Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top - Overview and Best Prices
- From Music Man's 2023 Steve Lukather Collection series
- Steve Lukather Signature
- Made in United States
- 6 strings
- 25.5"'' scale
- 12" Fretboard Radius
- Okoume with Flame Maple Top body
- Figured Roasted Maple neck
- Rosewood fretboard
- Bridge pickup: Music Man HT Humbucker (Humbucker/Passive)
- Neck pickup: Music Man Custom Wound Neck Humbucker (Humbucker/Passive)
- 1 volume and 1 tone Dome knobs
- 5-way Switch
- Music man floating vintage tremolo, hardened steel with bent steel saddles bridge
- Music Man Standard Bolt-On neck
- 22 Medium frets
- Schaller M6-IND locking tuners
- Weight between 7.5lbs (3.4kgs) and 7.75lbs (3.5kgs)
- Side-By-Side Comparison
Show Specs
| Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top | ||
|---|---|---|
| General | ||
| Brand: | Music Man | |
| Year: | 2023 | |
| Configuration: | HH | |
| Strings: | 6 | |
| Made in: | United States | |
| Series: | Steve Lukather Collection | |
| Colors: | Blue, Green | |
| Left-Handed Version: | No | |
| Body | ||
| Type: | Solid Body | |
| Body Material: | Okoume with Flame Maple Top | |
| Bridge: | Music man floating vintage tremolo, hardened steel with bent steel saddles | |
| Neck | ||
| Neck Joint: | Bolt-On | |
| Tuners: | Schaller M6-IND locking | |
| Fretboard: | Rosewood | |
| Neck Material: | Figured Roasted Maple | |
| Decoration: | White Corian 1/8" Dots | |
| Scale Size: | 25.5" | |
| Shape: | Music Man Standard | |
| Frets: | 22 Medium | |
| Fretboard Radius: | 12" | |
| Nut: | Compensated | |
| Nut Width: | 41.3mm (1.625'') | |
| Electronics | ||
| Bridge Pickups: | Music Man HT Humbucker (Humbucker / Passive) | |
| Neck Pickup: | Music Man Custom Wound Neck Humbucker (Humbucker / Passive) | |
| Switch: | 5 | |
| Knobs: | Dome | |
| Pickup Mods: | Boost | |
| Volume Controls: | 1 | |
| Tone Controls: | 1 | |
| Hardware | ||
| Strap Lock: | No | |
| Hardware Color: | Chrome | |
Show Diagram
Our Scores and Tone Evaluation
- Heavy Metal
- Hard Rock
- Jazz
- Blues
- Funk
- Country
Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top
- Locking Tuners
- Made in United States
- Expensive Wood
- Compensated Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Boost Pickups
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Tremolo
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Price Overview
Its average competitor's price is $3900, which means that the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top is around 5% cheaper than the competition. This takes into account all instruments of the same category in our database with 6 strings and Fixed bridge that are made in United States.
User Reviews & Feedback
Not all instruments are created equally. That's why it's important to have different opinions. Here's what our users who have played this instrument say. If you've played it before, help others by voting below!
Weight
VoteTuning stability
VoteNeck speed (thickness)
VoteNeck access to high frets
VoteNeck profile shape
VoteFret edges
VotePickups noise
VotePickups power
VoteOften Compared With
Hand Size Comfortability
After taking into account the neck profile, scale size, fretboard radius, and nut width, we can conclude that the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top's construction favors people with relatively small hands.
Nevertheless, this comes down in the end to personal preference. Make sure you test this guitar—or another one with similar characteristics—before buying.
Beginner Friendliness
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top meets 6 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, which means that it's a good guitar to start with as a complete beginner. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players to get used to.
New Player Friendliness
Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Locking tuners
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Comfortable fretboard
- Short scale
Videos
How Lightweight is it?
We found that the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top weighs between 7.5lbs (3.4kgs) and 7.75lbs (3.5kgs). This was recorded from some online retailers that publish the weight of the instruments they sell.
