Question Silo HSH: Splitting the neck PU in 1st position

[pantalaimon]

Hi guys,

I'm about to get one of these sexy Silo's to replace my Fender Strat. Since they are available with 24 frets, my preference would be a non-Special Silo. I don't want to miss that singlecoil-neck-sound of the strat, so my Silo should have this option, too. Since most of the 24fret-Silos are coming with HSH-Pickups, I was wondering if anyone ever tried to split the neck-humbucker in the 1st position so it becomes a single coil.. Any experiences with that?

Thanks and sorry for my crappy english
Michael

 

[beej]

Hey there-

You can do it with a bit of re-wiring, not too difficult. Split coils never sound exactly like a single, but can usually be decent.

Another option is to get another pickguard and put a single in the neck.

 

[pantalaimon]

Thanks for your reply. Has anyone tried that and can tell something about the differences between a singlecoil and a splitted humbucker tonewise?

Are the pickguards of the non special Silos and the special ones the same?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[JMD]

The split humbucker compared to a dedicated single coils tends to lack dynamics compared to each other (split has less dynamics than the dedicated single) - IMHO. Having said that, the humbucker guitars I have that I have wired to split - I'm very happy with.......it was having the option that drove the modification.

 

[RocketRalf]

Definitely get an HSS pickguard and put a real single coil in it. It is NOT the same pickguard as the special, you'll have to get a third party one made for the 24 fret neck. Try chandlers pickguards, some guys here have gotten them and they say they are good.

 

[pantalaimon]

Thanks for your replies so far. Speaking about the the single coil on a HSS non special Silo: Since it is a little closer to the bridge compared to the silo special, it will be a little less strat-like, wont it?

 

[DrKev]

Yep. On a 22 fret neck, the neck pickup sits right under the harmonic point (where 24th fret should be). On a 24 fret neck it'll be further back. Does that really make all that much difference? Maybe, the most convincing strat-like neck pickup tones may come from an Albert Lee, Silhouette Special, or a Luke, but the 24 fret thing doesn't seem to bother Johnny Hiland at all!

Jump forward to 8:00 for the neck pickup tones.

 

[pantalaimon]

Thanks again! I'm looking for a HSS non-Special Silhouette now, but are they even being produced by now? I was only able to find new HSH-models or pretty old HSS ones from ~1996.

 

[DrKev]

are they even being produced by now? I was only able to find new HSH-models or pretty old HSS ones from ~1996.

That's right. Silhouette (24 fret) is currently HSH only. When the Silhouette Special (22 fret) was introduced as a new guitar they stopped producing HSS Silhouettes. I think Johnny Hiland's Silhouette was originally HSH, he put the SSS pickguard in himself.

 

[pantalaimon]

Thats an interesting point. Do you know when they introduced the Silhouette Special? I was only able to find Silhouette models without these great locking tuners I don't want to miss anymore.