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Can gear lose its mojo?


Phil O'Keefe

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Yes and yes. Mojo is immeasurable, its something that is felt that goes beyond science or explanation.

 

I had a great acoustic years ago when we were living reckless and my mate stepped on it, breaking the neck. He had is professionally repaired and by site, you could hardly tell anything had happened but it was different and not in a good way, lost its mojo.

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There can also be times when music gear gains mojo. For example, I'm really, really taken with Line 6's Helix processor. I loved it out of the box, but there have been several updates that added mojo. Sometimes updates may add features but slow things down a little bit or introduce other hiccups, but in the case of Helix, each update has added features and made it tighter...major mojo.

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I had a vintage 1951 Epiphone Zephyr Regent that I once loved. It was my only guitar for a number of years but eventually I learned to hate the thing and had to cut it loose, It was in good shape and the condition hadn't changed much over the years. But I did change ,kind of like the old "it's not you it's me" The mojo was gone ,good bye

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Phil, its actually kind of a silly article. First - define "mojo". The most common use of the term relates to black magic, voodoo - often a charm associated with early African American culture. How does that have anything to do with a guitar or an amp - better define it in the context of your article.

 

We tend to use the term in the context of an older piece of gear that has somehow become more special or unique or something as time goes on. New gear doesn't have "mojo" no matter how much you relic it - Blackie has it, a reissue doesn't. Trigger has mojo out the ying-yang (but then so does Willie) - but if you saw that guitar in a yard sale you'd probably say it's a piece of junk. A Dumble amp has it just by being a Dumble amp.

 

Your article talks only about how repairs affect the gear - by definition you do a "repair" because something is wrong. A guitar is broken or needs refretting to be playable, an amp has a bad output tube or loose solder joint or a noisy pot. I'll bet Blackie has been refretted many times, I know that Trigger has had repairs to try to hold it together a little longer, and a Dumble with a bad output tube needs a new one.

 

Does repairing a piece of gear change it? - Darn straight it does. Right now I'm refretting a 1940 D28, resetting the neck on an old Harmony and repairing the bridge on another guitar. All three of them have a certain amount of mojo because of their age, history and condition. All three play poorly right now (one doesn't play at all). When I'm done with them they will all play better. Will they loose their "mojo"? Not if I do my work well.

 

Would I ever consider replacing the pickups in Blackie or retopping Trigger? Not on your life. By the same token I wouldn't consider shaving the bridge on the D28 or ever doing a refinish, but I would sure fix any structural issues whether they affect the sound or not (and with the owner's permission).

 

Right now I've got an old Gibson tube amp in my shop with a bad power transformer. Does it have mojo - well, it did when it worked - right now it has dust and cob webs. Will it loose mojo if and when I can ever get it repaired, I don't think so but I really don't care - I really just want it fixed.

 

The guitar in this picture is a 1932 Dobro. When I got it it was spray painted black, the cover plate and cone were crushed - it was unplayable. The woman that I got it from said her father had bought the guitar in 1932 when she was born - that guitar is 80 years old - to say it has mojo is an understatement. When I finished fixing it back up (and trying to maintain just a little of that magic) I took it back and played it for her - I don't think I played very well but she wept.

 

IMG_0194.jpg

 

 

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I've only had that happen with a Fender Super 112 amp, but that was only because the techs could never rebuild the front end of that amp correctly. Worst "lemon" amp I ever bought, but when it worked, it sounded great. It was sort of like black face Fender meets a bit of Marshall. I think it possibly paved the way for the Supersonic model amp.

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I have to go with this one being correct most of the time.

 

It's all in your head, and the sound of the gear hasn't really changed… which is certainly possible, but if that's the case, then why is this phenomenon so prevalent?

 

Music and musicians are the toughest to please because they unite so closely with the instrument and small flaws in their gear can wind up being huge impediments. There again, guitars were originally shaped like women and many musicians get board and swap women just as much as they swap gear. If that person also uses drugs it daily perceptions can be overly exaggerated or completely numbed. Lets put the fault where it really belongs. Unless the instrument really wears down and wears out, it doesn't change its mojo, but the musician can surely be on an emotional and creative roller coaster and no man made object can correct that.

 

I been an electronics tech for over 50 years now and found you can have an absolutely perfect repair, but unless you also fix the customers perception of the gear, it can go from being the greatest piece of gear to the worst piece of crap they've ever owned in their mind.

