Flame Grilled Toast

Well, bit of an early start today as the Bratskis wanted to see the Olympic Torch being shuffled along by some geezer in an '80s shell suit, so that was fun. It surprised me a little though, just how many people had got up to witness this once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to look at a flame.

Still, must have been the first time in living memory that the Police were getting cheered as they went past.

Nobody, was singing We'll Meet Again, but there was a definite Blitz Spirit (tm) about the place, and a few of the people watching looked as though they had been bombed out overnight.

Here back in Jookyland, it will be a quiet day as real life intervenes once more. I've ordered the final bits (pickups apart) for the JoBo One, so that should be on the cards for next week, and I've also snapped up (hopefully - all TBC to be fair) a couple of broken guitars. Both have had headstock breaks, and will give me something to play with, so I must dig out the clamp collection.

One is an Epiphone SG, which as I may have mentioned once or twice-per-dozen times was my first proper guitar, so that is nice, assuming I fix it. The other is an Epiphone Rivera, with the headstock completely removed. This I would think might be the trickier of the two as there is potential for me to put it on back to front or upside and down. Still, if it happens and I can fix it, it would be fun as they have three P90s and that sounds like a fine place to be, to me. Of course none of this might happen at all, but we'll see.

And my heart gave a little flutter just moments ago, when Marc-of-Mojo-Fame sent me a little picture of the not-a-toaster-at-all bread burning pickup I'm hopefully going to be putting on The Fabulous One if I ever finish it like.

So, cool, so verily chilly.

La la laaa

Coming Soon: The Jobo One

Oh, to be a notch...

Well, I couldn't get deep down and woody today and tomorrow is looking decidedly ropey too, but I did snaffle some bits and bobs for what I'm lovingly terming The JoBo One.

Now don't get me wrong this isn't an official Joe Bonamassa signature guitar, nope. But I figure it is only a matter of time before he does play a Jooky and well, one thing leads to another, quick article in a dozen guitar magazines and there we are. I just like to be prepared for future eventualness.

So it is more of an imagining - a kind of what-if, if you like. And I think if Joe (he doesn't mind us calling him Joe) were in fact to want a Jooky, this would be it. He just doesn't know it yet.

So in my head, what would Joe want from a Jooky?

Well, from the top, it is going to be boasting a nice ash Tele body, a sparkly pink paisley finish, traditional brass saddling and a maple/rosewood neck. Or maybe a maple/maple one, haven't quite decided on that yet. As the Joe in my head hasn't been ultra clear on that point.

As for the pickups, I can't quite decide whether it will be a proper Esquire, so a single bridge pup and some spiffy tonal switching optionals, or whether to go for broke and have a neck pickup as well. Maybe even a 'bucker.

Hmm, that's a thought. I'm not sure whether Joe is the kind of chap who'd needs a 'bucker as a kind of safety net or whether he'd just get on with the natural limitations of an Esquire without any bother. I think the latter, but I'll have to think about it a bit.

Additionally, I haven't quite decided whether to just paisleytop it, or whether to do the whole body, so we'll have to see about that too, I guess.

But there we are, one for the Coming Soon list I thinketh.

La la laaa

Toasting Fabulous

Innovations in Toasterdom

Well, the all-change approach to guitar ownership is well on't way. The PRS One has gone, and I'll either be left with my beautiful Les Paul Studio or my delish Sonex, depended on which of those goes first. Leaving me with one of them, my Gordo and my Jazzmaster. Which I'm convincing myself is *enough*.

Although I do keep peeping at the Danelectro Wild Thing, but it is a minor obsession, I think.

All of which feels better.

No real work done today as couriers took over, but I did re-wire my Gordo as there was a bit of a clickiness about it that bugged me.

Tomorrow though, well, it is going to be woodwork day. No, really.

I mentioned  Marc-from-Mojo, was letting me have one of his prototypes to play with, and that I'll probably try it in The Fabulous One, and I'm looking forward to that big-time. Basically it is a Toaster-looking one, all Rickenbacker-esque, which should be cool and jangly.

One to look forward to anywaysup.

La la laa

Better-er Days...

Well, it's all a little upsy-downsy in the Jooky Kingdom right now. The Glory B One got finished and is delish with a capital dish.

