Keep the MoJo??

[Jim Hussey]

Greetings

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Recently this guitar came my way after many years under a lot of beds. Billy Knowles put my copedent on it, but nothing else. Musically it sounds fantastic. Mechanically, it plays okay. The question is, do I keep the MoJo (leave it as is) or do I go ahead and have Billy clean the rust & crud and then service or restore the guitar? Here are some photos:

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Note: The cross shaft for RKR is actually a tube over the cross shaft for P8

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Looks like the original build had only 1 knee lever.

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By the time this photo was taken, 3 more knee levers had been added.

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So the question is:
Keep the MoJo or Restore it???

[Tucker Jackson]

Maybe the pictures don't tell the tale... but it looks to be in pretty decent shape as is. If it's rusty enough, cleaning that off won't mess up any mojo.

If it were mine, that (ugly orange) Zig Zag sticker would stay on the front apron. That's the mojo part of it that screams "Bill Keith, 1960s!" Plus it instantly identifies it as his steel in that iconic picture you posted from the Winnie Winston and Bill Keith book.

[Jim Pitman]

No question, do not remove the the rolling papers sticker. Anyone here on the forum (over the age of 60) will immediately recognize it.
I particularly liked what Bill Keith played on the MUleskinner record.

[Lee Rider]

That geetar has lots of history; clean up and adjust, but leave the sticker (the mojo)!

[Doug Earnest]

My opinion would be to clean the mechanics to the extent needed to be able to give it a good mechanical service job. I would gently clean and wax the formica, YES LEAVE THE STICKER, and use some kind of good aluminum cleaner and polish on the metalwork. Cool find!!!!!

[Kelcey ONeil]

Jim,
Sent you a PM

[Dave Mudgett]

For God's sake, keep the sticker! That steel is a cultural icon. OK, maybe not recognized at the level of Clapton's Beano, Bloomfield's, or Page's Les Pauls. But still ...

As for cleaning the undercarriage - I suggest cleaning exactly enough for maximum playability, and no more. I would not tear it apart and polish the undercarriage parts to a fine shine like so many do. I would not mess with the mica and exterior trim - that's the worthy mojo. But extra scooge in the undercarriage, especially the changer, can inhibit playability. So I would make sure that nothing in the changer or undercarriage is scooged up enough to cause sticking - everything should move very freely.

This is a fine vintage guitar. Treat it as such. You got a winner here.

[Jim Hussey]

The sticker definitely stays. The question is how far to go with cleanup.

In the car world there now is a huge following for “preservation” cars. Cars that are in good running condition that have never been disassembled for a “ground up” restoration. The saying is: once disassembled / restored, they never drive as well as when they left the factory. I’m thinking the same may be true for guitars that go through the all too common “ground up” polishing, plating, and refinishing process.

Some of the springs in the changer and on the cross shafts are soft or weak. I’m thinking these should be replaced along with some light cleaning of things like fret boards and the pedal bar. Maybe some windex on the fret boards and GooGone on the pedal bar, and that's about it. Other than that, I worry that significant disassembly might diminish the tone, clarity, and “punch” that makes this guitar a joy to hear.

[Dave Mudgett]

The sticker definitely stays. The question is how far to go with cleanup.

Thumbs up!

In the car world there now is a huge following for “preservation” cars. Cars that are in good running condition that have never been disassembled for a “ground up” restoration. The saying is: once disassembled / restored, they never drive as well as when they left the factory. I’m thinking the same may be true for guitars that go through the all too common “ground up” polishing, plating, and refinishing process.

This is absolutely the ethos in the vintage guitar world also. Pretty much "vintage almost anything" world, as far as I can see. Refinishing of vintage guitars is the cardinal no-no, and reduces the value to no more than 50% of its original value. Unless a vintage guitar is scooged up to the point of unplayability, I would not do a ground up cleaning. I had to make an exception with my 1980 Franklin D10 because the undercarriage was so sticky that not amount of non-teardown cleaning would bring it to playability - Lord knows I tried. So I tore it down, but did only the things that were required to make it play well again. I did a basic cleaning, lubrication, and re-assembly, but did not try to make it look like a new guitar by meticulously polishing everything to a high shine. I visited with Paul Sr. shortly after I did this, and he was very pleased to see that it was up and running well and still looked like a vintage steel.

Some of the springs in the changer and on the cross shafts are soft or weak. I’m thinking these should be replaced along with some light cleaning of things like fret boards and the pedal bar. Maybe some windex on the fret boards and GooGone on the pedal bar, and that's about it. Other than that, I worry that significant disassembly might diminish the tone, clarity, and “punch” that makes this guitar a joy to hear.

Yeah, stuff that doesn't work should probably be replaced. This is a bit different than the vintage guitar ethos, where really valuable vintage guitar collectors are obsessively hung up about the slightest replaced part. But pedal steels are machines, and machine components can flat out wear out with use.

Significant disassembly definitely carries the risk of changing the sound. Sometimes that's good - I had a couple of steels that played and sounded better after teardown - these were not super vintage steels. And I think my Franklin came out OK - it sounded glorious to start with, but when changes just won't come back, something had to be done.

Many pedal steel players are absolutely fine with tearing everything down, refinishing, polishing, and sometimes re-plating stuff. Even completely changing the undercarriage and changer. I'm not of that persuasion.