My first music man - 1996 Silhouette Special

[guitarcal]

Hi all,

I picked up a a 95 silhouette special sss in green pearl from craigslist. It seems to be a solid guitar, love the feel of the neck and how the guitar resonates unplugged. The pickups are a very warm woody tone I'd expect from a good vintage strat.

A few questions:
- The bridge has some rust and the seller wasn't sure if it might soon need to be replaced. Are there any aftermarket bridges / trem assemblies you recommend?
- The guitar pickups are single coil. If I wanted to upgrade the bridge to a humbucker, would I have to modify the body? I've read mixed information on this forum and wouldn't want to do anything if I had to route the body.
- Any other mods, tips, and tricks you would recommend with this guitar?

Thanks!

 

[GWDavis28]

Welcome, I love Silo Specials, I've got 2 myself. It was the first EBMM I picked up and loved the feel, never forgot that.

Is that the Wilkerson bridge or the Music Man bridge? I believe the body is routed as SSS, but your best bet is to remove the pick guard and take a look.

Around here it doesn't exist without pictures.

Glenn |B)

 

[banjoplayer]

welcome to the forum.
for sure (!!) your guitar is a great guitar, but (forum rule) it doesn´t exist without pics.
okay, seriously.... There are many variations of the Silhouette out there, but you have a Silhouette Special which was introduced around mid(?) 90s and I only know them as hardtail or Music Man Vintage Bridge. There may be some rust, but that's not a reason to replace it. Also, I don´t know any aftermarket products. If something on your guitar doesn´t work, you may contact CS, but I guess they won´t sell anything, just exchange...

as far as the routings are concerned.... take a look under the pickguard. I´d guess SSS routing, but who knows...?!

 

[John C]

I think that @GWDavis28 is correct that a Silo Special that early would have the Wilkinson bridge and the Grover locking tuners and the bodies were individually routed so an SSS would have SSS routs and an HSS would have HSS routs. At some point they changed it to all bodies being routed HSS but I will admit to never looking under the hood on the SSS Silo Specials I have owned over the years (a 2004, 2007 and 2010).

 

[guitarcal]

Thanks all! Small correction, I think it’s actually a 96 model.

It has Grover tuners. How would I know if it’s a Wilkerson bridge?

I’ll hold off doing anything to the bridge.

And fair enough, here is the proof. I’ll get some better shots once I get it cleaned up. I really like this green more than I thought I would.

 

[GWDavis28]

Nice man, that great, Pearl Green and I believe that's the first gen Wilkerson bridge.

The later bridges have Music Man stamped on them.

Glenn |B)

 

[DrKev]

Beautiful guitar! Well done!

Did you look up the serial number in the database?

Serial Number Database

www.music-man.com

 

[guitarcal]

@DrKev, thanks, yes, it returned as March 8th 1996.

I am trying to find more info on the Wilkerson bridges. We’re they “better” than the music man stamped ones? Would anyone know why Ernie ball made the change?

Also, is it wilkerson or wilkinson?

 

[DrKev]

Wilkinson, as in Trev Wilkinson, British engineer, parts designer and guitar maker. His gear is always top quality at a great price point, and his bridges in particular have been highly regarded for decades. Builder Profile: Trev Wilkinson

Why Music Man made the change I cannot say but the Music Man bridges are of course very highly regarded and perform beautifully. I that Music Man were already making their own hardtail bridges, and of course their own bass bridges, so making their own non-Flyod Rose tremolo bridges to match, in house, was probably an obvious no-brainer move for them.

 

[guitarcal]

Pulled the pick guard, looks like it’s routed for a humbucker. It has the quick disconnect as well which is cool.

 

[GWDavis28]

Yah those Molex connectors are the absolute best!!!!!

Glenn |B)

 

[John C]

Pulled the pick guard, looks like it’s routed for a humbucker. It has the quick disconnect as well which is cool.

View attachment 40060

That's a very nice one! Actually a metallic green SSS Silhouette Special was the first one I ever saw back in late 1995/early 1996. Good to know that they always used the HSS routing.

Wilkinson, as in Trev Wilkinson, British engineer, parts designer and guitar maker. His gear is always top quality at a great price point, and his bridges in particular have been highly regarded for decades. Builder Profile: Trev Wilkinson

Why Music Man made the change I cannot say but the Music Man bridges are of course very highly regarded and perform beautifully. I that Music Man were already making their own hardtail bridges, and of course their own bass bridges, so making their own non-Flyod Rose tremolo bridges to match, in house, was probably an obvious no-brainer move for them.

From what I remember of that time frame of EBMM instruments they only had 3 bridges in use from 1991-early 1997:

1. MM hard tail bridge
2. Gotoh Floyd Rose licensed bridge
3. Tune-o-matic on the Steve Morse (the Morse might have been available with the Kahler "Killer" Floyd Rose licensed trem still for a while during this period - I think Steve had deal with Kahler? Eventually they would start offering the Morse with the Gotoh Floyd Rose)

I believe that EBMM had ceased using that Schaller tremolo before 1991, but I suppose 1991 could be a transition year and the Silhouette could still be had with the Schaller tremolo. The Gotoh Floyd Rose didn't become the tremolo option for the Silhouette until 1992; in 1991 it was only on the EVH Signature.

The 24-fret Silhouette was available with all the different pickup configurations (SSS, HSS, HH, HSH) and had either the hard tail bridge or the Gotoh Floyd Rose (which was recessed like on the original Luke models). EBMM decided to bring out the Silhouette Special to have a more "traditional Strat" model in the lineup - changing from a 24 to a 22 fret neck would move the neck pickup closer to the neck and more or less the same spot on the body as it would be on a Strat. I suppose they simply thought the Wilkinson was the best available non-locking tremolo they could find at the time. I can't remember but I'm am not sure that they even had a hard tail version in 1995-96.

The Silhouette Special was the only model with a non-locking tremolo for about a year; they added the Wilkinson trem and locking Grover tuners to the Albert Lee in 1996. They I suppose they decided to expand the use of non-locking tremolos to more models and created their in-house tremolo; it showed up on the Axis Sport models and eventually moved to the Silhouette Special and Albert Lee. They also switched the Silhouette from the Floyd to the MM tremolo, and changed the tuners locking Schaller tuners. The Axis Sports never came with the Wilkinson bridge or Grover tuners; there will be some transitional Silhouette Specials and Albert Lees with Schaller tuners but the Wilkinson bridge; I don't think it went the other way (Grover tuners and MM vintage trem).

 

[daneford]

Nice! This is my favorite model.

 

[guitarcal]

@John C thanks for the detail!

 

[GoKart Mozart]

Yah those Molex connectors are the absolute best!!!!!

Glenn |B)

For real. Can't believe the industry as a whole hasn't adopted something quick & easy like that!

 

[jayjayjay]

The Gotoh Floyd Rose didn't become the tremolo option for the Silhouette until 1992; in 1991 it was only on the EVH Signature.

The FR on my 2018 Axis BFR is stamped Music Man - doesn't MM only use in-house bridges at this point? Or is it still made by Gotoh as OEM?

 

[John C]

The FR on my 2018 Axis BFR is stamped Music Man - doesn't MM only use in-house bridges at this point? Or is it still made by Gotoh as OEM?

I was referring to the time frame of @guitarcal's Silo Special, so back in the mid-1990s when they were still using the Gotoh-made Floyd Rose. I'm not sure who makes the current Floyd Rose bridges for EBMM or if they are now done in-house. There was a thread about this several years ago but I just don't remember what the answer was.