.
Welcome to Day 8 of my annual New Year's New Guitar Days (NYNGD)!
Thanks for the kind words and comments on Thursday's NYNGD #2016-7!
OK. So we're cranking now. So far we revealed a classic Albert Lee, three MM90 Axis Sports/Super Sports, a Luke I and a Luke III, and the Tangerine Axis... Let's get rare -- how about a 20th Anniversary Silhouette?!? With a custom floating Floyd Rose, how bout?
OK, so this is a cool story. I found this 20th Anniversary Silhouette on eBay, and would normally pass by a Silo 20th because I already have one, but this one was interesting because it had an aftermarket floating Floyd Rose installed (all Silo 20th's had either a vintage trem or hardtail). The seller and I agreed on a fair price and I pulled the trigger.
Some interesting facts: my first Silo 20th was my 33rd guitar, and I purchased it on 11/07/2006; this new Silo 20th is my 133rd guitar (ID number G-0133) -- 100 higher than the original -- and was purchased on 11/23/2016 -- ten years and 16 days later.
When this guy arrived, though, I was less pleased. The guitar was a player's guitar, with some knicks and dents, but I could live with that if it had the mojo and the feel I love. As you can see, it's mostly in great condition, except for the headstock, which is in bad shape. I considered touching it up (I think I can match the stain color), but it seemed like too much of a pain since you can't see the dings from a few feet away.
More disappointing was the quality of the Floyd Rose install -- the floating route looked like it was routed freehand without a template, or maybe the template moved, but it looked BAD; and the headstock didn't have a string retainer -- anyone who knows Floyds knows that the strings have to be pulled DOWN through the locking nut or else when you tighten the locking nut pads the string will go way sharp.
So I decided it needed surgery. I completely disassembled the guitar -- neck off, bridge out, including the Floyd-style threaded bushings and tremolo studs (which are scary to take out with a big claw hammer and a piece of wood across the face of the guitar), pickups out, electronics out. And that's when I got another surprise -- the bridge pickup wasn't the stock DiMarzio Virtual PAF (which you can no longer get), it was a random Seymour Duncan. Bummer.
I used dowels and glue to fill the holes where the Floyd trem stud bushings came from, and then I used my EBMM-accurate floating Floyd Rose templates to drill new holes for EBMM-accurate Floyd studs and then routed the new floating Floyd route, which thankfully was slightly larger than the original (bunk) floating route. One interesting thing: when routing the floating cavity I was delightfully surprised to see the accent layers of ebony-maple-ebony under the maple cap, and then the mahogany tone block under that! See the close-up photo of the route below for that goodness. Really cool and reminds you of how damn cool EBMM and Dudley and Sterling are -- such cool touches!
After sealing the new route with Varithane I re-assembled the guitar with EBMM-authentic (old style) Floyd trem studs and a NOS EBMM Gotoh Floyd Rose trem. And was off to the races. Anytime you do a big mod on a guitar, like going from a vintage trem to a floating Floyd Rose, you run the risk of it just not feeling right, either because of some fluke with the install or something more opaque where the mod just doesn't jive with the original guitar's design. In this case, it is a triumph! This thing feels and plays like a million bucks! Like Sterling always planned to offer it with a floating Floyd (which, frankly, the Silo 20th should've been offered with, IMHO, since the floating Floyd was standard for many years on the Silo). Sounds great, too. The Seymour Duncan doesn't sound "bad", and isn't far from the sound of the bridge pickup on my other Silo 20th, so I can live with it.
So there you have it -- another guitar that was a disappointment on arrival and with some TLC (and 30 minutes with a router) you end up with an outstanding guitar! And because of the blems and dings and tarnished and scratched pickup covers, this is a Silo 20th I'd be cool with playing out live! Total win!
I'll be back in the next day or so with another NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Day!
Thanks for looking everyone!
Past Days:
(The back story in case you're new to my NYNGD: For the past couple of years I've done a fun thing that most of you I think enjoyed, and I thought I would do it again this year. Every year, I am a slacker about keeping my Guitar Gallery up to date... So, as a fun holiday thing, let's launch a guitar in the Guitar Gallery each day leading up to New Years Eve! In the past I've received PM's about my collection and whether I play all of these guitars.
The same question came up during my NYNGD posts a few years ago and my answer was pretty detailed and well thought-out, so please check it out here!)
(Also, in case anybody gets any funny ideas -- these guitars are not at my house. They are all in my very secure and alarmed studio facility. I usually only have two guitars floating around the house...)
Welcome to Day 8 of my annual New Year's New Guitar Days (NYNGD)!
Thanks for the kind words and comments on Thursday's NYNGD #2016-7!
OK. So we're cranking now. So far we revealed a classic Albert Lee, three MM90 Axis Sports/Super Sports, a Luke I and a Luke III, and the Tangerine Axis... Let's get rare -- how about a 20th Anniversary Silhouette?!? With a custom floating Floyd Rose, how bout?
