Help! 2 x Music Man Silhouette Special so different

[JimmyGeo]

Hello guys ,

Yesterday i was playing with my friend`s silhouette Special and i consider ,

how different was from mine.First of all let`s notice the differences between the two guitars.

My Silo is pearl purple and my friend`s is sunburst.

My Silo has JB in the bridge position and Fast Track 1 in the neck position ,my friend`s has the stock pickups.

My Silo has cts 500k volume pot and cts 250k tone pot,also the tone capacitor is an orange drop 0.22.My friend`s has stock pots.

My friend`s Silo has in better condition frets.

The two guitars have different nut.
My friend`s View attachment 9063

Mine View attachment 9064

Finally the two guitars have different weight.The sunburst "has more kilos"

Both has rosewood fretboard and Music Man tremolo.

Now , at the sound part ,my friend`s Silo was more aggressive ,with more attack ,the sound was more like stratty let me say ,and mine was more muddy and gives me the feeling of being two completely different guitars.

Without playing on an amp the sunbursts sounds different again .More powerful and mine sounding like an "acoustic".

Before make all these changes to my Silo the situation was the same.The sound of my guitar wasn`t as good as i would.Very muddy ,very warmy.

Does anybody knows what is causing this difference in the sound???

I feel like something keep it back ,like being muffled .

Thank you!!

 

[John C]

It appears you've answered your own question:

Why does your Silo Special sound different than your friends?

Because of all the modifications to your guitar from stock.

The Duncan JB is a much higher output pickup than the stock Silo Special humbucker which is a PAF-type. I've always found JBs to sound really dark and muddy in a bolt-on guitar; I'm not a huge JB fan but like them a bit better in say a mahogany set-neck guitar with a maple top (had a really nice Hamer with these pickups back in the late 90s). I'm not familiar with the sound of a Fast Track, but no rail-type single-coil sized humbucker is going to sound like a true single coil; they will likely also sound a bit darker than the true single coil - and the Silo Special stock single coils are variations of DiMarizio's vintage-style Strat pickup. The volume pot and capacitor changes will also impact the sound of your guitar compared to a stock guitar. The stock Silo Special is going to be more "stratty" with the lower output pickups. The weight is also going to impact the sound a bit, but more than anything it is the difference in electronics.

Now your friend's Silo Special is newer and therefore has the compensated nut while your older Silo Special has a regular nut. EBMM's have always played pretty in tune compared to some other guitars; the compensated nut is an improvement on playing in tune across the neck. That isn't going to impact your perception that your guitar is darker/muddier sounding than your friend's guitar.

 

[paranoid70]

My friend`s View attachment 9063

Mine View attachment 9064

Both has rosewood fretboard and Music Man tremolo.

It sure looks to me like your buddy's guitar has a maple fretboard.

 

[JimmyGeo]

Sorry for that, the pictures are samples from the net.I used them to notice the difference.

John C thank you for your answer !I used JB on my fender strat with 500k volume pot and 0.22 tone cap witch was alder/rosewood too.

The sound was completely fantastic.Before make all these changes on my Silo things were much worse. Guitar sounded more like muffled.Now things are better, but for sure not as much as should be.

Can this happen from the quality of the woods?

 

[GWDavis28]

Do they both have standard nuts or compensated nuts?

Glenn |B)

 

[JimmyGeo]

I don`t know exactly the differences between the compensated nut and the standard but i think that my Silo has the standard and my friend`s the compensated nut.

 

[Sweat]

Face it, and with all due respect, yours is a highly modded guitar and your friends is stock, stock rules 99% of the time, while I am sure your guitar sounds great so does the stock one, really do not think this has much to do with wood

 

[GWDavis28]

I don`t know exactly the differences between the compensated nut and the standard but i think that my Silo has the standard and my friend`s the compensated nut.

Jimmy, the compensated nut is what you posted in the pictures.

Glenn |B)

 

[Jerry Jim]

well, eventhow you did all these modifications... I still don't get why they sound different acoustically... these are all technical changes only, aren't they?

 

[JimmyGeo]

Since yesterday i hadn`t play with my friends Silo ,so i didn`t have something to compare.

I don`t understand why my friend`s Silo has more weight ,maybe there is the difference to the sound.

More fat sound for the overweighted and more thin sound for mine.

Does anybody know if the older Silo specials were less weight than the new one???

 

[Tone?]

File mou,

OLES i kithares diaferoun, giati einai ftiagmenes apo ksilo. kai kathe komati ksilo den einai to idio.

Bori apla na pires mia kithara pou den einai toso kali.

