Anyone got a pic of the control cavity of a Luke III? Going to be buying one, just wondering how involved it would be to replace the EBMM pickups with Transitions. I'll give the EBMMs a chance of course, but I'd like to know what I'm going to be dealing with, with pickups swaps?
- Thread starter ruger9
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racerx
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- Mar 10, 2021
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I personally think the current EBMM Luke pickups are the best sounding of the current offerings (YMMV of course).
I posted it once before in my post history, I'll see if I can find it.
edit: @ruger9 here is my previous post photos
I posted it once before in my post history, I'll see if I can find it.
edit: @ruger9 here is my previous post photos
Last edited:
beej
Moderator
Yeah it's pretty tight in there. You'd want to take the board out before working on it. Just requires some patience and care.
Well, when I do get my Luke III (which will almost certainly have the EBMMs), unless I fall in love with the EBMMs I will be trying the Transition pickups in it... I've read way too many raves (and not just from people with Lukes!) on how awesome they are, and I can certainly hear a difference between the EBMM Lukes and the Transition Lukes in demo videos.
Well I for one will be very interested in your findings between the two. The EBMM PUPS are killer but perhaps a tad too forward and lacking in bottom end. For recording and mixing they are great right out the box.
msquared
Well-known member
I had Transitions in a Luke III and found them to be very dark. With the right amp it probably would have been a total winner but I never figured it out and ended up pulling them.
If I were doing this operation I wouldn't pull the board and solder the leads directly, I'd cut the wire in the middle. It would take a lot less time and you'd be less likely to accidentally mess something else up. Adding extra wire to the leads is easy to do right.
If I were doing this operation I wouldn't pull the board and solder the leads directly, I'd cut the wire in the middle. It would take a lot less time and you'd be less likely to accidentally mess something else up. Adding extra wire to the leads is easy to do right.
beej
Moderator
^ That's a great idea.
And yeah ... pickup choice is so subjective. Totally depends on the rest of your signal chain and what you're playing.
And yeah ... pickup choice is so subjective. Totally depends on the rest of your signal chain and what you're playing.
Yes, I was also considering that: cutting the leads. It certainly would be the simplest approach. Just have to identify on the EBMMs which wire is which (hot, ground, coil)
As for tone, I like things a little on the darker side. I've never had a guitar amp that needed more treble, but I have had plenty that I wish had less! Me running the amp treble at 3 or below (sometimes 0) is common...
As for tone, I like things a little on the darker side. I've never had a guitar amp that needed more treble, but I have had plenty that I wish had less! Me running the amp treble at 3 or below (sometimes 0) is common...
Was your lukeIII a rosewood fretboard and rosewood neck too?
Maybe in the end it'll be a Transition bridge (for thickness) and EBMM neck (for clarity)....
msquared
Well-known member
Yeah, and mahogany body.
OK probably why your guitar was dark - I have heard both Roswood fretboard and neck can be quite dark sounding - was noted at Andertons review - Rob Chapman and the Captain spoke about it.
Sometimes I think alot of "tone opinions" are hogwash- people tend to hear what they SEE (rosewood LOOKS darker, therefore it SOUNDS darker)... HOWEVER: I've watched enough Andertons blindfolded videos to realize Rob Chapman has a damn good set of ears on him... the nuances in guitars he's able to hear, while blindfolded, is pretty impressive.
DrKev
Moderator
True, Chappers has a an unusually good set of ears but not infallible ears either. And not a single human alive can avoid unconscious bias (formed from all the stuff we've ever read about what one wood sounds like vs another) when we know what we are listening to.
Warmoth did some great videos on their YouTube channel where they demonstrate if you swap an alder body for ash or mahogany, different neck woods etc, while truly keeping everything else the same. Nobody has done comparison videos as well as they did, BUT I strongly recommend watching the videos blind, i.e. listen rather than watch them. The differences are smaller than you might think, even negligible, when you don't know what you are listening to.
Warmoth did some great videos on their YouTube channel where they demonstrate if you swap an alder body for ash or mahogany, different neck woods etc, while truly keeping everything else the same. Nobody has done comparison videos as well as they did, BUT I strongly recommend watching the videos blind, i.e. listen rather than watch them. The differences are smaller than you might think, even negligible, when you don't know what you are listening to.
Yes - who knows, there are even arguments for and against guitar body tonewood actually making a difference, doing the rounds on YT. Personally from a physics point of view, Tonewood has to make a difference, however how small IMO. Of course as you get into High gain / metal, that difference diminishes.
By the way, my LUKE III has become the main guitar I use now - its just phenomenal the way it allows you to play whatever you want - even stuff I could never play "up to speed" before. I dont know how that works LOL
Yes drKev - you posted pretty much same sentiment as me - totally agree!
msquared
Well-known member
Oh, without a doubt. I'm sure the body had something to do with it as well. It was an absolutely killer guitar once I replaced the pickups. It's not that I didn't like the Transitions but they were a very specialized sound by comparison, which was surprising. I don't consider Luke to be pigeonholed by any means.
I am always suspicious of confirmation bias and hype but I have no doubt that the wood choice has a lot to do with things. I've been taking apart and rebuilding guitars and basses for decades at this point and the more you do it, the more similarities you notice. There are certainly other things involved with the way a guitar sounds - it's all a recipe, after all.
With all that being said, it is important to make note of the differences between sound coming out of an amp, unplugged sound, and tactile response. For example all of John Petrucci's EBMM guitars sound the same to me but clearly he's had a wide range of woods and pickups over the years.
As a personal anecdote I have a Tele I've been working on tweaking for a few months now and I just pulled off a maple/rosewood neck with low nickel frets and replaced it with a wenge/zircote neck with super jumbo stainless frets. Same tuners and everything else, both necks are Warmoth's 59 roundback carve and with the digital calipers they measure exactly the same all the way across the neck. The guitar sounds very similar (not exactly the same) through speakers but it feels and responds so differently with this other neck that it's hard to believe it's even the same body and pickups.
That's exactly what The Captain said on the Andertons video!
Curious - is this the same board whether you have MM or Transition pickups?
