Hi! Many years ago (1988, I think), I've read the first test on a Music Man Silhouette: in the photograph of the guitar there was a tremolo bridge that took my attention... it was a non-floating locking bridge. It had the dimension of a vintage bridge, but with fine-tuning system, and there was also a locking nut... I would like to know what kind of bridge was it?!? Anybody can help me?
Question Tremolo bridge in old Silhouettes
- Thread starter lcsbn72
- Start date
John C
Well-known member
Those original Silhouette bridges were made by Schaller; they had roller saddles, fine tuners, and pivoted on a long knife edge that fit into a metal bracket attached to the guitar. They had a behind-the-nut string lock similar to what Kahler used, but it worked in the opposite direction (instead of the locking part pushing down and locking the string to the bottom of the string clamp the locking bolts pulled up and locked the string to the top of the string clamp).
Those bridges were also used (and sold by) Schecter here in the USA from say 1984-1986 (essentially the Dallas years for Schecter). If I'm remembering correctly after 25 or so years, the Schecter installation was not floating and only dropped pitch while the EBMM installation was floating and allowed you to raise pitch (not like a routed Floyd Rose installation but had more upward movement than a floating vintage trem). I could be mistaken on the EBMM installation; I only briefly played an early Silo with this bridge but knew a person back in the day who had a couple of Schecters with their version of the trem.
Those bridges were also used (and sold by) Schecter here in the USA from say 1984-1986 (essentially the Dallas years for Schecter). If I'm remembering correctly after 25 or so years, the Schecter installation was not floating and only dropped pitch while the EBMM installation was floating and allowed you to raise pitch (not like a routed Floyd Rose installation but had more upward movement than a floating vintage trem). I could be mistaken on the EBMM installation; I only briefly played an early Silo with this bridge but knew a person back in the day who had a couple of Schecters with their version of the trem.
vofcr
Member
Hi!
I'm hunting down old Silhouettes for a while and came across unit with this bridge:
View attachment 35806
View attachment 35807
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Is that the one that you were talking about guys ?
I know it's been 9 years haha, but maybe someone's else came across this and i thought it's still better to reply within this topic instead of creating new one. thanks
John C
Well-known member
Hi!
I'm hunting down old Silhouettes for a while and came across unit with this bridge:
View attachment 35806
View attachment 35807
View attachment 35808
Is that the one that you were talking about guys ?
thanks
Hi - I hadn't been on here for a while and by luck I logged in this morning!
At any rate there is an issue with your attachements - it just says "Invalid Attachement" so we can't see your photos. You might have them marked private, or you could also upload them to a free hosting site like imgur or something like that.
beej
Moderator
I don't see anything I can allow, so I dunno. I'd upload them again.
vofcr
Member
John C
Well-known member
Yes, that is the old Schaller-made bridge. Nice looking Silo!
vofcr
Member
any opinions on them?
cause as it happens there's 2 guitars for sale and 2nd is "younger" a couple of years i guess as it has 5bolt neckplate and floyd rose installed. Now FR is legendary bridge itself hence my doubts about that Schaller construction. I know Schaller is a solid company otherwise it wouldn't even be considered for use by Ernie Ball and many others, but as the others said - that's first time i see bridge like that...
cause as it happens there's 2 guitars for sale and 2nd is "younger" a couple of years i guess as it has 5bolt neckplate and floyd rose installed. Now FR is legendary bridge itself hence my doubts about that Schaller construction. I know Schaller is a solid company otherwise it wouldn't even be considered for use by Ernie Ball and many others, but as the others said - that's first time i see bridge like that...
John C
Well-known member
any opinions on them?
cause as it happens there's 2 guitars for sale and 2nd is "younger" a couple of years i guess as it has 5bolt neckplate and floyd rose installed. Now FR is legendary bridge itself hence my doubts about that Schaller construction. I know Schaller is a solid company otherwise it wouldn't even be considered for use by Ernie Ball and many others, but as the others said - that's first time i see bridge like that...
They are a decent bridge - about as good as any that was around there in the mid-80s. It's been decades since I've seen one or played one in person (actually the last guitar I spotted and messed around with in-person with that bridge was a used Schecter Tele-style, and that was around 1995). The Floyd will be more rock-solid for that kind of trem work.
Back in the 1980s Floyd Rose had an exclusive deal with Kramer, so companies were using alternatives like the Schaller bridge at least until Rose started licensing his design a bit later in the decade (say 1987-ish). EBMM used a licensed version made by Gotoh when they first started with Floyds in 1991 (first the EVH; then spread to the Silo and they added the original Luke guitar).