All my guitars are on the block as I am too indecisive to decide which one should go, and,,,

I still haven't got to grips with the woodwork.

Nice summary.

This week then, I am planning to get Fabulous (sick brats permitting), though there might be a touch of a small change in spec as something special from Mojoland might be landing in my lap. Something a bit different to the P90 I was planning on using. So we'll have to see.

I am also planning to bite the full metal jacket and get on with The Pearly Dewdrop One and at least chop some of the wood. I have a few different 'blanks' to play with now, so I'm working with Annette, as it were. (Nice lass but no head for heights.)

But despite that, I think starting is the key, and at least I'll know how likely it is that I will ever finish.

Moving forward then, I've been having a think and The Fabulous and Pearly Dewdrop Ones will take a while, so I'm going to do a Tele, just to keep my hand in like.

It will be pink paisley topped and probably an Esquire as I keep promising myself I'll make one and then get sidetracked by other bobbins.

Unless it isn't and I use the walnut veneer which I also keep saying I'll do. I haven't got any of the parts of course but then that's half the fun methinks.

I'm trying to avoid big-massive-long lists again as I just get confused, you might have noticed.

La la laa

Sold: The Glory B One

The Glory B One is perhaps the lightest Strat I’ve ever played never mind made. It has an alder body, maple/rosewood neck and a quite beautifully corroded copper finish.

I’m really rather proud of the finishas the colours from the corrosion of the copper are stunning.

What makes this a special guitar though, is a complete one-off pickup, The Mojo’Tron, made by our friends at Mojo Pickups. This takes the Gretsch/TV Jones sounds as a starting point, and all the twang and jangle you’d hope for are easily found, but there is also a lot more to it than that. Beefining it up a bit gives some great P90 grit and when overdriven it cuts thru clear as a dinging bell.

Overall then, a lovely single ‘bucker guitar with moresounds on tap than your average Strat, that looks grimly fiendish.
*


To be clear, The Glory B One is an utterly unique guitar, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely hand built and finished cooler than a slo-mo run across the pebbled beach at Portishead. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

*** SOLD ***



Technical Stuff:

Type: Lulu’s Copper Top

Electrics: Mojo Pickups Mojo’Tron

Guitar Type: Fender Stratocaster

Construction: Wood body, maple/rosewood neck, Corroded Copper Finish

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume, Tone

Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered, All Wrapped with our Trademark Jooky Wrapping.

Serial Number: JGE#53

RSP: £799

Introducing: The Glory B One

Well, I'm kinda happy to introduce you to a new member of the Jooky cabal, The Glory B One.

From the top, it is a lightweight alder bodied Strat, with a nice maple/rosewood neck. Tuners are pre-aged Wilkinsons which work a treat and the body has luxuriated in a bright and summer breezy (makes me feel, err, finey) corroded copper finish. And man that copper sulphate is lush. Sulphuric acid, can't beat it.

Under the plate is a lovely Mojo Pickups wiring loom replete with CTS pots, cloth smothered wire and a PIO capacitor the size of a swiss roll. (Maybe not quite the size of a swiss roll, but it is big.)

Most interesting of all though is the pickup I sort of challenged Marc at Mojo into making, and at the moment it is a complete one-off, but I have no doubt the boy has a big future and will be rolling a few more (Winding? I forget the technical chat).

This looks like a radiator from space, but sounds gorgeous. It's hard to nail the sound in words, not that I won't try, but there is definitely a bit of a TV Jones/Gretsch twang about it, but with maybe a touch more soul and tears. If I'm going to try the Book of Guitar Reviewer Cliche's I'd trot out articulate and airy and resonant, and talk about even with high gain and fuzz there being plenty of separation, but enough to say in my inarticulate way, it just sounds Gah. The tone control, for once, becomes your best friend as it varies between classic single tone cleans and more of a gritty oomph.

Oddly, in my head I find myself comparing it to Mojo's Wide Ranger, and this would make a lovely bridge to a Wide Range neck as there is a cross over, but not enough to confuse.. I'd love to hear a middle-position-mix 'tween the two, maybe I will on another one. Hmmm..

