NGD EBMM Silhouette Special

[LeftyJ]

I once owned a lovely metallic purple Music Man Silhouette Special, that I unfortunately had to sell when money was short after my car needed replacing. It was a lovely workhorse with a fantastic neck and a huge range of sounds thanks to some interesting wiring on the 5-way switch, but at the time I often favoured my (much cheaper) Squier MIJ E-series Strat so it made sense to let it go. It was shipped off to Finland, never to be seen again. But a certain level of seller's remorse always lingered... 

 

10 years went by, and then suddenly a whole collection of high end guitars appeared for sale at the same time from a single seller: PRS, Gibson, Fender, Taylor, Godin, and several Music Man guitars - including a metallic purple Silhouette Special. The asking price was quite high, so I didn't bother inquiring but I did follow the ad. All the guitars gradually got sold, except for that Silhouette Special and a modded Fender USA Strat... 

 

I have been following that ad for 1.5 years, and it remained unsold for all this time! Finally, last week, I couldn't bear it anymore and sent an inquiry. I got chatting to the seller, asked for some better pics (which showed a pretty concave neck) and made an offer - under the condition that the neck would adjust well at the turning of the truss rod - and the seller accepted. So to cut a long story short:

 

 

Turned out the seller was a widow, selling off her deceased husband's collection. She'd had many lowball offers, and was happy to finally see it go to someone who appreciated it and she loved my story of The One That Got Away. 

 

It's a late 90s model, just like my old one, with the only differences being the rosewood fingerboard and hardtail bridge (my previous one had birdseye maple and a trem). The neck responded well to my adjustments (almost a full turn of the truss rod) and plays like a dream. I hope this one will be a keeper for a much longer time than the previous one! 

Edited February 18 by LeftyJ

[MichaelDean]

That shade of purple is amazing. Enjoy!

[dub_junkie]

A lovely guitar that brings on sellers regret in me too. 

Long time ago (2008) I owned a purple Silo Special which I sold to a fella in Croydon via the ebmm forum. I had a 24 fret hardtail Silhouette before I owned the Special which had the Wilkinson trem so were quite a fair bit different from each other. They were fantastic guitars.

Had a big thing for EBMM guitars back then owning an EVH, Super Sport and P90 Sports as well as a Morse Y2D and an Albert Lee. My absolute favourite though was a black Steve Morse Std. Still miss it to this day, having sold it and the Y2D to help pay for my wedding (managed to keep the wife these past 13 years)

 

Edit: should add that my purple special was s/s/s but I retrofitted a Seymour Duncan JB Jr in the bridge.

Edited March 6 by dub_junkie

[LeftyJ]

On 06/03/2024 at 23:48, dub_junkie said:

Edit: should add that my purple special was s/s/s but I retrofitted a Seymour Duncan JB Jr in the bridge.

 

Nice! Did your SSS have regular Strat switching? The switching on the HSS is quite different, and offers some cool in-between sounds I can't get from my regular Strat:

1: bridge, series

2: bridge (bridge coil) + middle pickup, parallel;

3: bridge (neck coil) + neck pickup, paralel;

4: middle + neck pickup, parallel;

5: neck pickup + Silent Circuit noise canceller

 

The middle position is very nice, it's not quite Telecaster-like but the wider distance between the pickups does make for a nice twang that's both bright and has ample low end. I really love these guitars 

[dub_junkie]

Yes was standard Strat switching. Only difference was the silent circuit on pos 1, 3 and 5 from what I recall.

I did have a 1988 trans red/maple 24 fret Silhouette for a short while too which was also s/s/s. That didn't have the silent circuit but was loaded with three Schaller single coils which from memory were really nice sounding pickups.

My own favourite sounding single coils were the APS2s in the Albert Lee and the best humbuckers were those in the EVH/SuperSport. The guitar tones on Van Halen's Don't tell me are still some of the best guitar I think I've ever heard.