Friday 30 April 2010

Chopping The Beano, And A Slight Mistake

So is Blue Peter the new Rock 'n' Roll?

It certainly feels like it around here - ahem - as I spent a chunk of yesterday chopping a 1966 copy of the Beano up and sticking it on my Les Paul...

It is good fun, as it happens, and proved to be a lot trickier than I thought it would be. All those afternoons of proven incompetence at school came back to me and I remembered why I went into areas that didn't require me to do anything truly practical once I started working.

Still, the back is nearly there now, and I have another '66 on the way to mutilate for the front.



There was only one real downside.

I somehow managed to chop up another Beano - an issue one, from 1938 - which I have a feeling may have been an expensive mistake.

Think I'll stick the masthead on the guitar somewhere now.
Be a shame to not use it, even if it does divert from the 'Spirit of '66' idea for the guitar.

If at this point you're thinking

'An issue one of The Beano is worth a shedload of money'

I'd really prefer not to know that, and have deliberately not checked.
So schtum, eh?

Anyway, more to do on that today I think.

As for the rest of the parts, I think I'm going to look for some nickel hardware for this, as that always looks the best when aged. I'm also going to get a tinted lacquer once the wallpapering is complete, as it really should look a bit older.
Heh ho.

The only hard bit really is stopping myself reading the guitar as I go along.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Sold: The Psychedelic Surf One

Picture the scene. It’s the early days of teen music, the Ventures are hitting high with their super surf safari-esque guitar instrumentals, pounding this new rhythm out on shiny Fender Jazzmasters, blinding the world with the ultimate in cool from New York to Tokyo and back via Halesowen.

Shoot forward to the late Sixties, music has become aware, minds have been expanded, the fire of rebellion is in the air and yet, paisley is the backdrop as the young tune in to sounds of the east and west colliding with smiles on their faces and a hope for peace in their hearts…

Moving forward further yet, the alternative crowd are reclaiming all things offset from the bargain bins of guitar shops all over the world. They recognise the rhythm, merge it with their own times and people like the Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Cure and god knows who else breath fresh life into the old ways. Cool merges with groovy, groovy gets sharp and goth and indie lead to a slacker inspired grungy Nirvana. Their monkey has gone to heaven and the surf is back, the surf is flowing with the groovy and cool, the ironic and shonky and now even with the Jooky.

For that is what The Psychedelic Surf One is about, it is an offset guitar that nods at fifty, sixty years of musical history, doffing a purple cap at every legend that has made music their own. This isn’t a tribute guitar to any artist; this is one for them all.

To be clear, The Psychedelic Surf One is an utterly unique instrument, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely handmade and finished and groovier than a magic bus load of high schoolers.

Sorry, this item has now been sold





Technical Stuff:
Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar
Output: Two Irongear P90 Platinum Pickups
Guitar Type: Offset guitar
Construction: Cloth over wood
Strings: Fender Chrome 10s
Output: ¼” Guitar Lead
Controls: Volume and Tone. Pickup selector switch.
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered, All Wrapped with our Trademark Jooky Wrapping.
Serial Number: JGE#10
RSP: £299 SOLD

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Back in '66, Reading The Beano

Well, now that The Psychedelic One is all together and sounding 'proper' as I was told by a friend last night, I've been thinking about what to do next, and with an apology to people who are still waiting for me to do a few amps or effects, I think it is going to be another of our Leona's Groovy Guitars.

So far, of course, things have been very Fenderified, but I've had a wee idea for something more Les Paul-like, and that is now the plan.

I'm not sure if I said, but I picked-up a Les Paul copy recently - unbound, so more like a Studio than a Standard, and it played really nicely. Solid mahogany body and neck, with a rosey-old-fretboard.

Pickups and electronics were fine, but I think we can find better, and the same with the tuners and hardware, as they are all a funny silver colour which matched the guitar.

Anyway, I've snaffled a couple of old Tokai PAFs and also a couple of Gibson 'buckers too, so that is covered, and as the rest of the stuff shouldn't be too difficult to find, it sounds like we're in business.

As to the Big Idea - this week, anyway - what I want to do is some kind of tribute to the British Blues thingie of the 60's- Clapton with Mayall, Peter Green, Alexis Corner and of course the Stones, if I'm stretching a point.

