Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Special

It's a very versatyle guitar, the humbucker has a pretty deep and strong sound, much close to an lp, the single coils have a really strat-ish tone, I also have a wonderful stratocaster, but the music man sounds a little better on overdriven tones.
The hum cancelling circuit is simply amazing, no noise at all whith the single coils even with my dyna comp crancked all the way up in front of my carl martin rock drive... fantastic.

The sound is perfect, you can get everything you want out of this girl!!!
position 4 neck-mid is really cool for vaughan tones and blues in general

the best neck I've ever touched... incredibly fast and fluid.
Mine has a fret which is a bit fizzy, but I th'ink that's because I bought it used... I'm thinking of having it rectified in a while.

I think it will never die...

never had any problem

This guitar PAWNS!!! if you set it up correctly it will blow your mind at the first chord!!!

this is a new 07 guitar, gloss black,white pick guard, strat styled,Ernie ball style saddled trem,schaller locking,25.5 scale length ,tall narrow frets,rosewood fretboard ,10 inch radius, made in California, 22 frets ,5 way selector,s/s/h ,dimarzios, active electronics,alder body.

I'm into progressive, melodic, legato rock.
i use a traynor 40 watter, with radial tone bone british, maxon pedals
much brighter than my jem that has the tone zone , but thats fine- an amp and pedals can always be adjusted.
these dimarzios are fine, they are a tad bright but not bad once you get used to them. the silent hum canceling feature is a non-issue with me, i take out the 9 volt and let the guitar do it's natural thing. the strat quack is not as convincing as the real deal but awful close. it's a smaller bodied guitar that some people don't mind, I'm 1 of them, the neck is smooth as silk, and by far to me the biggest selling feature of this guitar is that it's much easier to play than any strat I've ever owned, and thats 6 [strats] to date. i suppose that has to do with the neck finish and 10 inch radius . the nut is 1 5/8 , which to some might seem a tad cramped, but again you'd get used to it fast enough and i've got biggish hands. the locking tuners hold everything tight when you let er rip, unlike my 03 strat deluxe which couldn't hold things down for there life . the neck has a very woody feel and is amazing,and i know those remarks are redundantly spoken, lol

guitar was setup very well out off the showroom, pick ups were well setup,no flaws out of the gate. of course i made some minor adjustments to string height, just a smidgen

this guitars reputation precedes it.
backup guitars? always--- would you cross the sahara without a spare?

i purchased the 2 year extended warranty for 60 bucks- bid deal who knows for some reason the guitar cracks in 2- tho i highly doubt it

I'm 46 and have been playing since i was 10, I've owned many electrics,if lost or stolen--- i would find the individual and exhibit a kimura or Americana on him, thats mma terminology , once he's finished, i would step over his unconsciousness and take my $$$ from the insurance
and buy the same guitar--- they are simply that fine of an instrument, for the $$ . in a nut shell depending on your style= strats are too hard to play and inconsistent, les pauls way to heavy and murky with limited upper register reach, andersons - eggles- prs ttoooo expensive for nothing. this mm is versatile, unique, durable, any great sounding

My EBMM is a left handed model that I purchased in 96 I believe. Its pearl green which I dont think is available anymore. Its got a rosewood fret board and the old wilkinson bridge. I can dive bomb to my hearts content-stays in tune really well.

Im a part time session musician so I was looking for a jack of all trades kind of guitar. Its the perfect kind of guitar if you travel alot like I do. Easily fits in your overhead compartment on a plane. The guitar is light and is balanced nicely if your standing for long periods at a time. As for the sound of the guitar when I bought it, it was ok when I ran it straight thru my amp but seemed to lose punch and definition going thru my effects rack. I have quite a few guitars that use when I record but the pickups on the special didnt cut thru enough. So I shipped the guitar out to Tom Anderson guitar works and and told them what I needed. They said no problem and I got it back two weeks later. WOW....is all I can say now. This thing is on steroids! First they replaced the pickups with their sa series single coils and stuck an H3 series hb in the bridge. They replaced the pots gave me the same switching system that they put on their drop tops and such and finally they installed the Buzz Feiten tuning system. I havent put the guitar down since.

No problem here. Came perfectly set up when I got it 10 years ago and I havent touched it since. Best neck in the biz.

I have taken it everywhere.........Its a tank!

Never had to deal with them. Knock on wood. NOBODY could be as bad as Gibson.

I've been playing longer than I care to mention and cursed as a lefty means that its tougher for me to walk into any Guitar Center and pick any boutique guitar off of the wall and start playing.............(UNLESS its a mexican made strat) Yeah you lefties out there know exactly what I'm talking about! Thats why I thank the Tom Andersons of the world and the wonderful people at the Heritage guitar company in michigan and of course EBMM for not punishing me with an up charge because I'm a stinkin southpaw.

I think the features have been adequately covered - mine came with a top quality EBMM case that looks and feels like you could run a car over it and still not damage the guitar inside! They also supply 2 extra trem springs, 2 keys for the case and a years warranty.

Mine's got the vintage trem (no piezo unfortunately) and it's done in a kind of transparent red that lets you see the wood underneath. The body is 2 piece alder, neck unfinished maple, 22 frets, active hum-cancelling electronics and locking tuners.

The nut width is surprisingly narrow - too narrow for my tastes (and i have small hands!) and ideally it'd have 24 frets like the standard silouette.

I dabble in everything from shred to classical, but play in a rock/blues band. I think the humcancelling electronics rob the guitar of some of it's sparkle when playing totally clean, but when you crank up the over-drive/distortion the guitar is a total dream, no fizzing or other extraneous noise - you just hear what you're playing. In a band situation the guitar cuts through absolutely brilliantly. You can get both strat like and gibson tones from this guitar, but it doesn't have as many strat tones as a strat or as many gibby tones as a gibson. What i'm basically saying, is that it sounds great, has it's own character and extremely versatile. It's not perfect (what is?), but overall i'm as happy as a pig in muck.

Did i say nothings perfect? Well the action, fit and finish on this guitar actually is! Flawless craftsmanship, the guys that made this guitar really cared and it shows. Frets are perfectly crowned and polished, string bends are effortless - even through the guitar has a 10" radius! The action is extremely low, and yet every note on the neck rings out with clarity and confidence. I find the neck/nut width/string spacing is a bit to close for comfortable sweep picking of appreggio's and the frets not quite high enough to facilitate easy tapping. But this isn't what the guitar was designed for i don't think. As a blues/rock guitar it's just flawless and perfect, if you want a shred guitar - you'd buy a jackson or something.

The guitar is rock solid, 5 bolt neck, locking tuners that wont go out of tune, even with excessive whammy bar abuse, chunky strap butons. Even the case would withstand a nuclear explosion. It's a rock-solid, proffessional quality instrument.

Of course I wouldn't gig it without a backup, i've never broken a string on it yet... but one day i might.

I don't know - they're amazing apparently. As i'm not the guitars original owner I don't know whether they'd talk to me or not.

I think it's worth the #1200 price tag (new), and I got it mint and virtually unplayed from ebay for about half that. These guitars seem like a well kept secret and fetch shockingly low resale values. Try getting a mint Les Paul on ebay with the original case for less than half the new RRP. Not going to happen.

The only thing i'd change is the nut width, i'm generally used to a 1 3/4" locking nut and the 1 5/8" nut on the silhouette makes things feel a bit crowded to me - and i have small hands! Access to the upper frets is about as good as you'll ever get on a bolt on (unless it's one of those extended cutaway jobs like on the N4). But bolt-ons always suffer from some obstruction where the neck meets the body.

Aside from that, this guitar is about as close to perfection as you're likely to get IMO and considering what you can pick them up for on ebay (#425-550), you'd be insane not to want one! Bare in mind - if i'd brougth this new I'd probably give it a '9'

Mine is a Candy apple metallic green Music-man Silhouette special that's been modified quite a bit.
I bought it new in 98 and it came stock with a H-S-S pickup config, a Wilkinson VSV vintage trem and Grover old style locking tuners.
Since then I've ditched the pickups along with the silent circuit.
I can't really get into s/coil guitars with a humbucker at the brige, it just feels too unbalaced to my ears.
I had a new scratchplate cut for 3 singles and put some Lace Sensors in there - blue in the neck, silver in the middle and a red in the bridge.
Also the trem got swapped out for a Gotoh vintage. The Wilkinson was just a bit too finniky as far as adjustment goes and the grub screw for the push-in trem worked itself out so I was uable to use it anyway.
Oh and one of the Grover m/heads snapped recently so I had to replace the set as they no longer make the old style anymore.
I popped some straplocks on it too and had a bone nut cut and installed as well.
Having said that, this is a rockin, working guitar that just sings!
I love the 10' radius and the lightweight body as well as the straight-pull smaller headstock.
It's pretty much a hot strat sound and I also had the tone contol modified so it's a push-pull to active the neck pickup. Pulling on it while you're at the bridge gives a nice Tele-type tone that's great for rhythm or spanking Tele style lead.

The sound is rich but still bright wothout being shrill or nasty in any way.
It's a very balanced tone that fits beautifully in a live band situation.
The Lace sensors a pretty quiet and I like the way they work in this guitar.

To be honest I can't really remember how the guitar was setup initially but the neck, fit and finish on this are top-notch.
The 5-bolt neck attachment with the countersunk plate is genius, the neck had not moved at all. Fender should really do this kind of thing, it's a far superior system.
I'm using 11's on this but it doesn't feel tight or hard to play, in fact the tension is similar to my Strats that have 10's.

Well 9 years and going strong. There are a few dings and dents on it but when you play live you expect that really.
I regularly gig with just 1 guitar (no backup) and this is it.

Never had to deal with them, no need to.

Awesome well thought out guitar! Very much a working mans axe, not a pretty-boy poser 'look how much money I've got' guitar like a PRS or a Gibson custom shop etc
Simple Elegance, that's what this guitar is.
If you're a player (not a poser) you'll dig these guitars a lot.

Made in '99, specially ordered lefty in pearl purple with a pearloid scratchplate H/S/S pickups and a hardtail bridge (also last year I bought a red sparkle lefty from '99 with a trem bridge which is pretty much identical). I think the P/Us are DiMarzios and it has the EBMM "Silent Circuit" so no hum ever....if you change the battery annually!
Rosewood fingerboard on a (very) birdseye maple neck with small fingerboard dots. Schaller locking tuners (the best & the easiest to use). 5-way P/U selector and 1 tone 1 Volume control. Came in a compact & light hard case.
The red one has a much less birdseyed neck.....maybe because I ordered the purple one specially.
All the features I need, nothing I don't. As a bonus it's compact (I'm 5'9") and very light.

I used this guitar live for 5 years in a hi-tech duo. In all that time I never once played it through a guitar amp, rather into a Boss GT-5 into the PA (so the girl singer didn't have a huge amp on stage behind her). Given that most of the tones were from the GT-5, it gave me everything I wanted from heavy rock through to acoustic.
Since the duo stopped I've used it through a Peavey Clasic 30. Again it has all the tones I need from a variety of rhythm sounds to a punchy but not too shrill lead. My tones vary from clean rhythm & lead to a raunchy blues sound....no extreme distortion or metal stuff.
I guess if I was being picky I would say it didn't really have its own "character" in the way my DeArmond or Rickenbacker do, but as a guitar to gig with for a variety of instantly accessible sounds it's number one.

Perfectly set up in my opinion. The slickest neck I've ever played ( though with a slight tendency to get moist in sweaty conditions......ooh matron!!!!).This problem disappeared after Machinehead (from whom I bought it ) gave it a fret-dress last year, so I guess they rubbed the neck down a little.
For the first 6 months I had a tendency to break E-strings ( and I NEVER break strings) but I guess this must have been a rough spot which wore in as I haven't broken a string since 2000. (Even when I did the locking tuners made mid-song replacement SO easy.....are you listening Mr Smith?????)
I could find NOTHING wrong with the fit or finish.

Well I've used this on over 500 nights, frequently for 4-5 hours a night in the UK, Middle East, Med & China. Never once had a problem with it (except when I left my phone charger in the case on the way to China & it got dinged!! Fortunately the girl singer had JUST the shade of nail varnish to touch it up!!).
So I guess we can say it's reliable & solid. I always had a back-up guitar....it never once left the case. It's still in perfect condition except for that ding. No rust or oxidising after 5 years of sweaty gigs.No noise from any of the electrics.
Of course after all that playing the frets showed a little wear, but after a trip back to Machinehead it plays as good as new....ready for the next 500 gigs!!

Never needed them for this guitar. I asked them a couple of questions about the Red Sparkle one I bought from EBay last year & got an e-mail back the same day.
Also when I registered the purple one with them they sent me 3 sets of strings free ( I think they've stopped doing that)
PRS could learn a lesson from them.

Been playing ages, own lots of gear.
This is just the best guitar there is. You're not wasting money on wavy fronts, silly inlays, limited editions or"Custom" nonsense....all your money goes on the guitar. Personally I'm glad they're so under-rated since it means I bought my red one unplayed for ?550!!
Comparing it to other guitars? Well I don't think the PRS is giggable....controls too fussy & noisy & someone might look at it or breathe on it. The Gibsons are useless for rhythm (too muddy)....basically if I'm going out to do a pop/rock/blues gig it's this one and the red one for backup.
Have bought & sold Gibson Les Pauls SGs (the best Gibson!) & PRS but I'm keeping these two.
I had a Fender Strat which shared most of its advantages for versatility & sound, but this one is more compact & easier on the shoulder.Plus the bridge humbucker gives it that little bit more punch & less shrillness.
It's easy to play, lightweight (some of us do 4 hours a night and don't have a private chiropractor)has the best neck available on ANY guitar, has great sounds and won't cost you more than your house.

