Tell me about the Lukes!

[Gas Hed]

I've heard here before that the Lukes are Strat killers. Well, tell me more? For some reason, the way my amp is dialed in right now, my Axis S.S., A.L. MM90, A.L. SSS, and Gibby Les Paul sound just right - but for some reason my MIA Strat is too bright and harsh. Of course I can adjust the amp settings to get some nice tones, but I'm wondering why it is the Strat in particular that needs to be tamed that way.

Enter the fact that I'm slowly pushing all my non Ernie Ball guitars off the wall - give me a reason to buy a Luke fellow EBers! How are those EMGs?

 

[Magic Jason]

Just buy one

Bought a Luke3 HSS olive gold, all rosewood neck , while "waiting" for a pdn AL to arrive, just to give it a test.

Sold my strat Eric Johnson. Sold my Tom anderson drop top. Sold my Parker Fly deluxe. Sold my les paul classic premium plus.

I DO NOT regret any of them and I didn't NEED to sell them.

My Luke is easy to play, small, light, has great looks, has fantastic pickups, there isn't a bad sound in it.

These single coils have balls but sound great. (And I was a vintage coils type of guy)

The preamp allow to match the volume of the "out-of-phase" tone...

Boost on tone is really convenient!

Both HH and HSS are great : it's just up to you!

Soft V neck profile is just out of this world. My favourite ever...and I've tried aplenty.

PS
Nothing but Musicman on my wall. (and Lowdens...of course)

PPS
I do not work for musicman.


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[Edgarallan]

Gas Hed,

I have a Luke III and I'm continually amazed at the clarity of the pickups. They are bright and hot without sounding harsh and brittle. Not only is the Luke a strat killer, the pickups are EMG killers.

 

[Stratty316]

The Luke 3 uses passive DiMarzios... The Luke 2 uses the EMGs. OP, which Luke Model are you considering?


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[Gas Hed]

I reeaaalllly like the looks of the blue BFR Luke that has the EMGs. I've never played through EMGs, so I don't know what they are like.

 

[ksandvik]

I never used EMGs before (DiMarzios and Seymor Duncans of all kinds) but was curious and got a Luke II with EMGs. Very, very happy, organic, slightly compressed and lots of headroom from clean to crunch. One band I sub for always force me to take the Luke II due to the clarity and sound of the guitar...

 

[Benji Peterson]

I've owned the L3 and a BFR Luke so I've had a great deal of time to sample the Dimarzios vs. the EMGs. The Dimarzios seem to get along with the greatest number of amps that I try, in fact, all of them, and the EMGs sound brilliant through the right amp. For me, it's Marshall all the way for the EMGs and I'm thrilled with the results of my EMGs through my JVM410. The EMGs are super super clean sounding and there's isn't any noise from the pots when raising the pickup volume from off all the way to ten.
Moving on from the pickups, the guitar itself is super comfy and ergonomic to play. Like others have said, the necks are brilliant and make general playing easy. The vintage trem is very usable and completely solid on the tuning end of things. The knob placement is ideal too for swells and accessibility.
I'd probably suggest trying a L3 first. The roasted necks are the best in the business and the newer pickups and features are a breeze to use in any application.

 

[Gas Hed]

Want:

 

[PBGas]

Luke's are wonderful guitars. I once owned a BFR model and now own a Luke III PDN model. While I love the guitar sounds that come out of it, I find it feels like a small instrument. The neck at the nut area is somewhat smaller in width than any of my other guitars and at this point, I find my hand cramping up with it during some of my live gigs. That being said, it is a beautiful guitar and the neck and fretwork are first class. I'm still deciding on whether or not it leaves my posession.

 

[Razzle]

Aren't the necks from smallest to largest:

Luke --> Luke II --> Luke III

?

 

[mikeller]

Aren't the necks from smallest to largest:

Luke --> Luke II --> Luke III

?

I have never played a Luke (I) but have a Luke (II) and two LIII's. The neck on my Luke II is very noticably smaller and more V shaped than the Luke III's that I own

 

[Razzle]

I have never played a Luke (I) but have a Luke (II) and two LIII's. The neck on my Luke II is very noticably smaller and more V shaped than the Luke III's that I own

I just got a Luke and that neck is svelte.

 

[ErnieJohn]

Luke's are amazing guitars, everyone should have one,

 

[PBGas]

Aren't the necks from smallest to largest:

Luke --> Luke II --> Luke III

?

The neck itself is great! It's the width that bothers me. Mostly at the nut area. They are pretty much all the same as far as width.

 

[BrickGlass]

I love the necks on both of the Luke II's I've owned. Love my BFR. The EMG's are unique. Nothing that sounds like them really, especially the single coil pups in the Luke II. Awesome guitars.

 

[Gas Hed]

Looks like the width of the neck at the nut is 41.3 mm, which is the same as my ALs. I agree that it can get tight there, forces me to use better technique to make sure notes ring clearly at times. But my hands are relatively small and EB necks work well for me.

 

[Craiguitar]

I have one of each, and a couple of things....
My Luke's 1 & 3 have the slimmest most v shaped necks, the Luke II has a slightly more chunky, but still v shaped neck. All very comfy though. The LIII pickups are NOT EMG killers... In fact each type of pickup has its merits, and will do certain things better than the other. If you like Lukather's 80s and 90s tones, you'll love the EMGs, it's that smooth, crisp and slightly compressed punch. Very forgiving. For more open zingy and gritty sounds, the Transitions are in charge.

 

[ksandvik]

To clarify , even if EMGs are clean sounding, I could get really crunchy dirty blues sounds with the neck single coil and the right settings on the amp with a Luke II. If I need a guitar that could do just any kinds of sounds for a sub gig, Luke II is the one I take from the rack, especially as it cleans up nicely for clean sounds but I could still get crunch if needed.