Ernie Ball Luke 3 SSH, very nice

sonofmickel

Inspired
Not getting paid for this. Just wanted everyone to know that the Musicman Luke 3 SSH has met quality beyond my expectations. I've owned 1 of everything(you know what I mean)...but this is the first guitar that has been above "that" level for everything, tone, playability, comfort is spectacular(I thought it was too small of a neck but, no, it grew on me, conservation of motion is paramount).
I am hitting difficult multi-voiced chords easier, and OMG the full rosewood neck is fantastic!

I am now on the lookout for Luke 3 H-H with roasted maple neck now(see what they are about). These Musicman guitars are f'n fantastic!

Through the Axe @ is icing on the cake. The only guitar that is close in my arsenal is my Les Paul with custom carved neck. I think the Lester sounds marginally better but the Luke 3 plays much better than the lester. I take that back, my Warmoth custom plays close to the Luke 3 but not quite the sound or feel. Maybe it's a 3-way!
 
Totally agree, I've got two H-H Luke 3's (PDN Neptune Blue) one with roasted maple neck and fretboard, and one with roasted maple neck and rosewood fretboard, both with SS frets. Just unbelievable tone and playability, and the 12 db onboard boost is great too.
 
I played one recently at a music shop and was pleasantly surprised.
It's a nice (and significantly cheaper) alternative to the Petrucci guitars.
Music Man makes good stuff these days.
 
Does anyone else notice the tone control is extremely smooth? I have it half way down(or up?) and have sooo much control compared to my Lester and strats. The tone all the way up is basically for cutting through the mix at practice when the drummer gets too drunk, otherwise it's at half way or less for smooth tones. The single coils are fantastic, so much clarity and grind when you dig in.

I should add that the singles seem half way between a p90 and a single coil. Sort of like a humbucker too though. Very deep, thick sounding but still with a brightness that "says" single coil. You know what, these are called "Transition" pickups from Seymour Duncan I believe. They are exactly that, between traditional and active pickups. Hmm...
 
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I should add that the singles seem half way between a p90 and a single coil. Sort of like a humbucker too though. Very deep, thick sounding but still with a brightness that "says" single coil. You know what, these are called "Transition" pickups from Seymour Duncan I believe. They are exactly that, between traditional and active pickups. Hmm...

Actually they are Dimarzio's. I contacted them last year when I was going to do a pickup swap in my HSS Strat that I ended up selling. The Transition's are the humbuckers and they confirmed for me that the single coils on the HSS models are the Injector neck pickups, which are the Paul Gilbert signatures.

I'm always gassing for an HH L3. I should just break down and grab one eventually :lol
 
I have the Luke III HH solid rosewood neck and it has become my number one guitar out of 20+ and the transition pickups are awesome
 
If only the frets were a little taller.

I have a Luke FBR with the EMGs - got it re-fretted with SS higher wire ...... turned out brilliantly thank God. Plays like butter.

I have a big hand yet to me the Luke neck is way way better feeling than the JP6 which felt like a big wide plank.

I'd definitely bite at a Luke 3 double Humbucker model but I'd probably have to do the the same re-fret as the vintage Fender style wire is just a bit too low for my taste.

I'm in the process of putting a Transition, a reverse wound True Velvet and an Injector into a Jackson Adrian Smith import as a little experiment. Went to see Toto in Dublin a while back and got inspired :)
 
If only the frets were a little taller.

I have a Luke FBR with the EMGs - got it re-fretted with SS higher wire ...... turned out brilliantly thank God. Plays like butter.

I have a big hand yet to me the Luke neck is way way better feeling than the JP6 which felt like a big wide plank.

I'd definitely bite at a Luke 3 double Humbucker model but I'd probably have to do the the same re-fret as the vintage Fender style wire is just a bit too low for my taste.

I'm in the process of putting a Transition, a reverse wound True Velvet and an Injector into a Jackson Adrian Smith import as a little experiment. Went to see Toto in Dublin a while back and got inspired :)

My LIII has wide fret wire but it is low profile like some of the old Gibsons. I prefer jumbo frets also, maybe when its time to re-fret
 
If only the frets were a little taller.

I have a Luke FBR with the EMGs - got it re-fretted with SS higher wire ...... turned out brilliantly thank God. Plays like butter.

I have a big hand yet to me the Luke neck is way way better feeling than the JP6 which felt like a big wide plank.

I'd definitely bite at a Luke 3 double Humbucker model but I'd probably have to do the the same re-fret as the vintage Fender style wire is just a bit too low for my taste.

I'm in the process of putting a Transition, a reverse wound True Velvet and an Injector into a Jackson Adrian Smith import as a little experiment. Went to see Toto in Dublin a while back and got inspired :)

My LIIIS have bigger wire and its SS, (PDN NEPTUNE BLUE)
 
Whats the action like on the LIII 'out of the box'?

The default on the Luke I (IE a floating bridge with about a 2 or 3 semitone pull up) seemed really high so I set my action lower but it meant taking the saddle heights down and now their grub screws are sticking dangerously out the top. I keep meaning to get some new shorter replacement ones - 6mm M3 I think would help .... but haven't gouged a hole in my palm yet so I keep putting it off. I could file the bottoms down too I guess.

I have the bridge just about sitting flat on the body now (not what I want) - and theres not much left to screw down the outer saddles even at that. Don't really want to shim the neck up as I think the great natural resonance of the Luke would maybe suffer ... but I see no other way at the moment.
 
The action on my LIIIs out of the box is about as low as one could get - super low and no buzz whatsover.
 
Both my Luke 2 and LIII came new with the bridge set flat to the body which is wrong. Something the UK distributer must do before sending the guitars on to the retailers. Anyway I reset them to the proper factory height, floating with 1.5 steps of upward pitch on the G string. That then means resetting the action and intonation, so quite a bit of work to do before actually enjoying playing the guitar. Still, once it's done, it's done.
 
I set the trem on my Luke III flat to the body - no pull up at all.

A trem with a flat base plate and no recessed route for it to float, then to cock it up at an angle to say it floats is just silly IMO. As far as action after I set it up it is one of the best playing guitars with low action I have every played.
 
Hello everyone - I on the hunt for “used but not abused”:
2015 MM912AAM100 Music Man USA Luke III HSS VTB - PDN Vintage Tobacco Burst Limited Edition MN if anyone has one they are willing to part with or knows of one for sale somewhere

I am hoping to possibly be a hero-dad to my 19-year old son one last time with this as a combined High School Graduation / University acceptance / 19th Birthday gift

The Luke III, Humbucker Single Single, along with Maple Neck, Fretboard and Headstock are they key for the tone and feel he is looking for
Any help would be greatly appreciated
🤞🏾
2015 MM912AAM100 Music Man USA Luke III HSS VTB - PDN Vintage Tobacco Burst Limited Edition MN.jpg
 
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