This one?s a blue alder body, H-S-S pickup configuration with a rosewood neck. Other reviewers have covered the specifics already.

My style is classic rock, country, funk, blues and some that I don?t know what to call it. I play through 2 Laneys: an LC50 and an LH50; same amp but one?s a combo and the other is a head. I retube them with GT6L6GE in the power section and a variety of 12AX7 in specific V spots. I use V30 speakers in all cabs, my favorite being a small Alessandro pine 1x12.

The tone with stock pickups is very nice, full or fuzzy-warm, depending on whether it?s run through the clean or drive channel. I was fully prepared to drop a set of Fralin vintage hots into the single coil slots, but the more I play these stock p?ups, the more I?m liking them. The big surprise for me is how much I?m diggin? the bucker in the bridge, having been a Strat guy for so long. The Di Marzio humbucker is not of the high gain variety. Rather, it?s completely bluesy and classic rock all the way. For clean I still prefer the single coils, but to kick in to thick overdrive with the bucker is a really nice surprise. It jumps the volume up considerably, which is just perfect for leads without having to adjust the volume. Over all, the tone is bright enough to cut through the mix, but seems to have no ice pick effect in any position.

The neck is why I bought this guitar. EB necks are, in my opinion, the sweetest things since honey, and this one?s no exception. Well actually it may be an exception. More on that next.

I bought this guitar off eBay from a dealer, as being new. What I didn?t know was that it hung on their wall for 3 years! So why didn?t it sell there? First, the G string buzzed in open position, the blue finish had developed Alderation: a condition where alder wood settles and fine lines develop beneath the finish, which could only be seen in certain lighting. I almost kept it as it was, but since I was the first owner and sent in my warranty card, I emailed them, describing the flaws. They said to send it back to them and they?d take care of, after inspecting it. I did. They had it for 2 ? weeks and it was sent back to me. They replaced the body with a new one, made specifically for this axe, redressed all the frets, and replaced the nut (I think). The end result is as close to perfection as I?ve ever seen on a guitar, and I?m a very fussy character. Apparently, this guitar just spent to much time being tried out and drying out on the dealers wall. Now it?s beautiful to look at and a blast to play. It?s the first time in a very long while that I?ve had a guitar that beckons me to play. It?s inspiring me to reach further and I play what I know better. Isn?t that what a great axe is supposed to do?

I'm rating it on the final product.

Everything looks solid.

See above. I'm very satisfied with the way EB took care of the problems.

I've been playing for some 35 years. I have no regrets buying this guitar. If stolen I'd be really pissed. I'd definately replace it.

My favorite traits of this guitar includes its weight, shape, size, comfortable and playable neck. I can't think of anything I don't like about it. It's quiet as a mouse, and as I'd already mentioned, the humbucker in the bridge was a shocking and positive surprise.

My Silhouette Speical is a 2005, all-white (body, headstock and white pearloid pickguard), with a maple neck built in San Luis Obispo, CA. The guitar comes equipped with two single coil pickups with the patented 'silent circuit', (an active mechanism to cancel excessive hum) and a humbucker in the bridge position. There are two pot controls: volume and tone. The bridge is the MusicMan vintage style with a tremolo and the headstock is furnished with Schaller locking nuts.

To be honest with you, I can't think of any style that the Silhouette Special couldn't pull off, that necessitates a solid-body electric guitar. I won't speak for death/thrash/strangle-me-with-a-toilet-brush grinding metal, however I will say that the humbucker is very well equipped to handle a multiplicity of high-gain scenarios. Now, this also depends on the kind of amp setup one uses. I read some reviews telling that the humbucker on this guitar doesn't quite cut it. I therefore really put all the pickup configurations to the test in the studio with my Bogner Ecstasy stack, (on all channels), both dry and with some light delay using the TC-Electronic G-Major FX unit. On the Ecstasy's RED channel (without boost), this guitar simply sang out with a really 'liquid' type distortion, which wasn't quite as saturated in your face as my Axis, when played through the same settings. The silent circuit is a GODSEND and I got every sound that I wanted to get out of this thing without having to hear any annoying hum, buzz or feedback.

Now, I for one spare no expense when it comes to tone and gear, and if I suspected for a second that this guitar needed a better humbucker, I'd be all over it, but I really think that the stock pickups on this guitar are well balanced, quiet and killer sounding! Sure, if one is playing this through a Metal Zone pedal into a Crate Blue Voodoo or a tinny Marshall TSL Combo, OR if Toilet Brush metal is what one is after then I can understand the need for a different pickup.

The volume roll-offs are particularly great on this fine instrument, which allows me to get a multiplicity of different tones on the guitar, in combination to different pickup selection. If anything, this guitar is a little on the bright side, however I truly believe that's the idea.

Now, I expect anybody and everybody to get a guitar like this set up by a professional after receiving it - however, the setup on the guitar out of the factory was okay, with a nice low action but with some fret buzz. The manufacture on this, and all MusicMan guitars is exceptional and this particular guitar simply oozes quality. MusicMan guitars traditionally have incredible amounts of consistency across their guitars as well - and I would classify them as borderline-boutique. Now the gripes...

I had this guitar built-to-order to my specs, and had to wait over three months. Besides the colors, I requested that 10-gauge strings be put on as stock, but I guess that was too complicated and had to settle for the 9's. I also requested that a nice bird's eye / flamed maple neck be put on as well purely for aesthetic value, instead of the boring, bland light maple that's on right now but again - this was deemed unreasonable and declined, despite my offer to pay more $$$s. Ah well... Although this will never shake my undying love for MusicMan and my local Guitar Center - these simple things would've really gone a long way in terms of customer satisfaction. The two pots seem to be a little on the cheap side, but I'll get those swapped out with DiMarzios probably. Pick-up selector is fine. Despite some of the materials, the manufacture on this guitar is outstanding.

I think this guitar would withstand live playing without incident. The hardware looks solid and durable and I don't foresee any problems with this guitar. I always play with backup, so that criteria wouldn't even apply to a $50,000 guitar hand-built built by General Grievous himself!

Customer support at MusicMan is great. The staff is down-to-earth, friendly and very empathetic to musicians needs. I haven't had to call them on a technical support issue yet, but on all other issues such as sales - they are great.

I've been playing guitar for almost 20 years now, and this is the 3rd Ernie Ball MusicMan guitar I own. The other two are Axis (one stock, and the other modded). The hardware is very well built although some of the components are a little cheesy. I love this guitar and it will be my main axe now, after it simply dazzled me after five straight hours in the studio with my lovely amp.

This one is only a few years old. As I bought it used, I'm not too sure of the age. It's a S/S/H configuration with the dimarzios, silent circuit, and the piezo pickup and stereo outs. The controls are 2 volumes and one tone. One volume is magnetic pickups, the other is the piezo.

It's candy apple red with matching headstock, maple neck and fretboard. I believe that the body is alder. The trem is the vintage style thing that they've been doing for several years. It's also got locking tuners. Came with case.

It sounds great. Not perfect, but damn good. I think that I might swap the pickups out. I had an silhouette previously (that was stolen) that had the same configuration. I had Duncans in that one. I might swap the pickups to a JB, duncan albert lee, and perhaps another stacked single coil. Realistically, it's something that I am not likely to get around to. This thing sounds good enough already.

It's not a very noisy guitar, even less so with the silent circuit. I use it with a bassman or peavey classic 100 and sometimes a pod or effects like delay or a rat or ts-808. Sounds great with everything. I can get all the basic sounds that I need for the music that I play, which is pretty much everything but punk, death metal, or country. This guitar sounds like what it was intended to, a super-charged strat.

Zero flaws on this thing. It's been played some, and still functions as brand new. The action, as some have mentioned, is awesome. The neck is not laquered, but oil finished. It's super fast. Although I do play a telecaster as well, the musicman that I owned before absolutely ruined me for fender (or anything else for that matter) for quite some time. That's how good it is.

I had one of these for seven years. It was my main guitar. I played it so much that the fretboard was covered in dirt. Never once was it unreliable. These are built to last the long haul. My new one is no different.

I dealt with the company once before when I first silhouette was stolen. They were very friendly and easy to deal with. It didn't take me long to get a real, actually breathing, human being on the phone.

I have been playing guitar for nearly ten years, and have been a musician for around 15. I am not a gear freak, I just seem to stumble across great deals here and there that I can't pass up (how's that for a bad case of denial, haha). I own and play the following:

Standard, low-end yamaha acoustic
Gibson Les Paul Standard (flametop)
PRS Custom 22 10 top
Fender Am Std Telecaster
2 Fender Bullets (Japanese made circa 1980s)

I play through a bassman or peavey classic 100 run into a marshall cab ("1960 vintage").

For effects I use the following at various intervals:
Crybaby
Dunlop Rotovibe
Univox Superfuzz
TS-9 (w/ 808 mod)
Boss Blues Driver, DS-1, DD-3
Line 6 POD with long board
DOD analog delay
MXR micro amp
Pro co rat (circa 1980 or so)
Ibanez CS-9
Fulltone Fulldrive, Tremelo


If the guitar were stolen I'd get another. My first guitar was a custom, one-off, silhouette that was in the trunk of my car when it was stolen nearly 3 years ago. I've basically just been waiting for another to come along at a good price. 650 for everything that this has is the best deal for my money. Ever since I picked it up, it's the only thing that I've been playing. Considering that my Paul, PRS, and Tele are all fantastic guitars as well, that's saying something.

I think that my favorite feature is the neck. It's by far one of the easiest playing that I've come across. It's smaller across the fretboard, but has a very nice rounded profile that feels great. If you are looking for the Ibanez shredder type neck, look elsewhere. The only thing that I don't like about it is the fact that the control nobs are close together, but that's only because they had to make room for the piezo volume. It has taken some getting used to, but it's not really an issue.

Overall, if you like quality, pick one of these up. They are an absolute steal used. I think that the prices are so good because no guitar gods play one. Albert Lee, Lukather, Petrucci are all monster players, but they aren't as visible as they should be. I think that one of the guys in Good Charlotte plays one, but that doesn't count because they suck ass. The bottom line, most people pass these up on the used market, because they don't realize what fantastic guitars they are, that, and the fact that most people tooling around Guitar Center are looking for something that they've seen Metallica or the guys in the lastest emo band playing. Bottom line, if you can find one for a decent price, get it.

not sure of the year, s/s/h dimarzios, probably poplar or basswood, not sure, birds eye maple neck w/rosewood fretboard, kind of a sparkley blue finish w/ pearloid guard, locking tuners and noise cancelling circuit. bought it on a whim for a great deal, without case or anything really.

it sounds good but i prefer my strat. i had a mex strat(which i thought sounded good a long time ago) then i bought this and immediatly sold the mex. later i bought a american deluxe strat and now i prefer that for feel and sound. the pickups on this one sound good but not full and juicy enough. i think it would be good for a sultans of swing kind of sound. overall, i like but not love it. i also am not a huge fan of the silent circuit. i think it sounds better if you just take the battery out.

this is musicmans stand out. the necks are so fast and playable. you can just keep going for ever and never get fatigued. strings bend effortlessly and your hands move quickly up and down the board. the quality is excellent, but it just doesnt have the vibe of a strat. im not real keen on the size and shape of the body either or the headstock shape. of course everybody has their own opinion about that kind of stuff.

it is good in this catagory. if it were my only guitar, i would not worry about it. i have had it for 2 or 3 years now and its just like the day i brought it home.

never dealt

been playing 6 years or so. own am dx strat, am tele, gibson cs 356 & les paul florentine, legend om, bourgeois, langejans...have owned a few others. if i lost this one, it wouldnt be the end of the world for me. i like it, but in most cases if i needed a single coil sound for something, i would pull out my strat. i for sure wouldnt spend 12 13 or 14 hundred dollars on it like some others have. i found it new for $500 on a fluke, but you can find these on ebay for $500-700. the value doesnt stick as you can see. aside from my criticisms however, this is a great guitar that would do a lot of people good...especially the ones that hate fender. i would buy one of these over g&l, but not zion, grosh, melancon etc. i personally have found solace in the fender vibe.

Ernie Ball Musicman Silhouette Special, Maple neck, Grover mini-locking tuners, SSS pick-up configuration, Tremolo. The colour is Pearl Green with a perloid pickguard. One tone and one volume control, 5-way pu-selector. All you need and a beauty too. If she cooked I'd marry her. : )

I dabble in various styles of music, though I mostly play rock, because I didn'thave a guitar with just the right clean sound. I play tmy Silhouette through a Marshall VS100 (the second valvestate series which IMO has a damn good sound) and sometimes I use a Dunlop Crybaby. It suits all my needs, and the clean sound is one you just want to hear all day; no grubby chords; it's very articulate, and has great sustain for an instrument of such modest size and weight.
The sound goes from a nice thick sound at the neck pu to a punchy (and with a bit of gain reasonably biting) sound at the bridge pu. It nears the strat, but it doesnt whip you in the face like a Strat with the Neck pu selected. Part of the reason why I prefer this instrument over the Strat. When you crank up the gain though, there's enough room for artificial harmonics, but the guitar doesnt lose its definition and clarity (unless you do something silly with the controls on the amp : ))
One of the great features on the SP is of course the silent circuit, and it does its job admirably. Only downside is the extra humming when you get near other electrical equipment (maybe only speakers, I'm not a great expert at those things).
The tone control is nicely responsive, the volume control less so, but it does the job for me. You might want to consider changing that if you're one of those players that likes to fiddle with his volume during play (the volume control is also not as ideally positioned for that as the control on a strat by the way).
Then there's the Trem, which only bends the pitch down btw so you can forget about dumping your trickbag of Vai-licks on this one: ), you can use it and the guitar stays in tune! So what mroe do you want on that department?
All in all this guitar sounds like...all you need.