 

Fixing the customer is often much harder then fixing the gear itself too. I've had situations where I did every check possible and knew the gear was running perfectly, yet the customer thought it sounded weird. I'd take the back off the gear and have the customer listen as a tweaked setting in the back (that in fact didn't exist, I'd just make believe I was tweaking something in the back)

 

I'd do a little coaxing and say, do your prefer this, or do you prefer this. 99% of the time those customers were convinced they heard a difference.

 

I'd then told them they had a custom frequency alignment done at no extra charge which made for an extremely happy customer.

 

Some my think this is deceptive, but in reality it isn't. Having the customer take part in restoring their own confidence is the goal. They lost the mojo and you're simply helping them to find it again.

 

I'd never use this on an amp that's actually malfunctioning of course. The goal is to fix the customer and the gear.

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I find my acoustics get a bit meh in the winter (most humid part of the year here).

 

I also think that as you play and acquire better gear your standard for "great guitar" changes. That LP that you thought sounded incredible now sounds a bit like a wooly pancake compared to your custom shop SG.

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Years ago, my 12-string acoustic spent 9 months or so in a pawn shop. When I got it back it wasn't the same. Probably due changes in humidity or some such but I could never prove it, I just knew my guitar wasn't the same.

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No, if you don`t alter it in anyway that is going to be negative . as regards refrets or re levels i do my own and have confidence in what i do ,if someone else has to do it thats ok it`s all part of a guitars life if you play one guitar regular, it is gonna wear ,no biggy , i can totaly understand when people have a re fret and they think that it doesn`t sound the same ,it doesn`t it will probably sound how it did when it was new.

You might get tired or bored with a guitar and feel like a change but you shouldn`t get rid of it,same with amps.

just play one of your other ones because you also bought that one for a good reason and kept hold of it ,didn`t you ?, or buy another one.

when you know you have realy enjoyed playing a certain guitar recorded with it, played live with it , play it at home and been realy happy with it for a few years, you will enjoy it again and if you don`t i don`t think you realy enjoyed it that much in the first place.

i`m talking about the sound and feel not the look .but if it looks good aswell

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The older I get, the fewer superstitions/dogmas/myths do I give credit to.

Sometimes you're dialed in, sometimes your instruments are.

When you and the instrument are dialed in at the same time I guess that would be what you regard as "MoJo".

I'd just regard it as happy coincidence.

 

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Reminds me of the movie Crossroads when the old man tells the Karate Kid: "You probably bought that guitar because it looks old and beat up."

 

Mojo is what you make it. If you can play well, any guitar can have it. My grandfather tried learning and bought an Epiphone Special II back in 2005. It sat in a corner until he gave it to me a couple of weeks ago. I figured it wouldn't sound good, but when it did, I realized that if you play well, even an Indonesian Epi with decade old strings can sound like butter.

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Gear mojo is a folk tale. If true SRV's #1 would have lost it when the head stock was broken off; or more so when the neck was replaced. B.B. King had hundreds of Lucille's, none ever mentioned as the one and only. Jimi Hendrix burned and destroyed how many guitars? You have a guitar fixed some place and they return it to spec. Who has a guitar dialed to spec? A novice or someone who hasn't learned the ins and outs of his instrument. I'll start with spec on some things but then I free hand pickup adjustment to my ear preference; string height to my playing preference etc. Amp and pedal wise, you may buy something that stays on its last leg for years before it takes a dump and the fact of the matter is you never dialed in a fresh unit to your liking. Then when you have to, you can't.

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yup, sure can... My first real acoustic/electric, a Takamine sounded fantastic plugged in when I bought it, but somehow lost it's "mojo" when plugged in. Had it looked at multiple times, even replaced the electronics. Never has been the same. It's better, but not what it once was. I still have it, as it sounds great unplugged, and it was a gift from my grandmother. Just wish I could get that plugged in sound corrected...

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There is no mojo in a piece of gear. there are some pieces of gear / instruments that are exceptional over others (in our opinions) I also don't look at mojo as some voodoo hex or incantation from the devil. his only power is what you give him. Mojo comes from within. Its the spirit and soul of who you are and what and how you've learned to express through your instrument /Talent. The most mojo I've ever heard came through the human voice, what a instrument!

