Hunting a Luke (with Piezo)

[McGoo]

Hi folks,
Another newbie here
I have played guitar for about 25 years and have owned many different ones over that period of time. I'm now set on a Luke with piezo bridge, the only problem is I live in Scotland and trying to buy MusicMan guitars here is a slow and expensive process. I have read most of the previous threads on why the prices are so different but I'm still not sure I understand the need to make them so expensive in Europe.
Anyway, I'd like to hear from any of you guys who already have any of these guitars with the piezo bridge. In theory it sounds incredible, is it the same in practice?
What is the story with the finish on the necks? I'd like to know how they came to make them the way they do instead of the conventional finishes used by other manufacturers. It's hugely different from any other guitar I have ever played.
I'm pretty certain I'll get rid of most of my other guitars when I get the Luke, I've heard so many good things about them it's easy to see why so few of them come up for resale over here.

 

[starsky]

Welcome to the forum McGoo, the Luke is certainly a great guitar!

Have you already played one (with or without piezo)?

Piezo-equipped Lukes are fairly rare here in Scotland, however fellow Scot Smellybum5150 has an uber-rare Dargie Luke with piezo, so maybe he'll post his thoughts on it.

I have a piezo on my JP6, and it certainly adds a lot to the sound, would be well worth having on a Luke I think.

EBMM necks are great to play, wonderfully smooth with the oil & wax finish.

 

[kbaim]

I love mine. With or without. Interesting to note that Luke himself doesnt seem to play a piezo Luke.

I think the piezo adds character to your clean sound. It helps to start off with good clean amp tone though.

With the US dollar where it is, you could probably vacation here and pick one up while your here for about the same money.

Word of caution, not everyone who tries a Luke falls in love with it. Some don't like the EMG's and some can't get used to the neck. I happen to love both.
I'd check the for sale thread on this forum in case one pops up.
good luck.

 

[psy501]

..i also could recommend ebay (especially with the dollar as it is)..
..if you do some research and try to contact the seller before buying and get a feeling if you can trust him/her or not then not that much can go wrong..
..i bought two of my axes via ebay from the states and i have not been disappointed..

note: check the craigslist thread in this forum, check ebay (the us version) and keep in mind that you have to pay customs so do not calculate just dollar to pounds but add a good 20-30 percent but that still makes them cheap for us lucky europeans..(i´m sure the financial climate will change sooner or later)..

 

[Blind Lemon]

Welcome to the forum.
It's a shame that we're out of stock of Piezo Lukes here at Strings and Things otherwise we could have got one up to Scotland for you to try.
We have plenty of non piezos in stock a few of which are on our web site
at stock_navbar.gif

remember if you ever want to try out a MM we can get one up on approval to any Musicman dealer.