Luke II to Complement Suhr Modern Satin?

[Monkey Man]

Have the option to swap my Suhr Modern Pro Bengal Burst (too thin / harsh / scratchy-sounding for my tastes) for something else, and am keeping my Modern Satin, which I absolutely love.

Thing is, these two superstrats will be my only guitars (not counting L6 which I'll use for acoustic and eclectic sims), so I need something that will cover the bright / twangy side of things with class, seeing as the Satin takes care of the woody / characterful stuff beautifully.

Originally, for many years now, I've wanted a Luke II, but now that I finally have the opportunity to swap through a vendor, he's telling me the LII is no longer available in Australia, or anywhere for that matter. I'd planned to put locking machine heads and SS frets on a sparkly-black model. Too bad.

As soon as I heard the bad news, the first thing that popped into my head was the GG model from Charvel. I didn't realise there were two, hence the question.

So, to sum up, which of the two models do you think would compliment the Modern Satin, bearing in mind that these two guitars will be used for all electric work in "all" genres.

Thank you so much, guys. There's so much great guitar knowledge here that I haven't bothered asking anywhere else.

EDIT:
Now I've found out that the vendors down under didn't realise that it's still just called the "Luke", but with the vintage tremolo. Silly buggers.

 

[Nitrobattery]

Do you otherwise like the Modern Pro? Have you tried other pickups?

 

[Monkey Man]

I loved the feel of the neck and in every respect I would have been happy with it... except for that thin / harsh / characterless sound.

No, I didn't change the hardware 'cause I wanted to be able to return it as-per the agreement with the vendor should I not have been happy with it. It should've only taken a month or two at most, but life got in the way, and I'm honoured that the he respects my honesty when I tell him something's indistinguishable from new. He'll get it back as he sent it, in its case in the same box. I only played it 5 times, changing the strings 3 times, but there was no way I was gonna be inspired by the sound.

TBH, I'm not convinced the PU's could be blamed anyway. Acoustically I was hearing the same tell-tale sound signature.

Hey man, thank you for your thoughts, Nitro!

 

[Monkey Man]

Dammit, I'm gonna go the Luke II. The silly vendors down under didn't realise that it's available 'cause when they saw the word "Luke" without a number they assumed it was the Luke I. The Charvels are made-to-order, and there's quite a delay. They're also way-more-expensive than the Luke II.

Wanted a Luke II since the day it came out, and I figure it'll contrast well with the Suhr Satin.

I'll go the plain-jane version 'cause I figure the BFR edition, with tone block and the use of mahogany, would make it more-similar-sounding to the Suhr Satin, and I need these two guitars to be "complementarily-different".

Thanks to anyone else who might've scratched his or her head on my behalf, and thank you again, Nitro.

EDIT:
Anyone know a way to get something other than one of the two colour options available now? Still wanna buy new. IIRC there were several in the past. My preference would be black, but I could live with a super-dark brown or red such as the pics on the MM site show. Only thing is, when I Google images of the Luke II, the only reds I see are shiny-assed, super-bright red. Too-loud for me. I figure there must be a reason for the colour disparity, surely?

Thank you, guys.

 

[cyndicate]

Have you played the Luke before? Great guitars, however I hate that they come with low profile frets. I never got used to them. I would try one out first especially if you are used to larger frets.

For the GG models, there is the swamp ash and basswood (flame maple) one. Haven't seen much on that red one on the website. Also the 2017 model now has a coil tap switch and price went down on them.

 

[Monkey Man]

Hmm... thanks for that, RG.

I've planned all along to replace the frets with SS ones.

Seeing as I need super-low action (long-term hand injury), I figured I should try higher frets in case I can't get the (string) action quite-low-enough. Silly thought, probably, but I've been in situations where I reached the point where trem travel was compromised by my having to go super-low on other guitars. Finding that balance on the Suhr took a little time, but I've had to compromise by settling for 2-semitone up-pull as opposed to the 3 I was hoping for.

Bottom line is that as long as I can get the LII to play like butta, I'll be happy. The fact that it'll be a bunch cheaper than either GG model, even with the price drop (I'm making an assumption here as I'm not aware of how big the drop is), is a bonus.

I'd sworn years ago to never go active PU's again, but at least with the Luke I know what I'll be getting; I'm super-familiar with its sound, having been a Luke fan since the late '70s, and having therefore witnessed the transitions to Valley Arts and then MM. The only possible risk is that I haven't and can't organise to play it. However, I've always wanted a more-compact neck due to my hand weakness, and I'm guessing it should feel great.

A GG model will be in my future if I can justify the cost someday down the road, but it'll be a long way off, as will some sort of LP.

Thanks again, man!

EDIT:
I'm going to change the thread's title now seeing as things have changed.