Question for the Luke Players

[smd24fan]

Hey guys, quick question for you. One of the things I am lacking in my guitar collection is single coils. Question is, do the EMG singles in the Luke provide a strat-like sound, or is it more of a ultra-clean, chimey sound. Does that make any sense at all? LOL! Looking to buy a guitar soon with singles, and I'm just loving the quality of my JPX and JP6BFR. I hear lots of people raving about the Luke, and I think I prefer it to the Silo guitars. Any impressions you guys have is greatly appreciated.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

I absolutely love my Luke and love the single coils in it.Before i had my luke i had the steve lukather emg set in my strat , it made the strat sound so much better.
My luke is one of the best guitars i own and it sounds and plays great. you will not be disappointed in the single coils.
if you can find one at a store somewhere just play it for a little while and see what you think but if you ask me the pickups are great.

 

[beej]

The Luke is a great guitar, no doubt.

As for the EMGs- some guys love them, some don't. They sound great, but they tend to be a little more even across the frequencies than your traditional strat style p'up. For some people that works perfectly. So I would say play one and see how you feel about them. Also the neck is pretty different than your JP, so you definitely want to see if it works for you.

Another option for single coils is the SSS Albert Lee. It kills.

 

[kimonostereo]

Love all of my Lukes. And like Beej said, some folks love EMG's and some hate em. I see the value in both passive and active pickups and like the sound of both.

That said, the Luke's single coils are very even and they definitely do have single coil characteristic and sparkle and quack in the neck and middle position, you may or may not like the middle and humbucker position as much. It really is a personal decision.

Play one and see if it fits your style. Also +1 to Beej for the Albert Lee suggestion. I have an old AL pinkburst that didn't come with stock p'ups, but sounded good with almost anything I put in it. Finally stuck with the Suhr Fletcher/Landau pickups in it and love it.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

The Luke is a great guitar, no doubt.

As for the EMGs- some guys love them, some don't. They sound great, but they tend to be a little more even across the frequencies than your traditional strat style p'up. For some people that works perfectly. So I would say play one and see how you feel about them. Also the neck is pretty different than your JP, so you definitely want to see if it works for you.

Another option for single coils is the SSS Albert Lee. It kills.

thats the one thing i noticed about EMG either people love them or just hate them never seems to be an in the middle.

 

[smd24fan]

All great info guys, thanks! I had EMG's in a Strat once and really dug them. I was actually quite surprised at how nice their single coil pickups were. The reason I asked here is because I could not remember which ones I had versus what is in the Luke. All good stuff to consider.

 

[smd24fan]

The bigger problem is, we have absolutely ZERO good music stores here in Syracuse. The chances of me finding a Luke around here is pretty much ZERO!

 

[Gio_Force_One]

The bigger problem is, we have absolutely ZERO good music stores here in Syracuse. The chances of me finding a Luke around here is pretty much ZERO!

that stinks any Guitar Centers close enough to drive to , maybe they could order one for you to try.

 

[smd24fan]

that stinks any Guitar Centers close enough to drive to , maybe they could order one for you to try.

We have a Guitar Center, but their inventory is always terrible. They have very few high quality, American made, instruments in stock at any given time. The one in Rochester is marginally better.

 

[Gio_Force_One]

We have a Guitar Center, but their inventory is always terrible. They have very few high quality, American made, instruments in stock at any given time. The one in Rochester is marginally better.

i guess you could always try musicians friend they have their 45 day return policy. i know you dont want to just buy it without playing it first.

 

[mesavox]

Luke single coils are ultra clean and chimey. There is no mid (fat) bump. They cut and they're spanky, but not SRV-like.

That being said, they are designed to be flat eq-wise. It is a guitar designed to fill Luke's session work and Toto needs. So, getting an SRV type fat sound becomes a matter of your gear. You're going to need to set things a little differently than with a colored passive single coil. Other than the fingers and massive skills Luke has, if you plug a luke in and flip it to a single coil, you're going to sound like his single coil sound. Listen to his stuff and make note of his single coil sound. In my experience, it pretty much tells the tale of his signature guitar's single coil sounds. It is a really versatile guitar.. the biggest thing missing for SOME people would be the fat neck position sound... its more open and spanky, and not like a neck humbucker or even blues voices neck single coil. (anyone starting to have the words game changer pop into their heads right about now? LOL)

 

[ScreaminFloyd]

I love my Luke !! You have to have a quality amp though. When you do it's not for the faint of heart in a Rockin way ! Luke Knew what he wanted, Music Man made it for him and we benifited from it. In my opinion it's one of the best guitars ever made.

 

[jptortor]

We have a Guitar Center, but their inventory is always terrible. They have very few high quality, American made, instruments in stock at any given time. The one in Rochester is marginally better.

The Rochester Guitar Center has a Rosewood Neck Black Luke. Everytime I go in, I want to buy it, but don't. Might be worth the hour drive to try it!

They also have a couple Silhouettes and a Roasted JP at the moment.

Jason

 

[ScreaminFloyd]

The thing about Guitar Center in Upstate N.Y. where I go into sometimes is that they have all the Music Man guitars behind the counter. You have to ask to play it and then it's chaperoned by a GC Emp. while you play. Afterwards it gets put back behind the counter. Thats respect, and saving your top end Get the Luke!

 

[dwells]

can get any tone from my Luke BFR!!!

 

[Craiguitar]

The Luke II's have SLV single coils. Like an 'overwound' warmer tone akin to a strat, better for bluesy playing. The Luke I (at least mine anyway) has SA57 Single coils, a variant of the SA which are a bit honkier and more aggressive sounding, they work better for funky clean rhythm (Nile rodgers) type stuff. Both different sounding, each has its strengths so to speak.

 

[Stu-Pendus]

I've been using EMG's for about 25 years and you have to play the guitar the way that they want you to.The feel is different to pasive pups which is why some folks struggle with them,they are wonderfully touch sensitive, hit the strings hard and they change their sonic character and expression espesialy on partial drive.Turn the drive up to saturation and they just wail like a b*stard with compressed raw plectrum attack.They sound OK at bedroom level but at proper gig level through a good valve amp with little eq and you will be rewarded with not only a great sound but flattering feel too.

 

[ScreaminFloyd]

Spot on my friend!

 

[BrickGlass]

The SLV single coils in the Luke are amazing sounding. Really great pups.

 

[smd24fan]

Thanks for all the great opinions and insight guys, gotta love these message boards! Maybe I will make the run to Rochester and see if that Luke is still on the wall there.