The set-up when I first touched tis guitar in the shop was impeccable, and I actually spent 3-4 hours I think playing it the first time I took it from the rack. The maple fretboard (from the same piece of wood as the neck, of course, has been expertly glued or stuck or whateverd back onto the neck, and there's no gaps or cosmetic imperfections there.
The pick-ups might be a little higher to suit my taste but I'm not going to fault anyone for that.
No flaws.

Can't comment on this one yet, because I haven't had the guitar for too long. If anything bad happens I'll let you know. To the guitar that is...something bad to the guitar

Not had to deal with these people yet either. 1 year warranty from date of purchase.

I've been playing for some 7 years now (which is a hell of a lot shorter than some other people, I know) but I dare say I have found a guitar that I will not go off in the future. I've been playing guitar twice as much since I bought it, and really feel like it inspires creativity. I played it next to a really nice 50th anniversary Strat (bravo Fender, a superb instrument) but I chose this instrument for reasons mentioned above, and because the neck on this guitar is like lightning, and is shaped more to my liking.
If it were stolen I'd definitely get a new one, if it were lost I'd be a big idiot.

Mine is the EBMM Silhouette Special HSS model with the vintage Trem, faded white celluloid pickguard, the colour is some kind of metallic mossgreen, the neck/fretboard is figured maple. I own this guitar(which is still stock config) for over 3 years now, so I think I've tried just about anything with it.

I play Rock, Jazz and Funk in different bands and situations. My setup: through Boss TU2 and Line 6 Delay to a Modded Koch Multitone.

When I bought this guitar it was strung with .009's, immediately I changed them to .010's, but now I play it with .011's. The guitar came alive when I changed to .010's(with .009 it sounded lousy), but .011 is even better!

I like the sounds on the first, third and fifth pu selector postition. The neck pickup is my favourite: big sound! But that is also due to my incredibly high action (it sounds so much better!).
The guitar is noiseless due to the silentcircuit > I like it!


I don't like the position of the pickup switch, especially when you're onstage and you use the neckpickup you have a great risk of hitting the switch and ruining your sound. The problem on the normal silhouette is even bigger because the pickguard is smaller on that one (due to the 24 frets). I might remove the switch, the middle pickup(don't use it) and the tone-knob (i never use it), then instead of a tone knob I want a three-way switch mounted there. So it doesn't bother my playing any longer.

My shoulder somehow doesn't like this guitar, the playing position sucks because of the smaller body I think. I've tried everything strapt on low or high > my shoulder just cramps up. With a ES 335 I don't have any problems at all!
I don't think I'll cut a piece of the upper horn, cause the guitar will probably just start to look like a mess, hehe!

The locking tuners can be tricky also: when the guitar has been in a car(when u have a gig) and gets a few bumps or so > the tuner can get loose and the string will pop out > then u have to re-string.. That kinda sucks.

The guitar is fine, though the trem wasn't setup proper at all! A lot of tuning problems, but I don't think there are many guitars that are setup correctly, or the way you like it..

The neck feels good, but looks like it's twenty years old. It's a non-laquered neck with some wax (gunstock oil) treatment. Even though I clean it often, it will look worn no matter what you do.

I like the 'worn' look, but the figures in the wood will get less clear.
I got straplocks, just like almost everybody else!

2001, made in California, USA. Opaque Pearl Blue solid alder body, oil finish maple neck and fret board, matching headstock, while pearl pick guard. 25.5-inch scale (same as a Fender). S/S/H DiMarzio PUs with a five way selector, volume and tone knobs. Vintage style trem, locking tuners. Came with hard case, extra springs for the trem, warrantee card. My only complaint is that it doesn?t come with a figured maple neck like the MM Axis and it?s not an option; also it would be nice if they had an optional ash body with translucent finishes.

I play mostly blues based rock, blues, classic rock and rockabilly. The humbucker was great from the start (good for heavy parts and hard rock), but the single coils were another story. At first I wasn?t crazy the DiMarzio singles and I wanted to change them. I thought they were too clean for vintage sounding and lacked the punch for modern sounding. However, once the battery on the silent circuit wore out a little the sound became much warmer but still held on to the punch. Also, I went from a M/B Nomad 100 1x 12 to a M/B Maverick 1x12 which really gives it a Texas Strat sound. Now I love the way it sound on all five settings. It really sounds like the best fat-strat you?ve ever heard.

Perfect. I had been a bass player for seven years and this was my first guitar, I had a Stingray Bass and I was really impressed with the Music Man build quality, so I decided that MM was the way to go. This is probably the best-built bolt-on guitar that you can buy at any price. A year after I got it, I decided to replace the 9s it came with with 10s; it was really easy to do and now plays even better (which I didn?t think was possible).

Rock solid. This is my main guitar and I have no fear that this guitar will let me down. The only reason I bring another guitar is for parts that require a different sound. I intend to pass this instrument down to my grandchildren.

Haven't had to deal with them yet, don't think I ever will.

I've been playing guitar for two years and bass for 12 and this guitar rocks. I own a sweet little Mex Tele and almost a dozen basses (Fender, Pedulla, MM, Warwick . . .) and this is my favorite string instrument, I wish I could settle on a single bass the way I settled on this guitar. For anyone looking for a Strat style guitar: this is it!

This one is an alder bodied solidbody, strat -style guitar with a maple neck. Made in the USA. The overall configuration is very "strat"tish.
The pu goes like SSH with the hum splitted. I'll come back to it later.
Tuners are Schaller M6-IND locking and the tremolo is vintage style music man.
The neck is gunstock -oiled, feeling very nice and woody. 22 frets.
The overall quality of the guitar is way above what I've been used to. Everything is just as supposed, nothing to complain about.

I tested Music Man because I needed an low -action strat with a tremolo which is smooth and stays in tune and MM definitely had all that.
I try to cope with some jazz but mainly play guitar oriented pop/rock. I use quite a lot smooth vibrato ala Lukather/Landau when playin big chords w/ delay. On the other hand, I tend to hand the guitar down to my knees and play brit-pop, oasis -style.

Silhouette gives a wide range of sounds, from traditional strat single coils to a crunchy hum at the bridge.

I was going to have my guitar modified so that I'd get some special wiring to it but I found out that MM had already made the same thinking before me. The guitar has the hum split so that in 5-way lever switch the neck position and the next is as in a strat, the middle pos is the neck side coil of the hum and the neck. The fourth pos is the bridge side coil of the hum and the middle, and the last pos is the hum alone (both coils). The only thing I miss is to have the bridge coil of the hum alone, as in Tele.

The natural sound of the guitar is nice, bright but not spiky. All the strat things come out rich and beautiful. The hum is good, but given the nature of the guitar, no lespaul -like huge, brown sound here. I like the fact that I still get a useful, descent humbucker sound from my MM -strat.

I've been playing the guitar thru Marshall and some stompboxes like The rat, ts9 and boss cs2 (compression) and the setup works ok to me.

The action was adjusted to my wishes and they did a good job. As mentioned, everything is in order and no problem so far. I love the neck and hope that I can keep it from turning to dirty in time.

Looks solid, but it's still too new to say. I never go onstage without a backup.

I wrote a couple of emails and got fast responses, actually the same day I wrote. The answeres have been thorough and kind, for istance containing the schematics of the guitar attached. Best service I have had.

I like strats and use my Framus tennessee to dover my jazzier, and lespaul needs. I play my tele mainly for the attitude and the bridge single coil rock and roll.
MM is my most versatile guitar, having many good things from different kinds of guitar combined. I used to have a PRS for that but I never got the sound I wanted from a mahogany -bodied guitar. This one is more for me, I'm more a strat -person.

I like the neck, it's like made for me. The body is small and nice to hold but to my eye sadly quite ugly. I'd buy an axis (tele) shaped guitar with the features of silhouette special if there was one. Tell me if there is...:)

My Silhouette Special has following configuration: birdeye+flamed maple neck, black body, black perloid pickguard, nontremolo, H-S-S

I replaced the original DiMarcio singlecoils against Seymore Duncan SSL-6, which have a higher output.

First of all I have to say that I used to be the typical lespaul, heavy rock player...

1) neck: I love the feeling of the neck, actually I did not think that I would get used to the fender scale, but that was just a thing of a couple of days.

2) body: The guitar is not as light as Ernie Ball advertises on their HP. I think it weights about 3.5Kg. The guitar is still not heavy, but I would appreciate if it was a little bit lighter.

3) sound: now here is the point why I kept this guitar. Of course it has because of the bold on neck less sustain than my Hamer special, but that does not matter. I has a very direct sound. I think the guitar is perfect for rhythm parts, I prefer the guitar for practicing and for recording.

The neck-cutout of the body is slightly to large. The finish is great, neck is perfect, but the cutout...I cannot understand that. I know the cutout does not affect the sound, but considering that the street price for a Silhouette Special is about 1600USD -which is a LOT of ash for a stratstyle guitar- this is not acceptable.

By the way? Even the cutout on my first Korean made Fender/Squire guitar is better done (I still have it). Therefore I only give a 5 for this point.

Mine's a 1996 Ernie Ball Music Man Sil-special.
It's a Candy apple green colour with an s-s-s pickup configuration.
Mine initially came standard with the Wilkinson vintage 6 screw trem, I've swapped this out for a gotoh vintage 6 screw, works much better and sounds a bit more natural to me as well this way.
Rosewood fretboard with the oil finished maple neck - gotta love that.
Stock, this axe came loaded with a 2 singles and a humbucker (all dimarzio's).
I personally don't think that humbuckers paired with singles balance all that well - unless you're using a Steve Vai type setup where you sandwhich the single in between 2 humbuckers and use the single more to colour the humbuckers.
The Standard Silhouette has this config but it has a 24 fret neck, which i don't like...
Anyway, I've got 3 lace sensors in here Blue at the neck ,silver in the middle and red in the rear.
Mine also has the grover mini locking tuners which are nice

Well the sound is pretty much hot vintage strat!
I'm using this with an old bluesbreaker Marshall and some boss pedals - it just sings.
Did a recent tour and the sound engineer on the tour just kept telling me how fantastic the guitar tones were.
I find that this axe fits really well in the 'mix'.
Seems to excel in an ensemble situation.

It came standard with 9's and an amazing setup.
I changed to 10's when I had the stock pups in and have since changed to 11's with the lace sensors.
Plays really well - as other reviewers have mentioned the 5 bolt neck attachement is as tight as a fish's anus.
Also, adjusting the neck is really easy.
It has a whell that protrudes from the neck near the neck pickup - it has a very responsive truss rod, turn the wheel and the neck moves into place instantly! No 2 week waiting period here
No finish flaws whatsoever

I've installed straplocks but other than that this axe all good.
It's so light that long sets don't fatigue you (or for stand up practice at home)
I don't break strings - last time I did would have been 6 years ago. Contrary to what people tell you, string breakage is all in your technique. (obviously burrs / sharp edges on a bridge help too, but I'm talking about playing a well setup and maintained axe)
I always gig without a backup - I take good care of my instruments and maintain them properly, there should be no reason for them to suddenly shit the bed mid-gig if they're looked after.

Never need to. I'm sure they'd be fine though.

This guitar is MUSICAL.
Thats the highest compliment you can make I think, the only limit to it is what I can or can't achieve in terms of technique or conception.
Been playing long enough to know that nu-metal is for wankers and all the real bands and musicians are largely unsigned or un-noticed.
Lost or stolen?
Most likely re-purchase another Ernie Ball!
May not be another silhouette-special, I like the look of the Steve MOrse model and the Axis Sport...
This is a great axe, go and try one!

2003 Silhouette Special, SSS/Piezo, hardtail, rosewood.
First-rate construction and materials throughout, minor problems with controls (see below).

My current band plays heavy/progressive rock and this guitar, while versatile, does not have a good metal tone. This is no fault of the guitar, but my choice in the SSS configuration.

I'm using the guitar with a Boogie Mark I and a variety of effects including an MXR Dyna Comp, Teese RMC1 wah, Sparkle Drive, Dimension C, and others. There's nothing like single coils and a good wah--the classic rock tones are fantastic, as are the surf tones, the soul/funk tones, and the rockabilly tones.

The EB/MM "silent circuit" really does cut the hum. I've read that it detracts from the tone of the PUs, but if it does, it's not in a way that I mind.

The bridge PU tone is not as biting as a strat, but position 2 is dead-on SRV. Position 3 is alright, not too exciting, position 4 is very smooth and mellow, and the neck PU is like a slightly muted Tele.

The Piezo, with build-in pre-amp, is amazing. I plug it into an old Peavey PA and it just sings! I owned a Parker Fly for a while, and this guitar's piezo sound blows the Fly away! On the bottom edge of the guitar are three pots that turn with a screwdriver or the end of a sharp pick to control Piezo max volume, tone, and mix.

I like the range of tones, but wish that the bridge PU had a little more twang to it. The piezo rules.

The guitar was very well set up out of the box with no flaws. The fret edges are smooth. I should point out that my Silhouette is six years old and the edges are still smooth--the sign of properly-aged neck wood and the sign of a manufacturer who cares.

The only problem is that one of the input jacks crackles a little. That was easily fixed.

I've been playing many hours a week with this guitar and it's a workhorse. The five-screw neck joint is solid, the smaller headstock inspires confidence when swinging the neck around like an idiot during performance, and all the hardware is rock solid.

The finish is great. I prefer the satin-finished neck that this guitar has, though I know that it will eventually discolor like my Sihouette. This does not affect playability.

I replaced the strap buttons with straplocks.

I know I can depend on this guitar to deliver for years, though I never gig without a backup. There's a lot of electronics in this thing, what with the piezo and silent circuit (both of which are powered off a 9v battery), which means more stuff to potentially fail.

