Musicman jigsaw opinions wanted

[playas]

So...I have been looking for a new guitar that is something a bit out of the normal range of readily available options and I figure I'll throw this out to the forum to see if any interesting options that I hadn't already considered may occur to any of you. With the wealth of knowledge out there I'm certain there must be some interesting opinions.

- My ideal guitar would be a Musicman Silhouette Special body with a neck from an LIII, not happening any time soon, so here are some ideas of what I'm after...

- I like the shorter headstock. Smaller body would be cool too.

- I see necks with 42mm nut width these days but on guitars that almost certainly have jumbo frets, which I don't like.

- Is it worth buying a sterling silo 3 and upgrading hardware / neck refin?...Is it realistic / necessary to replace the trem? I imagine tuners etc are standard, right?

- Ideally spend would be 1k or less. If spread out over time more may be feasible. Less is fine too.

- I'm based in Europe so €

- I am not adverse to a parts build or upgrading bit by bit, but the neck in particular does not have very typical dimensions...and again I'm in Europe, Warmoth, USACG etc. would be way too expensive here.

- On an existing model with half decent pickups I would give them a shot anyway, but I do have an SSS set in mind. Ideally the guitar would be HSS routed in any case (That's not a make or break though).

- I have been keeping an eye on the used market locally for over a year now and nothing appropriate has come up, nevermind for a price I would pay.

- Under non-covid circumstances I may well have just decided to bite the bullet and go crazy with the budget and go for a new silhouette special over a saving of a couple of hundred euros for a second-hand one but the prices are ridiculous now and generally not what I'm after in any case. The cheapest available would be about 2.5k for a model I don't want.

- Absolute worst case scenario I would just hold out for a year or so and see if I could extend the budget and hope that something more appropriate comes up new, unlikely as it is...or by then I may be in a position to try and build something from scratch.
...sorry about the long post.

 

[Mincer]

Great idea! My favorite guitar I have is a Silhouette Special (with a scalloped neck). How does the LIII neck differ from the SS neck? My SS has 2 humbuckers, with a 5 way super switch. Music Man makes wonderful instruments, but the prices are crazy, even here in America. Not so easy to buy 2 instruments and cobble them together.

 

[St_Genesius]

I honestly didn't realize EBMM had multiple neck profiles.

IMO, the Sterling range are admirable-quality instruments that punch a bit above their prices, but don't tend to sound or feel like the EBMM models they look like.

 

[Mincer]

I haven't played many Sterling models to know how they compare. I doubt they would replicate the neck, which is the reason I love the Music Mans so much. I just can't see how they could at the price.

 

[playas]

The LIII is the most comfortable neck I have played on any guitar.

If memory serves it's quite similar apart from the LIII having a very soft V which just makes it fit into the hand better.
Before playing one I always thought the idea of a V profile was awful, but it just works perfectly.

I played both side by side and the neck really made the difference, but the pickups were completely uninspiring. The stock silhouette pickups were way better.

If going for a Sterling I would refinish the neck as there is absolutely no comparison to a real MM. Don't remember much else though after several years.