I traded my Yamaha SA to a what seems to be a old silhouette. It has fine tuners on the bridge but no lock on the nut. The thing is it cam with no whammy bar. Is there any site which sells extras? I'm from Sri Lanka so the vendor should be someone who does international shipping.
- Thread starter Ashan
- Start date
John C
Well-known member
How about some photos? If it has that old Schaller-made bridge it can be hard to find the parts as they are long out of production. I would check with EBMM's Customer Service to see if they either have any of these or know of a supplier for the parts.
Here you go. Hope I attached the pics right and they are visible enough. How do I go about finding the serial number?
Attachments
DrKev
Moderator
Serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock. I can see it on the last photo but can't read it.
It's really hard to make out close too. But looks like 88038
banjoplayer
Well-known member
This is a nice guitar. Don´t know nothing about Yamaha SA's but this one for sure is a serious tool!
You should try to post this in the Serial No. Thread
I´m not sure if they can track these old numbers but for sure they can give you an idea of the age with this trem and Pickups
You should try to post this in the Serial No. Thread
I´m not sure if they can track these old numbers but for sure they can give you an idea of the age with this trem and Pickups
Thank you banjoplayer, yamaha SA2000s I traded this for is a very good replica of the Gibson es335. And it's a antique. However valuable it was I didn't need it because I never touched it. I don't like guitars lying around just for looks and value, so I needed a workhorse. I'm a ibanez fan and have 3 super ibanez rg's including a 7. When I got this trade I read about silhuoettes I was kinda intrigued. So I went with this. I like the playbility so far. It needs a good setup done and a whammy(if there are any still produced). Already posted the serial in serial thread. Thanks man.
This is one of the early, early Silhouettes. With a Schaller bridge and it DOES have a "locking nut" (or something similar) which is that flat mechanism between the nut and the tuners. You should be able to clamp the strings there (like you would in a Floyd locking nut). Very cool find! Congrats! Show us a photo of the neck plate on the back. I assume it's a 6-bolt rectangular plate instead of the current 5-bolt?
John C
Well-known member
Thanks for posting the photos; very nice! If I'm remembering correctly with the stamped in serial numbers the first 2 digits are the year of manufacture so it's a 1988. I think the other numbers are the sequential run of guitars for the year - so this is guitar #38 made in 1988 (or maybe it's Silhouette #38 - the only guitar models they had back then were the Silhouette and the Steve Morse Signature).
As dibart77 says it does have the string lock - unless it's missing the locking mechanism parts as well as the trem bar. I know that wammiworld sells the locking parts (you'll find it on their page under the "Fender System 1 trem" section - Schaller made the System 1 for Fender) but I don't think they have the appropriate trem bar. I would still contact EBMM's customer service and see if they can either turn up a trem arm for you or at least point you to the right supplier. I don't believe Schaller has them in stock any more.
As dibart77 says it does have the string lock - unless it's missing the locking mechanism parts as well as the trem bar. I know that wammiworld sells the locking parts (you'll find it on their page under the "Fender System 1 trem" section - Schaller made the System 1 for Fender) but I don't think they have the appropriate trem bar. I would still contact EBMM's customer service and see if they can either turn up a trem arm for you or at least point you to the right supplier. I don't believe Schaller has them in stock any more.
Dead-Eye
Well-known member
I think (that's only from seeing used ones for sale) they used that one up to around '92, then switched to a regular Floyd Rose, and then to their own vintage bridge in the late 90s (think 97 or 98). The Silhouette Special came with a Wilkinson trem for a little while when it was introduced, but the regular one never had that as far as I know.
Thanks dead eye.
Another question guys. The pickups. What pickups did they install back then? The bridge pickup in this looks swapped. It looks different compared to the aging of single coils.
John C
Well-known member
That sounds about right - it could have been as early as 1991 when they stopped using the Schaller bridge. There might have even been a time when there wasn't a trem option on the Silhouette in-between the Schaller and the Gotoh Floyd Rose. The EBMM Vintage bridge would start around 1997 - the Silhouette went from the Floyd to the EBMM Vintage Trem. Only the Silo Special had the Wilkinson trem for a while - as did the Albert Lee (ALs with the Wilkinson trem and Grover locking tuners are exceedingly rare).
In the mid-80s the stock bridge could have been a Schaller - I think EBMM was using both Schaller and DiMarzio back then.
EDIT: Sorry, my post wasn't terribly clear; I meant that EBMM was using Schaller pickups back then. This could be a Schaller humbucker.
Last edited:
banjoplayer
Well-known member
Are you sure? We´ve seen Keith Richards with silos that has same/similar pickups
look here http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/60535-rolling-stones-used-music-man.html
Are you sure? We´ve seen Keith Richards with silos that has same/similar pickups
look here http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/60535-rolling-stones-used-music-man.html
2 buckers! Nice! On a side note I sent a mail to earnie ball c. s. Day bofore yesterday and no reply yet. Could be the weekend? I'll wait. Really wish I could complete the guitar with whammy
Dead-Eye
Well-known member
It seems some of those earlier serials were reused (possibly when they moved to the neckplate engraved ones?). See http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-b...production-date-my-guitar-295.html#post673125 and http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-b...production-date-my-guitar-555.html#post933649 for similar cases.
