Musicman Silhouette Special

[wolf5150]

Hi Guys
I've just taken the plunge and ordered a Silhouette special HSS.

I've never heard one plugged in, only played one acoustically.

Does anyone own one and can describe the pickups please ??

I'm hoping I won't have to replace them.

 

[Pierre]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

Lucky. It's my dream guitar, but at this price I'll never be able to afford one

Can't help you with the pickups, but those necks feel like Jesus.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

i don't own one but i have the PU's out of one... i like them.... i wish i had the Silent Circuit that is in the EB's but that is another story... The Stock PU's are pretty good Dimarzios.. myself i would keep the axe stock...

very nice buy... what finnish and options did you pick?

my local shop has a Black one in with the 24 fret neck and 2 buckers... oddly i think it also has a Floyd... it looks real nice!!! I have gas for a Steve Morse model since i've been watching lots and lots of DP dvd's..

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

I've been after a white, maple necked special, HSS, with trem for over a year.

Finally found one for half price, totally brand new in a summer sale !!

It'll be here Fri.. I can't sleep I'm so excited... asked for it to be set up for 10's so I can gig it Fri night !!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

nice... sounds like the price was good...

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

Pickups are pretty low-output. Dimarzios. Didn't sound bad in mine, but I swapped em out for a JB, cool rails, and duckbucker. Awesome combination.

 

[B2D]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

The stock pickups are made by DiMarzio. They sound even, balanced, and articulate. Relatively medium output. Pretty good for a stock set. Neither of mine are stock, though.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

As you're both young, I assume you're playing heavy rock ?

Is that why you changed pickups ?

B2D, what did you install ??

 

[Mincer]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

i have an HSS silo special. the stock pickups sound very stratty, but with no hum (silent circuit).

i did eventually replace the entire elctronics/pickups/pickguard and put in 2 duncan humbuckers...i just like humbuckers better, thats all. its cool, because you can wire up a pickguard, and switch out the whole system easily, since the output jack has a snap-in connector. so i still have my complete HSS pickguard if i want to change back.

 

[Yngwiestein]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

Humbucker was ok. Didn't like the singles at all. My suggestion is to drop a Custom Custom & Quarter Pounders That should do it for you. Congrats on the fine guitar bro!

 

[B2D]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

As you're both young, I assume you're playing heavy rock ?

Is that why you changed pickups ?

B2D, what did you install ??

My main player has a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the neck and a FRED in the bridge, with a 5-way superswitch.

My secondary one is currently loaded with a Cool Rails neck and bridge in their respective slots, and I moved the stock bridge pickup to the middle slot.

I do like playing heavy rock along with a lot of other different styles, and those pickups just seemed to work the best for my particular applications. I changed pickups because I thought while the stock pickups were OK, they were just too plain vanilla for me, though they did provide a good reference point for where I wanted to go with the modifications.

 

[zak]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

The pickups are definitely lowish in output. The single coils are supposed to sound very close to Dimarzio blue velvet pickups, which are vintage output A5 strat pickups. The humbucker balances pretty well with the singles (ie the volume increase when changing to the humbucker from the singles isnt too great). Apparently its based on their Classic PAF pickup, and doesnt sound that different to my ears than an SD 59 i terms of both output and tone, though it is a touch bland. I am very happy with the single coils, but have often considered trying a fralin or 59 humbucker in there. Its a lovely guitar to play - light, comfortable, great tone, great feeling neck.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

i use a CC & APH1 in mine, with a 5 way super switch:
1. Neck
2. Middle 2 coils of both HB
3. Both HB
4. Outside 2 coils of HBs
5. Bridge HB

I also reversed the magnet in 1 HB so positions 2 & 4 would be humbucking.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

What do you think of the Custom Custom ?

I've more or less decided to get a pair of Suhr Fletcher landau singles, but not sure what 'bucker to get.

I've never owned a guitar that need a pickup swap and bought the Sil for it's playability... so I'm now in a minefield of choices !

 

[zak]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

I had a custom custom in my silhouette special for a couple of months. It sounded really good, though the volume jump from the single coils was a bit big. I would really recommend you try the guitar for a good while with the stock pickups before you consider changing them, unless you know for 100% sure you dont want vintage output pickups in the guitar.

I just noticed you are UK based (as am I). At some point, you are going to need some oil and wax to refinish the neck (back). The stuff used and recommended by Ernie ball/musicman is Birchwood Casey gunstock oil. It is not that common in the UK, but is obtainable. I bought it from here:
http://www.thegunshop.co.uk/casey.htm

I would also recommend the following wax to use more regularly on the back of the neck:
http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/1089-warwick_surface_finisher_wax

It is made by Warwick for their unfinished basses and they recommend using it once a week. I put it on the back of my axis/Silouette Special neck every month or so, which is fine, and makes the neck feel amazing.

Enjoy the guitar - it's quality in every way - the best locking tuners you can get (IMO), the best feeling neck you will ever get, light weight body, lovely versatile sound, and always brilliantly set up.

Sounds like you got a great deal on it as well. And definitely a good choice to get it set up with tens. The string tension on the guitar is incredible low for a 25.5 scale neck, and even with 10s it is an absolute breeze to play. Both my musicman guitars have tens.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

What do you think of the Custom Custom ?

I've more or less decided to get a pair of Suhr Fletcher landau singles, but not sure what 'bucker to get.

I've never owned a guitar that need a pickup swap and bought the Sil for it's playability... so I'm now in a minefield of choices !

The CC is my favorite bridge pickup- it has a mid heavy reedy sound that I really like. It doesn't do the 'chunk' thing, though..but does have a defined percussiveness when picking single notes.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

Those guitars are great.

Id probably load one with something like a JB and the duck PUP... and maybe a cool rails or hot rails.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

The decison's made.

I've had a WCR Goodwood made for the bridge with an A2.
Plus a pair of Suhr Fletcher / Laundau singles.

I'm also replacing the volume pot with a 500k at the suggestion of Jim from WCR.

My biggest concern at the moment is that I can't stop the buzzing above the 12th fret... I really don't want to pay for a fret dress or refret to make this **** thing playable. The frets are smaller than I'm used to anyway, so dressing will make things worse.

 

[B2D]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

My biggest concern at the moment is that I can't stop the buzzing above the 12th fret... I really don't want to pay for a fret dress or refret to make this **** thing playable. The frets are smaller than I'm used to anyway, so dressing will make things worse.

Have you had the guitar professionally set up? That is assuming you can't do it yourself.

If a setup can't fix the problem, then a dressing may be necessary. If that renders the frets too low, then a refret may be your only option. Expensive? Yes, but you've shown you're not afraid of putting money into the guitar by using quality pickups, plus if this guitar is going to be your main player then you'll want it to be in top condition and set to your needs.

I've had guitars refretted before. It was an expensive job, but if another one of my guitars needed it I'd do it again without reservation. The frets are such a vital part of your interface with the instrument, they should be treated with care and priority.

 

[SouthpawGuy]

Re: Musicman Silhouette Special

Hi,
I have a Silhouette that I bought new in the mid '90s.
I bought it with the intention of changing the pickups immediately to actives, such as EMGs or Duncan Live Wires.
As the guitar sounds just fine with the stock pickups I never got around to changing those pickups.
I did have one small problem a couple of years ago with a dry solder joint on the neck pickup but a local tech sorted that out for me.