Question Musicman Silhoutte 20th anniversary

[IanRiot]

Hello everyone,

I am new here, and I have a question for you all.

I was cleaning my father's garage and found this guitar which seems to be a Musicman Silhouette 20th anniversary. Looking on the web it seems my model is one of those few which came with a Piezo, but I am not sure, thus asking for experts here to confirm my thoughts.

I also wanted to ask if any of you could help me figure out how to adjust the truss rod (i suppose i have to turn the black wheel at the bottom of the neck, but I want to be sure!). I will attach a couple of pics, if you can also confirm me this is a legit one it would be great!

Thanks to everyone for your time, have a good one!

MM Silhouette 20th anniversary - Album on Imgur

 

[Fro]

Sweet find! Looks legit to me.
Your correct on the truss rod. It adjusts at the wheel at the end of the fretboard.

 

[IanRiot]

Sweet find! Looks legit to me.
Your correct on the truss rod. It adjusts at the wheel at the end of the fretboard.

Hey! Thanks a lot Fro. Is it enough to turn the wheel or should I first remove the pickguard, or even loosen and lift the neck?

 

[TripHazard]

All ya gotta do is turn the wheel.

 

[Sweat]

Wow nice find, hardtail to boot! Yep just turn the wheel just a small turn should do.

 

[IanRiot]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Although I think it's kinda stuck and won't turn, or maybe I am not pushing hard enough... but I don't wanna risk to break it... so I guess will bring it asap to some professional

 

[Bill S]

I was in exactly the same position a couple of days ago. I took advice from the guys here and turned the wheel - no problem. But I am new here, and you want to hear it from the experts!

See here:

http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/70374-cutlass-day-advice-please.html

 

[IanRiot]

I was in exactly the same position a couple of days ago. I took advice from the guys here and turned the wheel - no problem. But I am new here, and you want to hear it from the experts!

See here:

http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/70374-cutlass-day-advice-please.html

Nice one you got there! And thanks for pointing me out, I will try to put a bit more muscles into it.
Another thing, the action across the whole fretboard is fine, just it's almost inexistent at the 1st fret and still very low at the 2nd one, from 3rd till the end is perfect. So basically i want to keep the action same as it is but increasing it just a bit on those two frets. Should i turn the wheel clockwise or counterclockwise (looking from the body)?

Thanks again guys

 

[dibart77]

Awesome find! The Silo 20th is an outstanding guitar. And it seems you have a relatively rare hardtail version!

It sounds from the "cleaning out my father's garage" and then asking us (rather than him) about the guitar that maybe he passed away? If so, please accept our condolences, Ian.

For details on adjusting the EBMM truss rod, here's all you need to know from the source: Ernie Ball Music Man engineer Drew Montell demonstrates how to adjust the truss rod on your Music Man instrument.

​

 

[IanRiot]

Awesome find! The Silo 20th is an outstanding guitar. And it seems you have a relatively rare hardtail version!

It sounds from the "cleaning out my father's garage" and then asking us (rather than him) about the guitar that maybe he passed away? If so, please accept our condolences, Ian.

For details on adjusting the EBMM truss rod, here's all you need to know from the source: Ernie Ball Music Man engineer Drew Montell demonstrates how to adjust the truss rod on your Music Man instrument.

​

Thanks a lot for the video, it's more clear now how it works. However it seems that the "problem" may be around the nut, maybe it's too low, since the 1st fret action is really low compared to the rest of the fretboard which is perfect.
Also very kind of you, but my father (thanks God!) is still alive and healthy ahah, just asked me a favour to clean his garage, because he's old now and kinda lazy
And he never really played guitar, he just like to collect relatively rare things... I am a drummer, but due to this quarantine times I've decided to learn how to play guitar as well and welp, it seems I found a pretty good one already!

 

[GWDavis28]

Nice guitar Ian, a total keeper, and if Dibart was correct, my condolences as well.

Glenn |B)

 

[TripHazard]

Good point guys - so focused on the guitar I didn’t catch that. My condolences - hopefully this will be amongst many treasured memories for you

 

[IanRiot]

Thanks to everyone for your messages, but my father is still kicking Just asked for some help cleaning his messy and stuffed garage. He likes to collect relatively rare stuff...
I posted a couple of messages but they are not showing up, so I will ask again: premise that I am a drummer, I think that the action at the 1st fret is somehow too low... although I tried the "3rd fret trick" Nut Action and seems fine.. still while across the whole fretboard the action is about 0.35mm at the 1st fret is just 0.17mm. Do you think that adjusting the toss rod could solve that? I want to leave the action as it is, just increasing it of 0.15/20mm at 1st fret. Should i turn it clockwise or counterclockwise?

 

[beej]

Hi Ian- some of your posts required 'moderation' before they could be seen. All good now! And hell yeah ... great find.

On the action- what I generally do is to fret the guitar at the 1st fret, and then with the other hand I'll put my thumb on the 15th fret. Then, look for a small gap at the 7th fret, about the thickness of a business card. You can just tap on the string with your finger at the same time to see how it bounces up and down above that fret.

If the string is touching the fret, you need more relief (turn the truss rod counter-clockwise, while looking from the truss rod up to the end of the neck ... like unscrewing it). If it's too high, less relief (turn it clockwise). Once turned, you can slightly pull on the end of the neck to encourage the neck to adjust a little bit.

Feels weird to do this the first time, but you'll get the hang quickly.

 

[TripHazard]

Thanks to everyone for your messages, but my father is still kicking Just asked for some help cleaning his messy and stuffed garage. He likes to collect relatively rare stuff...
I posted a couple of messages but they are not showing up, so I will ask again: premise that I am a drummer, I think that the action at the 1st fret is somehow too low... although I tried the "3rd fret trick" Nut Action and seems fine.. still while across the whole fretboard the action is about 0.35mm at the 1st fret is just 0.17mm. Do you think that adjusting the toss rod could solve that? I want to leave the action as it is, just increasing it of 0.15/20mm at 1st fret. Should i turn it clockwise or counterclockwise?

Dude, thats the better news than the Guitar. Glad yer Pop is still with you