OLP LUKE

I am the ame guy as before, for features of the guitar look down on review...

I only wanted to say that the original EMG SL Pickups are in, and it Sound like hell!!! No muddy or scratchy EMG-81 Humbuckersound ala Kirk Hammett, the EMG 85 makes a really good sound! The 2 Coils in mid and neck position are absolutely clean! and if you have an amp that makes some Lukather-Style Sound, there's nothing i between that you can't sound like him, excepting the skills he has...=)

Overall work-Chart:

-Change the Pickups to the Original EMG SL Set
-Put in the fourth spring to pull the trem back on the body
-I scratched the paint from my headstock and gave it a Musicman Logo, nobody, also someone who owns the Original detected that it is OLP!
-Also change the Electronics when you put in the EMG SL Set. No buzz at all!

That's all guys!
Sorry for some mistakes, I am from Germany...=)

Got some of the last in Germany for 350.- bucks. It was made in china and is a bit light in weight, because of cheap woods used for body. Neck is Maple with a Rosewood Fingerboard, and absolutely fantastic! There are 22 frets which are exactly same size and quality as the expensive brother from music man (I just tested the original 2 days ago). There are a Volume-knob and a Tone-knob (I only use Volume, so it's more than I need, but I think the the tone-features are good). the Pickups in H/S/S Configuration are chosen by a 5-way-selector in Fender Style. The Pickups that come in stock are very cheap and buzzy, so you ave to change them to the Original EMG SL Set. By the way it buzzes although the Electronics are active.
When I took it out of the package, I realized that the finish is just the same as from music man, nothing is made different, very nice! The Bridge is a Vintage Tremolo, but different from the original, it isn't free-floating, it lays down on the Body when you use the fourth Spring given by OLP (very nice too!), and stays better in tune. The Tuners are ok, but I think I change mine to the Original Schaller M6 Locking Tuners for a better Tune using the trem.
The Guitars comes with some tools for adjusting, a fourth spring and a whammy bar which has to be screwed in, also very nice and a solid solution!
I gie it an 8 because there's no case given by OLP, like they do it with the Petrucci Signature.

I play mostly Steve Lukather, Steve Morse and all those Allround-Guitarists stuff. I need Guitars which suit for straty clean-tones, Hendrixian Sound and High-Gain Sound ala Van Halen or Zakk Wylde, too. I think this Guitar suits those styles, if the Pickups are changed to the original active Set of EMGs. I use a PCL Vintage amp at home, which mainly comes in direction off the Lukather-Sound. I use no effects for making the Sound, only modulation and sustaining. I also use a Marshall JCM 800 2x12, but I hadn't had the time to test the guitar on this, yet. The Guitar is too noisy and buzzy with stock pickups, in Single-coil and Humbucker position! The Body has, although it is made of cheap wood, nice Vibrations by playing the guitar dry, so I think it will sound great if the EMGs are build in. I have to say that this guitar loves artificial and natural Harmonics and the Sound really Sustains long, even in clean mode.
I give it a 9 for very much potential when it's customized, minus 1 for bad stock-pickups

The Factory-Setting of the guitar was a bit too flat for my taste of playing. First I changed the .009-Strings to a set of .010-Strings. Then I screwed it up a little bit and even screwed the middle-Strings a bit higher than the other, so that the Strings followed the neck, which has a Fingerboard-Radius of 12". When all the Strings had the same way to the Fingerboard, I screwed them down again, and well, It's the perfect setup for a guitar. Before doing this procedure, the middle strings where too near at the board and hitted other frets by pulling the strings down. Now it's good, and the potential of this guitar is proofed again!
There were no flaws in finish, Fingerboard, Frets, saddles and screws at all!
I give it a ten, because no Company can adjust their guitars the way you like it personally.

