Mojotone Blog

Custom Wound Pickups are carefully “scatter wound” to perfect consistency using only the best parts and materials available. A combined 120+ years of experience have gone into the design of these pickups and their exceptional sound. Designed by players and engineers who understand each and every aspect of what goes in to get the most of what goes out is what makes Custom Wound Pickups a guaranteed #1 choice.

Custom Wound Pickups are available in 3 color-coded categories:

Classic Wound Pickups
Classic Wound Pickups consistently recreate the best vintage examples heard from the 50’s and 60’s Era. Lower output for a clearer sound with less distortion allowing your amp to do more of the work.
Available for Strats, Teles, P90 Soapbars, P90 Dogears, P-Bass, Jazz Bass & PAF Style Humbuckers

Modern Wound Pickups
Modern Wound Pickups are for those who need more power and drive for their amps. Designed to be clear and loud without muddying up your sound like many over wound pickups.
Available for Strats, Teles, P90 Soapbars, P90 Dogears, P-Bass, & Humbuckers

Custom Wound Pickups
Classic and Modern Style Pickups with various customizable options you choose to modify your own personal sound.

Custom Wound Pickups...Designed with the Highest Level of Quality & Craftsmanship to provide the ULTIMATE TONAL EXPERIENCE for You & Your Guitar

Ever wonder why Mojo stocks what we stock – or why we don’t stock what you wish we stocked?

Anyone you speak with at Mojo is obviously going to recommend the parts Mojo carries over those of a competitor; but the reason(s) for that may not be as cut and dry as you might think.

1. First and foremost, Mojo doesn’t go in for fads and hype - often referred to as noise. There’s often a lot of buildup when something new hits the guitar/amp lover’s shelves and the manufacturer works hard to convince you that you can’t survive without it.

Mojo doesn’t jump on the bandwagon when it comes to the noise. We care about our customers, your dignity and music.

Mojo caters to a pretty unique group of customers – that being the vintage amp enthusiast, the serious guitar player, vintage amp restorer, guitar/amp tech/builder, guitar & amp store owner, etc. (You might have noticed we don’t offer kazoos and tambourines in our lineup.) Even so, we’re continually adding new parts, new styles of tolex, grill cloth, speakers, transformers, amp kits, etc. We never stop adding new products; we’re just very selective in what we add. Rest assured, we're always on the lookout for those ever-harder-to-find parts our customers want and need.

2. Cheap amp / guitar parts do not necessarily a great deal make. Mojo makes an honest attempt to provide you with the highest quality parts available at the best prices possible. If you want less-than-quality components or cabinets, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Mojo’s fantastic staff thoroughly researches what’s available for our customers in terms of quality and price. We know competitors sometimes offer what looks to be the same part at a lower price but nine times out of ten it’s simply not the same part. If you have questions about that, you can always call us...we’re always open to your questions.

And, of course, Mojo stocks those often hard-to-find vintage parts for you classic amp aficionados we try so diligently to indulge. Again, only best quality parts will do at that. At Mojo, that should always be a given.

3. Mojo Knows Tone. Mojo carries certain brands some of our customers initially weren’t familiar with but once they try them, they know why we chose to offer them and there's no looking back.

The tone junkies at Mojo who choose everything we carry - caps, resistors, speakers, tubes, etc. - are technical wizards who really know their stuff and that you can be sure of.

Mojo has been in business for nearly 20 years - going strong and growing - with good reason. Our people care about our customers, believe in what we do and have a great deal of pride in our company's quality, service and products. What more could you ask?

Happy Weekend & Rock On!

Little Miss Mojo

Gone but Never Forgotten... Happy Birthday, Johnny Cash.

Remembering "the Man in Black", Johnny Cash, born today in 1932 in Kingsland, AR.

Johnny Cash Biography (Copied in its entirety from Johnny Cash Bio at activemusician.com

Johnny Cash (born J.R. Cash, February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an influential American country and rock and roll singer and songwriter. Cash was the husband of country singer and songwriter June Carter Cash.

Cash was known for his deep and distinctive voice, the boom-chick-a-boom or "freight train" sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, and his dark clothing and demeanor, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black." He started all his concerts with the simple introduction "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption. His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", and "The Man in Black". He also recorded several humorous songs, such as "One Piece at a Time", "The One on the Right Is on the Left", and "A Boy Named Sue"; rock-and-roll numbers such as "Get Rhythm"; and various train-related songs, such as "The Rock Island Line".

He sold over 50 million albums in his nearly 50 year career and is generally recognized as one of the most important musicians in the history of American popular music.

