Refinishing A Music Man Luke Part 2 | The Final Reveal

In Part One of refinishing this Music Man Luke guitar, we talked about the many stages and the weeks it took to get it to its final state.

Reggie the owner spent many hours with our patient Italian friend, luthier Luca Quacquarella, discussing, poring over and, at times, agonizing about the many small details to get everything just right. It was, without doubt, a labour of love that transformed this guitar from a very sorry state to its current glory.

But enough jibber-jabber.

I am very pleased to present to you, dear reader, the refinished and resurrected Music Man Luke. Click on the pictures to enlarge, and enjoy!

(Photographs courtesy of Reggie Tan. All Rights Reserved)

Seven coats of nitrocellulose lacquer was used to build the finish 

Sparkly!

 Recreated Ernie Ball Music Man and Luke logo  

Another view of the headstock

Recreated 'Made In San Luis Obispo' logo

The back of the neck refinished in clear nitrocellulose

View of the Music Man 5-bolt neck plate and refinished back

Full view of the refinished neck and back

Stainless Allen screws replaced the original rusted saddle screws 

Rainbow of pink, green, gold and silver mixed in the metallic purple flake

The metallic purple body against the highly figured maple neck. Stunning!

Full view of the refinished Music Man Luke 

A Dumble Book

You know how it is.  You've always wanted to plug in to a Dumble amplifier. 

But with fewer than 300 in known existence, a chance encounter with one of these beasts will be about as rare as a sighting of the Loch Ness monster.  Collectors and players fortunate enough to own a Dumble are certainly keeping them locked up, away from prying eyes and itchy fingers. 

Alexander Dumble has always been choosy about who he builds amplifiers for.  And now that it seems that he is building amplifiers only when he feels like it and for a very select few, it appears that the few Dumbles that do appear on the re-sale market are packing double their already five-figure prices from, say, 5 years ago.

So, like giving a Nigella cookbook to a starving man, we have A Dumble Book by Jesse Schwarz. 

In its 332 pages are three interviews with Alexander Dumble, an extensive amp history with specs and descriptions of nearly every model, amplifier tests, and an interview with Dumble's long time friend and business partner Jack Smith.   All 90 photographs in the book are in full color.

It is interesting to note that while Jesse Schwarz is credited with coordinating and doing most of the writing for this project, other Dumble amplifier owners have also come forward to contribute in this homage to Alexander Dumble.

Deserving of specific mention in A Dumble Book are Steve Lukather's Overdrive Special serial #048 and David Lindley's Steel String Singer #003. 

And here's a brief history of Dumble amplifiers.

http://www.dumblebook.com/

Steve Lukather Getting It On With Multi-Tap Delay

Tired of conventional reverb washing out your tone, making you sound like you're playing from a bathroom in the building next door?  Let Mr Steve Lukather lay down the rules of using a multi-tap delay.

The concept is pretty simple.  Stack three (or more) delays of different delay time lengths together -- let's say 200, 600 and 800 milliseconds -- and have at it.  For added juiciness, pan the different delays in a stereo field to taste.

Of course you'll need a pretty slamming delay unit if you're going live -- in this vid, Luke demonstrates the vintage Lexicon PCM70.  Allan Holdsworth, another die-hard multi-tap delay loyalist helped design the now sadly discontinued Yamaha UD Stomp which featured no less than eight individual delays in a stompbox floor unit!

Or as Lukather puts it, "The most fun that you can have with your clothes on.."

Paul Rivera's Fender Princeton Mod Link

If you read my post on Steve Lukather's Rivera modified Princeton amp, here's a link I recently discovered that provides instructions and schematics to get your Fender Princeton souped up to Lukather's specs:

http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/prii/modifications/gainmods/gainmods.html

Bear in mind that I make no claim as to the accuracy or safety of the amp mod information on that site. 

And make sure you know what you're doing before opening up any amp and poking around in there -- these kinds of mods are best left to a qualified technician.

Steve Lukather Guitar Clinic 13th March 2010 | Review

Randy Brecker's Soul Bop Special Edition is in town for a concert, featuring the guitar pairing of Steve Lukather and Robben Ford!  Are we lucky or what!

Playing his new copper-gold Musicman Luke into a rented Marshall JCM2000 Triple Super Lead head, Steve Lukather showed us why he was still a player to be reckoned with, in this up-close and personal guitar clinic.

Starting his clinic 25 minutes late for some undisclosed reason, and after an informal self-introduction, Lukather launched into a beautiful, moving chord-melody solo based on Larry Carlton's  It Was Only Yesterday.  Reminiscent of Carlton's own chordal intro on the same track from the live Paris Concert dvd,  Luke laid it all out for us to hear with emotion, nuance and absolute control over his instrument.

