Johnt Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Watched Paul Weller on TV last night. Not my favourite but wife likes him. Saw his beautiful Gibson which looks remarkably like my J45 ( Is it?) I love guitars that show their life, every dink means something, every imperfection tells a story, every pick mark spins a symphony. Look at this guitar ( Songs not bad either but sorry about the current UK standard Twit presenter) http://www.wikio.co.uk/video/669106 and then there's one of Willies http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1046936 and the other (or is it the same one) http://gallery.photo.net/photo/6980590-md.jpg Keep the polish....................give me the Mojo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 . . Now I know you have been hitting the - ahem - cold-cure..... . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J45dale Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 It never ceases to amaze me how I can barely understand the spoken word when spoken in "British". But when sang it comes across as all American. =D>/ This song and performance is pure Southern Blues.... I loved it! I believe the Acoustic Guitar is a J45. The electric picking is Soulful, and the twin violins add a touch of class which reminds me of some of the great Ray Charles classics. Just MHOs, Dale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 It never ceases to amaze me how I can barely understand the spoken word when spoken in "British". But when sang it comes across as all American. =D>/ This song and performance is pure Southern Blues.... I loved it! I believe the Acoustic Guitar is a J45. The electric picking is Soulful' date=' and the twin violins add a touch of class which reminds me of some of the great Ray Charles classics. Just MHOs, Dale.[/quote'] I think, Dale that it's a Norlin J45 rather similar to mine and if my memory serves me correctly ....yours. the song's a old Fleetwood Mac song ( before the band became "American") and is credited as being written by little 'willie john. I thought it was Christine Perfect/McVie so I'm wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J45dale Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Johnt, You are right, as it has square shoulders it is likely a Norlin era J45. My 73 model has a smaller teardrop, black pickguard and all black bindings vs. his white bindings, I need a better visual. Also, ....you have a great memory. Dale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 yup, Weller definitely rocks a Norlin era '45. Different strokes for different folks and all that...they get slated, but it sounds great in his hands, and he is a discerning player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 The title of your post caught my eye... I feel a rant coming on... I always thought it was obnoxious when used guitar salesmen (the ones dealing in vintage guitars, cousins of the used car salesman) sling the term "mojo" when referring to damage to a valuable, vintage guitar that has never been owned by anybody famous. They'll always drop mojo-bombs in describing a guitar whenever they're trying to move a battered specimen out of the shop. Unless it's somebody famous who did the damage, like Willies "2nd soundhole" or the Nuge's initials craved into a Byrdland or a Hendrix Strat--something along these lines, i.e. a historically significant guitar-- it seems to me that "mojo" is a slick way to admit damage without admitting depreciation. Otherwise it's a washed-up beater/hard-ridden road **** whose condition should be reflected in the price. I was recently looking at a seller's pics of an archtop. He had a series of pics documenting damage throughout the instrument, with captions like "check out that mojo, baby!" I've come across near-junkers with hackjob neck resettings, ghetto nut shims, caveman fret jobs, neck-joint camel humps... and salesmen are typically nonplussed about this kind of stuff. ok rant over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Weird of it all is that mojo already has a meaning all of it's own..... Its a magic charm, a little piece of red cloth with magic items in it (a stone, a tooth, a shell, a prayer, whatever works for the user). Usually it is a private thing worn like a charm under your outer clothes. I have mojos on a couple of guitars, I know what they mean and where they come from, nobody else does or the magic goes. You touch wood or cross your fingers, I tote a mojo. We're cool with each other. "Got my mojo working" is the same thing come west with slaves and immigrants. Sometimes it is referring to a talisman, sometimes to something a little more visceral and sexual, usually female, but it's a kind of magic either way. Quite how it got to mean the wear and tear on a guitar (or worse.....) is beyond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Watched Paul Weller on TV last night. Not my favourite but wife likes him. Saw his beautiful Gibson which looks remarkably like my J45 ( Is it?) I made a similar observation on a previous thread having watched his BBC4 show on the iplayer. I'm a huge fan. I've told my family that they don't have to get me anything for Xmas except the cd that the BBC have issued of his various sessions with them ,over the years. I have 4 of his live albums and they're all fantastic, - no frills no after production. I'd recommend "Days Of Speed" which is mostly acoustic - just him and a guitar with no band. Our friend from Suffolk has a square shouldered J45 and it's simply the best acoustic guitar I've played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Check this out! Great song, great singer, great guitar! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXd3rVVcKM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Courtney Love must have tons of mojo but I don't hear anyone bragging about it. "Ooo, check out the needle tracks and bruises, man she's got a TON of mojo!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Check this out! Great song' date=' great singer, great guitar! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXd3rVVcKM[/quote'] that was really cool. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Weird of it all is that mojo already has a meaning all of it's own..... I'm from New Orleans and been to W. Africa, I've probably forgotten more about "voodoo" than anybody here knows. Maybe that's part of the reason for the rant, I dunno... I was thinking of the term in cheeseball musician lingo though. Being a car guy as well as a guitar guy, it seems as if there is a parallel trend going on regarding classic American cars-- guitar people are nutting up over beat up guitars (old and new) with "mojo" -- & beater classic cars are called "rat rods." Similar to numbnuts rich guitar buyers purchasing expensively "relic'd" new guitars, numbnuts rich classic car owners are painting their car's perfectly straight bodywork in flat black primer and covering their good upholstery in Mexican blankets. Or dumping corrosives on their bare sheetmetal to give it a satisfactory "rust patina" before clearcoating so as to strike the correct pose. I'm just sayin, it seems like used car, er, vintage guitar salesmen have slipped the term into their shyster, psychological vocabulary and suckers, er, guitar consumers are responding: "Mojo, yeah! Me want mojo guitar! Mojo guitar worth more! Mojo guitar not depreciated!" It's totally different from appreciating (in every sense of the word, including appraising) Willie's Nelson's #1 beater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Those people are idiots. The classical in my avatar should net some good cash using that criteria but I can't even honestly say it earned it. The finish is ungodly thin, brittle, and delicate. What appears to be Willie Wear is just normal wear. People who buy relic'd Strats are the same ones who bought leather jackets in the 90s that look all "Indian Jones'd" out. Having bought and worn dozens of leather jackets over the years I can tell you the wear isn't accurate, not even in the least. But it looks cool for accountants to wear walking down the street with Sharper Image catalogs under their arms. I'd rather buy a new leather and beat the crap out of it in my own time. Most of the time there is an intervention involved to get it off me. Surgical removal under general anesthesia is also a possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Yeah.....Adele's arrangement reminds me of some of the Ray charles vanilla arrangements from the 60's to make the blues more palatable to white audiances........all those strings. Still pretty good song.....(another one on my list) I've often wondered too.....why the singers in England speak British but sing American????? It is strange..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 thanks, n!k but i'm i've run into a stretch of the forced celibacy so i've, sadly, no use for such mojo. unless....do they come with a credit card dangling from the end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 . . Probably the same reason "24 Hours From Tulsa" sounds better than "24 Hours From Bangor", or "If You're Going To Newcastle On Tyne, Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair" (which fails on so many levels.....) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosewoody Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Didn't the "mojo" of worn, sometimes beat, objects start with Levis? There was a time when you bought jeans and they were what they were. Dark blue and stiff. You played football in them and wore them 'til they were soft and faded, torn at the knees, and Mom threw them out. Now you buy them soft and faded and torn at the knees and elsewhere, and pay a premium for the wear-added! Then comes the relic option. Check out the Rory Gallagher st**t model for a guitar that has less paint on it than a chewed up pencil. Probably a great guitar but it just seems a little bit of a pose. So far I don't see the acoustic builders offering new beaters, with instant mojo. Not yet. No offense to those who prefer new rustic anythings, but it does seem odd to pay for wear and tear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Around 1974 there was a family owned grocery/clothing store here in town (still here actually) that built a little side room exclusively for used jeans. It was dark with a stereo thumping, incense.... they would take used jeans in on trade and then re-sell them. Some would sell for 2X what a new pair would go for. I'm just happy I can find a pair my ****** can fit into nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Amazin'.... when these Brits sing, they lose her British accents! