Question: Possible to upgrade a Silo s-s-s to H-s-s?

[Florian.k]

Hey Guys,

I got the Opportunity to buy an awesome looking Silhouette here in Germany.
Thing is, its s-s-s and I badly want an H-a-a.
Does the s-s-s have enought space to load a HB on the Bridge?

Cheers!

[Adamr]

im guessing not without a good bit of routing. there are single coil sizehumbucker pickups available i believe though as an alternate option.

[peterd79]

i wouldn't route the body...
the single sized buckers do a great job of producing that bucker tone... from my own experiences with other infamous three single coils that routing changes the mass of the guitar altering the feel and tone... just throw in a single sized bucker... and if you don't like it you can revert back without the loss of body mass... heck... throw in three single buckers...

[jamminjim]

Take the pickguard off and look, you should be able to tell yourself if a hummer will fit? BTW I have no idea what a
H-a-a is.

H-a-a H-a-a H-a-a

~Jim

[John C]

Florian - just to make sure I'm reading correctly you want a bridge position humbucker, not a neck position humbucker, right?

24-fret Silhouettes have a universal route (or swimming pool route if you prefer) under the pickguard. For many years you could get a Silo with any pickup configuration (h-h, s-s-s, h-s-s, and h-s-h) plus you could buy pre-loaded pickgaurds and change them out - the pickguard attaches to the output jack with a molex connector. The universal routing facilitated that flexibility. Even though the current models are only available in the h-s-h configuration they still have the universal route.

If you are talking about a 22-fret Silhouette Special, they are routed in an h-s-s configuration under the pickguard - individual routes for the neck single coil, middle single coil, and bridge humbucker. The s-s-s models still have the humbucker route in the bridge position. Now if you want a Silo Special with a neck humbucker, then you would have to do some routing.

[peterd79]

John C-
this is great information to have

[skerwo]

Florian,

read this here

[Pickups] Staufer AVR Pickup-Set für Strat - Musiker-Board

(sorry for the non-german knuckleheads )

Maybe it´s the right set of singlecoils and you won´t need a humbucker any more.

But buy the Silo, fantastic guitar. BTW, is it a Silo or a Silo Special?


Greets Rainer

[Sweat]

Flo is talking about a Silo Special and wanting a bridge humbucker, so with Johns info looks like he can do it.

[Florian.k]

Flo is talking about a Silo Special and wanting a bridge humbucker, so with Johns info looks like he can do it.

yap, quite right..... no idea what´s driven me to write h-a-a ^^....haha...
Iam thinking about buying an 1997 Silhouette in Pearl Green (awesome color btw), but its a Hardtail ......

[whitestrat]

I have 2 silo specs that are actually running HHH config. Dimarzio delivers!!!

[conan02919]

your better off just putting a Duncan Hotrail in it it is the same shape as a single coil but it is actually a double. sounds great I have one in my Strat. you don't want to go routing out your guitar

[jamminjim]

I think it's best to type/say SS or Silo Spec if that's what it is. Then there will be no confusion. The last poster may be getting the ox in front of the cart. Do we know if there is only SSS routing on this SS? We all know that Silo's are routed for two humbuckers and a center single coil (it's possible that a full size hummer would fit the center cavity (not exactly a boat rout, but close) Most Silo Specs are routed for a humbucker in the bridge, but as noted some of the early ones may be routed for three single coils. Hence why I said to pull the guard up and look. (which is as easy as pickin your nose) I think If it were me I'd slap a PAF or Virtual PAF, or a Tone Zone in there as it would work well with the single coils, and also be like a stock SS, if it's routed for a hummer, otherwise it's off to find a single coil sized humbucker if you so desire.

Silo routing;

[Florian.k]

Is it possible to modify a hardtail silo to a trem one?

The Problem is, I love the Guitar, but beside the fact that it is a H-s-s, I really would like to have a Trem......
I dont have it yet, someone offered it to me...

[John C]

Is it possible to modify a hardtail silo to a trem one?

The Problem is, I love the Guitar, but beside the fact that it is a H-s-s, I really would like to have a Trem......
I dont have it yet, someone offered it to me...

Anything is possible but it seems like more trouble than it's worth to go about routing a hardtail Silo for the vintage trem since you would have to route a hole in the top and the cavity in the back. IAnd after all that the guitar would be worth a lot less than what you paid for it. f you want a trem then I suggest waiting until you find one instead of jumping in on a guitar that needs a lot of mods to get it to what you want. Pickup swaps are one thing, major surgery on the body is another.

I suppose you could always go with a Kahler flat-mount trem (I think they are back in production), but even that requires some routing under the unit.

[Lou]

Is it possible to modify a hardtail silo to a trem one?

The Problem is, I love the Guitar, but beside the fact that it is a H-s-s, I really would like to have a Trem......
I dont have it yet, someone offered it to me...

Sure it's possible, but invasive and you need to find an experienced luthier. If you want a trem find one that was built that way. Resale will be low on the modified guitar as well.