Channel-switching his Marshall to the 'red' high gain channel, he next unleashed a barrage of classic Lukather-isms -- slinky pentatonics and wah inflected licks -- before playing some Jeff Beck-style pseudo-slide-guitar using the whammy-bar to gliss between notes.  Here's a guy who makes it point of learning something from everyone he can!  Bringing things down, Lukather closed off with a near note-perfect rendition of Jimi Hendrix's guitar outtro from Castles Made Of Sand.  And that was just the beginning!

Despite his volume I was surprised by how warm his sound was -- a far cry from the searing, high-gain, mid-range scooped Steve Lukather tone of old.  Nice.


Self-deprecating as usual -- "I'm just jammin', goofing off" -- Lukather came across as someone who obviously still loves playing the guitar.  By his own admission still the eternal student, it was refreshing to see a musician of his caliber still re-inventing himself on the instrument.  After 35 years in the music biz, most cats would be kicking back in the producer's chair and thinking about where to go to later for dinner.

Luke's pedal rig was modest by any standard -- an Ibanez Tube Screamer, two Boss Digital Delay pedals for long and short delays, a Providence Chorus and a Boss Tuner pedal.   And according to him, rental amps were an economic necessity in this age of high airline freight charges -- "It would cost $20,000 just to ship my three road cases over here!" 

Turning to his new copper-colored Musicman Luke guitar -- "I'm not sure if I like the color; it kinda looks like my 2 1/2 year old baby's poop!" -- he talked about his current disdain for Floyd Rose bridges and their inherent string-changing hassles, opting instead for a non-locking floating bridge on all his current Musicman guitars. 

He then demonstrated the range and tuning stability of his Musicman's traditional fulcrum trem with Jeff Beck's Where Were You and more faux slide-guitar licks -- "When Jeff Beck does that stuff, he sounds like God's guitarist!"  Luke even gave us a little background on Beck's fingers only technique.  Apparently Jeff had told him that he dropped his pick playing live on the Ed Sullivan Show on TV and swore after that that he wouldn't rely on a pick anymore.  "With Jeff, it's all in the right hand.  Put a pick in his hand and he doesn't sound like Jeff Beck."  Interesting!

When asked about his work on Michael Jackson's Thriller album, Luke launches into the famous Beat It riff.  He states matter of factly, "I did all the grunt work on that track; I played all the (rhythm) guitars.  I even played bass!  But Eddie gets all the love."  Luke even goes into an uncanny impersonation of Michael's personal phone call to him to play on the Thriller sessions, hanging up on him three times thinking it was a prank call! 

With Eddie Van Halen having laid down his solo -- but refusing to play over a certain section of the song that was eventually edited out -- Lukather set about re-recording the basic rhythm tracks with a barrage of heavy Marshall tones, "I mean we had Eddie Van Halen playing on it, right?"  But according to Lukather, producer Quincy Jones wasn't thrilled with the wall of heavy guitars and instructed him to re-cut the guitars so the track would fit in on the R 'n B radio format.  "So we took off the barrage of Marshall amps from the track and brought out our little Fender Princeton's."  He seemed reluctant when prodded to dish the dirt about Jackson, offering little more than "I saw him kind of change -- facially.." 

And Lukather really got animated when someone asked a question about the rampant use of digital editing in recording, obviously one of his pet peeves.  "People criticise Toto's records for being too slick, but we were all playing live in the same room together.  We overdubbed some solos and background vocals but that was about it."   Referring to the ubiquitous ProTools recording system, he said most artists these days lacked the talent to get a decent take in the studio, choosing instead to 'Tool it.  "Back then you had to be good (to make a record).  Then MTV came along and you had to be good, and pretty.  Now you just have to be pretty."

Closing his guitar clinic with a verse of Hendrix's Little Wing, which he sang through the driest of guitar clinic PA's, Lukather talked a little about the virtues of slow and deliberate practice.  "Think of music like sex, take your time and take it slow."

Words to live by indeed.

Stay tuned for my review on Robben Ford's clinic tomorrow!

(Pic Source:  http://www.stevelukather.net/)

Bob Bradshaw -- "I Like To Think That My Systems Don't Have A Sound"

Bob Bradshaw's Custom Audio Electronics has been building rack and pedal control systems for more than two and a half decades.

Picking up where Paul Rivera left off -- Rivera was designing early pedalboard systems in the late 70s before deciding to concentrate on amp modifications -- Bradshaw upped the ante with his footswitch controller and patchbay routing systems, allowing guitarists to interface their vintage Fuzz Faces to their rackmounted, studio-quality Eventide Harmonizers.