As his career was taking off in the early 1960s, Cash began drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, Cash shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, himself heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the signs of his worsening drug addiction.

Although in many ways spiraling out of control, his frenetic creativity was still delivering hits. His song "Ring of Fire" was a major crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts. The song was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore and originally performed by Carter's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash, who says it came to him in a dream. The song describes the personal hell Carter went through as she wrestled with her forbidden love for Cash (they were both married to other people at the time) and as she dealt with Cash's personal "ring of fire" (drug dependency and alcoholism).

Cash sometimes spoke of his erratic, drug-induced behavior with some degree of bemused detachment. In one incident, his truck caught fire, triggering a forest fire that burnt down half of a national forest. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said in his then-flippant style, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead so you can't question it."

While an airman in West Germany, Cash saw the B-movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951), which inspired him to write an early draft of one of his most famous songs, "Folsom Prison Blues".

Cash felt great compassion for prisoners. He began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1950s. These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a powerful rendition of his classic "Folsom Prison Blues," while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue," a Shel Silverstein-penned novelty song that reached No. 1 on the country charts and No. 2 on the US Top Ten pop charts. The AM versions of the latter contained a couple of profanities which were blipped out in that more-sensitive era. The modern CD versions are unedited and uncensored, and thus also longer than the original vinyl albums, giving a good flavor of what the concerts were like, with their highly receptive audiences of convicts.

Apart from his performances at Folsom Prison and San Quentin, and various other U.S. correctional facilities, Cash also performed at Österåkeranstalten (The Österåker Prison) north of Stockholm, Sweden in 1972. The recording was released in 1973. Between the songs Cash can be heard speaking Swedish which was greatly appreciated by the inmates. After he quit using drugs in the early 1970s, Cash rediscovered his Christian faith, taking an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area. Cash chose this church over many other larger, celebrity churches in the Nashville area because he said he was just another man there, and not a celebrity.

After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991 (see Johnny Cash discography).

His career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to unexpected popularity and iconic status among a younger audience not traditionally interested in country music, such as aficionados of indie rock and even hip-hop. In 1993, he sang the vocal on U2's "The Wanderer" for their album Zooropa. Although he was no longer sought after by major labels, Cash was approached by producer Rick Rubin and offered a contract with Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and hard rock than for country music. Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded the album American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his guitar. The album featured several covers of contemporary artists, and saw much critical and commercial success. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and surprising commercial success. Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the popular television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour. The actress thought so highly of Cash that she later named one of her twin sons after him. He did a cameo in an episode of The Simpsons, playing the voice of a coyote that guides Homer on a spiritual quest. In 1996, Cash released a sequel, Unchained, and enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which won a Grammy for Best Country Album. In 1997, Cash believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black wrote another autobiography entitled Cash: The Autobiography.

In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome, a diagnosis that was later altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. His illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs. The albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a slightly more somber tone than the first two American albums. The video for "Hurt", a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song, and generally recognized as 'his epitaph' , from American IV received particular critical and popular acclaim.

June Carter Cash died of complications following heart valve replacement surgery on May 15, 2003 at the age of 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. (The July 5, 2003 concert was his final public appearance). At the June 21, 2003 concert, before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage. He spoke of how June's spirit was watching over him and how she had come to visit him before going on stage. He barely made it through the song. Despite his health issues, he talked of looking forward to the day when he could walk again and toss his wheelchair into the lake near his home.

Less than four months after his wife's death, Johnny Cash died at the age of 71 due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He was interred next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On May 24, 2005, Rosanne Cash's birthday, Vivian, his first wife and mother to Rosanne, died from surgery to remove a lung.

In June of 2005, his lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville, Tennessee, went up for sale by the Cash estate. In January 2006, the house was sold to a corporation owned by Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb for $2.5 million. The listing agent was Cash's younger brother Tommy.

One of Johnny Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, entitled American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted in the #1 position on Billboard Magazine's Top 200 album chart the week ending July 22, 2006. The vocal parts of the track were recorded before Cash's death, but the instruments were not recorded until about 2005. American VI is expected to be released in late 2006.

Cash received multiple Country Music Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos.

In a career that spanned almost five decades, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world, despite his distaste for the Nashville mainstream. Cash was a musician who was not tied to a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres. Moreover, he had the unique distinction among country artists of having "crossed over" late in his career to become popular with an unexpected demographic, young indie and alternative rock fans. His diversity was evidenced by his presence in three major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992). Only ten performers are in both of the last two, and only Hank Williams Sr. and Jimmie Rodgers share the honor with Cash of being in all three. His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996.

