Deep Thoughts on Mojo / Vibe / Whatever...

[GuitarHack]

Lately, I've really been dwelling on the idea that some guitars have "it", and some don't, and how that comes to pass. I can't precisely define "it", but I bet most folks here know what I mean.

This weekend, I confirmed it's not a function of quality or price. I auditioned with a new band, and I took a non-EBMM $3300 boutique guitar I own. I did this because the bass player is a big fan of this brand, and begged me to bring it. This guitar is GREAT, it sounds and looks amazing, it is versatile and responsive, and...boring and cold and lifeless. I can't explain it. I haven't a single complaint about this guitar, it is perfect, and it leaves me numb. Perfect sound, perfect frets, perfect looks....yawn. I could theoretically love this guitar, and be monagamous 'til death do us part, but I can't. WTF???

Toward the end of the audition, I switched to my 20th Aniversary Silo, and BAM! I wasn't in the zone, I was in somebody else's zone! I literally played stuff I couldn't play! Even the other guys there mentioned that I really seemed to be into it, and knew my stuff. I couldn't get a bad sound, and I didn't want to stop.

So...how does the mojo get baked in? I don't mean to be a suck up, but ALL of my EBMMs have "it", which is amazing to me (and granted, the quality is second to none). I had two Gibson LPs, one had it, one didn't. I had a $2400 boutique Tele-style axe that didn't have it, and a $269 Mexican Tele that did. I'm sure someone else out there can remember a $2000+ custom guitar that didn't have it, and a $200 pawn shop POS that did.

So, to bring this back to EBMM and the consistent "vibe"...do the guitars spring from the Ball family and Dudley's and SL/AL/JP/SM's imagination with all of the mojo that can be had, or does the design team have to iterate the design until it is "right" in that undefinable way? I expect the answer is the latter, so the real question then is, If a guitar you're making doesn't have that special secret something, what happens then? What do you add to make a guitar come to life, have a personality, and be magical? I can't imagine someone says, "Hey, this axe isn't happening...let's change the fret size and the neck pickup", and that's how magic happens?

It makes me think that some guitar makers have "it", and some don't.

Sorry for the rambling, but, am I making any sense?

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

You make perfect sense.

I have no idea what causes the mojo that some guitars seem to have built into them, but I love finding the ones that have it! It's like a stage high without being on stage

 

[roburado]

I haven't experienced the $2000 guitar not having mojo...at least, not one I've owned. I've never owned something like that. (Though, I don't know what the MSRP of my 20th Ann. Silo is.) I have experienced the opposite. I paid 5000 Philippine Pesos (less than $100 at the time...actually, it's still less than $100) for an el cheapo Str@t copy that rolled off a Korean assembly line, probably Samick's. That guitar was great! (Unfortunately, it was stolen.) Well...the finish left a little to be desired. It looked like someone painted the clearcoat on with a paintbrush. However, it had some mojo to it--more than a lot of more expensive guitars. Likewise my Str@t Plus also had some mojo to it. Between the two of those guitars, there was never any reason to buy another--at least, not one more expensive, because I always felt that spending huge amount of money wasn't going to necessarily buy me happiness from F3nd3r, PR$, Gib$on, $adowsky, or Tom Ander$on, or whomever. Not that they don't make great guitars, but I had given up on the idea that a great guitar was necessarily an expensive one. Now, my EBMMs out mojo anything else I have ever played. So, EBMM is my brand from now on.

 

[GuitarHack]

...I always felt that spending huge amount of money wasn't going to necessarily buy me happiness from F3nd3r, PR$, Gib$on, $adowsky, or Tom Ander$on, or whomever. Not that they don't make great guitars, but I had given up on the idea that a great guitar was necessarily an expensive one.

Roburado, the guitar I was playing was from one of these makers. Like I said, I can't find a single thing wrong with this guitar, but it just doesn't inspire me. All my EBMMs do, not that there's anything wrong with them. And, to add to your point, they have a consistent vibe, they're made in America, and the risk in buying one is zero, since they're all great. EBMM is my brand too.

