Luke III owner beware.

[Magic Jason]

Last year, MM discontinued the AL BFR and I had to "rush things" to buy one while it was still possible; so I sold my Luke III to fund the ALBFR.

But last month, funds being back, I bought the very same combo : Luke III HSS olive gold/rosewood neck combo. I was very pleased at first: same guitar, feel, quality, looks.

But when I plugged it, what a nightmare : it was trebly as hell! My best buddy, who also owns one, told me : "This quack is horrible : your guitar ate a piezzo."

I changed strings, set it up, played different amps, pedals, 11Rack, Fractal... Horrible. There was almost no sound difference between the neck and bridge pickup. It was not at all the guitar I remembered and loved.

I tried to sell it immediately: I was so disgusted.

Then I reallized I, foolishly, hadn't tried the inner controls. One of them was, to my ears, turned all the way "wrong".

Now the magic is back, my fantastic luke3 sounds as it "should".

Young padawans, do not underestimate the power of this trimpot. It changed a wonderfull instrument in a "sound-like-sh*t" log.


Ps

Did I mention this guitar is going nowhere?

 

[kestrou]

MJ - good notice to all - and forgot you were in Belgium - man hugs, brother!

Kevin

 

[xjbebop]

Great reminder...always check the basics first...

 

[Magic Jason]

MJ - good notice to all - and forgot you were in Belgium - man hugs, brother!

Kevin

Appreciate it, brother! Thanks.

 

[sanderhermans]

Glad that worked out for you! Now we both have one of these great guitars!
I was just messing around with the trim pots the other day. And i find the sound to be the best with the trim pot closed (no boost for the single coils) or just a slight bit of boost. If you move it further for more sc boost, the sound gets to be really artificial imo.
I set the push/push boost in the middle.

 

[Magic Jason]

No boost on the singles.

Almost full boost on the push/push!

 

[mikeller]

I have a L3 HH & SSH. I think I set the SSH so that the singles came close to matching the output of the HB (and the HH so that the volume on positions 2 & 4 was similar to 1-3-5).

Are you saying this caused it to sound worse? I thought mine sounded great but now I wanna turn some trim pots?????

 

[Magic Jason]

Hello Mike,

I'm only speaking about what sounds great to my ears.

I turned the trim that doesn't affect the push/push boost to the exact opposite direction.

Before doing so, the Luke had a nasty trebly piezzo-like sound and the difference between the neck pickup and bridge pickup wasn't "interesting" at all. Impossible to have a sweet sound or that stratish character with the singles.

After a screwdriver turn, everything was back to normal : balanced round sound, strat sounds (and much more) with the singles, flame thrower with the humbucker! Sounds great on my amp, sounds great on my 11 rack.

If my understanding is right, the permanent boost for the singles was all the way up. I turned it all the way down.

Once again, you might not agree with me but it took me 10 seconds and I got that great guitar that I like back !

It's definetly worth trying!

 

[KasperFauerby]

Good tips! Glad you got it working - I assume your guitar is no longer for sale then
I'll be sure to keep this trim option in mind when I decide to buy one... as you say, it seems like something one could easily overlook!

 

[mikeller]

Thank you for the post Magic Jason! Gonna pull mine out a check it out ASAP!!!

 

[ksandvik]

This could be a cool way to get a used Luke cheaply due to pilot tweaking mistakes.

 

[Magic Jason]

That's what happened to me!!!

 

[Bryan]

Wait..... There are inner controls???

Please tell me more......


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[kestrou]

Wait..... There are inner controls???

Please tell me more......

Just stick a screwdriver in there and wiggle it around a bit - you'll change the sound!

Kevin

 

[Bryan]

I'm sure that approach would change a lot!


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