Hi there,I picked up a used silhouette special last week but a lot of the hardware on the bridge is rusted and in bad shape.The 5 way selector is pretty badly rusted up too along with the volume and tone pots.Ive decided Im going to replace them all even though they still work as it looks a bit rough.The ernie ball uk site (im from ireland) has a spare parts section which has most of this available.Im just curious though,would any fender style bridge saddles,screws etc work fine or are the ernie ball ones a specific measurement to suit fit the guitar?I can get the fender style ones pretty easy and fairly cheap from the store i bought the guitar from.Also im replacing the stock bridge pickup with something a bit hotter so may need to change the tone pots etc.Do these need to be ernie ball ones or will any pot work fine?Cheers
- Thread starter danaconda
- Start date
DrKev
Moderator
GraphTech make replacement saddles which I believe are based on the standard strat spacings, of which there are two. EBMMs are in between, so you'd have to go for the narrower set because the wider set won't fit. But before you buy saddles, take one of the existing ones and spend some time taking the corrosion off with 1200 grit wet and dry paper followed by 000 and 0000 steel wool. It'll take a little work but I suspect they'll come up a treat.
Any standard audio taper pots that you would buy for a strat will be ideal. 250kΩ for both volume and tone is what are in there stock. Depending on your choice of humbucker the stock values may work fine though you may also prefer 500kΩ pots for the humbucker. But the single coils could be too bright or harsh with both 500k. If that turns out to be the case, I'd suggest a 250kΩ volume pot with a 500kΩ tone pot as the compromise.
Any standard audio taper pots that you would buy for a strat will be ideal. 250kΩ for both volume and tone is what are in there stock. Depending on your choice of humbucker the stock values may work fine though you may also prefer 500kΩ pots for the humbucker. But the single coils could be too bright or harsh with both 500k. If that turns out to be the case, I'd suggest a 250kΩ volume pot with a 500kΩ tone pot as the compromise.
Tim O'Sullivan
Well-known member
I have bought all my spares direct from EBMM as you know its an exact fit. I am not sure if Strings and Things carry everything that EBMM USA do, but this would be my preferred route.