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"Some say mojo is just like a wheel. Once you bend it, you can't mend it" to paraphrase the song. Lucky for me being a geezer as hearing is going and playing was never all that hot. Some days guitar & amp and next day not. Such is life. Did make me think of this article about Ric fixing Paul McCartney's Ric bass. Interesting read to me....

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BTW - I don't think Phil meant mojo in the supernatural way. I took mojo to mean general awesomeness.

 

Exactly. Some undefinable overall quality about the instrument that makes it special from a sonic or playing standpoint. Or if you prefer, call it a connection between musician and instrument. Some guitars just speak to you, or feel / play / sound fantastic, with a certain je ne sais quoi that is hard to describe. I'm not talking about magic or voodoo. [h=1][/h]

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BTW - I don't think Phil meant mojo in the supernatural way. I took mojo to mean general awesomeness.

 

 

Actually here is his definition from the article. " Is there some kind of unexplained mojo - some indescribable essence that makes some individual pieces of equipment superior to similar pieces of gear made in the same way by the same company?"

 

My point is that I don't think most of us use "mojo" in that sense - for me at least it implies a certain magic that comes from age, experience, maybe who owned it or what was played on it. In my humble opinion a new guitar might be incredible (or not) but it doesn't have mojo - it has to earn it.

 

However, back to the original article, if you want to define "mojo" in the way Phil does, then yes, some guitars within a brand and model are better than others and yes, a botched repair or modification can take it away.

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How often you play the instrument definitely comes into the picture too. I know when I play one particular instrument allot, others can loose some of their "Mojo" I account for this in a number of ways. Your hands becomes acclimated with where the strings are, Your ears are accustomed to the tone, You usually have the instrument tuned and tweaked to perfection, you feel the vibrations against your chest and when you play the instrument there's no readjustment or compensation to make.

 

It may not even be the best player nor set up as good as it can be yet you're just so used to it and because everything is predictable, you completely forget its in your hands and just play music as though the instrument was simply an extension of your own body.

 

You pick up another instrument and you have to go through this complete readjustment period, getting used to the string flex, the tone, the way the electronics work etc. That guitar lost its mojo simply because it hasn't been played in awhile.

 

To me its like trying to drive someone else's car. All the basics are the same but you have allot of mental distractions going on because of the differences. You may not even feel the road for awhile till you get used to the changes. Then when you go back to driving your own vehicle you appreciate the way the seat feels and the way you can take a corner. Your Mojo has gone up because you had a change introduced that reflected on everything you were overly accustomed to.

 

Beyond that however I think its simply a mind set. The "most" critical element is when you pick up an instrument you do so with a positive attitude and say this gear will sound great. Funny thing is the chances of it making great music is exponentially better.

 

If you're worried about it staying in tune, you'll focus too much on getting it in tune. If you're overly focused on its tone you'll wind up spending half the night finding a comfortable tone. If you use positive mind over matter and you just play the hell out of it making great music, it will happen. After all that's "All" that matters when you boil it all down.

 

I cant count the times where I picked up an instrument and just waited for inspiration to strike. I did that this weekend in fact. I had finished up all my old projects and thought to myself, I have all that business cleaned up and I can start new projects with a clean slate.

 

Well the inspiration never did strike, and the most I could get was to scratch up a few rough ideas that really weren't so hot. I knew the problem want the instrument or the gear. I had tweaked those up to be as good as ever. It was purely my mindset.

 

When I saw I was going no place, I finally decided to just to work out doing some normal hand exercises. I hate having time go to waste so I figured I may as well keep my hands in top shape. .

 

Next day it was a whole different ball game. My hands were feeling great because of the workout the day before and were doing anything my mind wanted them to do effortlessly to the point where they were playing things on auto piolet and I was back to writing all kinds of cool stuff. I must have recorded 20 chord patterns on the cell phone within an hour which I can simply play back in the studio to get some decent projects going.

 

Inspiration "Mojo" are simply triggers which take many forms and sometimes It can be extremely elusive, hiding in places where you don't expect it. Sometimes its just a trickle and sometimes its like a firehose when you finally manage to find the tap and turn it on. The thing is, you can wait for it forever doing nothing to deserve it, and blaming the lack of it on an instrument is immature.

 

Most of the time you have to pursue it with some of that 99% perspiration they talk always about and then it meets you some place in the middle. I don't think music would be half as much fun if it happened otherwise.

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