New Silo owner, DOB and maple board cleaning question.

[king_stubby]

Hi there, I'm Charlie from the UK, pleased to meet you.

Firstly, what a brilliant place you have here, I only just discovered it this morning but then again, I only just discovered MM guitars a couple of weeks ago, guess I'm a slow learner eh?

I've played a multitude of guitars over the years (I'm really old!) but my search for the perfect tone led me to believe that the Silo might be the guitar for me. Eventually I bit the bullet and bought a Pearl Blue Silo (HSH, trem) sight unseen from a guy up North here in the UK. Sadly the guitar, although in reasonable condition, was nowhere near as good as the seller had suggested, dirty maple board, un matched pick guard and back plate, dodgy nut, scratches etc, I was really disappointed.

However I used the guitar at a band rehearsal and totally fell in love with the sound, the feel etc, so much so that the next day I bought a near mint Silo in Vintage S'burst which I believe will be 'a guitar for life' for me. Of course I am now in trouble at the bank, so the blue Silo will have to be sold.

I have two questions and please forgive me if I should have posted them somewhere else....

Firstly, could some kind soul please tell me the DOB of these guitars? their serials are....

Blue Pearl - G20193
Vintage S'burst - G32706

Secondly, is there a definitive answer as to how one should clean the maple boards on these instruments? As I said the blue one is really grubby and the Vintage S'burst has a little dirt on it, if possible I would like to clean the blue one up properly before sale and the Vintage S'burst I want to clean and maintain.

I have searched high and low on the net and all the answers seem to be conflicting. For deep dirt it would appear that 0000 grade wire wool and isopropyl alcohol might be the answer to remove the grime but then some say use Lemon Oil and others say that Lemon Oil should never be allowed anywhere near a maple board, I'm totally confused (no change there!). Also as I am based in the UK, most US branded products will be unavailable to me although I'm sure we would heve their generic equivalents.

Many thanks in advance for any help you might send my way, I don't know how many years of playing I've got left in me but I'm sure that they will be all the more contented years having discovered the Silo, what a beautiful guitar.

Kind regards,
Charlie.

 

[paranoid70]

Welcome bro. Silos are great, glad you have discovered them. Love to see pics of your guitars. How can we be sure that they really exist?

I don't have any maple fretboard guitars, so I will defer that response to someone else.

 

[colinboy]

get on to index.jpg they are the distrubutors for all Ernieball products inclu musicman guitars in the uk.they will have alist of dealers in the uk so you can find your nearest one.
try EB wonderwipes on that fretboard and guitar and it will be as clean as awhistle!

cheers

 

[mbgreene]

Welcome,

Until we see PICTURES we cannot confirm these guitars even exist, much less how dirty your fretboard is and how you should clean it

On the cleaning I'd start first with a rag (or maybe a tooth brush) and some diluted Murphy's oil soap and elbow grease before you start steel wooling. . A quality lemon oil can also work, as well as naptha (lighter fluid). EB fretboards are not poly coated like many maple boards, You want to loosen and remove the grime. I would just stay away from products with silicone bases. EB's wonder wipe products may also be effective if theos are available near you.

On the DOB - you may want to post in the official serial number thread. There is no formula for reading the number but the good folk at EB can look it up if they have the chance.

 

[dstockden]

Welcome,

Until we see PICTURES we cannot confirm these guitars even exist, much less how dirty your fretboard is and how you should clean it

On the cleaning I'd start first with a rag (or maybe a tooth brush) and some diluted Murphy's oil soap and elbow grease before you start steel wooling. . A quality lemon oil can also work, as well as naptha (lighter fluid). EB fretboards are not poly coated like many maple boards, You want to loosen and remove the grime. I would just stay away from products with silicon bases. EB's wonder wipe products may also be effective if theos are available near you.

On the DOB - you may want to post in the official serial number thread. There is no formula for reading the number but the good folk at EB can look it up if they have the chance.

im afraid the murphys soap will be out as he is in the UK, Wick's garden furniture cleaner would be a good start, it comes in a spray bottle.
ive used that when i have been re waxing my necks and its pretty good, dont use loads though just a little bit.

 

[candid_x]

Hey Charlie, welcome.

As you might imagine, cleaning MM necks has been discussed here lots, and there's some different views when it comes to particulars. For in-between annual cleaning, Wonder Wipes work great. Once a year or so many of us prefer a full treatment, especially if the guitar has seen a lot of use. That consists of scrubbing with Murphy's Soap or similar product, steel wooling to clean deeper if necessary, applying and wiping off Tru-Oil and Wax, by Birchwood Casey. That's what's used on new MM before leaving the factory.

On your new one, I'd say just keep it clean, try out the Wonder Wipes to clean and condition the neck and fretboard. If it gets more seriously grungy, time for the B.C. treatment.

Most of all, enjoy them!

 

[king_stubby]

Wow, thank you so much for all your help chaps, I really, really, appreciate it.

I've just returned from a trip to my luthiers who seems to reckon that a large part of the visual appeal with maple boards is when they get good and dirty!! but then he is a bit of a vintage vibe kinda guy....

