Overview : – Essentially the Music Man Silhouette Special is a Strat – Not in the sense that it is a copy, but more in that it tends to be influenced by the feel, playability and tonal characteristics of a Strat – Today Strat’s tend to fall into two different formats – The vintage old school flavour, or the modern ‘upgraded’ format – The Silhouette Special retains the old school approach of a bolt on maple neck + alder body – But chunkier frets, flatter fingerboard radius, plus the HSS pick up option makes it more ‘user friendly’ for today’s guitar player who wishes to expand their horizon – Please click here to view the Music Man Silhouette Special web site page, listing a host of details along with a video clip of the guitar in action – Before I move on I have to say that Music Man Guitars, in my opinion, are seriously under-rated by so many of us – A bit surprising when you look at some of their artists – Steve Lukather, Steve Morse, John Petrucci, Steuart Smith (The Eagles) – Final comment – Essentially the Silhouette and Silhouette Special are the same guitar – major difference is 22 v 24 frets and pick up options HSH v HSS
Product details for this used Music Man Silhouette Special from 2002, with a white finish
- Whole guitar weighs 7lbs and 10oz
- Alder body – fixed bridge so string loading is Tele style thru’ the body
- Maple neck + fingerboard – The satin finish is a blend of gun stock oil and wax – Hand rubbed to give you that silky smooth ‘played in’ feel 22 medium jumbo frets
- 10″ fingerboard radius
- 25.5″ scale length
- 1 5/8″ nut width as per many Fender Guitars Modern C neck profile – measures .826″ around the top nut end and gently fattens out to .916″ around the 12th fret
- Sculptured heel for smooth + easy access to the upper frets
- Easy truss rod adjustment access at the body end (near neck pick-up)
- Fixed bridge with ‘vintage-esq’ bent steel saddles
- Pearloid scratchplate
- HSS pick up format – Custom wound Dimarzio humbucker + two single coil pick-ups – ‘Silent circuit’ for noise free single coil pick-ups – See rear battery access on the rear of the body
- Re-strung with 10-46 gauge strings and set up with a slink easy action that responds to a light touch
Condition wise :- This Silhouette might not be quite in that as new mint condition, but it certainly doesn’t look like it is 24 years old – In fact you’d struggle to think it was 4 years old – The body is ding free and shows little in the way of ever been played – Look on the frets and any hint of wear is close to negative – Certainly nothing that requires attention, or indeed ‘harms’ the feel/playability – All in all a clean instrument
Tonal character :- Spec’d with a set of custom wound Dimarzio pick-ups with the HSS format – Pick-ups deliver more of a gentle output compared to many other screamin’ demon models – The 5 way blade switch functions Strat style, so positions 1, 3 and 5 are each pick-up on its own – Position 2 + 4 are the ‘out of phase’ options, with the humbucker now in coil tap mode to function with the single coil middle pick-up to deliver those funky ‘out of phase’ tones – The physical make up of the guitar ensures that its natural unplugged character is that of a Strat – Lively and crisp – And a lot of this transfers into the sound you’ll hear through the amp, with no shortage of the snap and attack that you’ll hear from a good Strat – Very dynamic and responsive – When you put a humbucker on a Strat it doesn’t all of a sudden sound like a Les Paul – It retains the Strat character, yet offers a bigger version of that lively voice, but with a bit more girth about the overall tone – This is what you’ll hear from the Silhouette Special – Great for hot country, or country rock – Great in a good all round covers band – Great for those kind of good pop, rock, country bands – Think Bryan Adams, Keith Urban, The Eagles etc – So clean to crunch rock or classic rock and it is on home turf – Yet equally apply more gain on the amp and delve into those Satriani virtuoso styles and the Silhouette won’t let you down – On overdriven amp settings the humbuckers add more girth, with a bigger voice, for either power chords and riffs, or screamin’ licks – The bridge humbucker has that tight bite and guts that you’ll hear from a good black guard early 50’s Tele – Whilst the neck pick-up purrrrrs yet is still crisp, funky and clear – Maybe no one guitar does it all, yet the Silhouette can do one hell of a lot
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Guitars4You is not another corporate high street guitar store - My selection of premium grade guitars is about quality not quantity. Every guitar has been selected, inspected and approved by me, with particular attention to the set-up and playing performance. Every sale, phone call, email and mail order transaction is handled by me. A journey that is now over 50 years old, has fuelled my knowledge, experience, love, devotion and passion for exceptionally fine guitars.