Cash stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 was his greatest professional achievement.

Cash was the father of musicians Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash, and stepfather to Carlene Carter.

The Mojo-Roccaforte Project Unveiled

Doug Roccaforte, owner of Roccaforte Amplifiers, amp builder and all around respected tone authority, has collaborated with Mojo Musical Supply on an exclusive amp kit that is now available.

Looking for a Good Pickup Line?

Mojotone MojoVerb Reverb Unit

Mojo makes two versions of the Mojotone reverb unit, which is a tube driven stand-alone unit that provides the most natural sounding reverb achievable. We also have a great tutorial on how to hook it up and make it work for you. See our Tech TV video specials area for more videos.

Mojos Fall Savings Sale is On

Now through the end of November, take advantage of Mojo's Fall Savings Sale and get some great holiday deals! We've taken 10% off of our entire selection of hand wired, drop-in guitar assemblies, as well as all of our Gotoh guitar parts - bridges, tuning keys, knobs & saddles.

In addition, we have three (3) Marshall Style 4x12 cabs – loaded & ready to ship for $550 a piece (2 slants and 1 straight). A Marshall stack would look pretty sweet to your favorite musician competing for space next to the tree on Christmas morning!

Mojo Gift Certificates are back and available in $25 and $50 values, always the perfect gift for the 'difficult to buy for' guitar and amp enthusiast on your list!

Speaking of Mojo Gift Certificates... for the next five weeks, when you place an order online with Mojo and take a few moments to complete our online survey, you'll be automatically entered in our weekly drawing to win a $25 Mojo Gift Certificate. Each Wednesday through December 12th, a winner will be drawn from all of our entries and we will contact you via email or phone and post your name on our website. Best of luck!

Mojotone and Blackheart Amps Team up to Modify the Little Giant

Mojo is proud to announce a collaboration with BlackHeart Amps to provide the release of a hand wired drop in kit for modifying the Little Giant 5 watt head and 1x12 combos. Because of the forethought of the BlackHeart team we are able to release this kit in conjunction with their national product release. Their inclusion of a 5v winding on the power transformer allowed us to include a tube rectifier upgrade. We were impressed with the solid nature of the amp and expect the hand wired kit to be a big success.

Mojo offers a line of head cabinets to convert your combo into a head

Fender Blackface and Silverface guitar amps of the 60s and 70s were some of the best ever built. Amps like the Princeton Reverb®, Deluxe Reverb®, Super Reverb® and Twin Reverb® are timeless classics. After years of making custom head boxes to convert these combo amps into heads, Mojo has decided to add these four head cabinets into our stock cabinet line. Check out all the Blackface head boxes now!

Vote Which Eminence 15 inch Speaker You Want us to Offer

In our continuing poll to discover the next Eminence speaker addition to the Mojo lineup, we are now looking for your input on a 15" offering. Your votes in the previous polls have led to the addition of the Eminence Red Fang 12" speaker, Eminence Ragin Cajun 10" speaker and the Eminence Legend GB128 12" speaker. Please vote now.

Mojotone Gift Certificates are a Great Way to Say Thank You

Mojo now has a $25/$50 Gift Certificates available for purchase online. Either one make an excellent gift or special thank you. Perhaps for someone who recently fixed your amp. Go get one, they'll appreciate it.

Grill Cloth is Now Being Sold by the linear yard

Mojotone is now selling our grill cloth by the linear yard (LY). This is a welcome change for some. On all grill cloth online you will now see "Sold by the linear yard at x'' width." in the product detail. We hope this lessens the confusion and points out that you can buy cloth in one continuous piece or small 1 yard pieces. All you have to do is pay attention to the width.

New Mojotone Videos

Two new Videos are up on our site, Google and You Tube. The Woodshop Tour and the 335 Assembly Tutorial are great additions to our video project. Remember, if you have any videos that you want to share with us, please email us about it.

Mojo Made Marshall Style Cabinets Are Good As Gold

All of our Marshall Style Cabinets now come with the Gold End Cap Handle, just like the original amplifier cabinet from the plexi era. In the past cabinets came with Silver End Cap Handles. We hope you like the change.

New Mojotone Custom Cabinet Builder Online!

Build your very own Mojotone custom cabinet online with 3 easy steps with our new custom cabinet configuration builder. To begin your custom cabinet order simply select your desired speaker configuration or baffle cut and click continue. You will be presented with selectable menu options (pull-downs) for each component of your cabinet. And it's a custom crafted hand made cabinet from Mojo Musical Supply. Get started now!