Given everything I've said, I'm loving it with bluesy-ness as it has something about it that just sings and wails. That P90 breaking-up-sound you just keep hitting.

So there we are, I'm rather pleased I asked now, as the pickup maketh the guitar.

(Not sure I'm getting this the right way around, somehow)

La la laa

WIP: The Glory B One and a Bit of Angst (Slight Return)

Well, I'm all-of-a-cringe at the moment, as I decided to put three of my guitars (not Jookies, I mean, from my private stash) up for sale, and see which one goes first, as I can't decide which to keep and what to lose.

I'm not taking it weeeeell so far, I have to admit. I keep shouting 'Nooo' every time one of them gathers another 'Peeper'.

I know it is the coward's way out, or at least one of them without having to scribble notes and get involved in ropes or hosepipes, but I guess it appeals to the randomness in my soul, even as it breaks-me-up-inside. (It is offish crap-80s-lyric-day in Jookyland, in case you are wondering.)

The sad thing is I don't want to sell any of them and will be all upset and melancholy-shopping-trolley when/if one of them goes, but there we are.

And then somewhere deep down is a little voice asking me whether I even need them at all... Which is of course stupid and basically a subtle form of sacrilege and not something I'm likely to think about ever again. I feel somewhat dirty even mentioning it, and not in a good way

The ones that haven't made the list are my Jazzmaster and the Gordo, which with a P90 and a '57 'bucker covers most of the bases the other three do, but that sort of rationalisation isn't helping overly-much-at-all either. Though I'm going to bite the bullet and replace the SD Phat Cat in the Gordo as it is annoyingly-too-nice, especially after playing the Mojo P90 in the PRS. I am tempted by one of Mr Mojo's Wide Rangers, but I do like a P90, it has to be said.

Though I chased-up The Golden Shower One at the local tech, which I know was maybe a bit pushy as I only dropped it in back in September, but you have to chance your arm, and that has a couple of P90s in it, so maybe. It'll be ready by Christmas, I expect..

In more distractingly-better news, the scratchplate for The Glory B One arrived and is now suitably copper-covered and acid dribbled, and the aged tuners are in the aged neck.

I will hopefully be putting it together sometime tomorrow, despite still being brat-infested. I need to do it just to find out what the Mojo'tron sounds like, for myself and in a way, I like to think for each-and-every-one-of-you out there. (ahem). Looks pretty stunning when it is plonked, if nowt else.

Right, off to play my Jazzmaster and Gordo, sequentially, to convince myself I don't care about the others

*sniff*

La la laa

*sniff*

Dirty Little Pleasures

Well, despite my deep and tenderly caring love of the raunch that is now my Mojo-equipped PRS, I still find that I can only bring myself to play it with the curtains drawn. So perhaps it is answering my which-one-has-to-go question all by itselfdom.

Either that or there are days ahead with me in me pants and string vest, eating out of takeaway trays and strumming all by myself with the curtains shut.

I don't know.

Not a pleasant thought, well, for anybody I'm sure.

All of which distracted me from The Fabulous One somewhat, but for not much longer, so getting that sorted is today's job. Sorted as far as disfigured can mean sorted. With less wood than I started. Literally, I mean. That isn't bringing me back to the PRS.

But today, yep. if things go to plan, it will be routing The Fabulous One and copperifying The Glory B One's 'plate before putting the rest of the guitar together tomorrow. I have high-ish hopes of getting some Glory this week.

I just have to think about finishing it and I find myself having thoughts about finishing it and then I realise I've been thinking about it and ultimately I realise I was thinking about it and then it's time to get the brats from school - game over.

So instead of just thinking I'm going to try doing, you never know, it might catch on.

So where to start.

Dunno really.

Ah, an instant update of breaking news from the Jooky front-line.

Sick brat stops play.

I should have known better, than to hope, to dream that perhaps, just perhaps, that one sunny day we'll meet again. I might be mixing my metathingies there somewhat.

Ho hum. Hope the scratchplate comes, at least I can be-copperify that.

La la laaa

p.s. Saw Obama got to meet Beckham yesterday.
Must have been a high point for him.
Is it me or does he look more like George Michael every day?
Beckham too, now I come-to-a-ponder it.