Playability
Scale Length
Scale length is the distance the strings will span between the bridge and the nut. It can tell you a lot about the overall playability and tone of the instrument. A longer scale length means longer distance between frets, brighter tone and more string tension—which means lower action, but more difficult bending of the strings.
Here's the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top's 25.5" scale length compared to other common sizes:
This is the same scale length used in Stratocaster guitars, and it's one of the main reasons they have such a bright sound. It's considered a long scale when compared to most non-baritone guitars.
Since the distance between bridge and nut is relatively long, you'll need to give the strings more tension to get them in tune. This higher tension will allow for a couple of things. First, you can get a lower action (get the strings closer to the fretboard) because the strings won't 'wiggle' too much when pluck and won't cause fret buzz. This can allow you to use lower tunings without increasing your string gauge, and it will make it easier to press down the strings fast.
However, the frets will also have a wider separation between each other, which can make it harder to play, especially if you got small hands. The higher tension will also make the strings feel stiffer, so bending will require more strength.
Neck Profile
The neck profile tells you the thickness (neck depth) and shape in cross section. Every difference will completely change the feeling and comfortability of the neck. This is a highly subjective thing, but most players indeed prefer certain types of necks (like Cs and Ds) because they feel nice in most hands.
It has a C type neck. C-shaped necks like this have been the most popular for the last years. The reason is that they feel good in most hands. It's generally a thin neck that doesn't get in your way when playing fast, but that also has enough mass to give your hands a comfortable grip for chords if they aren't too big.
Thin necks like this make it easier to move your hand across the neck and it helps when playing fast solos, especially if you like to leave your thumb free while playing high on the fretboard. However, thinner necks are also weaker and will need adjustment more often than a thicker neck.
Fretboard Radius
When it comes to fingerboard radius, personal preference will dictate which one is better for you. However, most people seem to agree that a more curved (lower) radius will make it easier to play chords while a less curved (higher) radius is better for soloing and bending.
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top has a 12" fingerboard radius.
Here's an image comparing this fretboard radius to other popular choices:
This is the same radius that Gibson uses in most of their guitars. When compare to the other popular radius of Fender Stratocasters, you can see that it's a lot flatter. Guitars with this radius are usually made to bring a good balance between single-note and chord playing.
Compound radius fingerboards give the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top has the same radius across the board.
Playability compared to main competitors
Nut Width
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top has a nut width of 41.3mm (1.625''). This is considered a narrow width for a 6-string guitar. This means that this guitar will have a narrower string separation at the nut, which will affect your fretting hand.
If you are a player with big hands, you might find it difficult to play chords without muting strings. However, this is good for players who have smaller hands, as it will allow them to reach each string more easily at the nut.
Frets
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top has 22 frets. Even though 24 frets has become really popular, there's still a good reason to get fewer frets; the pickup at the neck position will be further away from the bridge. This makes the neck pickup achieve a warmer tone. You might want this if you're playing Jazz or similar genres.
However, if you don't care about the warmer neck pickup, more frets will always be better. It's always nice to have the option to play higher notes if you want to.
It comes with nickel silver frets, so they won't last as long as stainless steel frets. If you use your instrument a lot, you might need to replace the frets after a few years. But this is unlikely as most people change instruments before this happens.
Fret Size
Finally, let's talk about fret size. Some people prefer tall frets because it's easier to press the strings and perform bends since there's less friction against the fretboard. On the other hand, some people like shorter frets because they like to touch the fretboard when playing, or because they got heavy hands and tend to press too much on the string and alter the of the note pitch accidently.
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top's frets are Medium size. With medium frets, you can feel the fretboard more than with jumbo frets, but it's still easier to press the strings cleanly than with small frets; notes might change their pitch just slightly if you press hard on the fret. Also, if you need to do some fret leveling after years of playing, you'll have some room to sand them down without having to replace them.
