Help! Thinking about a Luke 3 to replace a 339 and a Strat?

[jijoe]

Hello guys. I am brand new to the forum here - Happy New Year to all - looking forward to talking to you.

I am thinking about rationalising my guitar collection - it's only 5 off - which is not ridiculous at all. But......... I am forming the view that I only really (really really that is) only play 3 of them. I am forming the view that I might be forcing myself to play the others and fighting with them a bit - not because they are bad players - simply because of the choice availible. I am forming an unusual belief system here - could it be that you can have too many guitars? Don't know.

Anyway here it is

Alder/rosewood SSS US Deluxe Strat
Lite Ash Strat - SSS bright as hell
Gibson 339
Ibanez Artist (1980) AS100 - birchwood semi-hollow
Peerless Monarch Archtop

Everything modded and upgraded - bone nuts, CS pups etc

I am thinking of going to

Luke III
Ibanez Artist (1980) AS100 - birchwood semi-hollow
Peerless Monarch Archtop

So the question is - could a Luke 3 tonally replace a couple of Strats and a 339?
Could it give me the quack and glass of a strat and an HB rock sound with a bit of raunch?

I play funk,jazz,blues,rock - everything but heavy metal I guess.

I am not really concerned about the historic authenticity of the strat and gibby sounds too much - just the character and vibe. I am figuring that an L3 HSS might do this - its going to be that quality and playability are a given by the accounts I've heard and it might be good just to settle down into one instrument of the right quality and versatility for a few years.

Would be great to hear anybody's thoughts and experience on this one. All the best!

 

[canuck6string]

Happy New Year and welcome to you, too.

I found the Silhouette Special's Dimarzio's to be more akin to the Strat's 2 and 4 position than the Luke's. Tonally, the single coils are more like Texas Specials than vintage. The humbucker does have a nice PAF chime to it on clean. Add some overdrive or dirt and it's classic rock (Free, Foreigner, BTO).

That being said, watch a few videos of Steve Lukather playing his HH model. The clean tone he gets out of it makes me weep.

 

[Lou]

The Luke III is quite a versatile guitar. It has balls and chunk on the bridge if you need it and will also get you those strat sounds with the singles. I prefer a rounder humbucking tone for leads with the neck pickup than what the single provides. But thats my preference. If the LIII had a piezo it would be a sonic switchblade.

The EMG Luke is also a great guitar.

 

[**DRB**]

I purchased a Luke3 with rosewood neck in the H/S/S configuration and I think it's one of the most versatile guitars made.

 

[edhalen]

I have a Reflex and they are tone monsters! With their HH configuration and the series/parallel switch and a 5-way they can provide virtually any kind of sound you could want. To top it off they are THE most comfortable guitar ever. If you could find one to try out that would be best.

 

[kimonostereo]

While I like my Luke, I don't think it sound like a strat nor a semi-hollow body. I would say you really should take some time and play one at a dealer to really see what that guitar is about.

I am currently looking at a semi-hollow body like Yamaha SAS 1500 and Ibanez AM205 but I'm holding out to see if EBMM will release a new semi-hollow this year.

 

[ozzyrules]

While I like my Luke, I don't think it sound like a strat nor a semi-hollow body. I would say you really should take some time and play one at a dealer to really see what that guitar is about.

I am currently looking at a semi-hollow body like Yamaha SAS 1500 and Ibanez AM205 but I'm holding out to see if EBMM will release a new semi-hollow this year.

Um, they released this semi hollow body, and it is soooooooo sweeeeet:

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/60083-no-love-axis-semi-hollow.html

 

[kimonostereo]

Um, they released this semi hollow body, and it is soooooooo sweeeeet:

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/60083-no-love-axis-semi-hollow.html

Yep. Know all about it. Waiting to see if the double M-cutout version appears.

 

[jijoe]

Thanks for your comments guys. Very much appreciated. I am in a part of the world where it's difficult to find and try specific instruments - specially higher end models.

I guess - trying to reprocess the requirement - I am not too concerned about the 339 vibe and could be interested in a more modern HB sound. But I would miss the SC strat sound. Although in saying that - my favourite strat sounds in recent years have come from a Sadowsky Walter Becker - I guess this is quite a modern rather than vintage PUP. The Dimarzio's sound like they might cover these bases.

 

[kestrou]

If you're looking to cover a wide range of sonic landscape with one guitar - you HAVE to consider the Morse.

It's HSSH pickup system easily covers "country spank" to "smooth jazz"

Kevin

 

[mikeller]

Agreed the L3 SSH doesn't sound like a Strat - 4 of the 5 selector positions don't sound worlds different from one either and aside from the bridge pickup alone can easily cop those basic tones.

Likewise with a Silhouette Special....