Not So Nice Anymore

Well, the rest of the parts never showed-up for The Glory Box One, so I distracted myself further with the PRS SE One I was talking about.

Now before I explain further, you play guitar, right?

I can't imagine anybody reads this drivel that doesn't.

Good.

Now will you try something for me?

Nothing arduous, I promise.

Yes?

Cool.

So anyway, get your favourite guitar and your favourite amp.

Take the amp and put it into a cupboard or the boot of your car or something.

Cover it with quilts, coats, rags and small children if you have any.

Plug a lead into the amp and put the other end in the guitar.

You need a long lead, I should have mentioned that.

And an extension lead if you can't park outside your house.

Shut the door/car lid and walk away as far as you can from the amp. As long as your lead will allow.

Now, if your guitar has a tone knob turn it all the way down to the 'muffled mud' setting you normally avoid.

Play the guitar for five minutes and seventeen seconds.

Remember the sound.

Now, go back to the cupboard, remove all the coats, rags, children.

Turn the tone back up to 'Full' on your guitar.

Shut the cupboard door behind you, or sit on top of the amp if it is in your car.

Play the guitar for five minutes and seventeen seconds.

Remember that sound.

Now, I didn't do that today, but if I had that would have been quite close to the difference replacing the stock PRS P90 in my wee guitar with a nice new one from that Mojo Pickups chap Marc, made when I did it earlier.

The first time I hit a chord and bent some string, it gave me eczema on my face.

It is raw and beautiful.

The pickup sound, I mean, not my mush.

I don't think I can explain it better than that.

La la laaaa and a triiinnng.

Nice, but well, Nice.

PRS SE One: In Need of a bit of Mojo methinketh

Well, yesterday was a bit of a strange day all-in-all. Had to be out and about, so I managed to miss the arrival of the PRS SE One and that was pretty much it.

Haven't really had a good chance to try it out yet - the One, I mean - but I'm not entirely convinced. The odd thing is that the pickup is a lot more gentile and polite than I ever remember it being when I've used such pickups before, transplanted into other guitars, so I'm a tad underwhelmed at the moment. Playing it louder always helps, mind, so I'll do that in a wee bit and see.

As for the guitar generally, it is very nicely put together. Slightly battered (which I knew about) and the neck is a good handful, but maybe it is because I've been playing the 30-year-old Sonex and the 20-year-old LP Studio, but it seems a little personality-light right now.

I'll give it a blast anyway and then maybe pop the Mojo loom and P90 in and see how it is then. I don't generally give things much of a chance, but maybe I should.

Don't get me wrong, it looks nice (apart from the headstock) and plays nicely, but nice isn't really what I was looking for. More your face-ripping type of thing. I was hoping for something to fill my eternal Les Paul Junior void, but...

As for Jookidom, well, the Mojotron arrived along with yet another wiring loom from Marcy-boy and I can't wait to try it out. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the other bits for The Glory B One, but hopefully they will arrive today. Scratchplates and tuners, they really do matter. I'll need to be-copper the scratchplate before I can put it together proper, but it should be sorted this week, methinketh.

Other than that I'm planning on finishing the woodwork for The Fabulous One and that is it. Nowt else to get in the way, just that.

It has gone on too long already so I need to finito it, or at least the dangerous part or I won't be able to look at meself in the mirror. Well, if I had a mirror.

