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Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience

NGD: SBMM Silhouette

S

Stephen

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
215
Location
Spielberg, Germany
Soooo ... have been around for a while, following the forums and the company, seen a lot of finishes and indeed whole instruments come and go, yet somehow funds and offerings never came together. Until last friday. I hopped into my local music store, smallish and with a mixed range of everything, to buy a few packs of strings - and there she was: a bit smaller than the others, deep red to dark blonde burst and loaded with more pickups than I have ever owned on a single instrument.
IMG_1421.jpg
Spent the weekend fighting the GAS, then setting it on fire and doing some research. The most important info for me was, that the SBMM Silo seemed to be discontinued. And since these guitars almost never show up in any stores around me I just had to get it. And so I did.

Granted, she is not an EBMM, and indeed from the most affordable line of SBMM, but this guitar is built and plays way beyond the price tag. I am having serious fun with this one!

Cheers, Stephen
 
S

Stephen

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
215
Location
Spielberg, Germany
Thanks guys! :)

The finish is indeed nice and on the picture it is kind of glowing in the sun. It's actually a bit "lighter" than what I thought a Tobacco Burst would look like, to my eye it's closer to the old Cherry Burst. I like it!

The guitar might have been a demonstrator, but without any wear or dings. The action was pretty high, 10s were fitted instead of 9s, the tremolo had a third spring mounted and the bracket was adjusted for a very stiff movement, close to effectively blocking it. Also, the pickups were adjusted pretty high, probably because of the higher action (E was about 4mm off the 12th fret).

But I consider all of this as "user servicable" and for now have brought her back to factory specs: .09 Super Slinkys, 2 springs slightly angeled and the still decked trem now starts to lift a bit after a full note bend. The trussrod was relieved a bit more than an eighth of a turn because of the now lesser tension and the action is for now adjusted nice and low, without buzzing.

While doing the adjustments I noticed how all the bits and pieces turned nice and smooth, without slack or needing force. I really like this!

I maintain about 50% humidity in my home, so I stop the tinkering for now and let her settle to the new conditions. But I will keep playing, she's collecting miles fast!

Cheers, Stephen
 
S

Stephen

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
215
Location
Spielberg, Germany
Thanks again! =)

SilosRock, I think the wood used for the fingerboard might be Jatoba. Never heard of this wood before but it has long been used for floors and furniture.

I actually had a hard time getting some reasonable specs for the instrument. I couldn't find a timeline for the different generations of the SBMM Silos, dealers' specs are rare since the model has been discontinued and rarely even agree on the same model.

So I'm still not sure whether I bought a Silo3 or Silo30 (it's not a 30D, PUs are not stamped by DiMarzio). The serial number database only works for EBMMs, right? Maybe I can ask the good people at SBMM ...
 
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