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rscott4079 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Unless it's somebody famous who did the damage, like Willies "2nd soundhole" or the Nuge's initials craved into a Byrdland or a Hendrix Strat--something along these lines, i.e. a historically significant guitar-- it seems to me that "mojo" is a slick way to admit damage without admitting depreciation. Otherwise it's a washed-up beater/hard-ridden road **** whose condition should be reflected in the price. Okay, I feel my own rant coming on. While I agree that the word “mojo” is frequently misused in the sale of instruments that are in some state of disrepair, the concept that a guitar can’t have mojo unless it was owned by someone famous or have some sort of historical significance is just preposterous. Therm’s definition of “Mojo” as a magical charm is almost dead on. A guitar with mojo is one that’s played a million tunes. It’s been picked on a front porch on the Delta, played by a family band in Appalachia, or strummed in a honky-tonk in Texas. I’m always amazed by musicians who can’t see their instruments as anything more than just an object. Something whose value can only be described in dollars. As artists, I would expect they could see the beauty of a well worn, well played and well loved guitar. Willie Nelson calls his N-20 “Trigger” because to him it’s not just an instrument, it’s a faithful old friend. And that’s why it’s got mojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Check this out! Great song' date=' great singer, great guitar! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhXd3rVVcKM[/quote'] Thanks for that AJ! I had never heard of the man before and am glad I now have. Makes me want to have a couple glasses of a nice Red and plug in the J-45 tonight. (Believe me, the wine helps.) Also, +1 on what RScott said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Okay' date=' I feel my own rant coming on. While I agree that the word “mojo” is frequently misused in the sale of instruments that are in some state of disrepair, the concept that a guitar can’t have mojo unless it was owned by someone famous or have some sort of historical significance is just preposterous. Therm’s definition of “Mojo” as a magical charm is almost dead on. A guitar with mojo is one that’s played a million tunes. It’s been picked on a front porch on the Delta, played by a family band in Appalachia, or strummed in a honky-tonk in Texas. I’m always amazed by musicians who can’t see their instruments as anything more than just an object. Something whose value can only be described in dollars. As artists, I would expect they could see the beauty of a well worn, well played and well loved guitar. Willie Nelson calls his N-20 “Trigger” because to him it’s not just an instrument, it’s a faithful old friend. And that’s why it’s got mojo.[/quote'] I agree with you amigo in appreciating used guitars. Almost every guitar I own was bought used. Just like Willie has a special bond with his favorite instrument, so do I. But that bond doesn't have a damn thing to do with whatever happened before I came along. I like that they've been tested. I also think it is romantic to fantasize about what your old guitar's been through (a la "Ode on a Grecian Urn"), how it got so beat up or what have you. I fully appreciate the artistic concept of an object as a muse. And I will watch somebody play and drool in admiration of his guitar. But whether one of my guitars has been to the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall, or the sh!thouse of some plantation's slave quarters makes no difference to what I'm gonna play on it. None of that stuff makes my playing any cooler or better -- my music comes from me, not the guitar. Michelangelo no doubt appreciated a good hammer and a fine chisel, but the specific tools weren't what made his art special. Just like whatever guitar any given swinging **** plays doesn't make his song special. I wouldn't compare myself to Michelangelo, but I do think that overemphasizing the instrument misses the forest for the trees. I just think the concept of mojo has degenerated into something cheesy and, worse, corrupted the guitar market. Call it whatever you want, but if I'm buying a used guitar, the condition of the guitar better dictate the price. And the market influence of the "mojo" schtick has become so pervasive that numerous makers now "relic" their stuff for premium prices. I deeply appreciate historical and cultural context of special guitar specimens but I don't think it makes Neil Young cool at all that he plays Hank Williams's #1 guitar (though he can use all the help he can get). Like Rosewoody says, "it just seems a little bit of a pose." If I owned it, I'd play it too. And it wouldn't make my songs or playing inherently better either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rscott4079 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 To each his own I guess. My instruments are more than just hardware to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Thanks for that AJ! I had never heard of the man before and am glad I now have. Makes me want to have a couple glasses of a nice Red and plug in the J-45 tonight. (Believe me' date=' the wine helps.)[/color'] Also, +1 on what RScott said. He was the guitarist, singer and writer in The Jam (late 70s post punk 3 piece) and then The Style Council before going solo. Known sometimes as The Modfather usually by people 20 years his junior. The Jam are the only band I have seen 3 times. As I said before, check out his live acoustic cd "Days Of Speed". I'd have never accused him of singing in "American " though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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