Tuning a Guitar with a Tuner by Korg

If you're like me and some of our amp techs, you have trouble tuning a guitar by ear. We decided to buy some Korg GA-30 Guitar/Bass 6/7 String tuners for the shop. We had to buy a few to save, so we're offering to pass our savings on to you if you need one.

Mojo Now Has Guitar Pickup Coil Wire

Mojo is selling the highest quality pickup coil wire available. Perfect for repair and manufacturing. These spools come with over 5 lbs of vintage spec, 42 Ga. single build, Plain Enamel or Heavy Formvar wire. These are the same types of wire that were most commonly used on vintage Gibson and Fender pickups. Made in the U.S.A.

Mojotone Staff Music

Mojo staff is comprised of musicians who have played in various bands throughout the years, with some still active today. Our blog lists some of their MP3's.

A few friends & artists who own Mojo Cabinets

Can You Find the Loaded 4x12 Cabinets?

Vote Which Eminence Speakers You Want Mojo to Offer

Mojo is pleased to announce that we will be stocking Eminence speakers once again!

We've decided to let our customers vote for the speakers we stock which will help us to better understand your needs. Some of our dealers and OEMs who have been using Eminence products in their cabinets will now be able to take advantage of our stock and loading to produce their final products. Go Vote Now!

New Video Tutorials from Mojotone

Installing a Mojo Pre-Wired Assembly

Installing a Mojo Pre-Slotted Pre-Shaped Bone Nut

Replacing and Biasing 6v6 Amplifier Tubes

Mojotone Kit Built Into a Broiler Pan

Check out this cool single-ended Mojotone kit built into a broiler pan that was headed for the trash. Nyberg aptly named the home brewed amp "Swamp Thing". We sell the two transformers that were used to build this project.

Small Amps, Big Sound, Great Speakers

It's all in the speaker. They can have more effect on your sound than anything else. I have blogged about this before. A 2005 article in Guitar Player Magazine about the Savage Macht 12 spoke about a Mojotone speaker...

"For example, the amp is fitted with a husky, British-voiced 12" Mojotone BV-30V for a bolder, punchier, and more dynamic tone."

Roasting a Mojotone Extension Cabinet

I don't know what this is about other than tasty creativity with a Mojotone 1x10 Extension cabinet, and in an oven no doubt. Crazy! Check out both videos "Cooking with G.A.S." and "Kitchen Jam". Roasting a Mojotone Extension Cabinet

What can I expect from modifications and upgrades to my amp?

We often get asked this question and similar one's like it, so we decided to include this one in the FAQ section. This is strictly our expert opinion.

1. Most bang for the buck - Speakers
2. Tubes
3. Output transformer
4. Cabinet
5. Capacitor resistor tweaks
6. Power transformer

Please read why we think so!

Customer Feedback Saves the Day

Recently a customer called after receiving his beautiful Mojotone hand crafted Marshall Style 2x12" amp cabinet and he was a bit upset. Why? Because he couldn't just open the box and start playing. There was no wiring harness to hook up the speakers. Mojo does not include a wiring harness by default because most folks transfer their existing wiring to the new cabinet. Not everyone is replacing an old amp cabinet. Mojo had no clear indication within the details to indicate this. Thanks to the customer feedback, we realized a flaw and cleared up the confusion. All cabinet detail pages online now have a gray bar titled Accessories which will include items that we think you may want or need with that item. I hope it clears up any confusion and helps you make informed buying decisions.

Murphy the dog has a 9lb. 6oz. baby brother!

It is official, Murphy the dog has a 9lb. 6oz. baby brother! We are excited to have the addition to the Mojo family.

In celebration we are now offering Amazing Goop to help change diapers. And why not, it does everything else. Kind of like duct tape. You will find the Goop and other amazing shop type items in the newly created, and organized "Shop Supplies" category. Enjoy folks!

Summer NAMM 2007 - Austin, TX

Mojotone is attending Summer NAMM 2007 in Austin, TX. We enjoy attending NAMM every year and it's a great place for us to show off new gear and see new innovations in the world of music. At last years NAMM show, we brought along a tube driven stand-alone reverb unit aptly named the MojoVerb. It was hit with all the old timer's rockin' on Vintage Tweed amps that didn't come with Reverb. See you at NAMM!

Cabinet *Special* - Marshall Style 2x12 Slant (3pc Back & Ding)

We are offering this cabinet special to anyone willing to use an awesome cabinet with a slight ding in the front right bottom. We believe the price is right at $275 and the sound is incredible. This is the same as the stock Mojotone made Marshall style 2x12 Slant style reproduction cabinet. Go buy it!