Off to give the PRS a blast, then we'll see...


~~~ Later On Like ~~~

Well, I've given the PRS a blast, and I like the neck. Not sure about the finish, and am going to put the Mojo P90 and wiring in, and see if that gives it a bit more organicness and bite, as it is far too polite...

My natural instinct is not to like a PRS on principle - but the One on paper should be my kinda guitar, so I have this horrible dilemma - like finding out you prefer the Tories' policies compared to Labour and despite every fibre in your body screaming that you-can't-do-it, you feel like you have to at least think about it.

Though saying that, the outcome is no doubt predictable anyway...




La la laaa.

Not That Sorta Boy

Well, I still can't make me mind up, about which way to go.

I mean, about which of my guitars to keep. Tis hard being this decisive. The Sonex looks favourite for the chop, but there is always the PRS factor to consider. I just never have and still can't see myself playing a PRS, I'm just not a PRS kinda chap, even if a single P90 is my kinda heaven. We'll see tomorrow when it shows up, I guess.

I got the Floyd Rose equipped guitar I mentioned on Friday, but to be honest it wasn't quite what I was hoping - so back to the drawing board on that, and I met a man in a car park yesterday and he gave me money for it. So I can't actually remember it too well now. So back to the drawing board on that one (Soz P. but these things have to be right...)

As for The Glory B One, well that is just waiting for the scratchplate, stuff from Mojo - I am in lurve with that Mojotron pickup - and some tuners. I'm similarly back in lust with Ye Olde split Klusons, so it might be them, or maybe something else. I was half-asleep when I ordered them and I can't remember now.

As for the chopping of The Fabulous One, well it pertered out last week with courier-waiting negating woodyworkering, but once the courier arrives tomorrow, I'll hopefully get it done

I've just remembered to realise that I need a new tailpiece as the one I bought is too big. I knew there was something else.

Also, I've decided that The Pearly Dew Drop One is just going to have a P90 now. Don't ask my why as I can't remember. It could have a nice tailpiece, it'd probably fit.

Hmm...hadn't thought about that, could look nice.

So really, it is just more of the same chaos. I don't know what to do with the guitar-thinning, and I've only just managed to stop myself buying three others over the weekend. I may have a problem bigger than I imagined.

So plan for the week -

1. Get the PRS SE One from the smiling courier

2. Put the wiring and Mojo P90 in said PRS,

3. Play all my guitars with criticalness, standing in front of a mirror to check my R'n'R cred.

4. Make a decision on which guitar to lose.

5. Cry a little and hit Ebay

6. Finish The Fabulous One woodwork

7. Finish The Glory B One

8. Try not to buy anymore guitars

Simple innit?

La la laa

In The Crissy-Crossy Hairs

The Radiator From Space - MojoTron

Well, the more-of-a-stripe-than-a-burst The Glory B One is coming together quite nicely. I've finally got my act together and sorted out the single pickup scratchplate, and best of all Marc from Mojo has just sent me a foto of the finished pickup - that will forever now be known as a Mojotron. =>

Basically, it is a slightly warmer Filtertron type of thing, that looks rather cool. He has also done me a loom for it, so Glory B indeedy.

As for the scratchplate, I've decided to go for copper because, well, I think it will look nice. And what else truly matters?

Following on from my thingy the other day, I've kinda decided that I need to get rid one one of my guitars - because I don't include Jookies in the head-count, obviously.

But which one....so I could do with some help:

1. '93 MIJ Fender Jazzmaster : Handy hint this one goes nowhere

2. '92 Gibson Les Paul Studio

3. '81 Gibson Sonex 180 Deluxe

4. Aria Acoustic: Horrible sentimental attachment, so this stays.

5. PRS SE One: Hasn't actually arrived yet

6. '80s Gordon Smith

And I'm finding it tough.

The obvious way is last-in-first-out, which means either the Sonex or the PRS, but I'm loving the Sonex right now and have lusted after the PRS SE One for ages and have one of Mojo's P90s and looms to install which is something to look forward to.

But I can't see me losing the Gordo as it is a complete wreck, but is probably the one that makes me smile most when I play it. It smells gorgeous too.

Which leaves the Les Paul Studio, but again lust comes into it and side-by-side, I'd have to say it pips the Sonex - though that could be a pickup thing. I am liking the ebony board on it though. And the colour, but then the Sonex' neck is a total dream.

So what to do?

Decisions, decisions.

Maybe I should put them all on Ebay and see which goes first.

La la laaa

WIP: The Glory B One

Well, I did the acid thing on The Glory B One and have gone for a bit of an acid burst - which sounds like an Opal Fruit, but probably wouldn't make your mouth water in a good way.