I didn't have it with me on a live gig. I don't know if it stands, but if the music man stands a gig, it will too! The Music man is just better eqipped in Tuners and Pickups, else is nearly same, even the Sound by playing them dry.
the Finish is very well, and it seems that it has e very thick layer of clear gloss, although I'm not an expert for this....
The Strap Buttons are very thick, protecting the strap from splitting off the button.
I think I will use it for Gigging the next time, I think the guitar is a really good deal!
I give it an 8 because I didn't have it with me in live situation, but as I said before, potential is there more as needed!

Don't know, haven't to deal with them yet, but expecting not to deal with them anyway...

The Guitar is great for eveybody! With some work and some more buyings (Pickups and Tuners) you will have the same as the Music Man gives you. But you don't have to spend 1700 or more bucks....
I have a Peavey Wolfgang, which is my favourite Guitar, some les Pauls, many strats and the Olp. The Olp doesn't have to hide if the setup and action is right.
The Overall rating is 10, because there's really no big thing to think "Oh, I hat me for buying or doing this...".

Bought new, so I'm assuming it's a 2007/8. 22frets; slight v-shape on the neck; 25.5" scale; Active pickups S/S/H/; body style like the Music Man Silhouette. Mine has a Candy Apple Red finish which is excellent - no flaws. Neck pocket is tight. Tuners seem fine, although the short shaft is in my opinion not long enough for the wound strings if, like me, you use heavier strings. My 0.50 low E barely has two wraps on the post and fills it up, basically.
That said, I'm really very pleased with the guitsr

I play a variety of stuff, but mostly blues, soul, funk, R&B. The guitar works fine for all of those, delivering crisp strat-y tones.. I happen to like EMG's and these pickups sound just like 'em, so... no complaints. It seems that the bridge humbucker has a somewhat lower output to match the single coils (which is nice, since it avoids that "jump" in volume when you switch to it).

Factory setup was ok - it came with .09's - which are way to light for my taste. I really don't expect any factory setup to be great, unless we're talking boutique high-end stuff. I put on a set of strings of MY preference (0.11-0.50), lowered the action, adjusted the spring tension on the trem, and gave it about a 1/4 turn on the truss rod for some relief), and voil??. Plays like butter.

Hardware seems fine, although I foresee replacing the tuners with locking schallers (I also own a Music Man Axis, which has those, and I really like them). Strap buttons seem fine, as does the finish. Playing it live? You bet! I never go to a gig without a backup - so that's a moot point.

haven't dealt with them, no opinion

Considering the price - I paid $219 on Ebay, new in box and including shipping - you can't go wrong here. It would seem quality control is spot-on, and I expect to use this git-tar frequently both onstage and for recording.

I bought the "blue Luke" excellent finish for a guitar in this price range you will not be disapointed, the tuners keep their tune, and don't go out as much as more expensive guitars, no need to change them, the body has a waist contour pretty much like a strat, the body has a nice feel to it not to heavy. The neck is breeze, very fast, could be a bit too small for some people but it's great for soloing up the neck, right up to the 22nd fret.. The pickups are decent for the price I don't think I'll be replacing thenm in a hurry, the whammy bar does the job without throwing it out of tune. It needs a battery to run the active pick ups
The Neck pick up gives a good well rounded sound the middle pick up has very little appeal to me (in any guitar) the bridge pick is great..

Im playinf blues/rock at the moment and the neck pick up is just perfect for the woody tone, love it. I also like to play some Steve Vai stuff and it's perfect for that too. I am running a Mesa boogie MkIII and this guitar suits it perfectly, the sound is full without peaks, it sounds fat through the Boogie, great intonation, I also have a fender combo but I haven't had a chance to give it a run yet.. It can do the strat dire straits sound with the pick up select switch in position 2 very convincingly, the humbucker is not bad and produces a full sound lead sound... I don't think it's too noisy.

The action on the guitar was setup too high for my taste and the truss rod neeeded adjustment as the neck had a bit too much relief but apart from that this guitar is flawless.