 

[roburado]

Roburado, the guitar I was playing was from one of these makers. Like I said, I can't find a single thing wrong with this guitar, but it just doesn't inspire me. All my EBMMs do, not that there's anything wrong with them. And, to add to your point, they have a consistent vibe, they're made in America, and the risk in buying one is zero, since they're all great. EBMM is my brand too.

Yeah, the consistency is amazing and darn near unbelievable when one witnesses how some other makers are so inconsistent.

 

[robelinda2]

yep they have mojo alright! I have heaps of students with guitars that are over $10000, none of them have that "it", even they know it too.

 

[roburado]

I can't imagine buying a guitar that expensive. Personally, I'd prefer to buy a bunch o' Balls. Okay, fine. We can throw in some a nice amp or two.

 

[the24thfret]

You make total sense, and I agree, but I haven't owned enough guitars to pinpoint it. What frustrates me the most is that I can't find "it" while playing in a guitar store. I need to live with the guitar for a while in order to find "it", and that requires an actual purchase .

Good thread! Glad to hear EBMMs have more mojo than most.

 

[Axilla]

There's really something about that fabulous "it" - perfect sense.
That SLOville mojo somehow seems to be in any EBMM model.
I was more into the IBZ brand before and was considering Gibbons LPs when I was first introduced to EBMM. Bought my first Silo Special right after, customized the shi(r)t out of it (was in baaaad condition before) and had it refretted & redone...
I sold my other stuff one by one as time passed by and got some more balls. These guitars together with the different PU configs made me dive into styles of music I wasn't even interested in before. Mojo is the right word for it I guess.
These guitars made me play different and also perceive my music in different ways...
Hard to find an appropriate description, but mojo comes close I guess

 

[SuperTed]

I'm a new Eb player here cos I just bought a lefty Luke at the weekend and I felt the mojo with this guitar as soon as I played it. I agree about the playing 'new' things feeling, cos i was doing it in shop upon first playing! I keep meaning to write a little review and take pics but I can't stop playing the thing!

It's hard to define mojo, but I can state what I love about this guitar. First it's the pickups. The SLV singles are the absolute f*cking nuts and I defy anyone not to like em. Clean they are the best sounding strat pup's I've ever heard, and when I add the crunch I'm not left wanting at all. Seriously, there's nothing this guitar can't do. It's not a jack of all trades, master of none guitar, it's "master of whatever the hell you" like guitar. Anyone who feels their strat isn't cutting it should check out the Luke.

Second its the construction. This thing resonates like no other alder bolt-on guitar I've ever played, all the way down the neck and into the body. I thought the v-neck was an unusual choice of shape, because the neck isn't quite thick enough for most thumb-over playing, so I still think Hamer has the best neck profile in the biz. However, the finish means I glide up and down all day and my fingers just don't get tired, and you can't get that on any other guitar!

Sorry to get off track, but if i had to some up mojo, it would be a guitar that doesn't leave you reaching another. I think for most this would b how well it plays, but if you find one that plays well and answers 'the sound you hear in your head', then it's a keeper.

 

[Larry]

Its in the balls.


I know what your trying to say and nothing comes close ot balls.

 

[dmullen]

Its in the balls.

Very well said! Now there is a t-shirt...

"Need to find your mojo! It's in the Balls!"

 

[candid_x]

Interesting question. Maybe it can be said that a guitar is more than the sum of its parts. Sometimes that mojo is purely a matter of luck: getting a lucky piece of wood, or someone who worked on the neck and really got into, putting his or her soul into it. But consistency requires more than luck; it requires commitment to mojo.

During a hard time I bought a Chinese guitar for a hundred bucks. It was all I could afford, and I had to have a guitar. It had mojo. A friend bought a set of Fralins to drop into his EBMM Sil Special, and he sold me the stock pickups for another hundred bucks. Now my $200 guitar had lots of mojo. I played the heck out of that guitar for awhile, and always the mojo was present. Plug it in and go off somewhere magical. I got lucky.

