Question Setting up a Luke - 2 springs or 3 springs?

[maxdown]

Hi

Well I finally got my (used) Luke BFR after lusting for one for quite a while …. this very one in fact …. http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-guitars/26748-official-ball-family-reserve-picture-thread-49.html#post535294

I'd never even got my hands on one before - but had managed a quick go on someones SS so knew it wasn't going to be a bad guitar. I've always loved EMG pickups and like a D or V neck over a C one.

It arrived in fantastic condition with what I assume was the standard factory set up - the action at 12th fret was bang on the 4/64ths etc. However I was a bit surprised at how low profile the frets were compared to my other guitars and also the action up round the heel frets was a bit high for my sloppy style of playing.

I was surprised to see the angle that the bridge was at as well ….. (crappy phone pic)

I'd always set my other guitars with floating trems up with the bridge parallel to the body for tuning stability. But it seems thats the angle it needs to be at to get the 1.5 step up bend that the man himself likes. I also tend to rest my hand on the bridge and was finding it a bit too sensitive to wobbling - ie a little bit more spring tension needed.

I don't use a lot of up bends on the trem - just a little movement is all I need to wobble - so I decided to stick in a third spring to see what happened.

The action now is just unbelievable - really really low and no choking/buzzing at all - beautiful!! …… BUT - the bridge is now flush to the body with no floating at all and doing a dive takes considerable effort pulling those 3 springs and if I let it go the bridge slams back onto the body with a loud clonk ( or clonk, clonk if I've got the delay on ).

So now I know that the strings can safely go down a lot more than the factory set height I think the method to get the set up I want is to

1. Keep using 2 springs

2. Tighten the claw screws which will increase the tension to a point I like and still have a floating trem.

3. Then adjusting string height can be done via the saddles until I'm happy.

I don't think it would be advisable for me to keep the 3 springs in and screw the claw screws out to try and get the bridge to float would it? It could invite disaster with the screws ripping out of the wood due to the pull of 3 springs and less screw thread holding them.

Has anyone here with a Luke managed to float the trem safely with 3 springs?

The guitar makes such great noises through any amp I own - it makes my Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro with HSS Seymour D's and loaded with 10's sound quite bland and low output in comparison.

If you aint got one yet .... buy one now!!

Thanks in advance to any answers

Max

 

[Eilif]

I can't help you to get your trem to float with three springs, but I can tell you that the Luke comes from the factory floating with two springs. The piezo models, however, do not float but are set to lower pitch only and come with three springs on. I don't think this will help you, and maybe this is not new knowledge for you, but I thought I'd throw it out there for you just in case.

Good luck!

 

[fbecir]

Hello and welcome aboard.

For your tremolo, you are correct : just tighten the claws until the height of the tremolo suits you.
For the string height, don't mess with the saddle. It's better and easier to change the action with the truss rod. Keep in mind that if you touch the saddle, you have to respect the radius of the neck. With the MM truss rod it's really easy to add / remove some tension in order to lower / higher the strings.

 

[BrickGlass]

For me, the number of springs depends on the gauge of strings being used, as well as the tuning. The Luke comes with two springs and 9 gauge strings. I put on Hybrid EB strings (best strings ever for standard tuning) and put a third spring in so I didn't have to tighten the trem claw too much. My bridge floats and gives me 1 1/2 raised pitch when I pull up on the whammy. My claw screws aren't even close to running out of thread and pulling out. Different springs have different amounts of tension so that is something to keep in mind. I've got dozens of springs in my guitar tool box and some are really loose, where others are quite tight.