EBMM Lukes - tell me about them and your experiences

octatonic

Attractive, well-made and good value guitar spoiled by having a ridiculous lack of choice regarding nut width.
Not all of us are built like pixies.

TTBZ

The Cutlass I played felt as good as the Luke to me, really nice necks on them! I always thought I liked fat necks the best but these are so comfy and apparently quite small for most people. For me they feel much better than a strat as the whole thing feels a lot more compact, a strat feels huge on me.

BGG

I had a Luke III, great guitar, did a few gigs with it but just not for me. 

Neck was lovely, comfy and slim, sounded a bit bright to my ears, guitar was a bit small for my frame, boost was a nice feature. 

Whitecat

Worth mentioning I saw the guy from Toto using these live a couple years ago and he sounded pretty good. 

welshboyo

BGG said:

I had a Luke III, great guitar, did a few gigs with it but just not for me. 

Neck was lovely, comfy and slim, sounded a bit bright to my ears, guitar was a bit small for my frame, boost was a nice feature. 

It quickly became the #1 here @BGG hope you are well mate and kept safe (especially in your profession!!)

The neck on this particular guitar does make me struggle with its HH/Rosewood necked cousin sometimes as it’s so bloody comfy!!

Yes, it is a bright guitar too

Bill_S

Kebabkid said:

@Bill_S - I've seen the Cutlass and I like the tones. Neal Schon was playing them in his daily vids and it would be the HSS that I'd like to audition but I'm surprised at the price. I like the Sabre, too.

Worth every penny

KrisGee

I very much prefer the II rather than III. Too small frets on the latter and I kept engaging boost accidentally when using whammy bar. 
Both are world class instruments though. Also a die hard fan of axis range, they have the best necks from the whole MM range for me. 

Kebabkid

That's a beaut @KrisGee.

Is it staying?

Leiversalone

I've had a couple of Luke III's. The transition pick-ups sound great. The narrow V neck and low wide frets I couldn't get on with. I prefer the Axis neck. However if you can get hold of one of the PDN editions they come with slightly larger stainless steel frets, which are better.

DavusPG

Whitecat said:

Have heard a rumour that the mahogany “Tumescent” limited edition they did a few years back has bigger fretwire than all the others. Should probably be verified though!

I've had a Luke II and 2 Luke IIIs including the Tumescent, although the frets didn't feel any bigger to me.

Aesthetically the Tumescent was my ultimate guitar, but in all honesty my standard III played and sounded better. That's my only experience of EBMM BFR guitars, but based on that they aren't worth the premium in my opinion. Build quality was top notch on both.

I've had Silos, Axii, JPs and Lukes - all superb instruments that stay in tune forever, sound great and play beautifully. I've never struggled with the smaller necks but appreciate that for some they're too cramped.

In answer to the OPs question, if you've liked the EBMM guitars you've had I don't think you can go wrong with an L2 or L3

I had a HSS L2 and 2 HH L3s, for me the L3 was a much better fit. 

Bennyboy-UK

KrisGee said:

I very much prefer the II rather than III. Too small frets on the latter and I kept engaging boost accidentally when using whammy bar. 
Both are world class instruments though. Also a die hard fan of axis range, they have the best necks from the whole MM range for me. 

Yeah, I basically love that, and am now looking for one

Whitecat

DavusPG said:

Whitecat said:

Have heard a rumour that the mahogany “Tumescent” limited edition they did a few years back has bigger fretwire than all the others. Should probably be verified though!

I've had a Luke II and 2 Luke IIIs including the Tumescent, although the frets didn't feel any bigger to me.

Aesthetically the Tumescent was my ultimate guitar, but in all honesty my standard III played and sounded better. That's my only experience of EBMM BFR guitars, but based on that they aren't worth the premium in my opinion. Build quality was top notch on both.

I've had Silos, Axii, JPs and Lukes - all superb instruments that stay in tune forever, sound great and play beautifully. I've never struggled with the smaller necks but appreciate that for some they're too cramped.

In answer to the OPs question, if you've liked the EBMM guitars you've had I don't think you can go wrong with an L2 or L3

I had a HSS L2 and 2 HH L3s, for me the L3 was a much better fit. 

Cheers - t’was just a rumour and certainly may be wrong. Thought maybe it was a play on the name of it or something if it was true but nevermind.

Catthan

I've been wondering whether I'd ever need a HH super strat and if it would be the new Luke below (next one will look like a Tyler, mind..)

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/191017349885008--music-man-luke-3-hh-luscious-green-quilt-figured-rw?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI45yK-_i96wIVb4BQBh04vwNyEAQYByABEgIrJfD_BwE

or a Pete Thorn sig.. 

the price of the Luke though.. ouch..

Boromedic

I've got a Pete Thorn Sig for sale

I've had a Luke II, it was a lovely guitar, really resonant and the EMGs at least to my ears were really strat like in the single coil positions. The neck is something else as well, feels lovely and the frets were really well done, I thought I would struggle with the nut width and the soft v but it just works. I don't get on with strat style guitars in the main, that's the only reason I sold it in the end. 

Don't think you'll regret trying one out.

Kebabkid

Catthan said:

I've been wondering whether I'd ever need a HH super strat and if it would be the new Luke below (next one will look like a Tyler, mind..)

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/191017349885008--music-man-luke-3-hh-luscious-green-quilt-figured-rw?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI45yK-_i96wIVb4BQBh04vwNyEAQYByABEgIrJfD_BwE

or a Pete Thorn sig.. 

the price of the Luke though.. ouch..

Hi T,

Having heard a demo of the Luke III HH, I'd say if you already have your HSS and strong single coil sound covered, the HH is a great addition as there's some great spanky inbetween sounds there but you have the added bonus of the those HB in the neck and bridge.

Of course, as a Tyler owner, I also advocate that brand and I'm loving mine.

Kvaksalver

A couple of the limited runs have bigger (6150 size) SS frets. AFAIK the only other version that doesn’t have the low, wide (Music Man description) frets is, as mentioned earlier, the Tumescent.

I have a HH Starry Night L3 that’ll never leave me...

Kebabkid

Kvaksalver said:

A couple of the limited runs have bigger (6150 size) SS frets. AFAIK the only other version that doesn’t have the low, wide (Music Man description) frets is, as mentioned earlier, the Tumescent.

I have a HH Starry Night L3 that’ll never leave me...

That's a lovely model. Any pics?

Funkfingers

Never tried any of the Luke models but I am enormously fond of the EMG-SLV pickup. The rod magnet polepieces make a world of difference to the attack transient compared to the bar polepiece in the -S and -SA types. 

Kvaksalver

Kebabkid said:

Kvaksalver said:

A couple of the limited runs have bigger (6150 size) SS frets. AFAIK the only other version that doesn’t have the low, wide (Music Man description) frets is, as mentioned earlier, the Tumescent.

I have a HH Starry Night L3 that’ll never leave me...

That's a lovely model. Any pics?

I should have an album from the dealer somewhere - I'll check!

Kvaksalver

There, sparkle guitar porn: https://imgur.com/gallery/SarxqOK