Now I have two Balls with mojo, and I have little doubt any other Ball I pick up will have mojo, too. That's not just luck, that's consistent mojo, and that reflects the mojo of the company, from design to components, to sanding and finishing, to set up, to shipping, to customer service, etc. etc. I think that naturally some luck is involved: a phenomenal piece of wood, or the fret installer/dresser being especially "on" that day, etc, and I believe that guitar will have some special mojo. Also, what's mojo for one player may not be mojo for another player. But I think it's safe to say that any EBMM is going to have some mojo.

I can relate to the boutique electric guitar thing, with high quality everything, and still being cold as ice. A local studio owner has two hanging next to his Taylors. Absolutely no mojo. But then his playing has no mojo either, so it's a perfect fit.

 

[puppyonacid]

I feel lucky in that both my main guitars have tons of mojo. That includes my JP6. Both make me play in very different ways tho.

I've played quite a few expensive Ibbo's over the years and they never really inspire me. One of my students has an Ibbo ar gee (read it out loud!) and he payed quite a bit for it as well. I hate it! I feel like my hands go tosleep when I pick it up. It's truly awful! But, that could jsut be me not feeling the guitar. On the other hand, I have a student with a blue skwire and I love it. I don;t know why! It's cheapo but it's jsut so much fun to play.

I guess the fire is in the hands of the holder.......(to butcher a well known phrase)

 

[meenahga]

When I discovered EBMM guitars, it was all Mojo. I played every guitar in the shop. All the F&nd&rs, Gi&sons, I&anez, and everything in between. I went in totally looking for the vibe, the it, the mojo. I didn't care about the name or logo on the headstock, I wanted feel and sound. It was the Silhouette that rose to the top. I've never looked back. I am fortunate enough to now have 6 EBMM guitars. Each has its own Mojo, although there is the vibe within the mojo and I find 3 of these guitars have this stronger vibe. I am not gonna go into details, but I am sure some of you know what this is all about.

 

[Sub1 Zero]

All I know is, both of my EBMM's have loads of it...

I had an Applause strat copy that I got for under $100 that I had my tech build up, and it had it. However, I had a guitar that cost more than my sub, yet didn't have any...

 

[Eilif]

You make total sense.

I think mojo is just that magical ingredient. You can't put a finger on it. It's like "chemistry" between two people. What's the secret ingredient? Who knows?

A given guitar can be magic to someone but lifeless to someone else. It's funny how that sort of thing works. Therefore (and I don't mean to diss EBMM or anybody in any way here), I don't think it can be said that all EBMMs have mojo for everyone.

For me, my Luke didn't have it. My Axis SS had it. My 20th Silo has it. My Sub 1 doesn't have it.

(It doesn't mean I didn't like my Luke, 'tho. I'd like to get another one someday...)

 

[the24thfret]

All I know is, both of my EBMM's have loads of it...

I had an Applause strat copy that I got for under $100 that I had my tech build up, and it had it. However, I had a guitar that cost more than my sub, yet didn't have any...

This makes me want to rebuild my slowly decaying "first" guitar... Did the tech build the mojo in or did the guitar have something to it initially?

 

[Sub1 Zero]

This makes me want to rebuild my slowly decaying "first" guitar... Did the tech build the mojo in or did the guitar have something to it initially?

It had a nice neck, and felt great all around, but the electronics were shot and the bridge was shot. It had some weird floyd rose-ish freako bridge, and he actually took that and made it into a hardtail, and blocked it. It had one hum, a volume and a kill switch, and the thing sounded mean as all hell and played great and sustained really well. The only thing about it was it's weight, it was like a block of lead.

Keep in mind, this guitar had mojo before he ever tore into it, and this tech is AWESOME. I think it was just one of those lucky ones you get, and I don't think any sq***r could ever match it...

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

There are good and bad guitars at all price points, however EBMM seem to be very consistant indeed.