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Can gear lose its mojo?


Phil O'Keefe

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I watched a video of the Fender factory in the '50s. I noticed how much hands were on the wood while it was being shaped.

 

It reminded me of the longevity in the old children's toys that were carved and built by hand. Perhaps mojo is a product of the energy that get put into the wood. Maybe the strats from the '50s really are better.

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In the colloquial sense, yes I think there are a number of things that can happen to take away that aural "magic". I believe that a break can adversely effect the sound of an instrument, particularly if it's not repaired properly. I suppose it could work conversely as well as Onelife referred to, but I would be more inclined to consider another factor personally. But I suppose it's no more far-fetched (headstock repair imparted aural mojo) than my suspicion that my 89 Strat Plus sounds so amazing because it was inundated with cigarette smoke when I acquired it. I've never played another Strat that has such 3D chime. Figured all that smoke must have dried out the wood or something. But a better explanation is that like a custom shop model, better wood was possibly used, or maybe it has something to do with the swimming pool route. In any event, it has major mojo AND leaving it out of it's original case has completely cured the cigarette smell.

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Something that can help with a smoky smelling case is to spray Fabreeze in it, and put a couple of dryer sheets in there - without the guitar - for a day or two. I've also sprinkled baking soda on the case lining, then vacuumed it up a couple of days later, which also seemed to help.

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I don't think price point, repair, or age has much to do with it. I think the mojo connotation comes from the individual, and time spent with or away from a piece of gear, and also from evolving tastes and preferences, more than anything.

My Beast was under a grand new, it's nowhere near stock, its a Platinum Pro, so nothing close to an End Roman custom, but it has a Butt ton of mojo. I'm superstitious about over cleaning it - almost afraid I'll remove some, lol. I never got around to routing out a larger battery compartment to accommodate the twin nine volts for the 18v mod,, so I tape them together and tuck them in a curve on a vampire tip. It's got Nick's and dings from gigging, a dead switch from a botched kill switch attempt, and a custom DVD case pickup ring, lol. But again, Tons of mojo.

I've had a bunch of other guitars that just never did it for me.

I think a lot of guitar players may fall into this category with me, idk.

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Thx Phil, been there, done that, but the case is still a smarmy black hole that can overwhelm a guitar left in it too long. It's OK though, I've got a few better Fender cases layin around. The main thing is that the guitar itself (89 Strat Plus) is now completely free of any residual fumes and my overall favorite fiddle (for now anyway - I have some good'uns).

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There have been times when I've thought my gear has lost it's mojo - put it down to hearing fatigue most of the time.

 

If I haven't played for several days or so, the magic comes back when I play again. But the climate comes into play as well - sound waves travel differently depending on the weather/humidity/temperature when travelling out from the amp speaker. A little tweak here and there on the knobs - pedals or guitar - usually rectifies the situation.

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Numerous stories in here about guitar's having refinishes that to the owner makes it a lesser guitar, change in necks, pickups, rewires, tuners, all kinds of stuff have had the effect of lessening or losing what to many people would be termed "mojo".

 

So yes, I think guitar and valve amps can lose that indeterminate value, ditto cars, motorcycles and numerous other things

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I've had an electric geetar to lose its mojo just by changing strings with equivalent gauge and NPS construction. In the end, I would go back to whatever string brand / model it had on it before.

 

I would expect behaviour like this more so with an acoustic guitar, but, this was with a solid body Strato-clone.

 

A friend of mine once complained of his electric geetar losing its mojo after he did a shielding job. About all I can say for that one is that it may have somehow introduced capacitance to the audio circuit or a bit of earthing resistance that wasn't there before.

 

 

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Another thing that can help a great deal is fresh air and sunshine. Leave it sitting open outside for a few sunny days and that may help reduce the smell. I am glad you have other cases, but it would be nice if that one could be redeemed too, right? At least IMHO - but I never have enough cases! :D

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A friend of mine once complained of his electric geetar losing its mojo after he did a shielding job. About all I can say for that one is that it may have somehow introduced capacitance to the audio circuit or a bit of earthing resistance that wasn't there before.

 

 

 

Or maybe he digs the sound of noise? :idk: The lack of noise and distortion (especially compared to analog tape) is one of the oft-cited reasons why people often seem to prefer the sound of analog recordings over digital. Maybe he's missing the hum and noise that the shielding is reducing, and feels that the sound is inferior now that they're gone?

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Hi guys. Still moejed as ever. HDD died. :wave:

 

Sorry to hear that. :( Maybe it's time to replace it with a SSD? The prices are just dropping like crazy on them, and they really are a lot faster - especially if it's a boot drive we're talking about.

 

PS Mojo sent! :wave:

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Yeah boot drive. Clickety clickety no spinnity. A guy I ran into at Walmart said there's a local place equipped to read the platters if there's anything readable for sane money so I may clone to an SSD. Wasn't running anything sluggish though. The Win10 thing I'm on though is slow as ghuck (pass?) and probably could stand all that Optane stuff.

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Back in the early 1990's, I sent in my Carvin X-100 B in for repairs.

The tech at the shop ruined my Fender style clean channel in the amp. I was not happy about it at all.

Guitar wise, some times your definition of great tone changes, so pots, caps and pickups change over the years

Ten years ago my favorite Heavy Metal bridge pickup was the Dimarzio Evolution, now it's either a Carvin M22SD or a Dragon Fire Screamer.

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Yes. Back in 2013 I did a trade with an HCEG member. I mailed this long standing member my guitar and never received the one he promised me.

 

I tried calling him, etc... and couldn't get any returns to my calls. he guy fell off the face of the Earth, which was odd because he was one of those people who was always posting photos of his gear, etc....

 

Turns out he was busted for kiddie porn and Dateline-esque computer stuff. His photo is still on the Registered Offender list in Colorado.

 

Just recently I was able to get my guitar returned after almost three years. From what I could figure out looking at the court transcripts with dates of arrest and the person's last post my guitar arrived the same week he was arrested.

 

I had pretty much given up on getting it back and had actually assumed the person had died or something but I decided to resume my search after finding some pics of the guitar and that's when I found out.

 

The day it arrived I sold it for a big loss ($450) because I didn't want to even think about that guy's hands being on it.

 

The guitar in question was a Gibson Les Paul Junior.

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