I've dealt with EB/MM on many occasions. They are some of the nicest people I've every done business with. Friendly and responsive by e-mail and phone.

I've been playing for about 21 years and have owned more gear than I can remember. I knew exactly what I wanted in a guitar, and I got it in this one.

If this guitar were stolen, I don't know what I'd do. Maybe put my car in hock to buy another.

I love the tones, the perfect body shape and size, the playability, and that piezo sound. I don't like that I can't get that biting Strat tone.

I compared this guitar to different Strats and a bunch of stuff at the local guitar stores. EB/MM has some of the best stuff out there, especially for the price.

O2 Maple neck with 2 single coils and 1 humbucker. The chrome Schaller locking tuners are the best . The maple neck was hard to get used to because of its small size at first, but it begs you to use your thumb for chords. Mine has a great metal flake tobbaco sunburst finish on the body an headstock .

I dabble in all kinds of styles ,but this guitar is at home with blues, rock,and funk. I play through a Peavey 2-12 Ultra Tube and a FoxRox Captain Coconut pedal. It's pretty quiet, I plan on changing the pickups they are the weak point of the guitar.The pickups are not bad, but they are not as exceptional as the rest of the guitar is . You can get any tone you need from this guitar.

Fantastic action and workmanship, I love the feel of satin oiled neck. The paint job is great .

I havent gigged with it but I am sure it would hold up fine .

Never had a problem, but I have called with question and they were very helpfull.

I have owned Strats, Gibson guitars, Mesa ,Marshall,Fender, Line 6 and all the other cliche'd gear . I am very happy with my current gear (Yamaha SA 200O Guitar,Musicman Guitar,Peavey Ultra Tube, Captain Coconut and other boxes ) and would encourage people to "work their fingers to the bone and find their own tone". Buy a MusicMan guitar and you will have all the sounds of the above mentioned brands,and you can be different ...just like me .

US built guitar, 22 frets, solid body, HSS picksup (Dimarzio) with Silent Circuit for the single coils (powered by a single 9v battery), 5 way selector, volume & tone.

My guitar has a rosewood fretboard with a 10" radius, nicely figured birdseye maple neck and is finished in Autumn Red. Mine is the hard-tail version.

Machines are Schaller locking units. Case & tools were included.

I play mostly Funk (note the capital 'F'!) and Jazz styles but I also wander into some rock & metal from time to time. This baby does it all and more. I play it through a Mesa/Boogie MkIV combo and a couple of Boss pedals with a Crybaby Wah.

The sound is whatever you want it to be. The controls are very versatile. I have never really been one for messing around with the tone controls anyway.

The only thing I don't like is the positioning of the 5 way pickup selector. It's the same with Strat's though. I play a lot of funk style rhythm and I keep knocking the switch. This isn't really a design fault or anything as it's probably my fault in the first place!

I bought this guitar second-hand but as a guitar tech myself, it was easy to get it playing just how I wanted it. I have replaced the standard black scratchplate with a black pearl one and have had red Sims' LED's fitted in the fron & side positions. I also added a set of Schaller Straplocks. The neck is easy to adjust and I have had no problems with anything else. The Schaller machines are great. The only thing I'm not keen on is those cheap-o folded over bridge saddles. They might have to go soon.

I'm thinking about putting a set of EMG Steve Lukather pickups in soon too.

I have lost count of the number of gigs I've done with this guitar. I've gigged at least once a week for the past 3 years and have never even broken a string. I always take a backup but never have to use it.

The finish is as tough as old boots. Not a single scratch anywhere, even under a light. I always wipe my guitars down thoroughly after playing and take great care with the paintwork. It just seems to look after itself anyway!

The oil finish on the back of the neck seems to change colour as time goes on - there is a distinct line where your hand stops at the nut. Musicman owners will know what I mean. It's a feature, not a problem :)

Never had to contact customer support but I've heard they are excellent. No need for repairs either.

I've been playing for 18 years and own loads of other guitars. This is by far my favourite. It looks nice, feels nice, plays great and even smells nice (every time I open the case it just smells brand new!). I love everything about this guitar.

If it was stolen I would employ some kind of 'Kill Bill' style revenge tactics, then go and buy another one exactly the same.

In the past I have owned several American Strats and this blows them all out of the water. Don't buy a Fender - PLAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!!!

USA made guitar with 22 frets, 1 volume and 1 tone control (simple, but effective).
Tuners are Schaller locking tuners
It is possible to change some features to your personal taste when you would order one:
- 3 single coils, or 1 humbucker + 2 single coils
- Standard or vintage tremolo bridge, and even a piezo!
The instrument comes with a silent circuit, which uses a battery.
The handy battery compartment lets you change the battery without unscrewing anything.
I have a MM silhouette special with a vintage tremolo (no piezo; I can't remember it was possible to get this at the time I bought the guitar at the end of the year 2000)
The guitar comes with a case.
Only thing that would be nice was if it came with straplocks standard, but that is an easy thing to change.

I try to play different kinds of music, ranging from pop music to pretty loud metal, and I wanted to be able to do that on one guitar + amp. What I needed was a versatile guitar, and that is what this guitar is.
I use this guitar with a Hughes & Kettner Triamp mkII.
The guitar is not noisy at all. The silent circuit on the bridge pickup works really good! I can't imagine anyone can't hear the difference...
With the neck pickup only, and a little overdrive of the amp, it sounds really nice for blues with an edge. Also nice on high gain though. Nice lead tone with the tone control rolled back.
The humbucker might not be the #1 choice for heavy shredders since it is not a very high output humbucker, but I have no complaints, because it can scream, and produce a lot of feedback when I want to. When playing clean with this humbucker it has a little bit too much mid in it, but I think that is a matter of personal taste.
I wouldn't call it sterile; it has a character of its own.
Would give an 8 for the sound (not higher because of the lots of mid "problem" when playing clean).

I ordered the guitar at a shop, and they placed this order at the distributor for my country, who ordered it at Ernie Ball Music Man. When the guitar finally came (took a while!), I directly got it without anyone doing anything on it. After a while I had some slight problems with the neck, but a little tweaking of the trussrod solved this. For the rest, the neck is very comfortable; with some kind of wax finish. You feel the wood when you play, instead of paint!
Fretwork is very good. No sharp edges. Perfect.
The finish of the body is very good. No faults to discover in the paint. The polyester finish is not fragile, so no scratches, even after a couple years of using.
Only problem I had with the guitar was the nut. I couldn't keep the guitar in tune very well, so I replaced the standard nut with a graphtech nut, and after this, it has the tuning stability of a floyd rose system, without the disadvantages.

When playing the guitar without amplifier, you can hear it is made of great quality wood, and very well built. It sounds very alive and well balanced.

No complaints here; I don't think anything on this guitar would let me down; it is good quality!
The finish will last; the polyester coating on the body is not fragile, so no problem here. The neck color will change when playing; it will get a little darker, from sweat, maybe some metallic residu of the strings, and probably some filth, but this gives the guitar some character, and doesn't damage the instrument.
I use this guitar without a backup when I don't want to walk around with more guitars (lazy person :-) ). The only thing that could happen is an empty battery for the silent circuit, but without that battery, the guitar will work (only with more noise on the bridge pickup).
I would recommend changing the standard strap buttons to some straplock system, but that counts for every guitar.

I have dealt with the company before I actually had the guitar (it was on order). It took a really long time before it arrived, and I didn't like that at all, so I thought I would send an email, and so I did.
I got a reply very fast, and they were very friendly.
After this email conversation, it was clear the delay wasn't their fault; the distributor for my country didn't place the order very fast after I ordered it.

I have also emailed the company with a question about maintaining the neck, and again a fast and quick reply.

I have never dealt with them about broken parts or anything, but I don't think they wouldn't be less friendly.
Actually, when someone would tell me the customer support wouldn't be good, I wouldn't believe it!

The EB MM company should give some training courses to other companies (of course not all) about customer support; there are lots of companies who can learn from them!

I am playing for 9 years now. I started off with some metal stuff, but on my path I am trying to play different kinds of music; from metal to classical to jazzy kind of things.
Other (electric) guitars I use are a fender stratocaster (with floyd rose and some hot rodded pickups), and a godin G5000 (with seymour duncan alnico II pickups). I use this guitars through a Snarling Dogs super bawl whine-O wah pedal into a Hughes & Kettner triamp mk II head and a H&K TC412 cabinet, or a marshall 1960AV (depending on the sound I want to have).
The Silhouette special is the most versatile guitar, and also the most comfortable instrument to play because of the body and neck shape.
Because it has a good vintage tremolo (no floyd rose), it is easy to go from a normal tuning to a dropped D for example. No worries about getting out of tune...you won't!

If it would be stolen or anything, I would get myself another one, without thinking of buying a different guitar.
Only thing I would consider is trying to get one with a piezo bridge.

Features are good for a stratish style guitar. I would give it a 9 but I love the silent circuit and so I'll give it a 10 for that.

This guitar has the ability to pull out any strat style sound you want. The humbucker could be hotter for metal playing but that's not what this is for so it doesn't get a deduction for that. The tone control works wonders, very responsive. The neck single coil may be as close as I've ever gotten to acquiring that eric johnson tone. playing through a champ 30 and a tonebone pedal. sounds great through my friends hot rod deville. This guitar get's a 10 because it exceeded my expectations for it. More versatile that the strats I've played but it can cover their territory.

Wow, beautiful maple fretboard. Figured but not excessively so. Good birdseye. The neck is perfection. This is the best neck I've ever played in 17 years of guitar playing. It's the guitar I play more that any other. Nothing could be improved on the one I bought. I'm very critical here as well. I bitch about little things no one I know would ever pick up on.

Give it a 10 because I dropped it and nothing happened. It's still perfect. Wouldn't gig without a back-up ever. Not due to the guitar but I'd need a locking nut and trem to even think of doing that. but, once again I'm not gigging out and I did not buy this guitar to have a locking trem and nut. so no deductions.

YOU WILL NEVER FIND A COMPANY THAT IS THIS HELPFUL> EVER> They get a 12, ok, just a 10

I won't ever need to buy a strat and this guitar is so nice and a neck so perfect that I don't want a strat. bought a prs just cause I like them but this is my favorite playing guitar ever.

Fire Engine Red Music Man Silhouette Special with SSS set-up. Bird-eyes mable neck is awesome. The neck feel is excellent. I have tried many guitars in this type and found Music Man Silhouette Special's neck is very hard to beat. The finish is almost similar to Fender's fiasta red. More details , please go to http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/specs/instruments_silhspecial.html
All in all, this guitar is the best bang for the buck. I've been searching for fender-substitute and this guitar fits the bill perfectly and then some -- ( silent circuit).

I've spend many hours with the guitar and switch back and forth between fender vintage and Silhouette Special. I have to admit I fond of Silhouette Special. I don't have to worry playing it out. The silent circuit works great and keep the guitar hum-free. I can get fender clean tone ( early dire strait ), screaming SRV, Jimi Hendrix vibe. Basically, all you need to explore fender tone territory. Love it !

The guy at the shop sets up the guitar buzz-free. No problem at all. The finish is very attractive as I always love fiasta red color and want one for a long time. Fire Engine Red is kind of like fiasta red with slightly darker shade of red but not as dark as candy apple red. The guitar stands out among 15 others or so guitars of the same type. I closely inspect the guitar and find no flaw. Music Man build quality is one of the best as far as I concern.

The finish is polyurethane with a polyester clear coat which is similar to those being used in car industry. So, I believe it wil withstand the test of time. The guitar as a whole is very solid and tight. The neck-joint leaves very very tiny space between the body and neck which means precision level and the quility. Let's look at honda cars today for example.

No problem at all. I have owned music man before and they are very helpful and eager to answer any questions. They are very friendly and reliable.

Music man is one of the best , great quality guitar out there. Anyone thinks of buying new fender-type guitar should try music man guitar. Fender is not the only answer and its quality nowaday is aweful and so overpriced. Music man offers the best value for your money and you get the product that will last a lifetime. They sound great, play great and inexpensive. I found the best kept secret and it's music man silhouette special. I myself own 3 real fender vintage ( 2 start, and 1 tele ) and want new guitar with troble-free and tone to die for. Silhouette Special's quality and sound is as close as you can get with the price that will not break you pocket.

USA Made, Hss Pick ups, tremolo, 5 way switch, active silent circuit, volume, tone. Maple neck, sparkle sunburst with matching head stock and pearloid pick gard. It has just enough options to make me perfectly happy.

I started playing mainly rock, hard rock 22 years ago and this is the first time that i don't want to change the pick ups on a guitar. I have owned a tele, les paul, kramer, ibanez etc. I play threw a Keely moded boss SD1 into a Peavey prowler with a boss d.d. in the effects loop THATS IT! no mickey mouse doo dads. I have shopped around for a month to find "my guitar" and i fell in love with this one. In position neck/middle I got the perfect SRV "rude mood" tone

The action was a little low, and the single coils were a little high.
But hey thats a matter of taste i guess. The rest was perfect, finish, every thing.

Still very new but it seems very solid. i would gig with a back up only for string breakage.

As mentionned, 22years playing, had all kinds of guitars, amps and effects over the years and sold them all. Now i think i have found "the guitar". If it were lost i would be devastated, and order one. I tried a Brian moore, Peavy wolfy, Fat strat. and this is the one i chose. I didn't try a PRS (to scared to like it more )but i can't imagin....The only thing...I wish manufacturers would put stock strap locks. No is that insignificant or what!

2002 USA Made. Bolt-on. SSH with five way selection. DiMarzio PUs. Alder body with maple neck and fret board. Hardshell case. I ordered mine in pearl blue with a matching headstock, a pearl pick guard and the vintage tremolo. Any other specs can be found on the web site. Basically, the guitar is a Fat Strat in a smaller package with a lot more muscle.

