Before Steve Lukather started using Music Man guitars he was using Valley Arts Guitars – a custom guitar shop in southern California. The guitars he used had a Strat-style body with “single-single-humbucker” configured EMG pickups and a Floyd Rose tremolo. In 1990, I got a phone call from my good friend Jeff Ehrlich, owner of LaSalle Music (which happened to be, in my opinion, the greatest music store ever and, unfortunately, no longer around). Jeff knew I was a Luke freak and said he had just taken in a Steve Lukather signature model Valley Arts guitar on trade – an hour later I owned it. It was a gorgeous sunburst color, with a matching headstock and gold hardware; it was the most beautiful guitar I ever owned. But unfortunately the neck never settled and was always warping, so I got rid of it just a couple years later. I always missed that guitar because of its beauty…until the day I bought this particular Luke guitar. It has the standard S-S-H pickup configuration coupled with a Piezo pickup and the classic tremolo. But its vibrant colors, blended with a sparkle paint, make it the most beautiful guitar I now own. Never mind how great it plays.