Silhouette Specia,choked sustain

[danaconda]

Hi there,I recently picked up a used silo special.Its seen better days now if im being honest.Im having trouble getting any real sustain from it.It seems to be be choking when i bend a string and the strings feel rather stiff.I suspect the neck and trem need some adjusting.At the high part of the neck the low E string is almost fretting out and the high E string seems quite high off the fret board.Needs a good set up i guess.Are there any suggested settings for neck tension,trem tension,string height,pickup height etc I can use as a starting point?There are 1 or 2 things on the ernie ball site but nothing too in depth.Would like to have a go at it myself before bringing it to a pro.Its just doesnt feel right at the min.Also im considering replacing the saddles on the bridge and a few other bits an pieces as they are starting to rust.Ive found most of these on the ernie ball UK site but I cant seem to find the back plate that covers the trem as thats missing also.Any suggestions where i can pick one up?Cheers guys

 

[DrKev]

Welcome to the forum and congrats an a great guitar!

Start with the Fender Strat Setup Guide (yes, really!). It's well written easy to follow, avaialble in both metic and imperial measurements, and beisdes, Guitars are guitars and any one manufacturer's specs will work well on other too. From there, you can adjust to your own preference. I'm just running out the door to teach my saturday lessons, I'll check back this evening and see how you are doing.

 

[ozzyrules]

Buy a Stewart McDonald set up kit. I never did any of my own setups until I bought my first EBMM. I now do all of mine, as I don't trust anyone else with my Balls.These are specs for the Super Sport, but I used the same for my silhouette Special:

How do I setup my Music Man Axis SuperSport?

 

[ksandvik]

BTW you could get good deals on guitars like EBMM that just have bad setups (usually done by the original owners) and people think they are unplayable...