How to do this?
Well, I mentioned before that I am not the biggest Clapton fan, but the Bluesbreakers 'Beano' album was one I've grown to love, and if that isn't a sign, well I don't know what is.

The idea then, is to cover a Les Paul with a genuine 1966 copy of the Beano, wire it to that Peter Green sound we all wish we had accidentally come across ourselves, and generally make a bit of a loud, raw sounding git of a guitar.

This might take a while - although I got a '66 Beano and will probably need another one- but I'll keep you posted.

As for other things, The Glistery One is missing parts at the moment - the paint is done, but I am a bit perplexed about pickups and hardware. Also I really want to do something odd and off-the-wall with that one, so time will tell.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

A Tune For Tuesday

Obviously, you can't like Jazzmasters without loving The Ventures, and Walk Don't Run is just puuurrrffect.

Have a groovy surfin' kinda day, y'all


Monday 26 April 2010

Introducing The Psychedelic Surf One

Well, I've just about finished it- other than a little bit of a tidy up as some of the shielding is showing from under the scratchplate, and I have to say I'm pretty darn pleased with meself.

It looks, plays and sounds perfect and not a little Jooky.

As I said before, it is a nice offset body, rosewood board on a maple neck, body made of some sort of wood which I've forgotten the name of.

It has two Irongear Platinum P90s - which totally justify all of the hype - and nicely shielded set of electronics with Neutrik jack and a Les Paul switch that I preferred to a Fender type.



Machineheads are Wilkinson as is the Bridge thing

and it has been Jookily covered with a brilliant looking paisley finish, which has shocked me with just how good it looks.

Pukka, like a pie.

Anyway, more later,
I just wanted to put a couple of fotos up
of me new babby..

Now I'm just off to play it to death

Cool

Friday 23 April 2010

Speaking of Les Pauls

It's odd, but when I was buying my first 'Good' guitar - as it happened an Epiphone SG with a bolt-on neck from Grattans catalogue, which after the first thing I had, believe me, really was good - what I really wanted was the one on the opposite page, which was again an Epiphone, but this time a Cherry Sunburst Les Paul Standard.

I was working in a Cash 'n' Carry I think, and the difference between £4 and £9 a week was the same as driving lessons and a pair of Adidas Ivan Lendl trainers, so I went budget, and there we are. It lasted me well, and I gigged with it for a while so I've got no complaints. Wish I still had it.

Anyway, far too many years later, that little niggle has never gone away, and despite owning far too many guitars, I've never gotten around to getting a burst.

And I still haven't, but what has just shown up is a Vintage - as in the brand -Les Paul-a-like, all set neck and humbuckers, bogey tuners and generally nicely pretty coloured, and I have to say that I wish I'd done it ages ago.

Dead good fun to play, even if the scale seems a bit odd.

So, big question, do I just change the tuners, put some better pickups on etc. or do I get radical and satinise it, like I talked about here.

Money in the mouth's position time methinks...time to ponder.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Feeling Social and yet Sad, all at once

Now, I don't know why but I figured it might be nice to join Facebook
so I did
and I'm not really sure what to do next.

Sad, I know, but
I have no frends
and
well,
I didn't realise before but...

I'm here if you want to say hello.

*sniff*

Taking the gloss off of stuff

I'm not a big Slash fan - I mean, he's good and I liked the early G 'n'R stuff, but I haven't really kept track since then, not that I dislike him, just don't listen. If that makes sense.

Anyway, the other day I was looking at the latest reproduction of the copy of a Les Paul he played back in the day...
Well, you know the score.
And I thought that I liked the look of it.

What I liked about it though was that it has a dull finish - satin or matte, I don't know what you'd call it - rather than all glossy and shiny.

No big deal, and I am not ever likely to spend a couple of grand on a guitar, or even a few hundred much more fun to make them, but one for the lottery-list, if nowt else.

Imagine-my-surprise, as they say in all the best places, when I came across this thread on a web site, where a fella was turning a gloss Les Paul into a nice matte or satin one. With easy to use implements...

The one on the left is the before which as you can see is very nice, yet really glossy and shiny.


The one to my right is the after, which is uber cool in excelsis...