What I wanted was to do a copper top, but then bronze and corrode it around the edges. Partly to give an impression of creeping desolation and corruption as felt by the Western spirit as normal social boundaries disintegrate and social norms become disregarded as antiquities and curios, but mainly because I wondered what it would look like.

And I like it. I'm not decided on the scratchplate yet - I'm wondering whether plain black is the best bet - though I think perhaps I might bronze that too. I would have already if I had gotten around to getting it, but I haven't. It'll be a single pickup either way.

As for the neck, well I've copperified the headstock, and given it a name and number. No rank, that would be silly..

The rest of the bits should also be here in the next day or so, so it is kinda happening quite neatly for once.

As for The Fabulous One, I never got to return to my chopping yesterday, and unless the courier comes early I probably won't today either I am actually pretty much done on the wood bit, just a bit more and we're quids in. But many a slip between alcopop bottle and lip, .so still plenty of time to screw it up.

And while I'm rounding-up, the Sonex, I took that apart earlier on as the switch was a bit weird, and replaced that with a new one. I must admit I'm not sure about the pickups - no idea what they are even - as they get a bit mushy.

I think I've been spoiled by all these handwound, air-filled pickups I've been using lately. I'll have a think about them and save my pennies.

Oh, I wasn't going mad about the mini-switch not doing much, as it isn't connected to anything at all. The rest of the wiring is lovely though - a nice surprise - all good pots and PIO caps and all that.

Still, it all works fine now and I'm rather chuffed with it. Might have to change the knobs though, I really loathe speed knobs.

La la laaa

In The Navel

Well, bit of an odd day. I got The Glory B One copperificated and will be throwing acid in it's mush shortly, but that is about all. The courier will now be tomorrow *sigh* so I'm wishing I hadn't boxed The Kooky One up.

As for the Sonex, well, I've had a bit of a fiddle and I'm liking it more and more. I was playing it side-by-side (no mean feat) with my LP Studio and they are quite different, which shouldn't surprise me but somehow does. Like playing a Tele and a Strat, I guess.

All of which leaves me in my standard 'undecided state' as to what I should do with it. It would be a shame to cover up the aged white as it looks beautiful in 3D, so I can't see me Jookying it, though I am tempted to change the wiring (the switch is a bit temperallymental, for one, and the tone pots are kinda off-or-on) and maybe the pickups too. I quite fancy putting some Dirty Fingers in it or T-Tops if I can find some of the right vintage.

So do I keep it or not, I'm not sure about that yet. I am already feeling that I have too many guitars again and with the PRS coming soon something will have to give. Especially as I still fancy an SG, amongst others (ahem). Whether the giver is the Gordo, the Studio, the One or the Sonex, we'll have to see once they are all sorted out in their own little ways. Maybe I should get rid of all of them and just happily play my Jazzmaster. Well, it's a thought.

 </NavelGaze>

La la laaa

All Tattered and Torn

Well, it sort of went well yesterday, though courier hell continues and a no show means I'm awaiting again for someone to take my Kooky away, which is annoying. I think I must live in a black hole or something.

On the plus side, I got further along with The Fabulous and Glory B Ones, which should get further still today with a bit of luck. The pickup-with-no-name is likely to be wound todayish, so I'd better get my act together on that.

Speaking of that winding chap, I think I said the P90 and loom for my PRS SE One arrived from Marc-at-Mojo yesterday, which will be good and handy when the guitar gets here.

And of course, I went to drizzly Swindon yesterday evening to lurk in a train station and swap The Tatty Adonis One for the Gibson Sonex 180 Deluxe you can see in the fotos...

And very nice it is too. The neck has been sanded back and feels great, and I think it has probably been refinished at some point - certainly the neck if not the body, but it is very much a 'players' guitar (insert obvious joke here) so it doesn't matter too much.

The pickups too aren't original unless somebody put covers on them, which seems unlikely and there is a micro switch in there for good measure, which might be a coil-split or maybe even err, something else. Not sure it did too much at all, tbh, but I was playing quite tip-toe-quietly, so maybe I missed something dramatic.

I've come to the conclusion I don't really like coil taps much, I think the only time I have been truly impressed was on The Wicked One where it was more of a boost if anything. But I digress..

All-in-all, first impressions of the Sonex are pretty good, and I am well pleased. I'll give it a proper try out later and have a peep under the hood and all that

