I painted my guitar and upgraded to 11-48 EBMM strings

[Rufedges]

This 2011 Silo Special was black, but I am actually digging the white,....looks much more put-together to me with the white pick-guard and the maple neck. Had the shop file down the nut on the headstock to accommodate the 11-48 strings, down-tuned 1/2 step.....SRV style. Yes, I relic'd it a little bit, pups are not stock either, other than I put the original neck pup in the middle position. Using it for blues.....much more character IMHO....nothing against EMBB's beautiful polished finish. I can never keep my maple necks clean anyway, the arm-wear looks a little more natural in person..pretty much took the clear coat off and stripped a few select places to the wood (which is actually really beautiful by the way, would love to see one in natural, I love wood) and painted a thin coat of white. Stripped the paint inside the cavity w/ a heat gun too.

Anyway, really digging the EBMM 11-48 Power Slinky's as well, so much more tone......a good bit of a workout on the left arm, but worth it......left arm looks bigger than my right arm right now, and I am right-handed. I raised the action a little higher than I have ever had in the last few years too, big part of the SRV tone....no fret buzz, no metallic fret noise at all, even with heavy playing (as Stevie did much of the time).

First pic is the original black Silo Special.

 

[jzeijen]

Not a fan of the artificial relic thing, but it looks cool! I also like the white more than the black on this guitar.

Tried 11's several times, but keep coming back to 10's. I do use a .049 low E-string though.

 

[Tollywood]

Great job - I love it when people do stuff like this. Nice attention to detail with the heat gun.

 

[Rufedges]

Thanks, it looks pretty decent in person, .....this guitar is really set up for the blues, and I really wanted give it a little character. I would never dream of doing this to my PDN Axis SS, but on a guitar without a maple flame/quilt top, scuffing up a solid color really doesn't matter to me; white wasn't an option when I bought mine - used, but to me the current color fits together much nicer, the black body/white pick-guard, and maple neck never really seemed to mesh visually after I got it.

The 11-48s on this guitar sound so much more alive than the 10s do, you get more string sound vs.s transparency......everything sounds better to me. I don't know if EVH has always played 9s, but I am so much closer to a convincing brown sound than ever with these strings. My PDN should be back soon, had 11s put on in standard tuning....that will probably be a little harder to play with the little extra tension, but we'll see.

 

[Rufedges]

I only used the heat gun on the inside cavity,.....forearm and the few other spots were all hand sanded, started off with like 80 grit or something (too much), and went all the way to 2000 grit by the end. The original poly is pretty darn thin, but it is damn near indestructible.....sanding it off is NOT easy. I am glad I didn't take the heat gun to the outside body, it didn't seem to peel off like some folks get their poly to come off, it is on there really good. But, I didn't want to do the whole thing, so I just did a couple of spots.

The original intent was to actually make a few wear spots, take all the clear-coat off, and spray a thin layer of clear over the guitar. I thought I bought clear-coat, but it was actually white and I didn't realize until I had already started spraying....too late, had to commit, and actually pleased with the outcome and color, because white was probably the last color I would have selected.

Great job - I love it when people do stuff like this. Nice attention to detail with the heat gun.

 

[Rufedges]

Here is what my guitar looks like now. I also adjusted the neck/truss rod to raise the strings off the fret board a little bit more, much cleaner now, no fret buzz/tinny sounds at all due to the action being super low. Still very very playable, can't believe I didn't raise the action up a little more until now. I know doing this to the body of an EBMM guitar is blasphemy, but I am really pleased with the outcome.

 

[DrKev]

Complete with cigarette burn! Nice job, well done!

 

[skerwo]

I love the look of this silo spec. White is a beautiful colour and the relic job seems to be very natural. Well done, congrats!

 

[Jack FFR1846]

I can't bring myself to relic a paint job after I do it. I've tried and even painted one body specifically to relic including a different color under the final coat to simulate a factory respray. I ended up selling the body, not being able to "wreck" my paint job.

Did you use lacquer on the body? I don't know what's available in Japan. I tend to use acrylic lacquer for color and Minwax clear lacquer, which is supposed to be nitro. All I know is that it drys far faster and smells better than the acrylic lacquer clear.

If you want the plastics to look old, look up coffee treating. I found that it works well and if you do it somewhat unevenly, looks pretty natural.

 

[coldsummer]

I think it looks cool, but I wouldn't dream of doing it to mine.

 

[koogie2k]

Looks good. It is YOUR guitar so you can do as you see fit. My one bass is damn near destroyed but I put the wear on it as it is made to play. Good job on this and it makes YOU happy. Remove the "flame suit" as I don't think you need it. lol

 

[Rufedges]

I love the look of this silo spec. White is a beautiful colour and the relic job seems to be very natural. Well done, congrats!

Thanks....really digging the white too over the black color it used to be....actually like how the black shows through a little bit with the artificial relic job I did. Relic job is fairly accurate, and I did the back a little bit, but not near as much as it would need to be a more convincing relic......anyone w/ some experience and investigating the guitar would be able to tell the back would have to much less white for this to look much more natural.

I didn't use any laquer/clear coat on the body, the white is actually some name brand, 5 dollars a spray can outdoor wood/metal.etc. gloss white spray paint. It smelled for a couple days, dry as a bone now w/ no smell. I did scuff up the pick guard w/ some 2000 grit sandpaper, I just don't have the motivation to strip it of all the electronics and do some coffee treatment to it....maybe in the future.

 

[Rufedges]

=) ......... yeah, I need to quit again too actually.

Complete with cigarette burn! Nice job, well done!

 

[DrKev]

You and me both, brother!

 

[fbecir]

You and me both, brother!

No problem, Kevin. Just come jog with me ... you will remember where your lungs are and why you have to respect them !

 

[imastratoholic]

I'm not a big relic fan, but I am diggin' your silo!