So many great ideas already, I can't thank you enough and here in response to those of you suggesting that I don't in fact own any Silos are a couple of shots hopefully proving otherwise, nothing special here just standard fair but man are they special to me, best geetar I ever played....FACT!

For any UK readers, the blue one is for sale, just message me if you're interested.

Right then, let's see if I can fathom out how to do photo stuff....

 

[dstockden]

Wow, thank you so much for all your help chaps, I really, really, appreciate it.

I've just returned from a trip to my luthiers who seems to reckon that a large part of the visual appeal with maple boards is when they get good and dirty!! but then he is a bit of a vintage vibe kinda guy....

So many great ideas already, I can't thank you enough and here in response to those of you suggesting that I don't in fact own any Silos are a couple of shots hopefully proving otherwise, nothing special here just standard fair but man are they special to me, best geetar I ever played....FACT!

For any UK readers, the blue one is for sale, just message me if you're interested.

Right then, let's see if I can fathom out how to do photo stuff....

very nice pair ! i love both those colours

 

[paranoid70]

Hey Charlie, welcome.

As you might imagine, cleaning MM necks has been discussed here lots, and there's some different views when it comes to particulars. For in-between annual cleaning, Wonder Wipes work great. Once a year or so many of us prefer a full treatment, especially if the guitar has seen a lot of use. That consists of scrubbing with Murphy's Soap or similar product, steel wooling to clean deeper if necessary, applying and wiping off Tru-Oil and Wax, by Birchwood Casey. That's what's used on new MM before leaving the factory.

On your new one, I'd say just keep it clean, try out the Wonder Wipes to clean and condition the neck and fretboard. If it gets more seriously grungy, time for the B.C. treatment.

Most of all, enjoy them!

I would assume that you take off all the strings to do this cleaning treatment. Do you need to do any adjustments when you put the strings back on?

 

[Sub1 Zero]

That blue one is beautiful...

Welcome!

 

[fogman]

welcome!
nice guitars!

 

[Aziah]

Blue Pearl - G20193
Vintage S'burst - G32706

Hello and Welcome Charlie!!

Here's the DOB's you asked for:

Blue Pearl - G20193 6/7/02
Vintage S'burst - G32706 2/20/07


Aziah

 

[robelinda2]

great axes!!!!!!!!!

 

[king_stubby]

Hello and Welcome Charlie!!

Here's the DOB's you asked for:

Blue Pearl - G20193 6/7/02
Vintage S'burst - G32706 2/20/07


Aziah

Thanks a million for the DOBs and all the other info regarding cleaning etc, what an absolutely brilliant bunch of people you are, I'm touched by your friendliness, informed by your knowledge and so glad that I bought the Balls, not only did I get two stunning guitars but I seem to have acquired an extended family as well, thanks you all so much, today has been a good day.

Charlie

 

[RocketRalf]

Welcome to the land of the Silo, the best guitar in the world . Yours look really hot. Yeah the dirty maple neck has some kind of vintage vibe to it, but this modern looks need a neck that looks new!

 

[candid_x]

I would assume that you take off all the strings to do this cleaning treatment. Do you need to do any adjustments when you put the strings back on?

Yes, and no, not really. If frets are a little buzzy at first, I gently push the neck, or just let it sit awhile before playing it, assuming I'm replacing with the same kind of strings.

 

[robelinda2]

I find i only need to do minor adjustments if any after ive taken all the tsrings off, less so on my hardtail balls. luckily all the EBMM guitars are easy to adjust anyway.

 

[ShaneV]

Another vote for Murphy's Oil Soap (or the UK equivalent), I've gotten my maple board to a dark shade of gray and that brings it right back.

 

[spychocyco]

Nice guitars. From the pictures, they don't look horribly dirty. I'd give the Wonder Wipes Fretboard Conditioner a shot first.

I've become anal about washing my hands before I touch mine, and it seems to be working so far at keeping the fretboards from getting grimy. It's my first maple and my first unfinished neck. I'm about to change the strings for the first time and give it a wipedown with the fretboard conditioner, and I'm nervous about that (which is why I've had the guitar three months and haven't changed the strings yet). I may stroke out when I have to give it the first oil and wax treatment.

 

[king_stubby]

So my problem now is, what the hell is the UK equivalent to Murphy's Oil Soap?

After doing quite a bit of searching it would appear that I can source Wonder Wipes, 0000 steel wool and Birchwood Casey Oil and Wax in the UK but I have no idea what I could use instead of the Murphy's, one contributor suggested Wickes Garden Furniture Cleaner, which sounds like it might be OK with the added bonus of it costing only 3.99 GBP a shot!

Paranoid 70 wrote....

"scrubbing with Murphy's Soap or similar product, steel wooling to clean deeper if necessary, applying and wiping off Tru-Oil and Wax, by Birchwood Casey"

....does this mean that I need two Birchwood Casey products Tru-Oil and wax?, I'm guessing so, dang....more expense!

I'm beginning to wish I found a Silo with a rosewood board, sounds like it would have been a whole lot cheaper to maintain....sigh!!