New Mojo winder

[123lightman]

Mr. Schwab,

I have sent you a couple of e-mails to your company with no reply. I have waited 3 months for my order for a pair of ND3-35s. Any info you can send about my order would be appreciated. I can give you more info as needed. Please check your orders@sgd-lutherie.com inbox.

[big_teee]

Please do not post things that are not relevant to this thread.
The DS post should not be here.
This is a thread about the mojo winding machine, please keep it that way.
T

[Vaughn]

Yes, I also found the Gauss meter very handy (on the first two anyway, read on). Here is what looks like it will be the final story on my experience with the Mojo winder. Ultimately, this has been a disappointment of unusually large proportions ... felt like when I was dealing with the cable company I didn't feel like I was asking too much by just asking that it WORK! If anything changes, I'll be sure to update this thread ... but as it is, the THIRD winder arrived with issues of it's own and it looks like the end of the road for these machines. Anyway, here is my email to Mojo upon the arrival of the THIRD machine:

New machine report:

* I Don't know if wind count in CC is accurate or not as I was working on Tele sets and because of my last two machine's issues with inaccurate wind counts in CC, I had shifted my work flow to doing both bobbins in clockwise and flipping the bridge bobbins. I haven't gotten around to trying anything else because of the following point...

*The new machine is jerky and inconsistent at low speeds ... kinda feels like a car that hesitates a little while idling ... and it gets progressively more and more consistent as the speed is increased ... it only totally smooths out above about 75%. This problem really sucked as I was doing "lacquer potted" sets ... and I do a LOT of fairly slow speed winding on these to avoid splatter! So, I just went back to the "old" machine. (Neither machine #1 or #2 had this issue)

*The Gauss sensor reads low on the new machine (compared to my commercial magnetometer) . It also has a notable puddle of epoxy on the sensor (the first two were not this way, and they DID read accurately) ... so I assume it reads low because the big bump of epoxy keeps the magnets too far away from the sensor.

What to do??? I've made a video of the problems, with footage of new machine highlighting the jerkiness at slow speeds and epoxy puddle ... but have not posted on my YouTube channel or any of my blogs yet. If you've read my blog on my Warehouse Guitar Speakers site over the years ... you will know that I am a HUGE fan of "made in America by people who CARE" ... as a way to ensure REAL QC ... and ultimately a positive experience for the buyer/user.
This has me extremely disappointed, aggravated, behind schedule, and just confused as to how I could end up in this situation after choosing to buy a machine that seemed like it was "made in America by people who CARE".

Reply from David at Mojo:

I will send out a return shipping label and once we receive the machine, I will refund you the full amount. I just don't think this machine is what you are looking for in the price range we are selling it for. Let us know if you have any more questions.

My response:
"in the price range we are selling it for" ... I shouldn't be able to expect a machine that just works properly (that's all I've asked for)? I can't imagine anyone who would agree with you.

I was happy as a pig in mud when the first one arrived ... Loved working on the machine, as did my apprentice ... it was only after doing final QC on the pickups it had wound that the trouble, confusion, disappointment, and so on began ... as we began to figure out why the Strat set bridge & neck pickups were under-spec to varying degrees. The problem was, of course that the machine's counter was inaccurate when turning counter-clockwise.

Then the "replacement" machine arrived with the exact same issue.

And the next replacement arrived with the problems I have just described to you.

Do you TRULY believe in your heart that this is just what's to be expected "in the price range we are selling it for"?

... I got no response ... just a return authorization for the machine. Like I said, It is disappointing to the point of making me feeling sick. I just can't imagine a "good American Company" responding in this manner. I couldn't imagine treating one of my customers this way. Let's just say that one of those sets wound wrong on the first mojo machine (with the inaccurate counter when spinning counter-clockwise) actually made it to a customer somehow ... and he was all excited about them and took them to his tech for installation only to find the bridge & neck sounded weak & thin (they would have) ... so he took it back to the tech and they eventually determined that those pickups were just plain wrong. So the customer sends me an "I'm so disappointed" email ... and then I just send him ANOTHER set with the exact same problem. Oh my. He emails me back and says his tech, "once bitten" by my shoddy work, checked the pickups prior to installation and caught the problem right away THIS time ... and that the new set had the exact same problem as the last! Now my customer is on the fence ... can he trust me to provide the excellent product I've promised? I assure him I can ... and will personally see to it ... then I proceed to send him a set with something totally different wrong with it ... and again the tech can only tell him they still ain't right. When he emails me to let me know about the new set also being wrong ... could I possibly reply to him that "I just don't think these are what you are looking for in the price range we are selling it for"? I'm sorry for all the time & money you spent installing MY shoddy pickups ... but that's just what you should expect at my price (which happens to be TWICE as high as the competition). No, I certainly hope I would not respond that way.

And so, again, I am just so darn disappointed. This machine had me so excited ... I was SOOO looking forward to using it. As it is, I'll be back to doing the custom hand-wound stuff on my Thompson & Terp53 winders ... which ain't as nice looking, don't have a Gauss meter our "count-down" feature ... but they do the most important things: they wind smoothly with an accurate count.

[larams]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. It shouldn't matter what the price you paid for the machine was. It should still work as intended and advertised.

[big_teee]

Not taking sides here.
Sorry you were not able to solve your issue.
I've Found David Shepherd to be fair and He has always solved my mojo problems.
So If you don't like the mojo machine, ( I do like mine), You can always build your own.
Many guys here, build their own all the time.
If you buy pro grade winders, they get real expensive real fast.
Like I say, I hate it could not be resolved?
T

[Michael Burton]

Hey guys!

I just got the Mojotone pickup winding machine. Here are a few issues I've been having with mine.

1. The display screen seems a tad bit glitchy.... the bottom line on the display seems to flicker a bit once the speed dial is turned.
2. I also hooked up the recommended speed control pedal, a Behringer FCV-100 pedal to control the winding speed with a 1/4" typical mono guitar cable from output2 of the pedal to the speed input on the winder. ( 9 volt battery was installed, the unit then turned on. The pedal does nothing til its pushed toe-heavy almost to the end of its travel, then the winder starts spinning very slowly,the screen flickers, and finally the whole winder shuts down and reboots itself.

Am I doing something wrong or has anyone else experienced this?????
Cheers Guys!