Benji Peterson
Well-known member
Okay, Okay. I know I get my grubby mitts on quite a few guitars. This one though... this one... this one is special. I bought a Luke 3 HSS earlier this year. For playing live, it has become the dominant axe in my arsenal. In fact, being that I am such a huge JP model fan, I felt almost hesitant to admit to myself what an impression the Luke had made on me. Some here know I love shred-style guitar playing. I wish I were better, haha, but to be honest with all of you guys I'm mostly a traditional style guitarist. I love playing classic rock, jazz, fusion, country, hair metal, metal, djent, all kinds of stuff. The point is, I tend to use my guitar as a paint brush in the context of live playing, not a platform to spout off all my shred licks. Note selection, phrasing, and my contribution to the mood of the song are of the utmost importance to me. Here's where I start talking about the Luke...
First of all, my hands are not that big. Performing swells with the volume pot have never been easy to me but only because of the stretch needed to do it correctly. Secondly, I've never been able to easily operate the trem while performing volume swells. This guitar makes all those things so possible and as a result has made an incredible impact on my playing. I feel like a better musician for having fully embraced the Luke. It is quickly becoming 'my' guitar. I even LOVE the EMGs! They're so clean and clear. About those swells... I can perform volume-pedal-like swells with the EMGs, even under high gain. There's no noise or crackling or anything of the sort when bringing the volume from zero all the way to ten. It's like ninja-level stuff!
The neck was something I almost DIDN'T want to like, again, I wanted my JPs to be 'home' for me. The carve of the soft v is subtle enough to completely forget about and I never incur any left hand fatigue when playing. The overall feel of the Luke carve is probably most comparable to my Axis neck, especially with respect to the narrowness of it. Both are incredibly comfortable to my hands. This is my home now. Haha. Twenty two frets is worth the tradeoff to get the neck pickup in the correct position too. Man, it sure is nice to have such high quality strat tones on tap!
Lastly, I'll mention the trem. It's the best trem ever. I could honestly stop there, but I'll go on. It's a very sensitive little thing, giving you the ability to play with incredible subtlety. It's almost too easy to emulate a chorus effect with it or even the sound of analog tape drag. Did I mention it dive bombs? Yup. As low as you'd ever need to go! Oh and it goes up too! Like Mr. Lukather I setup my trems to float. One and a half steps on the G, a whole step on the B, and a half step up on the E. You can do whatever style of playing your heart desires with this trem and never go out of tune. Both of my Luke's are ridiculously stable and tuning never needs more than a small touch up.
Anyway, in summation, I'm elated to have this guitar. I feel a connection to it. I would suggest to anyone here that hasn't tried a Luke to strongly consider it for your next axe. You just might be as smitten as I am!
-benji
First of all, my hands are not that big. Performing swells with the volume pot have never been easy to me but only because of the stretch needed to do it correctly. Secondly, I've never been able to easily operate the trem while performing volume swells. This guitar makes all those things so possible and as a result has made an incredible impact on my playing. I feel like a better musician for having fully embraced the Luke. It is quickly becoming 'my' guitar. I even LOVE the EMGs! They're so clean and clear. About those swells... I can perform volume-pedal-like swells with the EMGs, even under high gain. There's no noise or crackling or anything of the sort when bringing the volume from zero all the way to ten. It's like ninja-level stuff!
The neck was something I almost DIDN'T want to like, again, I wanted my JPs to be 'home' for me. The carve of the soft v is subtle enough to completely forget about and I never incur any left hand fatigue when playing. The overall feel of the Luke carve is probably most comparable to my Axis neck, especially with respect to the narrowness of it. Both are incredibly comfortable to my hands. This is my home now. Haha. Twenty two frets is worth the tradeoff to get the neck pickup in the correct position too. Man, it sure is nice to have such high quality strat tones on tap!
Lastly, I'll mention the trem. It's the best trem ever. I could honestly stop there, but I'll go on. It's a very sensitive little thing, giving you the ability to play with incredible subtlety. It's almost too easy to emulate a chorus effect with it or even the sound of analog tape drag. Did I mention it dive bombs? Yup. As low as you'd ever need to go! Oh and it goes up too! Like Mr. Lukather I setup my trems to float. One and a half steps on the G, a whole step on the B, and a half step up on the E. You can do whatever style of playing your heart desires with this trem and never go out of tune. Both of my Luke's are ridiculously stable and tuning never needs more than a small touch up.
Anyway, in summation, I'm elated to have this guitar. I feel a connection to it. I would suggest to anyone here that hasn't tried a Luke to strongly consider it for your next axe. You just might be as smitten as I am!
-benji
