Question albert lee HSS & silhouette bridge

[beni]

hi, im about to get a music man guitar
and found these two guitars

the first is albert lee
but the bridge pickup was changed by the owner to humbucker
is it possible to do such thing without 'damaging' the pickup cavity?


this is the silhouette
the owner said that the bridge is original
but it doesnt look like an original music man bridge
or maybe this kind of bridge was ever be the original bridge?


thank you

 

[John C]

hi, im about to get a music man guitar
and found these two guitars

the first is albert lee
but the bridge pickup was changed by the owner to humbucker
is it possible to do such thing without 'damaging' the pickup cavity?


this is the silhouette
the owner said that the bridge is original
but it doesnt look like an original music man bridge
or maybe this kind of bridge was ever be the original bridge?


thank you

I'm virtually 100% sure that Albert Lee's are routed for the pickups they leave the factory with - if it's an SSS model then there are 3 individual single-coil routes like a vintage Strat; if it is a 3 MM90 model then it has 3 individual routes for the MM90-sized pickups. The one in your photo had to be routed out for the owner to install the bridge humbucker. However, Pete Dubaldo does own an HSS Albert Lee one-off done for either an employee or an endorser that was HSS from the factory.

The other photo is actually of a Silhouette Special, not a Silhouette - the Silo Special has 22 frets and was designed to give the guitar a more vintage Strat voice due to the pickup placement, compared to the 24-fret Silo. The earliest Silo Specials did come with that bridge, which was made by Wilkinson. They also had Grover locking tuners (instead of the typical Schallers) that use a key or a coin to lock the strings as they wrap around the post. The Wilkinson bridge and Grover tuner combination were used for only the first couple of years of the Silo Special; by 1996 or 1997 they had changed over to the EBMM vintage trem and the Schaller locking tuners.

Hope this helps; that early Silo Special looks really clean and would be a nice piece for the collection.

 

[whitestrat]

Ooh? the early Silo Specs came with a wilkinson VSVG bridge? cool!

 

[Spudmurphy]

I only know of one HSS AL that left the factory and that is owned by our very own Pete Dubaldo.

The AL would have to be routed to take the HB - it would be easy to put back to original specs but would of course add to the outlay.

The original AL bridge pickup is sweet and it's a shame that it had been replaced - maybe the seller still has the original?

 

[John C]

Ooh? the early Silo Specs came with a wilkinson VSVG bridge? cool!

Yes, the 1995-96 Silo Specials had the Wilkinson VSVG and the Grover locking tuners. Sometime in 1997 EBMM switched over to their vintage trem and Schaller locking tuners. The EBMM bridge debuted on the Axis Sport in early 1997; I suspect they changed the Silo Special over to their bridge shortly after the Axis Sport was introduced.

 

[beni]

thank you for the answer everyone

 

[jamminjim]

OH baby! I really dig that HSS Albert Lee. Hope they offer the HSS option some day.