Anyway, just thought I'd mention it, and do go read the link as he did a wicked description/explanation...

Now, if I only had a cherryburst Les Paul

Hmmm...

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Not quite there again

Well, my optimism was of course misplaced and prem to say the teeniest lesser amount. I'd forgotten that I didn't have the copper tape stuff for shielding, and though it did arrive today, it was not really in time.

I have done the shielding though, as well as making the hole in the scratchplate for the Les Paul switch and so it is just the wiring left to do now, which maybe tonight I can sort out.

Not a lot else really..


Bitta Zep to keep you going..

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Mr Postie

I'm not sure about yours, but we've got a new postie and amazingly - after a decade of it not being the case - things seem to turn up a lot quicker.

Don't know why that is.

Apart from the fact that the old one may have been a thieving get.

Anyway, some pickups I'd 'sourced' for the Psychedelic Surf One have shown up along with all the other leccy gubbins from Axetec who as ever are utterly predictable and excellent.

Which is handy as tomorrow morning I'm going to put it all together,
hopefully.

I even went for a Sprague Orange Drop capacitor - without knowing what the difference is meant to be. I mean, I'm sure it will prove to be amazing, but like Bumble Bees, I can smell a bit of marketing in the air.

Saying that, I also went for a good, solid, Les Paul type of switch and a Neutrik jack socket and generally top notch parts all over the place. The difference between cheap and good is so small it seems daft not to, even if the real difference in performance may prove to be negligible.

Oh, the pickups I got are IronGear P90s - the full sized ones - Platinum I think they are called.
Everybody raves about IronGear, so it will be nice to find out how good they are myself. If they prove to be shonky I will no doubt start looking for something else, but fingers crissed, eh?

Speaking of the post, I also got some Tokai PAF pickups which will find their way into a Les Paul project I'm hoping to start soon, though I'll probably try them in something else first - The Glistery One for instance - to see how they go.

Anyway, I'm verily boring today, but there will be more fotos tomorrow with a tad of the lucky stuff.

A Tune For Tuesday

Another one for the etheral arty bums among us, Silver Mount Zion are the background track to my life a lot of the times, well, along with Godspeed...and all their other incarnations I've yet to track down.

Close your eyes for this one, then order the albums..

Monday 19 April 2010

It's Psychedelic, yet Surfy - all at the same time

Well, things are sort of moving, by our own glacia-on-mogadon standards, and believe it or not we've actually trundled quite well as far as the offset yet paisley-enhanced guitar goes.

I think I said before that I wanted to marry Ventures-like cool with something a bit more flashy and this is where we've got to.

I should say that I did plan to have two different clothes - one for the body and the other for the scratchplate, but I've gone same-on-same in the end as basically it looked better. Lesson to be learned there. If you end up owning this though, the other colour is underneath on the scratchplate, so you could take your pick really.

If you are brave enough.

Anyway, headstock reshaped, neck danish oiled, name, rank and number burned into the headstock - I think we've seen all of this before, but this is The Psychedelic Surf One, ain't she a cutie?

The body though, is a beautiful bit of paisley-ified cloth, and I've given it a nitro blast of lacquer so it should hopefully age a bit over time. Ultra thin the coat was which means there is still a grain from the cloth, which I like...

As for what is left to do - well, I've still not got pickups, or the electronics sorted, so that is top of the list, and I think I will change the tuners for something else as these aren't the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm thinking P90s for the last time for a while, though they seem to be thin on the ground at the moment...

Heh ho.

Anyway, I'm starting to think that maybe I should get a new table cloth...

Friday 16 April 2010

The Glistery Shadow of Psychedelic Surfing

Well, I haven't written too much recently, but the last day or so has almost been feverish,
by the standards of Jookyland.

First up, we've got the glitter covered one, which although a bit of a basket case, is growing on me.


It is the kind of thing that would make your average luthier practice pogo-ing on high, crumblyledges, and I won't know until I put it together how the neck will go,
as in whether it will be playable or not,
but I do actually like the look of it.

Especially the tiger stripe lacquer runs on the back of the neck.

This is to be known as The Glistery One from now on, assuming it works out.

Backing away from that particular teetering edge, I've set-off head-long into another bit of psychedelia, with a tribute to the Surf guitarists of yore. I'm going for a bit of a two tone cloth effect this time, which I hope will look appropriately way-out-there-man.


