Tremolo on 90´s Silo

[ghostinabottle]

Hi there.I was just wondering if anyone can tell me which kind of tremolos where used in the silo from the beginning to now.because i bought a silo from the 90´s a few days ago on ebay (not beeing shipped yet) and it comes with a wilkinson.always thought there was either a floyd rose or a schaller on the silo in those days.

 

[e.mate]

The Wilkinson has been around on the Silos for a short period of time during the 90s (after the Schaller) only, so you have grabbed on of those rare pieces. It has been replaced by the MM Vintage Trem which has been an option since then. Make a search here on the forum, there is some info available on that topic.

The FR was another alternative through many years.

By the way - do you have a pic (maybe saved from the auction or something)?

 

[skerwo]

I have a 1995 silo spec, which originally had a Wilkinson VSV. I had the VSV on several guitars (strats), it works very well and is a good choice, no need to replace it.


Rainer

 

[ghostinabottle]

Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette HSH Wilkinson 1990er bei eBay.de: E-Gitarren (endet 02.01.11 22:14:54 MEZ)just the link, downloading the photos doesn´t work. Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette HSH Wilkinson 1990er bei eBay.de: E-Gitarren (endet 02.01.11 22:14:54 MEZ)

by the way,the seller told me that the colour is called butterscotch blonde,but i assume it´s more a trans white?

 

[John C]

Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette HSH Wilkinson 1990er bei eBay.de: E-Gitarren (endet 02.01.11 22:14:54 MEZ)just the link, downloading the photos doesn´t work. Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette HSH Wilkinson 1990er bei eBay.de: E-Gitarren (endet 02.01.11 22:14:54 MEZ)

by the way,the seller told me that the colour is called butterscotch blonde,but i assume it´s more a trans white?

Interesting looking guitar; I guess it could be butterscotch with the flash lightening up the color but I'm inclinded to think it is trans white.

I'm thinking this was a hardtail Silhouette that someone added a Wilkinson trem to at some point. Of course it could be a one-off made for an artist that has made its way into the used market, but I don't think EBMM would issue a guitar that looks that "unfinished" around the trem area. Also that doesn't look like the type of back plate that EBMM uses, nor was that the type of Wilkinson trem bridge that EBMM used (they used the VSV which is a 6-screw bridge, not a 2-post bridge).

If I'm recalling correctly EBMM only used the Wilkinson VSV bridge on the Silhouette Special and on the Albert Lee (and it is very rare to find an AL with a trem from this era) in 1995/96; by the end of 1996 both models would have the EBMM Vintage Trem.

Since this is a 6-bolt Silo it has to be from no later than say 1992 (maybe early 1993) the only trem that would have been available during that era would have been the old Schaller trem. However, that trem would have also had a string clamp behind the nut; this guitar doesn't have any holes where the string clamp would have been removed. The next trem used on the Silo would have been the EBMM/Gotoh liscensed Floyd Rose. Someone please correct me but I believe that by the time the Floyd was an option on the Silo it had been converted to the 5-bolt neck.

 

[ghostinabottle]

Interesting! Cold you explain what you mean with "unfinished around the trem area"?

maybe anyone from the service can tell if its original by the ser.no? 92054

 

[D.K.]

Hi there!

I'm 99.9999% sure (and being somewhat of an old 6-bolt EBMM affictionado I've seen/had a few of them) that it is an aftermarket replacement, it's not original. The 6-bolt Silhouettes had the Schaller trem (as seen here, for example - http://cgi.ebay.de/Music-Man-Silhou.../270680688063?pt=Gitarren&hash=item3f05d385bf) and MAYBE (although I've never seen any) the very last of them had floyds, but not Wilkinson.

The way it looks now it was originally a string through body non-trem, which got the tremolo cutaway afterwards. 'Cause it it had the old Shaller trem in the beginning, we would see the marks on the headstock where the locking nut was placed (it was behind the nut).

Anyway, great to have another german forumite here!

 

[ghostinabottle]

hey,D.K

question:if it was a fixed bridge before,there should be some drilling holes for it in the trem area,shouldnt´t it?
and the trem cavity wouldn´t be sprayed,right?
so i have to wait till i get it in my own hands to look it up,hopefully tomorrow!
i really hope that if its an aftermarket replacement,that it has been done properly!

 

[ghostinabottle]

'Cause it it had the old Shaller trem in the beginning, we would see the marks on the headstock where the locking nut was placed (it was behind the nut).

and if there was a schaller or a floyd there would be a small cavity on the top,wouldn´t it?

 

[John C]

Interesting! Cold you explain what you mean with "unfinished around the trem area"?

maybe anyone from the service can tell if its original by the ser.no? 92054

Sorry, I should have been more clear and put "unfinished" in quotes. I meant that the pickguard would come all the way down to the trem, there wouldn't be an exposed round hole right in front of the trem in the wood, and it kind of looks like raw wood in the trem cavity where you can see through the holes in the back plate.

Also if it had originally had a Floyd Rose there would be a cavity for the bridge because the Silo was routed so you could pull up on the trem (unlike the EVH/Axis or the Morse until a few months ago). The Schaller would also have a route in the top for part of it's mechanism. I have to agree with DK that this was a hard-tail Silo that someone modified with a trem unit.

 

[ghostinabottle]

aah,I´ll get your point.but this might be more a matter how the trem is build.the extra hole appears not to be in the pickguard,but in the steel of the trem.anyway, I´ll get more information when I´ll get this beauty in hands.
If anyone is interested, i could do some pictures.

 

[John C]

More photos would be great once you get it in your hands.

It could be on the bridge but to me in the close-up of the body it appears there is a screw hole in the body in between the D and G strings (about half of the hole is visible) which I think is where there would have been a mounting screw for an EBMM hard-tail bridge.

 

[skerwo]

The trem looks like a Wilkinson VS50, the same is on my Cort Hiram Bullock Signature.


Rainer