Static noise from active EMG Luk3e guitar

[John C]

I would just like to clarify one thing, as this forum is a resource for people into the future…

The stock Silhouette has never had active electronics (for at least the last 30 years, maybe some earlier versions in the late 80s did but I don’t recall). The Silhouette Special has the silent circuit but that’s the only active element. The pickups and controls are still passive and function identically if there is a battery present for the silent circuit or not.

I can't remember any EB-era MM having active electronics until the first Lukes came out with the EMG pickups. Then came the Silhouette Special with the Silent Circuit in what - 1995? I do recall them using Schaller pickups in the 1980s Silhouettes that had solid covers, but they weren't active pickups.

 

[Milford]

Problem seems to be sorted. The battery was fine as were the active electronics. I recently spoke with a friend who had a similar problem which was fixed by replacing the battery box. I thought I might need to replace mine so took it out to check meter and dimensions. It’s a Gotoh flip up type. All the connections seemed fine as did the contacts….however I cleaned the contacts with electrical contact cleaner and put everything back. A quick try and it worked fine! I played it for a while this morning and everything worked perfectly. no extraneous noises and string balance was back to normal.. thanks for the suggestions.
re the Silhouette with the silent circuit.…no mention of “special” anywhere on the guitar but I got it second hand so I didn’t know.

 

[beej]

Glad you got that sorted out! A little bit of contact cleaner can go a long way.

 

[DrKev]

Glad you got that sorted out! A little bit of contact cleaner can go a long way.

True! Incidentally, electrical contact cleaner is my cleaner of last resort when all else fails to get rid of stubborn glue residue and stains from hard surfaces. if electrical contact cleaner won’t take it off, you stuck with it. But it’s not safe on all surfaces to make sure you try on an inconspicuous part first.

 

[John C]

Problem seems to be sorted. The battery was fine as were the active electronics. I recently spoke with a friend who had a similar problem which was fixed by replacing the battery box. I thought I might need to replace mine so took it out to check meter and dimensions. It’s a Gotoh flip up type. All the connections seemed fine as did the contacts….however I cleaned the contacts with electrical contact cleaner and put everything back. A quick try and it worked fine! I played it for a while this morning and everything worked perfectly. no extraneous noises and string balance was back to normal.. thanks for the suggestions.
re the Silhouette with the silent circuit.…no mention of “special” anywhere on the guitar but I got it second hand so I didn’t know.

Glad you got the Luke sorted out!

A Silhouette has 24 frets, a Silhouette Speical has 22 frets. The Silhouette is the original EBMM guitar (at least I think it came out before the Steve Morse signature but they might have been released at the same time), and when introduced you could get it configured with SSS, HSS, HSH, and HH pickguards - EBMM uses a small connecting plug so you could easily swap out the pickguards. The Silhouette had a hard tail bridge or a Schaller-made tremolo (with roller saddles, fine tuners and a string lock behind the nut); the Schaller trem went away in 1989/90; starting in 1992 they added the option of a Floyd Rose tremolo.

EBMM brought out the 22-fret Silhouette Special in 1995, it has 22 frets, and was only available in SSS and HSS configurations. EBMM introduced the Silent Circuit with the model. Also it was available with either a hard tail or a non-locking tremolo with locking tuners - originally a Wilkinson trem and Grover tuners, but by 1997 they transitioned to the EBMM non-locking tremolo and Schaller locking tuners. The very early Silhouette Specials do have the same headstock decal as the 24-fret Silhoutte; I'm not sure exactly how many were made before they had the "Silhouette Special" headstock decals.

After the Silhouette Special had been out for a few years they reduced the Silhouette to the HSH configuration, and the tremolo option became the EBMM non-locking tremolo.