We shall see. It should end-up being known as The Psychedelic Surf One, though as you probably realise I will no doubt change my mind three dozen times before we finish.

It is always the way.




The fotos are The Glistery One, of course, though a bit of Black Francis and the boys is purely my kind of surfin'


Wednesday 14 April 2010

Another Week In La-la land

Well, I guess it is school holibobs or maybe my Baggy boys getting promoted again, but time does just seem to drift on around here, with barely a committal. The Glittery One is trundling along, no new piccies, as it is still just a mass of gold and glitter and varnish-stuff, and I have to say I'm not sure how much of a 'player' this one will turn out to be.

What I mean is, all of our Jooky guitars are meant to be both artified-displayable and musicalified-playable, whereas this might edge toward the former.

We'll have to see, it was a bit of an experiment anyway, though my lad has fallen in love with it already.

As I say though, that is a slow burn, and I'm itching to get going on one of the other guitars - of which there are two in the offing.

The first is going to be based on a Les Paul type of thing which I picked-up from eBay. Lovely sustain and action on it, although the set neck always helps. That is one I'm looking forward to doing, and I have an idea for what should be a stunning finish.

The second is going to be another cloth finish. I love my 'offset' guitars, so a funky offset sounded a cool idea. Best of both worlds. I'm thinking that this will be a 'keeper' for me, but then you never know. Again, I picked-up a base body and neck from eBay, and it is the most resonant solid body guitar  I've played in I don't know how long. That is going to look uber-cool, by the time I've finished with it.

Where I am struggling is in finding the parts I want. Not sure if I explained before, but generally I have set a Jooky rule that all of the main parts of the guitars - neck, body, tuners and pickups - should be second hand if at all possible.

I also want to use interesting, but quality pickups wherever I can, rather than going with whatever is stock, or taking the easy option and buying new Bare Knuckle or Iron Gear pickups off the shelf.

It is a bit more of a challenge in a hunter-gatherer sense and anyway, I'm a 'messer' so it was good to see how a PRS P90 sounded in a Strat body - The Paisley One - or a pair of Gibson P100s sounded in a Tele - The Pretty In Pimp One - the answer being, pretty good in both cases..

But there we are, it keeps it interesting, even if it does means that I seem to spend more time haunting eBay and guitar forums classified sections than actually making anything.



Speaking of Les Paul's, here is a bit of Peter Green anyway, a fine toon.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

A Tune For Tuesday

I know Suede are only seen as a wee bit of a part of the Britpop wallpaper these days, and only Blur seem to have come out of it with any kind of reputation as 'artists', but I think that may just be a case of history being written by those with the plummiest voices.

For those of us that remember a time 'before', it was Suede's first three singles that were the oh-my-gord moment of the early '90s, and in particular the playing of guitarist Bernard Butler who is the only guitar player I have seen that eclipses Johnny Marr for melody. The man is a genius, and seeing them in some dodgy club on the back of their first single, I couldn't believe my luck. He was like some marionet, all hair and twitches.

Don't get me wrong, his solo stuff has proved patchy, and I think the second Suede album turned him into a composer/producer, but such is life. The album with David McAlmont was of course awesome, and I was lucky to see them play in a hotel once upon a time, when that was being released. Not sure that wasn't their only gig..?

Anyway, Suede in '92 or '93 were awesome. See for yourself, and weep over the grey landscape that is indiedom today.

Oasis won,
and the world
got grey.

Friday 9 April 2010

Pimp, now appearing on ebay

In case anybody was wondering where I had put it, The Pretty In Pimp One is now up and on t'Bay, where you can make an offer and all that...

I know it is sad, but giving myself the rule that I have to flog whatever we make here, I know, makes sense, but it can be bloomin' 'ard, telling ya.

Don't feel you have to buy it yet, if you see what I mean.

You can find it on eBay HERE

All That Glisters

It has felt a wee bit of a slog sorting out my Slider-from-Hell - The Pretty In Pimp One - which is still available for money, ladies and gentlefellas and if you remember, can be bartered for, blah blah blah.

Chump, thy name is marketing.
And I mean that most sincerely.

