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tjon901 « Sihouette with a single coil in the neck »
Published on 07/10/11 at 20:51The Musicman Silhouette is one of the first electric guitars that Musicman put out. The Silhouette is a classic design based on the Fender Stratocaster concept. This guitar takes the traditional woods and construction and changes it a bit to fit different playing styles. This guitar has an alder body which is common with strat type guitars. The neck is a bolt on construction similar to that of a strat but their construction system features 5 bolts for an extra sturdy fit. The neck is made out of mahogany with your choice of rosewood for maple for the fretboard material. The model I am reviewing has a rosewood neck. The neck has the standard 25.5 inch scale like most every Fender and is pretty narrow. The neck has 24 jumbo frets on it with dot inlays. Up top there is the traditional Musicman 4+2 headstock which saves space and weight.This model features the classic design except instead of a humbucker in the neck it has a single coil in the neck position. This model comes with a set of Dimarzio pickups in an HSS configuration custom wound to Musicmans specifications. The controls on this guitar are pretty simple. There is a master volume knob and a master tone knob with a 5 way pickup selector. The guitar features Musicmans's trademark Silent Circuitry that all but eliminates the noise you would get from the single coil pickups. There is a proprietary Musicman non locking tremolo system for the bridge and locking Schaller tuners up top on the headstock.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays a lot like a Stratocaster. The neck is pretty narrow compared to many modern guitars. The finish on the back of the neck is very nice. It is not glossy at all and is finished with some kind of oil or wax and it gives a very smooth feel. It almost feels unfinished. The guitar is very light compared to most of the stuff I play. It is only around 6 pounds. I am not a big fan of tremolos but the one of this guitar is decent and the locking frets help it stay in tune with a non locking tremolo. I think every guitar tremolo or not should come with locking tuners at this point. The frets are nice and big and help to let you really dig in. The radius has a pretty vintage feel to it. The radius is only 10 inches so the fretboard is not super flat but the big frets help flatten out the feel of the action. The small headstock helps with keeping the balance well and you will not hit it on things as much.
SOUNDS
This guitar has great stratty tones. With the quiet wiring you do not get any of that annoying single coil hum. The single coils get very bell like clean tones and have good spank and bite. The neck position is smooth but still retains the single coil clarity and ring. You can really rip some nice clean passages or leads with the neck position. The middle position is not that great on its on traditionally but sounds great when combined with either the neck or the bridge. The humbucker in the bridge is nice and beefy and compliments the single coils well and even sounds good split. The bridge pickup can handle more gain the single coils can naturally so it is great for your rhythm playing parts.
OVERALL OPINION
Musicman makes some good solid guitars but they are not played by many people. I see their basses played out more often than their guitars. Their guitars have many big name endorsees but they dont seem to have caught on with the public much. This is a shame because they are very nice guitars and are a twist on a traditional design. This is the model for you if you are looking for a Musicman Silhouette that gets more stratty tones than the normal model. The single coil in the neck lets you get more classic tones than the normal model can and you can really bust out with the twang on this model.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays a lot like a Stratocaster. The neck is pretty narrow compared to many modern guitars. The finish on the back of the neck is very nice. It is not glossy at all and is finished with some kind of oil or wax and it gives a very smooth feel. It almost feels unfinished. The guitar is very light compared to most of the stuff I play. It is only around 6 pounds. I am not a big fan of tremolos but the one of this guitar is decent and the locking frets help it stay in tune with a non locking tremolo. I think every guitar tremolo or not should come with locking tuners at this point. The frets are nice and big and help to let you really dig in. The radius has a pretty vintage feel to it. The radius is only 10 inches so the fretboard is not super flat but the big frets help flatten out the feel of the action. The small headstock helps with keeping the balance well and you will not hit it on things as much.
SOUNDS
This guitar has great stratty tones. With the quiet wiring you do not get any of that annoying single coil hum. The single coils get very bell like clean tones and have good spank and bite. The neck position is smooth but still retains the single coil clarity and ring. You can really rip some nice clean passages or leads with the neck position. The middle position is not that great on its on traditionally but sounds great when combined with either the neck or the bridge. The humbucker in the bridge is nice and beefy and compliments the single coils well and even sounds good split. The bridge pickup can handle more gain the single coils can naturally so it is great for your rhythm playing parts.
OVERALL OPINION
Musicman makes some good solid guitars but they are not played by many people. I see their basses played out more often than their guitars. Their guitars have many big name endorsees but they dont seem to have caught on with the public much. This is a shame because they are very nice guitars and are a twist on a traditional design. This is the model for you if you are looking for a Musicman Silhouette that gets more stratty tones than the normal model. The single coil in the neck lets you get more classic tones than the normal model can and you can really bust out with the twang on this model.