I wanted a versatile guitar to jam on. I play mostly classic and hard rock, Rolling Stones to Van Halen. What first brought the Sil to my attension is that Keith Richards sometimes plays one. I would rate the DiMarzio single coils somewhere between good and very good. They're some where between modern and vintage sound, which gives them some versatility, but sort of makes them neither fish nor fowl. I considered replacing them, but anything better would have been a lot of money and I decided it wasn't worth it. The bridge humbucker is, in a word, excellent.

First the fit and finish: Built like a custom shop guitar. Every screw was tight, the finish was incredible and the neck . . . oh, the neck. I could play this guitar for hours. Next the action: I found the action a bit low, but that's more personal preference then something to hold against the guitar. Also the position of the trust rod adjustment made it easy to fix. Recently, I switched the 9s the guitar came with to 10s and between that and the action adjustment I have the guitar exactly how I want it and whole process was surprisingly easy.

Built like a tank. The body and the electronics are wonderful; this guitar feels like it will last forever. The natural finish on the neck makes it a little sensitive to humidity, but it's well worth it to get that feel.

Haven't had to deal with them, but I've heard good things.

I love this guitar. The flaws are really minor and nothing I would let discourage me from buying another if something did happen to it. I would highly recommend any one considering a Custom Shop Strat or G&L to look at one of these first.

You know, I have owned and played quite a few guitars from Aria Pro's to Prs/Gibson LP's and this guitar has pretty much-IT ALL! The humbucker sounds pretty good through all of my TUBE Amps and works well with effects. The neck is very straight with extremely low action like well set up Carvin guitars and the feel is quite nice. The color is nice and the guitar is very lite with ample but, surprising sustain!

This thing sounds good for everything from country to metal and works very well with both of my rigs. I play in Church (most of the best are in the Church)!, and we play every style of music and I use allot of effect pedals along with the amp's overdrives to get many many sounds. The single coils are great, like a Strat(real one) and the Humbucker is fine with anything from Eric J. to Chet and SRV to John P. and Steve Vai or Joe S. as well as Charlie Crow and Wes Montgomery! It does it all for me!!!!

This guitar is very comfortable and since my hands aren't very big the neck fits me perfectly allowing me to do some of the Jimi H. cords and licks. The neck is perfect 4 me. The cutouts/curves on the body are comfy resting on my leg or the guitar sits true when standin and is pretty well balanced. The guitar looks good as well!

Ah here is the trick, I haven't owned this guitar very long but, I have had NO problems with it at allllllllll!!! The battery seeems to be fresh but, I always have an extra fresh battery in my pocket im case I need a quick change of tonal power! Lol.....
10 as I don't think I'll need assistance with this solid guitar-I'm jazzed with it!

Have not had to use it yet!

I rate this guitar a 10 as it is just a plain good guitar! I haven't had any tuning or tone issues at all with this guitar and it is Special to me and I can truly say this is a ten for me at any price this guitar gives ALL of the Top Guitars a serious run for their $$$$ my PRS and Les Pauls included-I don't play Fenders as I've had bad experiences with their guitars and Gibson doesn't really do much better for customer service or info is concerned !

As far as I knwo this is a 2002 model. It has 22 frets with a maple fretboard. It's a HSS with active pickups, it takes a battery and is suppose to last 800 hours. I haven't played it that long though, so I can't verify that, but I'm sure that it does. The controls for the pickups are great and don't get in the way. It's got sweet locking tuners and stays in tune for days (probably even weeks)! I cannot get over the color of it! It's called blue sparkle and is the most beautiful color guitar that I have ever seen!

This has always been my dream guitar, even over a PRS. The first time I saw it was int he hands of Matchbox Twenty's lead guitarist Kyle Cook. Considering they are my favorite band, I fell in love with the sound of this guitar (it's the one Matchbox Twenty use son Push if anyone wants to hear one). As soon as my local guitar dealership got it in, I bought it.

My rig right now is my Ernie Ball Silhouette Special a Marshall MG Series 250 DFX. THIS GUITAR SOUNDS AMAZING!!!!! I thought that I would be bias writing this considering that it has always been my dream guitar but it is seriously the best sounding guitar that I ahve ever played. The toggle switch on any position will blow away any guitar in my books, that's how versatile this guitar is. IT makes no noise at all (active pickups) and has any type of sound that you would imagine!

I Love this guitar and no matter what it will always be in my collection!

This guitar is gig ready right out of the factory. You can tell that Ernie Ball workers really put their pride and love into each and every instrument!

It also came with a wicked case that is built like a tank!

This guitar has it all, it comes with everything you need to help maintain it which is a bonus. Every guitar is reliable and durable as long as you maintain it, this guitar jsut makes it easier because it is in such solid condition.

My strap has came undone three times since I've had it but I think that it was my straps fault. Jsut for safety anyways, I am gettting Dunlop strap lock's installed! I use this guitar for all of our bands sets. I do not need a back up and don't think I ever would with this guitar, it's just that great!

This is one of the main reasons that I wanted to write this review! I cannot stress enough how amazing Ernie Ball customer support is! With the purchase of this guitar I recieved a year's suplly worth of Ernie Ball Strings as well as 3 extra sets for registering the 1 year warranty. I sent them away, and one of the nicest persons ever (Beth) from Ernie Ball called me! She called to confirm everything and was very pleasant to talk to! She answered all my questions and made me feel all that more confident with my Ernie Ball purchase! I think that Ernie Ball could definately pride themselves on customer service, they great at it!

I've been playing for roughly five years and know what makes a guitar good! This is simply the definition of everything that does make a guitar good! All I can say is everything about this guitar, the color, the pickups, the sound, the playability, the locking tuners, the sound, the warranty, the case, the customer service and everything else is outstandable! Odds are it would never be stolen because it rarely leaves my hands, but if it was, I would find the person regardless and...well anyways. All I can say is that this guitar is a guitar for everyone who loves guitars! It Rocks!

This was a 95'/96' made in USA. This is a 24 fret guitar and originally just called the Silhouette. The pickups are H/S/S . Alder body with pickguard. Birdseye Maple Neck front and back. The Pickups are Dimarzios made for this guitar. Stop Tail thru the body. Finally the pickups are controlled by a 5 way switch.

I play in a contemp. Church Band and also in and out of Folk Rock/Hard Rock bands...sometimes sit in for a Country Band. This guitar is very workable in all of the situations. I play through a Roland JC120 (heavenly clean sound) and RP200 and this guitar is a good match. The silent circuit is a wonderful idea. The single coils sound very good like a strat but stronger, the humbucker I was disappointed in. The poles on the HB did not like up with the strings and it sounded weak like it was made just to produce sound and not TONE. Maybe they have changed this on the newer models but on this one the strings are wider than the pickup.

This is where Ernie Ball excels. Frets...perfect, the neck is THE BEST in the business giving no fatigue through 6 hours of play.

I dont like to gig without a backup but with this guitar I dont give it another thought. I have played for 25 years and this is the best made guitar out there from a larger co. Sure there are other small boutique shops that make guitars as well but not better.

I only emailed them about finding a hardshell case and they responded the next day. Very good.

As I said before I have been playing for 25 years and have owned 76' Les Paul, 97 Hamer custom Archtop, various Strats, 64'/73' Mustang, Wolfgang (regardless of being a Peavey one of the best tone/playability guitars), 61' Duo-Sonic, Hamer Chaparrel, Charvel, Washburn (very good guitars), Warrior for a shot while, blah blah blah. This guitar rates above most in tone and except for the Wolfgang, Warrior and Hamer and better quality than all except for/but equal to the Warrior and Hamer. If I wanted a Strat I would buy the Silhouette with S/S/S. Great guitar if it had the Axis bridge humbucker.

This is a posthumous review of a 2000 model EBMM Silhouette Special.
She was candyapple red, maple/maple neck, locking shallers, vintage trem, and h/s/s p'ups.

First off, let this review reflect that this instrument was purchased over the internet from Musician's Fiend and it was the third unit ordered before I gave up on MF entirely. Secondly, let this review also reflect that EBMM guitars are praise-worthy instruments and are among the finest tools a musician can have to carve out a new path or tread where cover-players ramble.

That being said, see below for an assessment of this guitars strengths and few weaknesses.

I build custom made tube amps and for comparison's sake, I'll review this guitar with a Peavey Classic 30 retubed with Tesla 6BQ5's and Brimar ECC83's. The C30 is a *highly* underrated amplifier, BTW.

THis guitar is stunning when clean and distorted. Absolutely. The silent circuit is remarkable. The clean is bright, glassy, jangley, and woody. Distorted, the guitar takes on a throaty edge and the glassiness remains. Beautiful.

Everything was perfect by the time I returned the guitar for the third time. Thanks to Musician's Fiend for selling defective gear...

Two problems led me to settle with a G&L Legacy. THe first was the width at the nut which was too narrow. The second was the frets were too short for me to do the bending that is required. These are personal issues, non-reflective of the quality of the build, which is obvious. I will be retrofitting the EBMM singlecoils into the Legacy, BTW.

Great

2002 Made in the USA. Alder body with maple neck and 22 fret maple fingerboard. Color: Blue Dawn. S/S/H pick up configuration. I believe the pick ups are Duncan but I can't swear to that. Music Man vintage tremelo. Schaller locking tuners. 25.5 inch scale. Medium size frets. Came with a really nice flight style hard case.

I mainly play hard rock ala Metallica, Van Halen, Gun's N Roses etc... Currently running through a Peavey 5150II. Only effects I use are a Boss DD-3 and a Boss CH-1. Distortion comes from the 5150II but that's a different review altogether. The Silhouette Special has this thing that they call a silent circuit that's supposed to cut down on the hum of the single coils. To be totally honest I don't really hear any difference when I remove the battery. So much for that. The humbucker, which I've read plenty of poor reviews on here, actually is pretty chunky. I have no problems dropping down a half step and wailing on some Metallica with this beast, she sounds good. I'll give it a 9 on this one because of that silent circuit thing. If anyone from Ernie Ball reads this and wants to tell me what I should be listening for with that thing then I'll be more than glad to change my mind if I hear a difference. Until then......

Guitar was in tune and ready to play when I opened the case. String action was extremely low, just the way I like it, and had no fret buzz at all. Pick up height took a bit of adjusting but I think that's personal. I also made a slight adjustment to the truss rod but I don't blame EB for that one. I'm in Japan and this thing took a major trip to get to me. Some adjustments are expected. The neck would could be nicer. This particular guitar has a plain maple neck. No birdseyes at all. Also there are 2 spots on the neck, one on the front at the 15th fret and one on the back right below the head that are a real dark color. I think they could have quality controlled that a bit better. Especially since customers in Japan pay <roughly> 2500.00 Dollars for this guitar. Fret wire is set up real nice and smooth. no rough edges and nothing sticking out the sides. Nut and bridge are also set real well. As far as parts go this is real nice. The blue dawn color looks real nice in the catalog but when you get to see it up close it's kind of funky with this metallic flake in it. That flake does not photograph well either. I snapped a few shots of it and the flash made it look like something straight out of Studio 54 or something. I'm not entirely happy with the color but that was my choice and I'll have to live with it. Not their fault. Prospective buyers try to see the color you want in front of you instead of in a catalog. The schaller locking tuners are real nice. I've never used them before and found that changing strings takes about 10 minutes less time because of them. Very happy with those. I'll probably get a few sets for my Wolfgang and my Stratocaster. I'm going to give them an 8 here because of those spots on the neck. Other than that this guitar is a 10.

So far she seems to be able to handle the load of what I throw at her. Hardware is solid. Finish is real nice. Doesn't seem to look like it's going to wear off anytime soon. I wish those flakes would disappear though. hehe!! Strap buttons were switched when I got her home to Schaller Strap Locks. All my guitars get that done so no offense to EB with that. Would I gig without a backup? Only a moron would gig without a backup....no matter what guitar they have. If you break a string and don't have a replacement there in a snap then you're phukked big time. Do I trust her not to break down on me? Yes. Tuning also seems to stay regardless of all the string bending. Much more dependable than the Strat in this area.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I've been playing roughly 17 years. My other guitars are a 1999 Peavey Wolfgang Special maple top (see my reivew on that one),1991 Fender American Stratocaster USA, Ibanez USA Custom, Charvel Randy Rhodes Flying V, and Gibson Explorer. If I could change anything about this guitar it would be those damn metallic flakes. An optional Floyd Rose would be nice but this vintage tremelo of theirs seems sturdy and dependable. Favorite feature would be those locking tuning keys. Real nice. If it was stolen I would replace it with one of a different color. I was trying to decide between a Les Paul and this. I went this way. Nothing against Les Paul guitars but they're so damn heavy to carry around. No thanks. I'm also not real comfortable with that short scale either. The Explorer is on Yahoo Auction here in Japan as I type. Nice guitar, but a heavy ass block of wood if you ask me. That's about all. I'm going to give this guitar an overall rating of 9 but that's only because of the little things that I'm not happy with. Overall, this is a nice guitar and you won't go wrong if you get one.

This review in no way reflects my view of the dealer of this instrument. They did their absolute best in isolating the problem with this guitar. Unfortunately to a lost cause. L&M back their instruments with more than 100% effort and I will continue to buy all of my musical equipment from them.

This review is an ammendment to the post shown directly below.
The MIAC 18 of 30 guitar listed below was found with a fatal flaw.
It simply was unbearably out of tune across the neck. It appears to be a problem with the nut but I have since returned it because I didn't wish to fight with it. I have never had this problem with a guitar before and I was going to pay this kind of money to inherit one.
I have ordered another Music Man guitar, in the meanwhile. An Axis SS. I am hoping that I will have better luck with this one.

