The Luke

[blackspy]

I love the Axis, and I liked the couple of EVH's I've tried out. However, there things that always bother me about them.

#1. No elbow contour.
#2. 10" Radius
#3. Neck contour could be a little slimmer for me.

Likes:
#1. Tone (pickups?)
#2. Neck width.
#3. Bridge (Floyd)

For just 30 minutes to an hour or so, of playing, those things don't worry me too much. Beyond that though, and I often wish the guitar was a little more comfortable, to me.

The JP, looks like a good choice but I don't know if I'm really into a neck that wide anymore, or frets that wide, I'm not too keen on the sound either. The Morse looks good, but has alot of the same complaints for me as the Axis. Albert Lee, isn't for me.

The Luke is looking quite appealing recently though. My only concerns about it are the 'V' contour? I've never seen a Luke in a store, nor an OLP ver, so I have no idea what this is actually like. I don't know how it would compare to a neck like the Axis. I wonder about the pickups too... I wasn't fond of the EMG's in a guitar I had once. The Luke has a flatter radius, but by how much? I do like it flat, the JP is nice in that respect.

I'm really happy with the quality of the musicman guitars, and would hate to look elsewhere.

So, Luke owners... what can you tell me about them, in comparision to an Axis for example. Also, is it hard to find an older Luke, with a Floyd? I'd really prefer it.

 

[songman]

I love the Axis, and I liked the couple of EVH's I've tried out. However, there things that always bother me about them.

#1. No elbow contour.
#2. 10" Radius
#3. Neck contour could be a little slimmer for me.

Likes:
#1. Tone (pickups?)
#2. Neck width.
#3. Bridge (Floyd)

For just 30 minutes to an hour or so, of playing, those things don't worry me too much. Beyond that though, and I often wish the guitar was a little more comfortable, to me.

The JP, looks like a good choice but I don't know if I'm really into a neck that wide anymore, or frets that wide, I'm not too keen on the sound either. The Morse looks good, but has alot of the same complaints for me as the Axis. Albert Lee, isn't for me.

The Luke is looking quite appealing recently though. My only concerns about it are the 'V' contour? I've never seen a Luke in a store, nor an OLP ver, so I have no idea what this is actually like. I don't know how it would compare to a neck like the Axis. I wonder about the pickups too... I wasn't fond of the EMG's in a guitar I had once. The Luke has a flatter radius, but by how much? I do like it flat, the JP is nice in that respect.

I'm really happy with the quality of the musicman guitars, and would hate to look elsewhere.

So, Luke owners... what can you tell me about them, in comparision to an Axis for example. Also, is it hard to find an older Luke, with a Floyd? I'd really prefer it.

WHat do you think of the Sillouette??? It's similar to Axis and Morse, but with contour. YOu can get the standard, Special, and now 20th anni.

 

[blackspy]

I've thought about them. Unsure about the pickups, same radius, no double locking trem. Good suggestion though.

 

[blackspy]

Hmm.. nobody here plays a Luke?

 

[glockaxis]

I had the same dilema as you and now the Luke is my number 1 guitar and the Axis is my back up. The V shaped neck is real easy to adjust to and having smaller fingers, the fretboard size/shape makes chording and runs extremely easy to finger. I used to have EMGS in a Gibson SG and they sounded like crap (could have been the installation) but in the Luke they sound awesome.

 

[blackspy]

Yeah, my hands aren't very big, so the smaller neck sounds nice. The body certainly looks alot more "comfy". I wonder if you could try and describe how much of a difference you find in the radius between the Axis and Luke?

 

[Junior]

Hmm.. nobody here plays a Luke?

 

[beej]

I love my Luke, but it's a different beast than the other EBMMs. Personally I'm quite happy with the pickups- they cover a lot of tonal range and sound great clean or distorted. I'm not a fan of the Floyd, and I do love the vintage trem- you can wank till the cows come home and it's very stable. (This setup is no different than the JP, really.)

The neck is incredibly sweet. I don't notice the 'v' per se, I just notice that it feels small and very comfortable.

This is one of those guitars you just have to play to get, I think.

 

[kbaim]

The Luke necks feel best to my hands. Except oddly for my latest one (Luke #4) which actually hurts to play after about 20 minutes and probably will end up being sold or traded. Shame because it sounds great.

