New / Old Guitar Day. 1987 Silhouette

[Axis Sport]

This arrived today. Great playing little guitar. From 1987, the 53rd one made that year in fire engine red. Sounds great through my Suhr Badger. The red strings are kinda cool, but need to put some new balls on it.

 

[John C]

Nice score; I love these 80s Silos. It looks like someone removed the string lock; I don't know if you plan to restore it but that piece could be hard to come by. Do you know what pickups are in it?

Very, very nice piece.

 

[Progdude]

Thats SO cool!

 

[Axis Sport]

Nice score; I love these 80s Silos. It looks like someone removed the string lock; I don't know if you plan to restore it but that piece could be hard to come by. Do you know what pickups are in it?

Very, very nice piece.

The guy I got it from put schaller locking tuners on it, but kept the string lock which he sent along with the guitar and original trem arm. It has the original schaller humbucker but the single coils are now Seymour Duncan STK-S1's in both positions.

 

[marantz1300]

Great score.I had an 89 just like yours.6 bolts are quite rare on the forum.Only 14 In the last 6 bolt count thread .

 

[straycat113]

Very nice score indeed. I like guys who take care of there gear as that is one clean 23 year old ax.

 

[John C]

The guy I got it from put schaller locking tuners on it, but kept the string lock which he sent along with the guitar and original trem arm. It has the original schaller humbucker but the single coils are now Seymour Duncan STK-S1's in both positions.

I thought it looked like it had the locking tuners on it; hey that probably works just as well (maybe better) than the old string lock. The white cover threw me on the humbucker; I hadn't seen one like that but it looks perfect for the guitar.

I'll say it again - very nice score on a cool piece of EBMM history!

 

[threeminutesboy]

yeah very nice piece this silhouette is

I want one now, after playing one in Japan (and I'm not a 24th fret gyt at ALL)

 

[GoKart Mozart]

Interesting looking bridge. What kind is that?

 

[John C]

Interesting looking bridge. What kind is that?

EBMM used that bridge back in the 1980s; it was made by Schaller. It is a fulcrum bridge that pivots on a knife edge - the knife edge fits into that slim piece of metal screwed onto the guitar right behind the bridge pickup. In prinicple these work kind of like a Kahler - rollers in the saddles with fine-tuners (actually Kahler made a couple of fulcrum bridges that used this same concept). These also had a behind the nut string clamp - you can see the the holes in Axis Sport's where this was originally attached. The string lock worked the opposite of a Kahler (or a Floyd Rose locking nut) in that instead of the locking bolts pushing the string down to the bottom of the clamp the locking bolts pushed the string to the top of the clamp.

These were also sold here in the USA by Schecter circa 1984-1986; the Schecer version had their logo stamped into that slim metal piece that bolted to the body behind the bridge pickup.

 

[paranoid70]

Very nice indeed. I wonder why MM doesn't make 24 fret HSS guitars any more. Is there a technical reason?

 

[browndog]

Wow... almost 25 years old. Nice find.

 

[fogman]

needs a fresh guard, but sweet!

 

[marantz1300]

Just a close up of the bridge and locking nut.The birds eye could be stunning too..This was my 89. Bargins today.The earliest are 25 nexxt year.

]

 

[GoKart Mozart]

EBMM used that bridge back in the 1980s; it was made by Schaller. It is a fulcrum bridge that pivots on a knife edge - the knife edge fits into that slim piece of metal screwed onto the guitar right behind the bridge pickup. In prinicple these work kind of like a Kahler - rollers in the saddles with fine-tuners (actually Kahler made a couple of fulcrum bridges that used this same concept). These also had a behind the nut string clamp - you can see the the holes in Axis Sport's where this was originally attached. The string lock worked the opposite of a Kahler (or a Floyd Rose locking nut) in that instead of the locking bolts pushing the string down to the bottom of the clamp the locking bolts pushed the string to the top of the clamp.

These were also sold here in the USA by Schecter circa 1984-1986; the Schecer version had their logo stamped into that slim metal piece that bolted to the body behind the bridge pickup.

Great description. Thanks!

 

[guitfiddle]

Very cool. I will definitely pick one of those up if I ever come across one. Nice score!

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

These were also sold here in the USA by Schecter circa 1984-1986; the Schecer version had their logo stamped into that slim metal piece that bolted to the body behind the bridge pickup.

Yep, I've got one of those bridges at home!

 

[jakedawgwhite88]

Nice score man that is a nice looking instrument.

 

[racerXazn]

sweet buy!
I've always wondered how the 80s balls compared to the more recent ones.
How do they generally stack up against each other?

 

[GoKart Mozart]

Anyone know what year that they quit offering that bridge and switched over to the MM vintage-style?

Stuff like that geeks me out. I wish there were some nice "coffee table" books that dealt with details of Music Man instruments.

Something similar to these:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Fender-Book-Complete-History-Electric/dp/1871547652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269649227&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: The Fender Book: A Complete History of Fender Electric Guitars (9781871547658): Tony Bacon, Paul Day: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Stratocaster-Chronicles-Celebrating-Fender-ebook/dp/B00245A522/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1269649275&sr=8-18]Amazon.com: The Stratocaster Chronicles: Celebrating 50 Years of the Fender Strat eBook: Tom Wheeler: Kindle Store[/ame]