I haven't used this guitar on stage yet, but I will give it a good run, so I can't comment yet. The tuners appears sturdy and should hold out, the bridge looks a bit cheap but should do, the plastic battery cover however seems a bit flimsy so I'll watch out for that. The strap buttons are very strong and will suit locking straps clips. The finish appears to be of high standard and should stand up to lots of playing, as long as sweat and other nasties are wiped after use. And yes I think the OLP is a dependable guitar but only time will tell. I never play gigs without a backup even when I play my les paul std .. You never know when you'll break a string.

I haven't had to get it repaired yet but I did have to fix a broken wire on the output jack, the nut holding the jack was loose, when I tried to tighten the b nut I broke the black wire, no biggie.

Have been playing for 20 years, I own a Mesa MKIII combo, that I use on stage, a Fender 75 amplifier. A gibson Les Paul std, a J&D Luthier. A Boss digital delay (DE-200), Boss Flanger pedal, Boss CS1, Guyatone overdrive pedal. I did a bit of research before bought it but after playing it I was sold. If it was stolen I def buy another one. I love the neck on this guitar, Im not sure about the active electronics and having to carry a spare 9v battery. This guitar needs nothing else it's all there. I was looking for strat for the single pick sound when I found this guitar I stopped looking it does what strat can do and looks better...

2005 OLP's cheapo version of the Ernie Ball Musicman Luke guitar. Basswood sparkling blue body (also in radiant red) instead of alder, 22 thin frets well rounded and shaped, v-shaped neck, rosewood fingerboard, 5-way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone, active electronics, 1 hum, 2 sc.
Trem shaped like the original. No case or gig bag.
Conclusion, it feels and plays like the real one.

The sound of this guitar is very good and versatile. The active electronics are very close to a standard EMG 85 sa sa set. Some people like EMG's others hate them. The truth is that EMG's reproduce very carefully what you as a player play. That's what I like about them and that's what I like 'bout the OLP pick ups. They don't lift the highs or push the mids like so many after market pick ups do (like dimarzio or seymour duncan). They give you back what you are, the way that you play.
So if you are impressive your sound will be to, otherwise you might just sound a little bit static.
There is a downside, the pick ups produce a little noise. Overall a great guitar for every music style, it plays metal just as well as blues or jazz, just as versatile as the player it is named after.

I bought this guitar because I liked it. The feel of the neck (big V), fingerboard radius, frets, feel of the trem, great little body. Everything flows on this guitar.
I bought it also to customize it a little bit. I put graphtech saddles on the trem, I had a graphtech nut installed and I will reshield the electronic cavity (it's poorly done with a very thin layer of graphite laquer). The noise will probably be gone after shielding. The tuners are excellent and hold dive bombs very well. No need to replace them with locking tuners. I set the trem so it can go up 1 semitone and that works well. However the trem block is a little zink block and the trem plate itself is much thinner than the original EB Musicman. I bought a Wilkinson through the internet and either switch out the trem blocks or put the Wilkinson in all together.

Everything is more than o.k. for the price of this guitar. However it is cheap because certain parts are cheap, like the zink trem block, the thin trem plate, all the screws are not chrome, look like zink too. I don't now how many parts the body is made of, because it is so little at best two, but very likely three or more. There are shortcuts here but never the less this is a great guitar as it is and it doesn't cost much to make it even better and you end up with something you'll normally find in the 2000 dollar catagory. So I'm very excited.

Never dealt with OLP but I'm impressed with this LUKE model at a price that can't be beat. So no rating as I never contacted them.

No 10's in this report because I think there are no 10 rating guitars on the planet. In my opinion a 7 is a very good score so the points given in this review should tell you that this guitar is worth buying. The only thing you should ask yourself is if you like the neck and if you like the active electronics. I do, but maybe you don't and in these times you can get such great guitars from builders like OLP, Cort, but also in the low to mid price category from builders like Godin, Yamaha, Parker, PRS SE-line and even Ernie Ball Musicman (think S.U.B. guitar) that you are likely to succeed buying a guitar that's great out of the box or better than most expensive models after a little customizing.