And by virtue of the controller patchbay system, any combination of pedals and effects could be recalled with the tap of a single footswitch. With the proliferation of rackmounted guitar effects and preamp devices in the 80s, Custom Audio Electronics took off.

Bradshaw became the go-to guy for studio stalwarts Buzz Feiten, Steve Lukather, Mike Landau, Paul Jackson Jr., Dann Huff and Tim Pierce who also happened to take their rack systems along when touring, with Bradshaw himself tagging along on occasion as guitar and road tech for Feiten, Landau and Lukather.

In this vid, Bradshaw gives credit to Steve Lukather for introducing many of his 'rockstar employers' to the Bradshaw system.

At a recording session with Eric Clapton, Lukather apparently let Clapton check out his Bradshaw system which led to the guitar legend ordering a rack system of his own. Soon Bob was shipping out systems to David Gilmour, The Edge, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Van Halen and Peter Frampton.

And legend has it that when the guitar tech for Prince custom ordered a system, the 'Purple One' tried it out at a soundcheck and decided he preferred having his Boss pedals at his feet instead.

The '90s saw a backlash against rackmount systems with the resurgence of analog pedals and a trend towards lo-tech and lo-fi. Blame it on the grunge era.

While he never stopped customizing effects systems, Bradshaw also launched a line of Custom Audio Electronics Amplifiers -- which were actually designed by John Suhr of Suhr Guitars, a topic for another article -- and recently teamed up with Jim Dunlop on their MXR line, licensing his designs on the MC401 Boost/Line Driver and the MC402 Boost/Overdrive pedals.

Steve Lukather's Ibanez Prototype

Ok so the bidding for Luke's prototype Ibanez on eBay has ended -- 270451639615. After a 10 day listing with a starting bid of $18,000 maybe it was overreaching a little bit.


But really, I was half expecting a collector and Toto fan from Japan or Europe to scoop this one up. Chalk it up to tough economic times.


The Luke protoype was modelled closely after the Ibanez AR300, which was a set-neck, dual humbucker instrument with coil-tap options for each pickup. The prototype also had a slightly offset, asymmetrical body shape and the now de rigeur pointy headstock.

Strangely, the Ibanez RS1010SL Steve Lukather model that was eventually released in 1983 adopted the familiar early RG Roadstar body shape and headstock, with a bolt-on neck.

Ibanez spiffed up the RS1010 with an ebony fingerboard with mother-of-pearl 'snowflake' inlays, custom Lukather pickup in the bridge position and a bird's eye maple top. They also included a coil-tap on the push/pull tone pot for Strat-like tones.

But I always thought that the one-off Lukather prototype was way cooler. Too bad that the only design features they kept on the production model were the humbuckers and snow-flake inlays.


Lukather's relationship with Ibanez didn't last long -- production of the signature axe ceased by 1984 and Luke started playing his Mike McGuire-built Valley Arts instruments exclusively. He is currently endorsed by Musicman who produce his 'Luke' signature model.

Steve Lukather's Paul Rivera Modified Fender Princeton

Here's an eBay listing for Steve Lukather's Fender Princeton Reverb amp:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Steve-Lukather-Fender-Princeton-Reverb-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ200380004115QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea7943713&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

(The link will go down once the amp is sold)


Leo Fender had it right the first time.

The circuits for the Fender Princeton, Deluxe and Twin Reverb have long been the templates on which other American amplifier manufacturers have been building on.

And Fender's circuitry was adaptable and relatively easy to modify.

For instance, before launching his Boogie amplifiers, Randall Smith got his start by modifying Fender Princeton's in his garage, introducing cascading gain stages that enabled the little amp to scream with almost infinite sustain even at low, hotel room volumes.

Across the pond, Jim Marshall was basing his earliest creations on the original tweed Fender Bassman amps, but powered with EL34 power tubes instead of the American 6L6's.

Even Alexander Dumble designed his amplifiers around the Fender Deluxe schematic. And as Lowell George once put it, “A Dumble is a Fender made right.”

And more amp hot-rodders rose to the task to meet the needs of a tone and gain hungry clientele with each building a reputation based on their work modding the amplifiers of rock’s elite -- Jose Arredondo (Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai), Harry Kolbe (Al DiMeola, Allan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen) and Paul Rivera (Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton and many of LA’s session elite). Rivera was also a pioneer in building custom pedalboards and effects racks for studio guitarists in the late 70's.

Which brings us to Mr. Lukather's Rivera-modded Princeton. As the eBay listing describes it, this Princeton was Lukather's 'go to' amp from 1976 to 1982 and has appeared on a lot of his session work.