Sound was still great but terribly out of tune.

this was still great

not so good in this case

Now this one will not be a high mark. Ernie Ball have a very limited manufacturing facility so it takes a while to get one.
I am hoping to have this expedited so that I will be happier sooner than later.

Like I said, this guitar was a lemon and I'll be glad to post a new one when a true quality instrument finds its way into my hands.

Perhaps, I spoke too soon. This is an ammendment to my detailed description of #18 of 30 MIAC anniversary Silhouette Special guitar. It wasn't until I really started cranking the distortion when I noticed a real problem with the intonation of this guitar.
I set it up myself originally and the 12th fret harmonic was right on with 12th fret played note. Unfortunately, the 5th fret with this setup was unplayable. Getting a second opinion I brought it into the best store I know in my parts, Long and McQuade, Brampton. This is where I also purchased the guitar. They have knowledgeable staff and worked on it for a few solid days and admitted that this guitar was just not right. I have nothing against them nor Ernie Ball. It would appear that the nut is the culprit but this guitar in its current state is unplayable. I have now returned it due to the bad taste it left in my mouth.
This was perhaps just one guitar a bunch that was bad. I still like Ernie Ball guitars but I wish that the quality assurance for a guitar in this price range was a little better. If I wanted a $250 dollar guitar I'd buy one. I could have bought 8 for the price of this one.
Since then I have ordered a Trans Blue Axis SS trem with maple fingerboard from this same very helpful store. I will await for delivery before commenting further.
Like I said, I like Ernie Ball guitars, the necks have the best feel around.

first note:
I have to thank Mario for his post on this guitar. I looked long and hard for a guitar that could do it all for over 2 years. I'm kind of thrifty with my money so I try to research a great deal before making the purchase.
Anyhow, I saw a MIAC 30th anniversay edition Silhouette Special and thanks to Mario's post here he confirmed what I had already felt.
I don't want to simply repeat everything already expressed below so I'll simply try to add sparingly. It's a three single active setup with noise cancelling custom DiMarzio's. Vintage tremolo and locking pegs.
The neck is what sold me right off the bat. A sweet smooth feel. I'm huge on maple and Ernie Ball makes beautiful birdseye necks.
The body of course is that vanilla, (vintage white) colour.
I'm not huge on the colour. I like it but I'll be honest, I wish Ball would offer more transparent finishes on the Silhouette models.
I went with the Silhouette special for its versatility.
I wanted a tone knob, so it ruled out the Axis. I wanted the single coil sound and got more than I bargained for, with a thick distortion, the single coils scream when it called upon.
I like the fact that the volume knob isn't so close to the pickups giving a little bit of room to put your hand. Seriously, this always bothered me with Fender. You have to be comfortable when you play.

I love the single coil sounds on this thing.
Knopfler, Clapton, E. Johnson
Turn up the gain on the bridge and you can get your V.H., Tragically Hip, Extreme, Alien Ant Farm, or whatever you want.
It can still scream out the artificial harmonics if you need them.
If you have a fender tube amp, you probably won't get these sounds but I have never been a huge believer in the difference of pickups. They do make a difference but if you want to play Clapton you don't use a JCM800, it's just that simple.
I use a line6 AX2 and this setup works for me for great diversity.

setup isn't bad out of the box.
I restringed it with the same type strings and I'm pretty happy with it. Like I said before the neck is spectacular. I'm not a fan of Gibson's with the painted finish on the back of the neck. I like Fender necks. I don't mind PRS necks but I'm not a big fan of rosewood. Bottom line - Ernie Ball uses nice birdseye maple. They play and look great.

I'll let you know.
It's a limited edition so I'm hoping it will last me a long time.

I'll let you know but I hope I don't need them for a long time.

Like I said, I looked long and hard for a piece of gear actually worth $2000 Canadian. I looked at every brand name. I wanted a guitar that was well built, with craftsmanship and gave me a lot of options. I've been playing 21 years so I know a little about guitars.
I like the location of the volume and tone knobs better than most others. I like the pickups. I love the neck. I like the vintage tremolo since I'm no longer a fan of the out of tune floyd roses.

If I lost this guitar, as in, I misplaced it, I would poke myself in the eye for being so stupid.

Basic features, fixed bridge, black sparkle finish.

The singles coils are a little quiter than Id like , but they sound terrific, and I dont know why everybody disses the humbucker in this thing, thru my 5150 halfstack, this pickup just roars with a very solid, midrangy tone that I personally use for all out metal! Very quiet. It like a built in noise gate when i put my picking finger over the strings.

INCREDIBLE NECK. I could play this thing all night. Great fretwork, very smooth finish that never sticks to your hand.

Built like a tank.

no clue

This guitar is the shit! Now all i disire is a les paul type axe, and I will have all the bases covered.

Mine is a green one, SSH DiMarzio PU''s, maple fingerboard with the great Schaller locking tuners. The special comes with a vintage MM-tremolo and bridge and included case. I bought this 2 years ago, the guitar 1 year old at the time, for about 1200 USD. This is a good price in The Netherlands. I love the sound of a Fender Strat but think they are terrible guitars, wooden boards, oldfashioned, ugly, impossible to tune, breaks strings a lot, difficult to reach high frets, bad sound at high frets etc. So I bought the MM and really love the neck, small scale (i'm short, so shorter arms), extremely goodlooking and comfortable on the body. Silent circuit with battery which prevents noise on the single coils and works fine. The whole guitar oozes quality.

I play this MM>RMC3 wah>Boss CH-1>Koch Twintone. It's everything I ever wanted and am now able to afford. I play fusion/jazz/funk/blues for about 20 years now. I only need a couple of good sounds. I don't like a lot of effects but the ones I want have to be the absolute best.The MM has plenty of different sounds, from jazzy to funky but none of them impress me much. As many others I dislike the sound of the DiMarzio's, very sterile, esp. the humbucker. So I bought a Fender Am.Strat too, despite my disliking the instrument, but I wanted that sound, esp. I love the belltones of a strat-PU. I swapped the bridge Strat PU with the DiMarzio bridge PU and am frilled now. Took some 4 hours work and soldering, but IT WORKS. Now I got a great guitar WITH great sound. Even the Strat sounds good with the Dimarzio. And I got the Strat sound without the usual single coil noise because of the silent circuit, which by the way does not suck tone. I am impressed and will change the humbucker too. I give an 8, this guitar can produce great sounds but the PU's suck.

This was a second hand but perfectly kept by the previous owner and well set by the store. This is a piece of art: 5-bolt neck, excellent hardware, great finish of frets and body, excellent tuning, super Schallers, sounding great over the whole scale, straight strings thanks to the characteristic headstock, superb. I dislike the setting of the high E-string throught the nut: too close to the edge of the neck so I sometimes clip the string over the neck. This is a personal taste and I also manage to avoid this now by bending the string upwards instead of downwards.

I own this MM for about 2 years now, also live, it's flawless. No problem, can't even break a string.

Never had to use it.

After switching the PU I have the greatest guitar in the world: comfortable, fast neck, great sustain, super looks, great sound, reliable. Thanks to Fender for inventing their sound, maybe they used to make good guitars but anno 2002 they're so oldfashioned, relying only on their name/fame. My Strat will only serve as backup for my MM. I would rebuy this MM any time, maybe not the Special, since I don't care much for a tremolo. Thx Ernie Ball for making me so happy with this.

The Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette Special guitar I have is MIAC
26 of 30.It is one of 30 Silhouetts made to commemorate the Music Industry Association of Canada's 30'th Anniversary.
It is a stock Silhouette with the exception of the finish which is "Vintage White"used only on these 30 guitars.
It was made in 2001,in San Louis Obispo California at the Music Man shop.
It has a beautiful Heavily "birdseyed" neck with "mated" "birdseye" fretboard.22 medium frets have been applied and finished to perfection.You would be hard pressed to find a better crafted neck.The body is Swamp ash and the "vitage White" finish has been applied and buffed to a mirror like shine, again flawless.
The controls are as follows;master volumn and tone and five way selector.The three custom wound Dimarzio active single coil pickups are complemented by Musics Man's "Silent Circuit"(reduces hum) and are voiced to give perfect tonal voicing for vintage and modern tones.You will here strat-like tones here but enough character is retained to tell you otherwise.It is a strat-like body but it has many improvements over the strat(which I also own ie:american strat).
It is sculpted to give the player a more ergonomic feel (better camfers and scallops).The neck joint is probably the most significant improvement over the strat in that it is a 5 bolt pattern with better contours for upper register playing.This method also offers better side to side stability and increased sustain and resonation.The bridge,a Music Man Vintage tremolo is again vastly improved over the strat,it has a larger path of travel,very smooth and stays in tune.The bridge also has abuilt in hand rest at the end to accomidate palm muting and anchoring better.The tuners are Schaller Locking Tuners,simply put these tuners are accurate,they aid in tuning stability and string changes are quicker,once you try this style of tuner it is difficult to go back to traditional tuners.
It is hard to top everything so far but the neck of this guitar is the real jem.It will feel small to those used to wide flat profiles at first and will appeal to the vintage player firstly.It is expertly sanded,by hand,and finished with gunstock oil and then lightly waxed,this is by far the best neck in the business and that includes PRS.It has a 25.5 scale and a vintage radious.
All American Ernie Ball Music Man guitars come with a brilliantly designed hardshell case which is hard vinyle with a aluminium edging,solid pulldown latches and keyed lock,lined with soft plush,molded to the guitar,with lots of accessoriy room.The unique feature of the case is you can leave your tremolo arm inserted in the bridge,the case is routed out in the cover to allow the closure of the case with ample room for the arm (about time).

This guitar will appeal mainly to vitage players but the tone is firmly planted in both vintage and modern voices.It plays equally well through a Matchless or Soldano,Fender or Marshall.The single coils do emit some hum BUT only at extreem high gain settings.It has a full rich and detailed sound brimming over with NATURAL harmonic overtones,one listen to the guitar's natural un-amped voice and one will hear notes sustain into harmonically rich textures.It has a large variety of tones due impart to the volumn and tone controls ability to shape sound however a second tone control(ie:strat)would have been nice.

Factory setup was very good,only a factory that pays close attention to detail will give this good right out of the box.

Ernie Ball Music Man is well known for their quality and this guitar is a fine example.This is a professional instrument that is made to be played.In all aspects it is very road worthy however a backup is something you should ALLWAYS have.

I have dealt with Ernie Ball Music Man and have to say their customer service is second to none.They treat you with courtesy and respect and not like a number but rather a member of their extended family.

I've been playing for (seriously) 17 years.I own several pieces of Top End gear.If this were stolen I would try to get it back unfortunatly replacing a piece of gear like this is impossible.
I love the tone,playability,looks and build quality,attention to detail,features/improvments and the fact that this is a very collectable guitar.
Ernie Ball Music Man is fast becoming a premier American builder.
If PRS is the new Gibson than surly Ernie Ball Music Man is the new Fender.

Came with a wilkinson style tremolo, grover tuner, perloid pickguard with stock singlecoils and a Dimarzio PAF Pro humbucker that I had changed resently. The color of the guitar is a deep dark red color that gets darker around the edges; a very rare color. Neck has beutiful birdseye maple with some flames and it plays like a dream. It is the most comfortable neck I have ever laid my hands on. Fret board is rosewood. Came with original hard case. I Wish the stock humbuckers were better.

I plays this baby through a POD and into a Marshall amp. This guitar is a monster of tones. The stock Paf Pro humbucker was dirty at high gain settings, so I had it changed to a Steves special that made it sound perfect. Singlecoils are the greatest, especially, for blues licks and the single coils don't buzz at all because of the silent circuit system. The guitars action can't get any better. It plays so fast I can't play any other guitar after playing this. It is very addicting; makes you want to play and play and play until your girlfriend gets tired of you. If your trying to get the death metal sound it might not be the guitar for you, but if you play any other style this is the guitar for you. If you'r looking for the perfect playing neck you got to buy the silhuette or any other ernie ball guitars. I give it a perfect 10!!!!!!!!!!!

Neck is Fast, Fast, Fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stock humbucker is not that versitle, but a quick change will make you the happiest person in the world.

Neck is raw(gun stock oil), so you might want to give proper care and keep it clean. Perfect instrument!

I e-mailed them for a question about the guitar, and they responded very quickly; they even sent me the parts I wanted ASAP. Great customer support!

I have been playing for 5 years and I wish I had stumbled into this guitar earlier because I feel like I wasted my money on the other guitars I have owned. Why dont you guys do yourself a favor and go to the nearest Ernie ball dealer and give it a try. I swear you won't come out empty handed.

This has been well covered by others. The best features are its neck, sustain and playability. If you suffer from wrist tendonitis, try it and you will play more often with less pain.

I play clean blues and jazz/blues as well as some country rock.
This guitar does a reasonable job of the above, however the single coils are a little to glassy and hard-bright for me. I roll off the tone control and set the amp equalization to compensate for the bright pickups. When played through a cranked up JCM 800 or Tone King, the single coil pickups are great and I think the pickups were designed for distorted playing with a lot of definition. Again this is really subjective territory, but I prefer warm low output pickups for clean stuff.

The humbucker bridge p/u has lots of mids and not much highs. It is opposite in tone to the neck and middle pickups. I actually have to turn the tone control on 10 and kick in a little treble boost for fast blues and country riffs with the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup is very loud.

This guitar is very quiet. The silencing circuit works well.
The sustain is excellent. The tone is warm from the alder body.

Impeccable. The neck feels great to the hand and is ergonomic and
allows fast chord changes and runs with ease. The finish and workmenship are great. It is solid. From a woodworking standpoint, this guitar is very good off the shelf. It is nice and light and hangs nicely. It looks so compact with clean lines.

This guitar is bullet proof. The oil finish on the neck will take experimentation to provide answers how and when to re-oil it.

