Introducing: The Tatty Adonis One

Well, I've been trying to get a bit of perspective about all this Jooky bobbins, after realising that the look on somebody's face as I described at length why it was I am totally made-up to be able to buy pre-rusted screws, perhaps wasn't rapt attention tinged admiration at my cleverness and wit. I think it was the pat on my head and run-for-the-exits departure that swung it.

I realise I can get a bit 'detail', but such is life.

Odd in one so slack though, has to be said.

Speaking of which, I am rather chuffed to be able to introduce you to The Tatty Adonis One, which after a number of false starts is now a reality and vapourware-less.

From the top it boasts:

1. An alder Strat body

2. A maple/rosewood tele neck

3. A Wilkinson Steel Blocked Trem with added zing

4. A set of pre-aged Wilkinson Tuners

5. A corroded copper finish

6. Some rusty screws that I love

7. A Mojo wiring loom - CTS posts and PIO capacitor with Jooky on the side, bless, and best of all

8. A prototype Mojo Wide Range pickup.

All of which means it looks, plays and sounds dee and vine.

As for the Wide Range pickup, I think I mentioned that I got to spend some time with an original '70s Tele featuring Fender's WRs, and that I was impressed. They were quite single-coil-like for a humbucker, nicely jingling in the clean department and getting raw and P90-ish when things got a bit more meaty. I'm pleased I did that as it makes life simpler when I talk about the Mojo ones. I also tried one of the newer reissues which are lovely guitars, but the pickups in them are basically meh. Nowt like the originals at all. Why would they do that?

So I have a context, what does this Mojo Wide Ranger sound like when compared to the '70s original?

Well, for a start, it handles the cleans beautifully. It is a bit pokier than the original Fender ones, though not massively and perhaps that is down to the magnets in the originals fading over time, I don't know. Whatever. The clarity is the first thing that hits you, no sign of mushiness and even when you up-the-gain, it has a real cut-thru tone to it that is awesome.

Speaking of the tone, the tone knob (which I've recently discovered you are allowed to turn if the occasion demands) gives a really wide range (tee hee) of err, tones.

Full on there is that real Tele-meets-a-P90 bite, but down a bit you get something Stratty with maybe a bit more of a punch in the middle. Nearly all the way down you get something almost jazzy (and the one three note jazz-lick I can remember sounds pretty nice. I might smoke a Gitanes off the back of it.)

The thing that most impresses me about it, is that it has that sort of gritty undertone the original had that makes it quite distinct from other single coils (and it is definitely single coils I find myself comparing it to, not humbuckers) but it has the power of a humbucker too. Really quite special, has to be said.

I think it is hard to describe pickups without turning into a wine taster, but there is definitely a lot of different noises to be made, so I'm really rather chuffed as that is what you need in a single pup guitar, let's face it..

I should record something, but then it probably wouldn't do much more than amuse, so I probably won't. You'll just have to wait for Marc at Mojo to start selling these things proper-like, and find out for yourself. But if I was to treat myself to a new Fender, I'd definitely be knocking on the Mojo door for a set of these as they really nail the original tone. Bang on.

So in summary, The Tatty Adonis One, uber cool. Mojo's Wide Range Humbucker, truly excellent. I love my life.

La la Coool.