Question: upper register in Silo & Spec

[Shadowbox]

Hello all. I'm a newbie here and I have a question.

I recently played an Axis and ordered one shortly thereafter. Once I played one, I knew that I would be playing EBMM guitars until the end of my performing career.

I have a question regarding the fretboard radius on the Silo and Silo Special. I got to play one of each recently (thanks again to a fellow forumite) and of course, fell in love with both of them. The Silo is exactly what I need (pickup-wise and 24 frets) but there is something really special about the Silo Special...hence the name. I can't put my finger on it, but it's balanced like a perfect katana. I love the JP, Morse and AL as well, but I prefer maple boards and need a humbucker in the bridge position.

My question is this: One of the things that drives me bananas about "strat" style guitars is when notes fret out in the upper register. I do a lot of 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 step bends in the upper register and the strat style guitars don't do well with this, especially since I prefer fairly low action. I didn't check this on either guitar during my test drive, and thought I would ask you all.

Any issues with big bends on either of these pieces? I play with .009s on everything save for the tele, which I string with .010s.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Hi Shadow.
I do a lot of bending too on my AL and it suffers from no choking whatsoever.
I realise that a heavily radiused fretboard will choke but that's not the case with mine.

Any Silo owners wanna comment?

 

[Axilla]

Yepp Spud !

I don't have that problem on my 3 Silo Specials and I usually bend quite heavily when soloing...
Dead happy with them. They've all had pro setups - I've never played a brand new & stock Silo Special.

Cheers

Axel

 

[John C]

Shadowbox - actually the Axis, Silo, Silo Special, and AL all have the same fingerboard radius of 10". Assuming they are setup to the same specs you wouldn't fret out any more on a Silo Special than you would on an Axis.

 

[candid_x]

I'm no upper register wild man, but I've never fretted out on either of my Silo Specials.

Had to smile at the katana balance comment.

 

[RocketRalf]

The only thing keeping me from bending my notes up to heaven on my Silhouette is my finger strength compared to the amount of pressure the strings applies to go back to its place. I can bend up to a fourth on some notes and have never found anything similar to choking. Bending on this guitar is incredibly easy with 9s, I guess you could put 11s on it and still have it play better than your average market guitar.

 

[Axilla]

Had to smile at the katana balance comment.

Yup, me too, but that kinda nails it

 

[Shadowbox]

Thanks, all. I figured it wouldn't be a problem, I just thought I'd ask! Happy picking!

 

[whitestrat]

Any issues with big bends on either of these pieces? I play with .009s on everything save for the tele, which I string with .010s.

EBMMs are the only guitars I've owned where there is little or no buzz fresh out of the box. Thereafter, a slight tweak to the truss rod couple of weeks later is needed because of the acclimatisation of the neck wood. None of my balls have fret out problems at low actions.

 

[andynpeters]

, but it's balanced like a perfect katana. .

?????? er.....would that be the Fender or the Squier version??
Strat Central - Other Fender Guitars

 

[Axilla]

OOUUUUCH, Andy !

...I didn't even know those existed. DAMN are those ugly ! ! !

What was meant here was the sword I guess...

 

[Shadowbox]

ha ha ha. That's hilarious. I'd never seen one; those things are hideous!

Yes, I meant the sword. Thanks for the giggle.

MH

 

[GHWelles]

Any fretboard radius from 9" up should be fine. It is that vintage 7.25" radius that can lead to the problems you describe.