They rock. Emails were returned in 7 minutes. A good company that deserves their business.

I dislike the pick-up selection wiring that E-Ball/MM chose for this axe. I am going to mod this guitar when the Seymour Duncan pickups I ordered are in. I ordered the APS-1 Alinco Pro Staggered models for the single coils and for the humbucker, the SH-1B "59" Model.
I am confident that they will make this guitar a "10" for my clean playing style. I am also going to wire the pickup selector to be the same as a Fender Strat.
This guitar is my main guitar and even stock sounds and plays better than my over $1000.00 "Strat" type guitars with stock pickups. I especially recommend it for those guitar players with tendon problems as it is very easy on the wrists, light and the neck is a work of art.

Thanks and have fun!

I bought a 2000 model Silhouette Special from Dave Philips in Flemington NJ. I got this guitar on sale, they said it wasn't moving so they lowered the price from 1200 to 600. This model has H/S/S pickups. But i replaced them with DiMarzio's (Fast Track 2, Blue Velvet, and Evolution). Its vintage sunburst with tortise shell pickguard. Black knobs and pickups (Fast Track 2 and Blue Velvet white) but crome hardware. I has figured birdseye maple neck and F/B. Its unfinished. It is a very fast neck for being so thick. It comes with the Music Man tremelo system (although i wish it had a Floyd on it). The body is Alder, and it looks like a modified strat body. The Tuners are Locking schaller tuners. 22 frets. I got a case and rag with it. It give it a 9 because i had to put new pickups in it and it doesn't have a floyd rose on it.

See pics of it at my bands website http://www.geocities.com/chaoticdelusionband

I play Contemparay Progressive Metal/Rock. I needed a guitar that was very flexible. I am influenced by Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen and other metal players. I needed a guitar that had the lead tone of these players, but the rhythm tone of Metallica. This guitar (with new pick-ups) does it. The bridge pickup (EVO) is a very tight pickup and makes the chords sound crisp and clear. The neck one (fast track 2) is the best neck tone that i have ever heard. I am using an RP-2000 through a Kustom 100 head and 2-15 cab. The sound that i get is very full and rich. Its a great tone for what i need. I will soon have a Marshall TSL-100 or 212 combo. So the sound should be even better. It give it a 10, with the new pickups, but an 8 because i had to replace them and the old ones didn't cut.

The action on this guitar was very low, thats how i like it. There was basically nothing wrong with this guitar, besides the pickups. I keep breaking strings, but thats cuz i play atleast 5 hours a day, and don't change my strings as much as i should, its not the guitar's fault.

I have used this guitar live about three times. It soulds great. With the new pick-ups it should be able to cut while soloing. Never a singer break, and it rarely goes out of tune. I put strap locks on it because, thats what i always do. The finish looks great! I will always gig with a backup because of the chance of breaking a string, but the locking tuners makes string changing a breeze.

The customer support is great. I email them and get a responce the same day. Nothing wrong with them at all.

This guitar is great. I love it, even though it doesn't have a floyd. I am planning on getting a custom guitar (hopefully), and it will definatly be modeled after this one. I love the body shape, its very unique but familiar looking. The only difference I'm making the cutaways deeper and with 24 frets, and custom inlays, but hey its a custom isn't it? Maybe the neck just a little thinner and 43 mm instead of 41mm. But all in all, its a great off the rack guitar. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Its great for my band and for my style of playing. If it was lost i would hunt down and kill the bastard that took it. J/K, i would probaby replace it with either another one, a custom, or the new JPM, looks pretty good. Don't forget to go to my site http://www.geocities.com/chaoticdelusionband

I bought this baby for $1400, a price my local guitar shop specialist
described as the "deal of the century".
'99 model hand made in the US, 22 frets, active pickups. I bought it second hand a few months ago and the pickups had already been changed from the stock D'marzios to Seymour Duncan hotrails for neck and mid, and JB Jnr for bridge. Grover locking tuners. The body style is stat-esque however the curves and bevelling are far more elegant than any fender guitar. This guitar has the most awesome neck: flamed quilted birds-eye maple, one solid piece of raw timber which makes it play like absolute gold. When i got the guitar the neck was a bit dirty since the factory finish is only gunstock oil to maintain that raw feel. However a few hours with the good old lemon oil has almost restored it to that new look. I would buy this guitar over any other just for that neck. I stare at it for hours every day, drooling profusely. The body is satin finished candy red with tasteful black pecks toward the top and bottom. It came with vintage tremolo, volume and tone control and 5-wat pu selector. Got it with a hard case and stand.

I mainly play mainstream rock, folk rock, southern rock (anything to do with rock ...). I use a BOSS ME-6 with a 300W Peavey keyboard amp (I've been playing keyboard all my life, guitar only about a year or so and can't afford a guitar amp yet) so the sound i get is a bit thinner throught the keyboard amp.

The neck pu goves a rich full sound (it could be richer but eq-ing on fx can change that anyway ..). Bridge pu i hardly ever use because of high output. It has thin sound which is better for your twanging country etc ...

Overall, the sound is quite good for my purposes and a new Marshall Valvestate will make it even better ...

A few minor scratches which can be expected from a second hand guitar, and dirty fretboard as i mentioned before.

SD pu's are very good.

As for playability this guitar rocks. It is very easy to play and the birds eye maple feels like melting butter as you run up and down, oh how i love that neck ...

This guitar has not gone out of tune yet and nor do i expect it to. This baby will last me the rest of my life. The neck as i have mentioned has a tendency to get dirty given the raw finish but a regular maintenance keeps it in good shape. I will gig this tank to death. All hardware is rock solid.

When considering buying my musicman, i emailed ernie ball about 20 times and each time my query was replied to within hours. They very exceptionaly helpful and friendly people and gave me alot of information which i couldn't get elsewhere. Even though i was buying second han they still treated me very well. They really know what they are talking about and constantly remind me to not hesitate to contact them if i have any other questions.

Before purchasing my musicman, i had a very ordinary $200 piece of junk. I was scanning the trading post for a good quality guitar, and i saw this one. I didn't really know much about ernie ball guitars so i researched for about a week, emailing them and looking at sites like this one (very helpful indeed). Finally i decided to check it out. I took a friend along who hgas been playing guitar for about 20 years (i've only been playing 1 year). He has a Fender US Strat. When he saw this guitar and had a play his couldn't believe how much better it was then his strat. He said that if i didn't buy it, he would. So, i decided to but it and have not had any regrets so far. This guitar has a nice sound, beautiful finish (have i mentioned that neck ...!) and i will be playing it for the rest of my life. If someone stole it i would hunt them down and destroy them (or clain the insurance and get a brand new baby). I recommend this guitar to anyone ....

This is a US built beauty, 22 frets, gloss gold finish,strat style alder body, black pickguard, rosewood fingerboard, mdium-large frets, hardtail bridge, S/S/H pickups configuration - Dimarzio custom wounds - i would think the singles would be similar to the class of 55's but not too sure. headstock has usual music man 4x2 locking tuner config. 1 vol 1 tone knob
This guitar has got some nice curves to it especially in its 2 'arms' - adds a level of sexy-ness to it ;). the body is extremley confortable when playing standing up and sitting down - fits like a well worn glove ;)

this guitar is great for nearly all types of music
SRV, eric johnson, YJM - all the strat kings tones are available on this guitar. the only prob i see with it is that the humbucker is a little weak for realyy hard edged music and lacks a little definition for true HEAVY metal. amazingly, the single coils are quite well defined with high levels of distortion
the single coils are awesome - so clear, so responsive to the lightest picking dynamics. the 2 and 4 positions give a great reporduction of such positions on strats but with a slight difference - which is good!

i cant really say that this guitar sux for any style at all - it can work in every situation, but maybe not as well in death/black metal - but i wouldnt have bought ths guitar if i was constantly palying that.

the neck is one of the nicest i have ever played - large enough for jazz chord chart comfort, and fast enough for any petrucci/vai licks
the action, when i bought it was a little high, but after a setup, it is great now
the maple neck is a piece of art as well - slighty flamed with birdseye - i could spend countless hours just admiring it
the guitar, when i bought it was in impeccable shape - i couldnt find a thing wrong with it - only that the fretboard was a little dry and needed some oil.

ive played a few gigs with it now - and passed with flying colours - harldy ever going out of tune
the guitar feel extremley solid and should last for many years to come
i replaced the strap buttons with dimarzio straplocks - ive had too many times where my guitar falls off the strap - so now all my guitars ahve straplocks on them
the only reason why i would have a backup for this guitar is for string breakages - i dont see the guitar dying of an electronical defect soon

havnt talked to them yet, dont know if i will ever have to ;)

ive been playing for 8 years now, ive played at the montreux jazz festival and well as others in switzerland and sydney,australia. im using the guitar thru a line 6 pod and is all i need from a guitar - it is perfect for my styles - funk, hard rock, prog rock, metal, blues,jazz
maybe it woul have been nice to have a trem on it, butthen the body cavity might have lead to a decrease in body tone - the guitar sounds perfect as it is, so im not gonna change anything right now
u coudl get a strat with all the same features as this, but ur budget will blow out!
if ur thinking of a strat - try this before - much better value!!

I bought it used so I don't know when it was mad, there are some rather dark finger marks on the fingerboard, so I believe it's pretty old. It came with the original Dimarzio pick ups, two single coils and a humbucker, and the "Music Man Silent Circuit" dummy coil on the neck pick up. Only two knobs, one volume, one tone, and the five way switch. The bringe really caught my eye, it's locking, but not like a Floyd, more like a Wilkinson. The neck is great, very fast and very comfortable, which also has locking tuners. This part would get a 10, but Dimarzio's are not my bag, which I had to change to Seymour Duncans (two Lil' '59s and a Duncan Custom)

My styles are mainly light rock (i.e. Wallflowers, Matchbox Twenty, Tom Petty etc.), but often asked to play all styles of music. This is a quite versital guitar after the pickup change, the only problem is the clean sound, it's not perfect just yet. I run it through a Budda Superdrive 30 1x12 and an Ibanez AD99 delay, Boss PH-3 phaser, Boss compressor, Dano Fish&Chips eq (don't laugh, it's cheap, it's quite, and THAT makes a good pedal) and a Dunlop univibe. The clean sound gets better after scooping the mids out with the eq pedal, and it works well with all the effects. The overdrive is very hot with the Duncan Custom and the alder body fits great with the 59's.

As I said, it was used, so it wouldn't be right to judge the factory on the action or finish even though they where both pretty good. I bought it a cool little guitar shop in Orlando, Florida called "The Guitar Den", their guitar tech (Steve Carr, who has worked with many professional players) set it up, and it was pretty good, but the nut was low. After a thin shim job, it feels great, one of the most comfortable "Strats" around.

It's been pampered, you can tell, so I can't say it's been around the world and back and still fits like a glove. I gig three times a week, but I'd say I play this certain guitar three times a month, but IT IS my backup to ALL my Gibson and Fender guitars. I wouldn't think twice about doing a gig without a back up, I've done it many times before.
It is very solid, you can tell it's well made.

never had to, it is used so it wouldn't do any good anyway.

Overall, it was a good buy, well worth it after I changed the pickups.
I own many other guitars, but this is that "different" guitar we have all had at some point or another. Very good piece, don't buy a Fat Strat, buy Ernie Ball!

Bought second-hand so don't know what year of manufacture.
22 Fret, Alder body, came with both maple/maple and maple/rosewood necks.
H/S/S pickups with a seymour duncan Hot Rails at the bridge.(not standard).
Grover locking tuners on both necks.Hard case included.
Not sure of make of bridge, looks quite worn but adjusts O.K.
Looks nice with pearloid pickguard and finished in a blue/green.
Exellent condition overall, great for the price.

VERY quiet, I play thru a MArshall JCM800 (1984)and a severlly modified Soldano SLO-100 head thru Marshall 1960 cab.
Play in a top 40 band and a grungy 3-piece for fun.
This guitar is a joy to listen to, darker than the EMG H/s/s loaded custom strat been using till now.
Clean tones go from quite 'straty' on the bridge/mid PU's, to a nice round lush on the neck PU.
NEVER bitey or hard sounding.However into the SLO-100, or thru my trusty DS-1 this thing really kicks off.Very tight controlled sound
heaps of balls (I think the Hot Rails has something to do with this).
Backs off nicely to a great Satriani-esq tone.
Really up to the player and ability to decide on the tonal 'colour' as this thing will produce most of the goods required.
If had to be really picky, can't quite deliver the warm bottom of say....an early SG when overdriven.(read AC/DC).
But a PU change may well sort this if it became a need.

As this beasty came with both neck options,I do my own set-ups.
No probs getting a low-buzz even feel across the fretboard.
Very sensitive to PU Height.Neck and machine heads all top notch.
Body cavity, electronics very neat and tidy.
I love the 5-bolt neck/body join.nothing moves on this baby unless you undo it.
Finish is O.K but as 2nd-hand has a number of dents etc, paint colour
dosn't really do it for me, but who cares??.

Havn't had it long, so time will tell.
Have had to replace vol pot (scratchy).
Don't expect many other problems tho' as is rather light but extremely well built( like me !!).
Has locking straps screwed in, and has already proved exellent for live work. I don't work the wang bar much, but stays in tune all the time anyway.
Would still have a backup as a habit, don't expect to need it much.
Being light is a Godsend as my custom is made of Brazialian Walnut
and tends to cost lots in chiropracter bills.

Never dealt with them.If there custy support is as good as the product
then I'd imagine that it would be pretty damn good.