And it's not surprising. With its low wattage -- two 6V6 power tubes producing all of 12 watts -- the Fender Princeton was the secret weapon of many studio guitar players. The amp could be cranked if needed without becoming overbearing and, with a possible modification or two, could produce a gamut of tones from silky clean to high-gain.

Rivera's mods to Lukather's amp in this case included a 6-position rotary switch in place of the second input jack which enabled a selection of six different mid-boost frequencies. The red knob that was installed in place of the vibrato speed knob is a control for adding gain to any one of those six mid-frequencies.

As he did to most of the amps he worked on, Rivera also probably reworked the amp with his Stage 2 Plus mod where the preamp, output stage and power supply are modified to produce a smoother, more articulate distortion.

Paul Rivera went on to manufacture his own line of Rivera amplifiers in the late '80s. Lukather, ever the loyal customer, started endorsing his own signature model Rivera Bonehead amps in 1999.

Ibanez AH10 Allan Holdsworth Signature Model

Determined to become the industry leader in a burgeoning guitar market, Ibanez started developing a roster of endorsees in the mid '70's.

Artists such as Bob Weir, Steve Miller and Paul Stanley played existing models from Ibanez's catalog, aesthetically modified with tons of inlaid mother-of-pearl, or in Stanley's case, with inlaid pieces of broken mirror.

In 1977, Ibanez collaborated with George Benson to produce the first of their artist-designed guitars -- the GB10 and GB20.

By the early to mid-80's, Ibanez's roster of artists with personalized signature models included Steve Lukather, Allan Holdsworth, George Benson, Lee Ritenour and Joe Pass.

Ibanez had yet to sign on rising-star Steve Vai -- arguably the company's most famous endorsee -- who was still mainly playing his Grover Jackson-built Charvel and Tom Andersons.

The AH10 model was designed in collaboration with Allan Holdsworth in 1984. Holdsworth had very clear and radical ideas as to what he wanted in a custom instrument:

• A light basswood body with a large, rectangular hollowed-out area under the pickguard for added acoustic resonance
• Custom designed AH Special humbucking pickups with adjustable polepieces on both coils
• A single volume and a single tone control
• A lightweight aluminum bridge
• A wider ebony fingerboard with jumbo frets
• Slightly wider string spacing at the nut and narrower string spacing at the bridge -- giving a very uniform string spacing along the entire length of the instrument
• The first model, the AH10 had only a single humbucking pickup at the bridge position, which is Holdsworth's preference to this day. A two-pickup model, the AH20 appeared after several months to create a more versatile (and probably more saleable) instrument

The AH10 and AH20 were only available for about 2 years making these guitars very sought-after by Ibanez afficionados.




Buy Allan Holdsworth CDs and DVDs Here!

Larry Carlton, Steve Lukather Band - The Paris Concert DVD Review

In this DVD , Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, two guitar masters from diametrically opposite ends of the LA studio session scene, share the billing in a live concert setting. Surely this is what guitar dreams are made of.

The first track, Jeff Beck's The Pump, is given the extended improv treatment. Lukather is in fine form and his tone is breathtaking. His mastery and control of feedback, nuanced by touches on the vibrato bar show a more recent Beck influence. The time he's spent hanging out with his friend Jeff definitely shows through.

Once the dust has settled, Carlton duly responds. Opting for a fat, mildly overdriven tone from his ES335 and Dumble amplifiers, we are reminded of all the things we love about Larry Carlton. He takes a lot of liberties, even quoting 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' before going into his trademark fusion lines.

The second cut, Blues Force, a Fourplay tune, is a hard swinging shuffle with the main melody played in twin-guitar harmony. Carlton switches to a vintage Les Paul Special for this tune. The Special was introduced as a lower end, no-frills Les Paul guitar in its day, with a simple slab body and P90 pickups. And Larry really makes it sing, proving once and for all that it is really all in the hands.

The next tune, It Was Only Yesterday is originally from Carlton's self-titled second album 'Larry Carlton'. Larry introduces this song with Johnny Smith-style chord voicings before launching into the tune as a chord-melody arrangement replete with counterpoint lines, harmonics and closed-chord voicings. Lukather enters and restates the melody with a vibe and feel that is totally vintage Carlton. Uncanny.

Next, Lukather launches into his trademark rendition of Red House, the famous Jimi Hendrix tune. This is the token vocal song on the DVD and I'm guessing it is one of Lukather's favorites since he sings it so often. His rather manic blues-inflected rock solo is followed by Carlton's elegantly understated blues lines. He sets up his solo so well you can cut the atmosphere with a knife. Truly a master at work. As Lukather says to the audience, "There's not many people that can play a guitar like that", one can't help but nod in agreement.

I'll leave you to check out the rest of the concert for yourself. Get this on DVD, the audio quality is superb.