And no, I still haven't decided what to do with it, though I love the colour - a well aged white - and it is tidy for, what? Thirty-one-years-old. Tidier than I was back then anyway.

So all-in-all a good deal, though I already miss the Tatty and now need to find an excuse to get another Mojo Wide Ranger. I could be radical and get a telecaster, I guess...

But today, on with the chopping and copperification, while waiting for the courier...

Every day is the dame

La la laa

And so on...

Well, I've taken the plunge and started to rout (root? route??) the holes in The Fabulous One, and the copperification of The Glory B One has also started. Well, the back is drying anyway, which is a start if not a means to an end. Though it is, sort of, I guess.

The good news about the stuttered start is that there are no major injuries, and the bad news is that there are equally no fotos as I can't be arsed to go outside and take any right now, as UPS would no doubt do their ninja trick and leave a missing-you-already card before I'd got to the garage, but there we are.

The postie also worked her magic earlier, and brought me my latest package from Mojo-land, in the shape of a lovely P90 soapbar and a couple of wiring looms.

One of the looms is destined for The Fabulous One, while the P90 and other loom are for the PRS SE One I should get this week some time or otherwise.

I'm really looking forward to my battered cherry babe as I've kinda wanted one for eons, and I do fully realise that it is probably silly to organise replacement bits before I even play the thing, but what the hell. I never said I was lacking in the self-indulgent department.

Other than that, I'm off later to swap The Tatty Adonis One for a 31-year-old Sonex, so no doubt more about that tomorrow. Not that I know what I'll do with it, but you have to try these things, dontchknow?

It'll either be amazing and here to stay or on the Bay by nightfall. Maybe I should try before I buy sometimes, but I never do.

As for tomorrow, well, who knows. Hopefully there will be excited fotos of old guitars or guitars with holes and others covered in copper. Or maybe there won't. I don't know in truth. I just wish UPS would get a move on.

La la laa

The Fabulous Glory Day

Well, the morning has given way to such trifles as packing up The Tatty Adonis One, which gets swapped for an '81 Gibson Sonex tonight, somewhere strange, and The Kooky One which will hopefully gently be placed in the back of a lorry before the day is done.

As for other things, I had a chat with Marc-the-Mojo-Man about doing something different pickup-wise for The Glory B One, and he is going to wind me something special, which I'm all rather excited about already.

I wanted something lower output - the Novatron I had from Wizard a while back kinda giving me a cricket pitch to bowl at, but maybe with a different sound. (As you can imagine I give very clear and definitive directions as to what I want and Marc translates these into something cool that to be fair has little to do with me.) All of which is pretty groovy, I feel.

Today though is the starting point as far as The Fabulous One goes. As you can see from the piccy hopefully, I've marked out where I think the pickup, control knob, jack and bridge will end-up. This is very important and in no way should be mistaken for me bottling the cutty-out bit.

I thought of the old maxim about measuring thirty times and cutting once, disregarded it, my bottle twitched, re-examined the concept from a different perspective, stopped shaking and then drew it with a pencil instead of using something more permanent. Though what is more permanent than a pencil, I don't know, apart from maybe indecision.

So anyway, we're in clover, like it is 1999.

All I need to do is dig the drill out, fire up the router, visit casualty, and there we are. I can't imagine anything more simple.

First though, I'm going to give The Glory B One's body a bit of a coppering. I decided that was the way to go right at the start of typing this sentence.

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Once More Into The Thingy

Well, once the bank holibob is out of the way and time is mine own, this week is all about The Fabulous One (and you won't distract me from that, let me tell you), and maybe the '81 Gibson Sonex I should get Tuesday evening.

I am a little bit excited about that, but won't for a moment let it distract me from the fact that I'll be doing fabulously this week.

Nothing could.

Nothing at all.

Apart from the bit where I remember the little box of Strat parts I found hidden away for a rainy day. Under the stairs, behind the school bags and shoe mountain.

I'd forgotten I had them, so they were a nice surprise.

I do realise that finding a guitar, even in bits, that you'd forgotten about sounds daft, but I worked for a bloke once who came into work well excited because he'd found something in his garden, and it turned out to be a Tennis Court. So I don't feel so verily bad.

