wood reacts differently to climate changes. I never noticed the issue until after the warranty lapsed. It is an unfinished birdseye maple neck with an insane amount of birdseye, and I am prepared to live with it as long as the guitar remains playable and serviceable.

If you're guitar is still covered under warranty, you may want to see if that issue is covered.

 

[fbecir]

Hello

Perhaps a stupid idea, but how tight is the truss rod ?
If you play with 9-42 strings, it should be quite loose.
If you loosen the truss rod, do you still hear the cracking sound ?
If you tighten a bit the truss rod, what happens ?

 

[Checkedcastle]

Hello

Perhaps a stupid idea, but how tight is the truss rod ?
If you play with 9-42 strings, it should be quite loose.
If you loosen the truss rod, do you still hear the cracking sound ?
If you tighten a bit the truss rod, what happens ?

Hey mate, tried that! Sadly to no avail. Still makes the same thing…

 

[Rbg]

You try to take the neck off see that it’s clean and there no small wood chips from screws or whatever. Then put a little bit of wood wax like you’d do on the back of the neck. If this sound is from wood on wood micro movements it may help with the sound. Also by taking the neck off and putting it back may release some tension in the wood due to traveling and condition variation while being held tight by the bolts. It’s not difficult but you may ask tech to do so if you are afraid.

 

[DrKev]

@Checkedcastle

Re: the Low E and A strings going sharp: thanks to you I finally sat down and I think I solved the problem.

I examined the entire string length on my Cutlass and the only place I could imagine a problem occurring is the very back edge of the string slot in the nut. The low E and A strings have large enough windings that they are kind of "bumpy" and windings could catch or hang up on the back edge of the string slot. The solution is to gently file a small ramp on the back side of the nut slot. It only needs to be a small fraction of a millimeter, barely visible at all. (You could use a small folded piece of 600 grit sandpaper if nut files are not available. Take care to use tape or card to protect the finish behind the nut while you do this.

I did this while changing strings on my Cutlass this week and I'm so far I'm very pleased with the results.

I'll post images here later when I have more time.

Thank you for giving me the impetus to finally solve this! Kiitoksia paljon!

 

[Vito Porkleone]

Here's something you can try for the neck popping - it may not fix it, but it's an easy try. I got this off a YT video a couple of years ago, and did the trick for me on a Sterling I used to own.

Tune guitar to pitch, then flip over and loosen the neck bolts - maybe a full turn on each, it doesn't take much. The string tension will help pull the neck a little farther into the pocket. When I did this, when I got to the 4th and 5th bolts, I heard a pop when I loosened each one. Then re-tighten. If this works for you the way it did for me, the necks creaks will go away, plus you might notice a slight increase in sustain (at least I did).

Give it a shot. No risk.