SINITHOS omos i pio elafries kithares einai KALUTERES.

ala panta to baros tha exei megali diafora apo kithara se kithara.
sinithos i pio varies exoun pio stakato eixo kai i pio elafries einai pio dark.
alla sinithos i pio elafries akougontai kalutera.

to simantiko einai i kithara na exei stibara ksila. kai na einai elafria

mou akougete oti xreiazete na rithmisis tin kithara sou kai oxi na valis allous magnites.

den mou les, otan les oti einai muffled enois otan tin paizis akoustika i apo enisxiti??

prospathise na deis an to bratso einai isio kai rithmise to truss rod.
episis, rithmise to tremolo na kathete pano sto skafos.

ama thes rithmise anevase to tremolo ligaki kai ase to piso meros tou tremolo na katsi pano sto skafos. etsi tha balis pio poli baros pano stin xordi ekei pou kathete pano sta saddles.

kane afta kai pes mou.....

filia !

 

[andynpeters]

I own a SS in Pearl Purple and it never sounded "muffled" with its stock pickups and it doesn't now with the Fender SCNs. My Purple SS is from '99 & I used to have a 2004 model...never notice a sound or weight difference
All the modifications on your guitar will obviously affect the sound (I guess that's why you did them).
Perhaps the Silent Circuit doesn't like the new pickups & you need to change its setting? Perhaps the wiring should be checked?
At the risk of being stupidly obvious.....do you need new strings?
Normally we'd suggest Customer Services, but I think they might find it hard to comment after you've made so many changes

 

[littlephil]

Since yesterday i hadn`t play with my friends Silo ,so i didn`t have something to compare.

I don`t understand why my friend`s Silo has more weight ,maybe there is the difference to the sound.

More fat sound for the overweighted and more thin sound for mine.

Does anybody know if the older Silo specials were less weight than the new one???

There can be quite a lot of variation between different pieces of wood of the same kind. Your friends guitar is probably denser, so it weighs more, and it resonates better so sounds different. It all depends on the wood, and you cant really predict how a certain piece will sound when its used in a body or neck.
The variations in wood are the reason some Les Pauls sound great and others sound bad (same for any guitar really, but its more obvious with LPs, probably because they have such large bodies)

 

[JimmyGeo]

File mou,

OLES i kithares diaferoun, giati einai ftiagmenes apo ksilo. kai kathe komati ksilo den einai to idio.

Bori apla na pires mia kithara pou den einai toso kali.

SINITHOS omos i pio elafries kithares einai KALUTERES.

ala panta to baros tha exei megali diafora apo kithara se kithara.
sinithos i pio varies exoun pio stakato eixo kai i pio elafries einai pio dark.
alla sinithos i pio elafries akougontai kalutera.

to simantiko einai i kithara na exei stibara ksila. kai na einai elafria

mou akougete oti xreiazete na rithmisis tin kithara sou kai oxi na valis allous magnites.

den mou les, otan les oti einai muffled enois otan tin paizis akoustika i apo enisxiti??

prospathise na deis an to bratso einai isio kai rithmise to truss rod.
episis, rithmise to tremolo na kathete pano sto skafos.

ama thes rithmise anevase to tremolo ligaki kai ase to piso meros tou tremolo na katsi pano sto skafos. etsi tha balis pio poli baros pano stin xordi ekei pou kathete pano sta saddles.

kane afta kai pes mou.....

filia !

S`eyxaristo poli file mou gia to minima sou !!!Akribos auto i pio baria kithara exei pio stakato ixo.

To mpratso einai isio ,alla to tremolo einai elafros sikomeno. Tha to katebaso na akoumpaei pano sto soma tis kitharas.

Kai akoustika otan paizeis tis dio kithares akougontai diaforetika.Stou filou mou akougontai kalitera kai i mpases xordes ,eno ti diki mou kapos san akoustikis kitharas.

I own a SS in Pearl Purple and it never sounded "muffled" with its stock pickups and it doesn't now with the Fender SCNs. My Purple SS is from '99 & I used to have a 2004 model...never notice a sound or weight difference
All the modifications on your guitar will obviously affect the sound (I guess that's why you did them).
Perhaps the Silent Circuit doesn't like the new pickups & you need to change its setting? Perhaps the wiring should be checked?
At the risk of being stupidly obvious.....do you need new strings?
Normally we'd suggest Customer Services, but I think they might find it hard to comment after you've made so many changes

Hello and thank you for your answer!!The strings are almost new(hybrid) but i am thinking of using 10`s next time.
I will ask customer servises to notice me if there are differences at the woods between two same models.

There can be quite a lot of variation between different pieces of wood of the same kind. Your friends guitar is probably denser, so it weighs more, and it resonates better so sounds different. It all depends on the wood, and you cant really predict how a certain piece will sound when its used in a body or neck.
The variations in wood are the reason some Les Pauls sound great and others sound bad (same for any guitar really, but its more obvious with LPs, probably because they have such large bodies)

Thank you!!Thats exactly i am thinking.Differences at the woods so differences at the weight and the sound.That`s why they sound different when you play them acoustic ,without an amp.