My only excuse is that there are a lot of shoes to climb before you get to the box.

Not for the fainting heart.

Anyway, top-of-mine-mind the chopping down of the fabulous is, in between selling Socialist Worker, but I can't help but wonder what to do with the Strat on the side, as it were.

I have of course just done a single 'bucker Strat, which has got that out of my system for a while, but to be honest single pickuped is how I like my Strats best, so I shouldn't rule it out.

But I do think that maybe something different might be good.

Though I do like single pickup guitars.

But different is good.

Though I like single pickup Strats.

But...then...well..you know.

Hmmm.

OK, assuming that I might do it in between, as it were, I think I should like to  break a habit of a lunchtime and do a proper Strat for once, with three single coils. Not usually my kipper, but what the hell, it'd make a change.

Plus I loved the lippy pups on The Kooky One, so they could be an option.

Or I might do a single P90, just for old times sake and all.

Or maybe a single humbucker.

Or something else.

As for the finish, I am torn between corroded copper and gold leaf. I've always liked the look of shoreline gold Strats, so it might be nice to do a real gold one. Though a completely copperified one would look cool too.

We'll see though. I mean, I'll be busy doing the Fabulous One let's face it, it isn't like I'll have a lot of time to start The Glory B One.

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The Quite Fab Coronado Chicken

Well, a new week beckons and I'm kinda thinking about what to do now that The Kooky One is done, dusted and out the door to sunny Mancland, and The Tatty Adonis One will soon be posing around Oxfordium somewhere.

As for what comes next, well, I'm all out of excuses now as The Fabulous and Pearly Dew Drop Ones both require some level of (gulp) woodwork if they are to get anywhere at all, as there quite simply is nothing else to do Jooky-wise.

Well, I say that, but now you come to mention it there is a super-stratty type of thing popping up soon, but I need to get a "Floyd Roses for Numpties" book to have a hope of getting that going and I've got a bit of thinking to do on that score as to what I'm going to do with it. The think I'm thinking involves lots of taffetta and frills and basically something Oscar Wilde would delight in, on a night out with Lilly Langtry. But it's WIP as ever. These things change.

So woodwork it is and this week, I think I'm being Fabulous after a spell of being a  little more Kooky. I'm nothing if not adaptable, though it is probably a first on one of those counts.

Despite the trepidation, I can't wait to do-a-Coronado, as it were and I can already see it in my head somewhere and I think it will be uber cool.

Marc at Mojo has done me a loom already, so there is something to join the Bareknuckle P90 in noisy nirvana and there we be. I have a nice big headed rosewood Strat neck (though I'm not one to boast) which should look the part as well, so it is just the simple, mundaneous little matter of finding a bit of bottle and chopping with confidence.

As for proper wood chopping, I think I might have a go sometime next week as well, once the blood lust is clouding my eyes and I'm standing, router in hand, with a 387 yard stare, (I'm myopic), nothing is safe. Especially me, I would imagine.

In for a penny and all that.

Other than the silencing of the hands, I am planning to do a Tele Esquire in the near future. not that I have any parts at all or money come to that, but unlikely ambition is my stock-in-trade, dontcha know. For the finish on that I was planning a veneer, but maybe just one more paisley before I give up for the summer. I wasn't going to do anymore, but I saw a nice hot pink paisley earlier on and....well, it would be rude not to.

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of Comings and a Goings

Well, no sooner is The Kooky One on it's way (I've been twanging this morning, and delish it sounds too), but the The Tatty Adonis One is off on it's travels too.

So once more I be Jookiless.

Really must get The Golden Shower One back from the tech.

I'm always up for a trade, but it rarely happens, but this time it has and that is cool.

So on the horizon, in a dim lit car park no doubt, The Tatty Adonis One will be exchanged at checkpoint Charlie for an old, 1981 Gibson Sonex.

I've always been curious about these - not least because they are made with Resonwood, which was one of Gibson's attempts at being different. From what I've read they had a mahogany core with this resonwood stuff on the outside... They described it thus:

"The Sonex guitars were constructed with a bolt-on neck, but the bodies featured a new material Resonwood, and a Multi-phonic construction."

This is it anyway, so should be fun...

From no-guitars-to-play I seem to be all-a-gather again, with my Jazzmaster, Gordo, Les Paul Studio and now the Sonex and PRS SE One on the way.

Cool.

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