Been playing for 20 years on and off, everthing from disco/funk thru
top 40 rock, grunge etc..
Never too seriously tho', I just want that feel and tone and have fun.
Which I can't do when things sound and feel like crap.
This guitar, particularly thru the DS-1 into the JCM-800 is the closest yet to that 'God' tone that I'm always looking for.
Nothing really sticks out too much, it's just great overall.

This is your standard s/s/s Strat killer. Candy Apple Red, insanely quilted maple neck and fingerboard, locking tuners with the stock MM trem

This is the guitar Fender has nightmares about. They couldn't make this guitar if they wanted to. There is no other strat-style as far as I am concerned. Rings like a bell acoustically and all the tone transfers to the pickups with none of the hum, due to the Silent Circuit. Absolute genius.

I have been playing Musicman's for 11 years, almost exclusively. Whenever I decide I need another guitar and buy another brand The new axe sits while I continually grab the Musicman

I Manage a large musical instrument retail outlet and I have access to ANY guitar or amp I want. AT COST PRICES. There is no other guitar that comes close. I currently own 9 Musicman giutars and each one is as good as the next. I strongly urge you to check them out.

1999 model. All of the features are listed in everyone else's review.
The only feature I'd like to see would be a stock coil tap. But everything else a guitar needs is in there.

I play everything. Rock/Alternative/Blues/Jazz/Bluegrass/Country/New Age/Elevator Music/Oldies/Freedom Rock/Hair Metal/cheesy wedding music. This guitar can cover most of the bases. I will say that there are so many things that contribute to sound... amp, effects, hands, etc. But this guitar makes it easier to cover all the bases and that's what it's important for me. The stock humbucker is pretty anemic (like everyone else has stated already). I haven't replaced mine yet. I use a different guitar if I need a beefier humbuck. Another important thing for me is that this guitar doesn't sound just like a fender, or a les paul. Sounding good and sounding different is what I'm after. If I wanted to sound like everybody elses strat, I'd buy a strat.

Flawless. Everybody is awe struck when I take this beauty of the case. Money well spent in the looks dept. This guitar is by far the easiest guitar I've ever played. It just begs to be played and played.

Haven't really put this thing through the ringers yet. I'd gig without a back up if strings lasted forever.

I"ve been playing for 17 years or so. I use a Roland JC-120, Marshall Artist 3203 1/2 stack, Mesa Boogie V-Twin, various effects. This guitar makes all that stuff sound great. If it were stolen, I would turn into The Outlaw Josie Wells. If you want one guitar to do lots of things, this guitar is it. Add a beefier humbuck and you go from lots of things to all things. If you have lots of guitars, this guitar will be one more unique color in your pallette. Don't be suprised if your other guitars get jealous from lack of attention.

This is a 99' model with three single coils and an alder body. In terms of controls, this instrument is fairly standard. The control layout is simply one volume, one tone and a 5 way selector switch. The one feature that this guitar adds (and this is for all of you strat fans out there) is the Silent Circuit. For a single coil guitar, this feature should be standard equipment. In all positions, the guitar is dead quiet and there is no compromise in the single coil tone. Now that is damn cool. Plus I must say that Music Man has designed one of the best non-locking trems ever put into use. I never install the trem arm but thanks to the lip on the back of the trem, I can do my little surf drops without the arm being in place. The tuning stability is obviously aided by the Scaller locking tuners. In addition to these, the 4x2 headstock offers an almost perfectly straight string path.

This instrument feels like it was built with me in mind. I typically play indie rock and jazz, but sometimes I'll knock around the blues a bit. This guitar will do anything I want it to. I run through a Bedrock 600 series 212 combo with no effects or reverb. Dry as a bone.
I think playing this way truly lets the instrument speak with its own voice. And what a voice. With the stock single coils (Dimarzio I believe) the Silhouette is bright and articulate and speaks clearly even with the gain cranked. With large chords the guitar allows every note to be heard individually with balance and clarity. In a high gain setting I typically lean on the bridge position, but on a clean sound, it is neck pickup all the way. As with most three single coil guitars, the middle pickup is pretty useless except to get wierd tones. But that may just be a personal handicap.

This instrument was set up wonderfully from the factory with 09's but I use Ernie Ball Skinny Top/ Heavy Bottoms (10-52) and needed the guitar to be set up for those particular strings. Plays phenomenally though. Man, every millimeter of this guitar has been scrutinized at the factory. I haven't seen quality of this caliber on a production guitar before. From the flawless pearl purple paint job to the gunstock oil finished neck this instrument begs to be played. The slightly birdseyed neck is capped with a beautiful piece of rosewood and sports a sculped heel (feels like a set neck!) and a recessed neck plate. The joint is tight as a drum and does not shift. Remarkable craftsmanship. Simply remarkable.

I beat the hell out of this guitar and it does not break. I seldom break a string for God's sake. I know that the neck will start to age prematurely due to the oil finish, but it feels so good in my hand that I really don't care. I gig without a backup and have not had a single instance of failure. The locking tuners facilitate remarkably fast string changes in the rare event that I do break a string. This guitar is a tank.

Tom answers my stupid e-mails about pickguards and whether or not they will sell me an Axis bridge humbucker (not a chance!). Never had to have it repaired and I don't even really know how long the warranty is. But I am sure that they would be very helpful if needed.

I have been playing for roughly 10 years and have long been a strat fan. Up until I played my first Music Man, I was a strict Fender devotee. Now I don't think that you could get me to buy another Fender as long as these guitars being built. Next I hope to purchase an Axis (seeing as how I can't buy the damn pickups!!). If this guitar were stolen I would have to hunt the person down and teach them a lesson in respecting other people's property. This is absolutely my perfect guitar. I tried just about everything before purchasing this. American Deluxe Fenders, Andersons, G&L's (great guitars as well), Pensas and US Masters. They were all fantastic, but the Silhouette Special just has its own thing going on and it just felt right in my hands and in my ears. Not for everybody but if you have your own idea of what you want out of a guitar and not what everone else is playing, this is your guy.

Unique, small, morphed strat-shaped body. Weighs a little over six lbs. Hardtail string-through. 25 1/2" gunstock oil finished solid maple neck. S/S/H Di Marzio pu's with 5 position switching. Grover locking tuners. Candy apple red. Silent circuit shielding. All the features that I need.

Play blues and rock through flextone. Guitar is absolutely silent thanks to EBMM silent circuit - 9 volt battery, dummy coil, aluminum and graphite shielding. Intrument will cover and music you care to play. Don't retro pu's.

Expected EBMM quality with the exception of some rough fret ends. File and 5 minutes fixed the ends. I did not need to make any other adjustments. If you like very low action you may want to adjust.

EBMM product. Being 48 years old, the instrument will outlast me. Leave your other guitars at home.

EBMM customer service returned e-mail questions in under one hour. Answers were clear and concise.

If I were entirely rational, I would not need to buy another guitar. This guitar is a keeper. Obtained an execeptional deal due to the fact that the dealer had it in stock for about 2 years. I do not understand why it had not sold.

1997(all three of m'), born in the usa, 22 frets on 2 of them(the other is a regular silhouette 24 frets)..vol,tone, and an added coil tap for the bridge on all of m'...humm/sing/sing...duncan jb trembucker in bridges, stock singles...passive...specials have alder bodies, reg sil has a swamp ash body, maple necks,rosewood fingerboards....stripped to bare wood and tung oil on two,other is blue(really sharp!)....strat style, but smaller and sexier...traditional tremelo on the specials,floyd(blocked off)on the reg...locking tuners...kinda small round neck, VERY comfortable, all three are scalloped by myself....

The holy grail o' tone for me...I play thru a mesa with no effects and with my mods I can get every sound I need from a Eric Johnson lead tone to Stevie Ray and HEAVY TOO!! Real quiet, great wiring and shielding job...VERY rich tone with my bridge p/u(duncan)....amazing strat type tones with the singles...I can get all the tones I want just with a two channel amp and these axes...I didn't really like the stock humbuckers, not enough balls, but with the jb-bridge I can sterilize a charging buffalo at 40yards...

AMAZING set up and workmanship, I have owned so many guitars over the years(and worked on them too)and these are put together as well(or better) than guitars twice thier price..no flaws...just incredible eye on details, the plug in pickguard is cool too if you are a dr.frankenstien like me..

I gigged with them mucho, they are just built like little tanks...NEVER a problem!!

I talked to them many times and they have always been really cool, the warranty is of course void because i carved the necks up..but that's life....I don't forsee ever needing it anyway! I think it's a one year

I have been playing 19 years, I also own two Yamaha pacificas and a fender strat..I first bought my reg-silhouette, and liked it so much I got the two specials...so yea, I would by it again...by far the most awsome axes I have ever owned.

This is a brand new guitar that I purchase. As with all Ernie Ball guitars, they are handmade in San Luis Orispo, Calif. As will all Ernie Ball guitars; quality, workmanship, fit, and finish are all top priority. They build guitars to last and they play like no other. The absolute comfort of these guitars is unrivaled. I also have an Axis Sport which is just as fabulous. The beast has a candy apple red colour with a maple neck and fretboard. The Tuners are Shaller M6-IND locking pieces, not the ones the reviewer below mentioned. They are excellent tuning gears!!!! The Tremolo unit is the Music Man vintage setup. The frets are a medium width-high profile design. The pickups are of the Dimarzio custom variety with a H/S/S configuration. ErnieBall also has incorporated the MusicMan "silent circuit" setup which really works and is essentially a dummy coil that are wired in parallel with the single coils. The guitar is a smaller 25 1/2" scale due to the 5 7/8" headstock. Very nice and very versatile setup!!!!

In stock form, this guitar is suited to many different styles. It performs well and does it's job adquately! I love the single coils in this guitar and they have a superb/crisp output. The sound in general of this guitar is warm and full with a very balanced range. However, the thing that irked me most was the stock Dimarzio humbucker. This thing is just DEAD period. Why they had this pickup "custom wired" for this guitar is beyond me. As soon as I got the guitar home, I wired in a brand new white Dimarzio Evolution pickup. Now...that made a HUGE difference....the guitar just oozes tone and absolutely screams now. I love the combination happening and it just added that extra dimension that it needed. A nine due to the fact that I had to change the pickup.

This guitar as with all Ernie Ball units was setup superbly right from the factory. There were no flaws or problems whatsoever! The wiring in the cavity is very well done and just the little things that ErnieBall does, such as a quick-disconnect plug for the electronics makes a huge difference when you have to do something on it. KUDO's to them for that! The finish is beautiful and the attention to detail is absolutely pristine! One of the most interesting things that I love about this guitar and my Axis Sport is the Ernie Ball vintage Tremolo system. I have always used locking systems (Floyd's) in the past and have lived through the thin sounding crap that comes out of them. However, with this piece, I never go out of tune. The third string will occassionally move a bit, but you just simply bend that bar down and it comes right back to where it was perfectly. I can mash on this tremolo arm and do all sorts of bending and the guitar stays in tune, plain and simple. It's unearthly, unnatural, and really quite a phenomenon. There is no lock nut there, just the tuners. Sorry for being so excited about this, but every non-locking trem that I have had in the past has never worked and this obviously did it for me!!!! When you change you strings, simply use a soft toothbrush through the nut to clean and buildup and use a bit of graphite (though not necessary). The string pull is very straight and that's probably why it works to well. Simply fantastic!!! Fret and neckwork is highly detailed. If you haven't felt or played an ErnieBall neck, take the time someday to try it out. You will be impressed by the fit/finish!

These guitars are built to last and take the punishment. I do most of my work in the studio with occassional live gigs, so it is essential that I have a guitar that will be consistent as far as sound, and retaining it's tuning/intonation. These things are rock solid and reliable.

E-mailed Ernie Ball in the past, and they were excellent!!! Got back quickly, offered assistance and solutions. Customers are valued with this company!

Absolutely fantastic value. Guitars costing several hundred more (ex. 1998 Fender American Deluxe) can even come close to this in any category. Ernie Ball really knows their stuff!!!!

Solid alder body. Maple neck and fretboard. 22 frets. S/S/H pickups with Ernie Ball "silent circuit". Pickups are DiMarzio custom wound. Interestingly, the pickup selector in position "3" does not select the middle single coil, but rather the neck and tapped bridge in combination. Locking Grover tuners. Fixed bridge string through body. This guitar is definately geared towards a more traditional feel and tone. It is not a hot-rodded shreddster. Pretty standard features in this price range.

I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. The single coils are great. They come very close to Fralins. The "silent circuit" is basically a dummy coil, and makes them as quiet as humbuckers. It does not affect the tone as far as I can hear. Purists may disagree. The single coils are very glassy and singing. Extremely nice. The humbucker was very anemic sounding. I did not like it. Too thin and weak. I replaced it with DiMarzio's best kept secret: the Steve Morse Bridge. HUGE difference. Now it's got a nice, throaty tone that I love. I'd give the single coils and 8, and the original 'bucker a 5. With the Steve Morse, I'd give it a 9.

This is where the Silhouette really shines. It is bar none the most comfortable guitar out there. The heel is carved to fit right in the cup of your hand in the upper frets. The body contour are perfect. My only gripes are hardware related: the Grover locking tuners are absolutely terrible. Replace them with Gotohs immediately. Also, despite what Ernie Ball says, the D and G strings need a string tree to eliminate string vibration behind the nut. The workmanship is great. All the details have been looked after. The playability of the guitar completely compensates for the hardware problems, (and besides, we all replace the stock hardware anyway, don't we?)

The guitar is well built. The pickgaurd assembly detaches without unsoldering, making it easier to work on. The workmanship is great.

I've e-mailed them, and they have responded. But, that's easy. I don't know how they treat customers with problems.

I play this guitar more than any of my others. I love the way it plays and feels. I would like to see a better stock humbucker, but ain't stock pickups always lacking? For such a small, light weight guitar, mine sounds very solid and punchy. Very mid-rangy kind of tone.