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Basses with 'Mojo' Rant!

Which fits your buying habits for a used bass 10 years old or less?

  • Must be 'minty'

    Votes: 9 9.2%

  • Normal dings and nicks and other wear are ok.

    Votes: 33 33.7%

  • If i like it, i don't care about the cosmetics one bit!

    Votes: 56 57.1%
  • Total voters
    98
#41
taurus1 said:
I don't call it mojo, I call it character.
I have a 76 and 78 P bass that have a lot of "character".
I don't baby my instruments and I don't abuse them, the wear shows after using them for decades.
my 76 in particular has barely any finish left on the back of the neck, it feels like no other neck I've played.
my friend has a Tokai strat that he bought new in 1983 (I think). he's an absolute monster player and gigs constantly, year after year. his Tokai still looks minty, I don't know how he does it.
one thing I have noticed he does is move his belt buckle to the side and wipe down his guitar after every gig.
I have never once wiped down a bass guitar (body), the strings yes but not the body.
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lucathakid said:
You got that lee fields album cover, great album. My work distributes for truth and soul and we put out that record specifically.

K back to topic. I picked up an instrument that was kind of abused. I Don't feel like I have a bass with crazy mojo I feel like I have a bass that nobody really cared about before but I saw something I liked in it and decided to fix a few things and keep it. Like someone would a 3 legged dog or something.
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Dude! One of my favorite albums of the last decade!!
 
#43
gumbynotpokey said:
Name brands on the one hand, and character marks on the other hand. There's a tension here.

I'll leave us to ponder this and let everyone decide if and how to apply it as they see fit:

"If your momma raised you on manure, you'd develop a taste for it."
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huh.jpg
 
#44
faulknersj said:
Dude! One of my favorite albums of the last decade!!
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Agreed "the only one loving you" track is incredible. I've done some digital restoration on the artwork of a couple of his older albums mainly "problemS". When him and the expressions were in boston doing a show his label truth and soul extended an invitation to the show which I was unable to make regrettably. His newest that I've heard "faithful man" is pretty awesome too. Not as good as my world though. I'm sure it's because my world was a semi compilation.
 
#45
Mojo, character, well loved. Call it what you want.

I voted the second.

If I wanted both minty and used, I'd have to be very picky and I'd rather just buy new. I doesn't take long to be around used basses to know how they show wear from use vs. abuse. My eyes have been train to avoid the latter.
 
#46
Showdown said:
I think there is a difference between worn from many years of playing and beat up from not being taken care of properly. Any bass is going to get a few dings here and there, but a newish bass with a poly finish is really hard to make look like a well used vintage bass with a worn nitro finish just from normal wear and tear.
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I'd agree with this. There is a difference between well worn and abused. Also agree with Lublin... nothing feels better to me than a well worn Fender be it vintage or relic'ed. I like the look and the feel. It inspires confidence. My current P-Bass is nicely worn in and I never worry about getting it scratched or dinged. I can play it without thinking about "it".
 
#47
Sometimes the guys who are the first to bash a relic because it's not honest wear, are the same guys who tell you in another thread 5 minutes later, that "looks don't matter and it's all about the sound and playability".

I think sound, playability and looks are all important when I am thinking about buying a bass. If a pink Steinberger sounded and played awesome, I still wouldn't buy it.. because I'm not into pink Steinbergers (and no offense to anyone who likes them). And if a pre-CBS Jazz or P bass looked amazing, but played or sounded like crap, I wouldn't buy that either.

Same goes for a modern bass.. I have to like everything about it or I will pass. If it looks like someone played it non stop for 10 years and it has wear, that doesn't bother me and it wouldn't affect my decision unless that wear made the bass ugly to me. We all know there is good wear and bad wear. Sometimes honest wear looks like crap. And sometimes fake wear looks really awesome. And vise-versa.

So to me, it doesn't matter how old the bass is compared to how much wear it has, and whether that wear was real or fake. But I'll admit, if it doesn't look cool first, I'm probably never going to find out how it plays or sounds. And I think a lot of people on here would hate to admit that, even though they know deep down that it's true. :hiding:
 
#48
^ I don't think anyone would hate to admit that. Looks account for a lot.How many people do you know that said when I first met my wife/husband I thought they were ugly as ****. As humans we gravitate towards things we find attractive and aint a damn thang wrong with that.
 
#49
lucathakid said:
^ I don't think anyone would hate to admit that. Looks account for a lot.How many people do you know that said when I first met my wife/husband I thought they were ugly as ****. As humans we gravitate towards things we find attractive and aint a damn thang wrong with that.
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I have a peavey bass that plays great, but I HATE the way it looks. I have to admit, it'll always be a backup or potential trade. Thumbs up for the truth!
 

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