Help! Wiring a DiMarzio Cruiser bridge into the neck of a Silo Special

[the.godfather]

Hi everyone,

New member around here but a loooong time lurker in the shadows. So be gentle!

I recently purchased a Silo Special PDN in the Emerald Green Sparkle finish and I absolutely love it! I wanted a little more tonal variation out of it though and wanted to experiment with a DiMarzio Cruiser Bridge in the neck position (ala Mr. Timmons) but was a little scared when I took the pickguard off due to the silent circuit. Is there any specific way to integrate it into the existing silent circuit setup without much difficulty? Or would it be best to get another pickguard and wire it from scratch with new 500k pots etc? I don't mind either way but I just wanted to make sure.

If the wiring colours were the same as the existing single coil I'd obviously just switch it out. But I didn't want to screw anything up with the exisiting single coil in the middle.

Help greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Gary.

 

[the.godfather]

Oh, and a photo for proof/all of us gear lovers.

 

[DrKev]

Hi there and welcome to the forum! NICE guitar!

The stock wiring only uses the silent circuit for the neck pickup on it's own as the other positions are naturally hum-cancelling. But the guitar is fully wired so that the silent circuit could be used in any position if needed, which is actually helpful for you.

Email customer service for a wiring schematic, or PM me with your email address and I'll send you one. If you think it's as complicated as it looks, or you are worried about your soldering skills with so many wires in such a small space, perhaps think twice before messing with the stock wiring. But otherwise...

I think the fastest way to do it is to just wire the Cruiser in by joining its white and black wires and using red - hot and green - ground in place of the neck single coils (red-hot and black-ground). That will work straight away but now the silent circuit wiring would have to be modified - you'll no longer need it in position 5 (cruiser on it's own) but you will need it in positions 4 (cruiser & Middle single) and position 3 (cruiser + 1 Coil of Bridge humbucker) which will no longer be hum-cancelling. Fortunately, that's easy to do...

The silent circuit is controlled by one pole of the switch (i.e. one set of 6 terminals, one for each switch position, plus an output terminal) which is connected to the silent circuit via the Yellow wire. Where the yellow wire is connected the silent circuit is shorted to ground and not in the circuit. In stock wiring, yellow is connected to terminal #1, which is in turn connected to #2, #3, and #4 of that pole. All those positions short the silent circuit. (And #5 is left unconnected stock and is thus the only position where the silent circuit is used). You just need to rewire those connections so that terminals #5 and #2 are connected to #1 and the yellow wire. Simples!

And BTW, in case you were not already aware, the stock pots in the Silo Special are 250kΩ.

 

[Tollywood]

Hello Gary...That's an awesome Silo Special in one of my favorite colors ever. Good luck with your project!

 

[ozzyrules]

Beej, from the forum is an expert at this. He is also a moderator. He helped me with a similar re-wire of my Silo special. Hopefully, he will chime in.oh, by the way, that thing is gorgeous.

 

[lock-ny]

I don't have an answer for you about the wiring but love the guitar!

 

[the.godfather]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Much appreciated. Yeah, she's a beauty. Really light too and sounds great. It's my first EBMM funnily enough (although not my last obviously), having been mainly a Mayones guy in recent years. I've got a lovely James Tyler Studio Elite and this Silo Special is every bit as good quality-wise.

Thanks for all that info DrKev, that's exactly what I needed! I'll send you a PM.

 

[tlasol]

Congrats on the beauty!

I did a pretty similar thing and replaced my PDN Neptune Blue Silhouette Special's pups to CrunchLab on bridge and Cruiser Bridge on neck position with 500k pots. You won't regret it – the Cruiser is easily the best neck pickup I've had to date. Here's a pic of the guitar: https://instagram.com/p/veWzQrrrZj/?taken-by=tanulasola

 

[Tollywood]

Here's a pic of the guitar: https://instagram.com/p/veWzQrrrZj/?taken-by=tanulasola

Holy cow...Tanu, that is one of the best neptune blues I've seen. You did a really great job. I like that you eliminated the middle pickup. The lack of a center pickup really draws my attention to the shape of the pickguard.

 

[Monster212]

beautiful Guitar.....

 

[Paddys]

Thank you so much for this post. That helps a lot.
I want to do just the same but i have installed a "thornbucker plus" in the bridge(250K) and i love it. Is there a way i can use the cruiser and the thornbucker in my silhouette special?

Thanks again
Paddy