OK, so this is a cool story. I found this 20th Anniversary Silhouette on eBay, and would normally pass by a Silo 20th because I already have one, but this one was interesting because it had an aftermarket floating Floyd Rose installed (all Silo 20th's had either a vintage trem or hardtail). The seller and I agreed on a fair price and I pulled the trigger.
Some interesting facts: my first Silo 20th was my 33rd guitar, and I purchased it on 11/07/2006; this new Silo 20th is my 133rd guitar (ID number G-0133) -- 100 higher than the original -- and was purchased on 11/23/2016 -- ten years and 16 days later.
When this guy arrived, though, I was less pleased. The guitar was a player's guitar, with some knicks and dents, but I could live with that if it had the mojo and the feel I love. As you can see, it's mostly in great condition, except for the headstock, which is in bad shape. I considered touching it up (I think I can match the stain color), but it seemed like too much of a pain since you can't see the dings from a few feet away.
More disappointing was the quality of the Floyd Rose install -- the floating route looked like it was routed freehand without a template, or maybe the template moved, but it looked BAD; and the headstock didn't have a string retainer -- anyone who knows Floyds knows that the strings have to be pulled DOWN through the locking nut or else when you tighten the locking nut pads the string will go way sharp.
So I decided it needed surgery. I completely disassembled the guitar -- neck off, bridge out, including the Floyd-style threaded bushings and tremolo studs (which are scary to take out with a big claw hammer and a piece of wood across the face of the guitar), pickups out, electronics out. And that's when I got another surprise -- the bridge pickup wasn't the stock DiMarzio Virtual PAF (which you can no longer get), it was a random Seymour Duncan. Bummer.
I used dowels and glue to fill the holes where the Floyd trem stud bushings came from, and then I used my EBMM-accurate floating Floyd Rose templates to drill new holes for EBMM-accurate Floyd studs and then routed the new floating Floyd route, which thankfully was slightly larger than the original (bunk) floating route. One interesting thing: when routing the floating cavity I was delightfully surprised to see the accent layers of ebony-maple-ebony under the maple cap, and then the mahogany tone block under that! See the close-up photo of the route below for that goodness. Really cool and reminds you of how damn cool EBMM and Dudley and Sterling are -- such cool touches!
After sealing the new route with Varithane I re-assembled the guitar with EBMM-authentic (old style) Floyd trem studs and a NOS EBMM Gotoh Floyd Rose trem. And was off to the races. Anytime you do a big mod on a guitar, like going from a vintage trem to a floating Floyd Rose, you run the risk of it just not feeling right, either because of some fluke with the install or something more opaque where the mod just doesn't jive with the original guitar's design. In this case, it is a triumph! This thing feels and plays like a million bucks! Like Sterling always planned to offer it with a floating Floyd (which, frankly, the Silo 20th should've been offered with, IMHO, since the floating Floyd was standard for many years on the Silo). Sounds great, too. The Seymour Duncan doesn't sound "bad", and isn't far from the sound of the bridge pickup on my other Silo 20th, so I can live with it.
So there you have it -- another guitar that was a disappointment on arrival and with some TLC (and 30 minutes with a router) you end up with an outstanding guitar! And because of the blems and dings and tarnished and scratched pickup covers, this is a Silo 20th I'd be cool with playing out live! Total win!
I'll be back in the next day or so with another NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Day!
Thanks for looking everyone!
Past Days:
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #2016-12 | #2016-13 | #2016-14 |
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #2016-15 | #2016-16 | #2016-17
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-12 | #2015-13 | #2015-14 |
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-15 | #2015-16 | #2015-17
#2014-1 | #2014-2 | #2014-3 | #2014-4 | #2014-5 | #2014-6 | #2014-7 | #2014-8 | #2014-9 | #2014-10
#2013-1 | #2013-2 | #2013-3 | #2013-4 | #2013-5 | #2013-6
#2012-1 | #2012-2 | #2012-3 | #2012-4 | #2012-5 | #2012-6 | #2012-7
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #2016-15 | #2016-16 | #2016-17
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-12 | #2015-13 | #2015-14 |
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-15 | #2015-16 | #2015-17
#2014-1 | #2014-2 | #2014-3 | #2014-4 | #2014-5 | #2014-6 | #2014-7 | #2014-8 | #2014-9 | #2014-10
#2013-1 | #2013-2 | #2013-3 | #2013-4 | #2013-5 | #2013-6
#2012-1 | #2012-2 | #2012-3 | #2012-4 | #2012-5 | #2012-6 | #2012-7
(The back story in case you're new to my NYNGD: For the past couple of years I've done a fun thing that most of you I think enjoyed, and I thought I would do it again this year. Every year, I am a slacker about keeping my Guitar Gallery up to date... So, as a fun holiday thing, let's launch a guitar in the Guitar Gallery each day leading up to New Years Eve! In the past I've received PM's about my collection and whether I play all of these guitars.
The same question came up during my NYNGD posts a few years ago and my answer was pretty detailed and well thought-out, so please check it out here!)(Also, in case anybody gets any funny ideas -- these guitars are not at my house. They are all in my very secure and alarmed studio facility. I usually only have two guitars floating around the house...)
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