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Axis 30th Anniversary

NGD - Black Silo Special

Vito Porkleone

Vito Porkleone

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
198
Location
AR
Greetings knuckleheads. A new member of the family arrived last week. It has a few nicks and scratches, but after a little setup (changed back to stock 9's and floated the trem a touch) and a test run over the weekend, I am loving this. I was going to go through the whole clean-sand-wax treatment on the neck, but after a little MOS cleaning, this neck was like an ice rink. Going from the StingRay (which I love) to this is like going from a regular engine to a turbo.

I've wanted a Silo since the early 2000's. Back then I didn't have the cash. Then when I had the money, I couldn't find one I wanted with a rosewood board. Finally a couple of weeks ago, one landed on Reverb. A new trem bar on order (notice the missing tip?), and definitely a new pickguard to spice it up a touch. I love the virtual PAF, but may do something about the other 2 pickups. I'll live with it for a few months and decide then. Meanwhile, I'm now in the Multi-Ball club.

IMG_0030.jpg
 
Congrats on the new family member. 👍
It's interesting you go for the PAF. I favour the single coils over the humbucker. But it's just me...;)
 
The V-PAF definitely has a different flavor than the StingRay pickups. When I did the test run, I played along to a VH tune, and the tones were really close - I don't know what pickup was in the EVH/Axis, but it was closer than anything I'd been able to match before. If I can get that sound with it, I can work with it to get most anything else I'm looking for.
 
Congrats man!!! Love the Silo Special!!!!

So to me the pick guard all depends on if you are doing anything to the pickups and such? Where were you thinking of getting the pick guard?

www.pickguardplanet.com

Colors - Pickguard Planet

At Chandler Music any pickguard is available in any color, made in USA.
www.pickguardplanet.com

Glenn |B)
 
Last edited:
GWDavis28 said:
Congrats man!!! Love the Silo Special!!!!

So to me the pick guard all depends on if you are doing anything to the pickups and such? Where were you thinking of getting the pick guard?

www.pickguardplanet.com

Colors - Pickguard Planet

At Chandler Music any pickguard is available in any color, made in USA.
www.pickguardplanet.com

Glenn |B)
Click to expand...
Where do you think I got the pics? ;)

Staying black with the pickups - I hate the polar opposite contrast look.
 
Vito Porkleone said:
Now the big question... Red or brown tortoise pickguard? Vote now and win a prize!! (not really)
Click to expand...
I do not like that modern brown tort at all. The old fashioned celluloid tort could be too dull some times, almost plain red brown with very little "figuring" but the new stuff is like somebody turned the brightness and saturation up to 10 and it looks "fake" to my eyes. Given only those two options, I would have to go with red but it's really quite red. How about....

Black pearl, cream/black/cream, or even brushed gold?

I have Moonstone on my ShortRay bass, which is awesome on black. NBD: SBMM Short Scale StingRay
 
DrKev said:
I do not like that modern brown tort at all. The old fashioned celluloid tort could be too dull some times, almost plain red brown with very little "figuring" but the new stuff is like somebody turned the brightness and saturation up to 10 and it looks "fake" to my eyes. Given only those two options, I would have to go with red but it's really quite red. How about....

Black pearl, cream/black/cream, or even brushed gold?

I have Moonstone on my ShortRay bass, which is awesome on black. NBD: SBMM Short Scale StingRay
Click to expand...
That looks awesome Kev. We have a new contender!
 
Nice, nothing better than classic black, congrats, white pearloid with white pearloid topped speed knobs and that would look supper sharp!!
 
What you need is a mirror pickguard, like one of my heroes :
op-Limited-Edition-Phil-Lynott-Precision-Bass-Body.jpg

phil2_zpsevmkecax-jpg.2489873
 
Awesome. I don't think I could be friends with someone that doesn't like TL. All the awesome players that went through that band... But Phil was legendary.
 
Update... So I decided instead of replacing the pickups, I'd load up another guard. The stock PU's do some things extremely well, but lack some clarity on other things I'm looking for. So I built a 2nd guard to swap out whenever I'm looking for that "other" thing. It's a hybrid Andy Timmons/Pete Thorn - Cruisers in neck & middle, and a Thornbucker in the bridge. It really works well - I love the sound of the Cruisers with 500k pots and treble bleed. Abalone pickguard (took a while to find that one) looks great, but I'm wondering about that 4-layer thing. The 2 layers of white are starting to bug me a little - I may rob some craft paint from the daughter and do a little surgery.

I have been playing the Silo about 90% since I got it - it became my number one in about 2 hours of playing it. Now with the new pickups, it's #1 with a bullet.

IMG_0137.jpg
 
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