Playability Score
Tone
Wood will have little influence in the final tone of an electric guitar or bass. Instead, the hardware, especially the pickups, will be the most important thing to look at. Bur first, let's see the quality of the wood.
Wood
Okoume Body: It's an affordable wood and it was one of the first to replace Mahogany when prohibitions started. It's generally softer than Mahogany and the tone has warmer lows.
Figured Maple Neck: This wood has beautiful patterns only found in specific types of maple.
Rosewood Fretboard: Since the ban of Brazillian Rosewood, this has become a rare and expensive wood. It's not usually used for guitar bodies because of this, and also because it's heavy. Instead, it's used mainly for fretboards. Sometimes it's also used for necks because it's an extremely hard wood (even harder than maple). Its tonality tends to favor warm tones.
Pickups
This guitar comes with pickups from one of the top brands: Music Man. So you can expect well built pickups with great sound that shouldn't need an upgrade anytime soon.
These are passive pickups, so you can expect a rounder sound and a moderade level of output.
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top's configuration is HH. With this pickup combination, you'll get warmer tones and more output than using single coils. Humbucker pickups cancel the noise that single-coil suffer from, which also results in a warmer tone. This pickup combination isn't only for high-gain music like Hard Rock or Heavy Metal. Their warmness is also popular for Jazz, Indie, R&B, Blues and more.
Versatility
It gives you a good amount of tone options with its 5-way switch. You can use it to choose at least 5 different pickup combinations.
It has a Boost option. It'll increase the output of the pickups when activated. You'll be able to increase the output for heavy genres while still being able to use a cleaner voice when you need it.
What music genre is it good for?
As a 6 strings, Solid Body guitar with HH configuration and Passive pickups, we'd recommend it for genres like Hard Rock or similar. However, you can use almost any guitar for any genre. This is just the typical type of music for this particular one.
Sound Score
Build Quality
Country of Origin
Knowing where the instrument is produced is a good way to know how well it's built. Some manufacturing countries are known for having higher quality standards. For example, most expensive instruments are made in the US or Japan, but there are some exceptionally great countries—like South Korea—that are building a good reputation.
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top is made in United States. Guitars made in the USA have the reputation of being the best instruments you can get. This statement isn't as accurate as a few years ago, but you should still expect top-quality from a guitar made in this country.
Bridge
Music man floating vintage tremolo, hardened steel with bent steel saddles: The advantage of fixed bridges is that they don't require any kind of set-up. This makes it extremely easy when changing strings because you don't need to adjust anything besides tuning the guitar. Also, the fact that the bridge is directly attached to the body will help to increase sustain. The disadvantage is the lack of versatility since you can't create the same vibrato effects as with tremolo bridges.
Tuners
The Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top comes with locking tuners, which helps with tuning stability and makes changing strings a lot faster and easier. As long as they're high quality, these are the best tuning machines you can have. The only disadvantage is that they are a bit heavier than normal tuners.
Nut Material
Another important thing to analyze is the nut material, as it's one of the most important aspects that can affect the sound and playability of your guitar. A well-cut nut will make sure it stays in tune and will make it more comfortable to play.
In this case, the Music Man Luke 4 HH Maple Top has a Compensated nut. It's cut in a way that makes each string have the correct length for perfect intonation across the fretboard. It provides excellent tuning stability.
Neck Joint
The neck joint is the part where the neck of the guitar meets the body. There are three main techniques to attach both parts together: Set-In, Bolt-On and Neck-Through. The latter two provide different advantages, although neck-throughs are the most expensive.
This guitar has a Bolt-On neck joint. Even though this type of neck was looked down upon for a long time, nowadays bolt-on necks are well built and provide just as much sustain as any other join method. First of all, it's cheap to make because it consists of simply 4 bolts that attach the neck to the body. And you can travel with the guitar more easily, swap out the neck if you damage it, or upgrade to a more comfortable neck later on.