 

[lock-ny]

I was an axis EVH user for years, but now my main guitar is my silo special for the exact reasons you stated, the body is way more comfy and with a pup change it sounds fantastic. I dont like EMG's so much so the like wasnt an option but I will tell you they are comfy and they do sound great - my only gripe with the LUKE is that I hit the middle pup when picking and it cant be lowered, thus I went with the silo - and dont worry about the fretboard radius you wont even nitoce the difference with these guitars -

 

[glockaxis]

The V is asymetrical which means it isn't perfectly centered. The V is located more towards your thumb on your fret-hand side of the neck.---hope that makes sense. It is great for anchoring your thumb on w/ extended chords or comfortably wrapping your hand around the neck while reaching for some high notes.

The Axis has a more smooth mound shape to it ---slight C curve I guess.

I easily interchange between between both guitars so it's not like the change in both is going to be so drastic that your hand will feel foreign when picking up eith guitar. I also love the fact that you have a humbucker and 2 single coils which gives you the best of both worlds. As far as the trem, I think it is great as well especially w/ the locking tuners holding it in tune, and the way it facilitates string changes, maintenance etc....

 

[Eilif]

Neck
The "V" of the Luke neck bugged me for a long time, but I eventually got used to it. Now it doesn't bother me, and I don't even think about it. (Actually, I'm glad it bothered me, as that was the catalyst for me to go out and try something else, which eventually led to my getting an Axis SS--which I love!)

I think the radius difference is noticeable, but what is the most noticeable for me are the frets, which are lower on the Luke. Now, when I switch back and forth between the Axis and the Luke, it's the frets that I'm conscious of, not the "V" or the radius difference.

Body
The Luke is definitely more comfortable, no question, no comparison.

Sound
Here is where the two guitars are completely different animals. There is very little common ground between them. Unless you want to count the fact that they both have bridge humbuckers, but that would be pushing it as the EMGs sound very different from the Dimarzios. Some people absolutely love active pickups, others don't care for them at all. I'm not too crazy about the Luke's bridge pickup; I guess I'm not much of an active pickup guy. But I love that single coil neck pickup--it is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Summary
Switching to the Luke would probably be more comfortable for you, and you might be able to find an older version, which came with Floyds. That would address most of your concerns. But you would be completely giving up the Axis sound.

 

[Luc]

I think the most important things about the Luke have been said above. My Luke has got a real soft V shaped neck, which I like very much. The body is very comfortable and I like the EMGs a LOT. However, I really think you should try one. I could write a book how great it is, but it's personal and you could have a complete different opinion.

But one advice: The OLP is nothng like the EBMM! I'm not talking about the tone (the ebmm blows the olp away) but the olp has got a pretty hard V shaped neck which is uncomparable to the neck on the 'original' Luke.

 

[CudBucket]

The JP, looks like a good choice but I don't know if I'm really into a neck that wide anymore, or frets that wide, I'm not too keen on the sound either.

?

The Petrucci neck isn't wide.

 

[ripley]

?

The Petrucci neck isn't wide.

it's perspective... because it's exactly one molicule thick: it lust looks wider

 

[blackspy]

?

The Petrucci neck isn't wide.

It's not? I was of the impression it was wide and flat. A good bit wider than other MM necks?

 

[SteveB]

It's definitely wider than the Y2D neck. You can see the difference from across the room.. that's how I found out! I had my pet and y2d out and my uncle was sitting on the other side of the room. He pointed out that the y2d neck appeared narrower than the JP6 one.. especailly at the nut. He was right! I hadn't noticed too much from playing them...

 

[blackspy]

I'm pretty happy with the width of the Axis neck, it could be a tiny bit thinner, but I reallly don't mind it as is. The contour messes me up sometimes, I don't know why, it's such a minor thing.

I ask all these questions here because I can't check them out for myself.

It's such a pain in the a** living here, I envy some of you guys who can just go to a local GC and try out whatever you want.

 

[pauldogx]

I live in eastern pa and the local GC had exactly 1 guitar in stock------you would think in the Philly area I'd be able to find some EBMM to check out ----but no. Plenty of dealers who will order them, but none who will stock them.

 

[blackspy]

Yeah that's how it is here... they'll gladly take my 20% (non-refundable) down payment and order in anything I want. They usually stock nothing.