 

[whitestrat]

My Silo has JB in the bridge position and Fast Track 1 in the neck position ,my friend`s has the stock pickups.

My Silo has cts 500k volume pot and cts 250k tone pot,also the tone capacitor is an orange drop 0.22.My friend`s has stock pots.
Now , at the sound part ,my friend`s Silo was more aggressive ,with more attack ,the sound was more like stratty let me say ,and mine was more muddy and gives me the feeling of being two completely different guitars.

Wood is different from guitar to guitar, even if they are the same model, and made with the same sort of wood. Much less his is maple boarded, and yours is rosewood. But the differences in your post there are very much not going to improve your sound the way you'd want it.

Does anybody know if the older Silo specials were less weight than the new one???

My 2000 Silo Spec is heavier than my 2008 or 2009 one. That's not something determined by age. It's the wood, the cut, the part of the trunk used, etc etc...

Best word of advice: Ignore all that and just play the guitar. Change the guitar to the tones you like. Not compare it against something else.

 

[Tone?]

And now on English....

Lighter guitars usually are more resonant as a general rule
your muffled sound is NOT coming from the wood it seems

lighter guitars will usually be darker in tone and not as percussive but I doubt that the difference in weight is that substantial from your friends guitar to yours

people actually pay top dollar to get a lighter body
heavierbodies will usually be towards a brighter tone with more attack

saying all that it sounds like there might be something that is not allowing for the strings to transfer energy efficiently to the guitar and back to the strings

if the truss rod is set so the neck is straight that sounds good
Also turn a bit on the truss rod to make sure it isn't damaged in any way
doesn't sound like that is it though

check to see if the nut is worn or not glued on to the neck well

check the tremolo to see if it is on the posts properly and aligned well
maybe the knife edges are not making a good connection
to the posts
take the felt off the back part of the tremolo
as I don't believe it adds to the tone. This is a super minor thing though

what you are describing might be more characteristic of a very very light guitar but I am positive that is not the situation
check all the points where the strings make contact with the body
and if you can't tell yourself take it to a qualified tech to check it

usually people nowadays would be lucky to have the lighter instrument but that is also subjective

It really has nothing to do with what ebmm has used as far as woods for the guitars
I would bet that the wood is from the same source and it they are both alder

I will say again muffled is not because of the wood
and make a point of telling everyone that this is a tonal observation from acoustic play as well as plugged in

cheers

 

[straycat113]

The problem is the color of your guitar lol. All jokes aside your guitar should sound nothing like your friends since you have modded it to the nines. Your friend has the stock pups in it which are lower-output pups than what you have and because of that you will hear more of the guitar and more of the nuances and subtleties your fingers create.I am ver familiar with DiMarzio Fast Track pups as my #1 guitar which I used for 13 years was an 85 62 reissue Tele that was modded with Dimarzio Fast Tracks which turned it into a whole different guitar, as a stacked humbucker is going to have 3X the output of a single coil and change the whole tone of the guitar. The strange thing is that I had another Tele at the time and since the first one I modded sounded so great I had the exact mods done on the other one and it was one of the worst sounding guitars I ever heard so go figure.

Each guitar even two that came from the same tree are going to sound different. I am just curios that you say that even before the changes, and when the guitar was stock it sounded muddy. Well I am surprised that no one asked you this yet but what kind of amp are you using, as that is just as important as to what guitar you have .

 

[JimmyGeo]

The guitar at the moment sounds very powerful and right for my kind.

But i was surprised when i heard, how much clarity and punch had the stock silo than mine ,not only on the amp but just playing acoustic the two guitars.

Just play the same chord on both guitars and you will notice the difference.

I am using a small RAT with an Egnater cabin.The pedals i am using are novadrive from

TC electronics ,BB preamb and a MXR carbon delay.

I like the feeling of my Music Man ,its for sure something different from my other Fender Deluxe ,but i have to say that two Silos Special are sounding so different.

 

[JimmyGeo]

Is there any difference in sound between the Compensated nut and the un-Compensated nut?

I saw a video on youtube where it says "can you ear the difference?".Lets think that the comparison is at the

same guitar ,would it be any difference in the sound?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnmluMP5OPk]YouTube - Traditional nut Vs. Earvana nut, can you ear the difference?[/ame]
Thank you guys !!!!

 

[littlephil]

The difference between a compensated and uncompensated nut isnt in the sound, a compensated nut gives you much better intonation, so notes all over the neck will be more in tune than with a regular nut.