But even that is beside the point.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yeah, The Pimpy One, it was a bit of a slog. So for our next trick I decided that something a bit more fun should be the order of the day - you can't live your life being serious and luthier-like all the time, after all.

But even further closer to the point, I'd picked up a rather battered neck and body combo a few months ago, and have been trying to think of something good to do with it. No idea of the wood, manufacturer or anything else, but it is a 'Super Strat' type of thing, Strat shaped, twin humbuckers and not a lot more to say for it than that.

So, having sanded it down to remove twenty years of nicotine, it has been painted gold - I had some left over from the scratchplate/record thing - and then liberally coated with a first encrustation of red and green glitter.

Obviously, plenty more work to do - more glitter, plenty of sanding and clearcoat to come, and I'm really not sure what else we'll do to the thing...but already it looks a lot more interesting.

And verily Groovy, it has to be said.

Here is a glimpse of the start, I've got no big ideas for this one other than that I wanted the fretboard painted too - having seen the Psychedelic Danelectro and the Vintage copy of Clapton's "Fool" SG... It was a maple fretboard though, I think, so at least I can put a decent thickness of lacquer on it.

Sorry, I think out loud a fair bit.

Not sure how useful that will be, but we'll see.

Got to find some pickups for it yet mind..

Heh ho.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Any colour you like apart from black

I got asked just the other day, why I don't try making some "proper guitars" and using finishes that people might actually want.

Which is a fair point
if predictible
and would make a lot of sense
if I was making
a lot of guitars
that I wanted to sell
to a lot of people
in shops.

But I'm not, I just want to make one-offs and
have them look - to my mind - pretty darn groovy.

I will get around to doing the amps and fx at some point too.
I promise.

Anyway, I find other finishes more interesting. there is too much homogeny in guitarland.

I don't remember Rock 'n' Roll being about conformity, but there we are.

We're all getting older I guess.

Maybe it is telling then, that a couple of guitars I have had a passing fancy for in recent times, are the Clapton 'tribute' from Vintage, "The Fool" and the Danelectro splodgy painted one who's name escapes me, but was also down to Mr C. back in the olden days before I as born.
Oh, it is the "Danelectro '59 Original Psychedelic".

Whatever the names, both are handpainted, and I like that. Even if it is still production-line, not arthouseexpandedmindfuckacidfriedelectricpopbottlebobbins.


Groovy.


Wednesday 7 April 2010

Sold: The Pretty In Pimp One

The Pretty In Pimp One is a concept.

It is a concept and a tribute all at the same time. It was an idea and a ‘thing’ that had been bouncing around the back of my head for a long age.

At one point it was going to be a song, but I soon realised that that wouldn’t work.
I mean, like, doh.

Next it was going to be a book, but I never really had the time to write it.

In the end I realised that it had to be a guitar, or maybe a sculpture.
Something visual that I could split into two halves.

It had to be visual, because The Pretty In Pimp One is a snapshot of a time long ago. It is based on a question and answer, something a brave musician needed to know, a cry for help – and another artist’s response, with a curling little sneer.

Two different people, two different aesthetics. Revolution and fire and anger and the knowing fashion of the pimp.

In the seventies, Marvin Gaye, then a squeaky-clean songster, like a puppet on a string, cut his chords, broke out and looking at the passion, fire and violence on the streets, turned his career on it’s head by asking

‘What’s Going On?’.

This was radical before such things became soundbites, political before that meant, well, percentage points. It was real and it was pure revolution baby.

The answer came from an unlikely source, from Sly and The Family Stone. They responded to Gaye’s question with a simple statement,

‘There’s A Riot Going On.’

Where Gaye had stripped his art down to it’s tortured, scorched nerve endings, Stone glammed it like some latter day pimp.

He brought revolution with a smile, a cynical dance, fluffy velvet and bouncing rhythms, gyrating with a core of cold steel.

Gaye and Stone
Two artists.
Two polar flipsides of a coin.

The Pretty In Pimp One is designed to reflect their approaches, scorched and stained for Gaye, gaudy gold and velvet for Stone.

The fire of revolution and the very real, knowing cynic.

To be clear, The Pretty In Pimp One is an utterly unique instrument, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely handmade and finished and cool as a conga-load-of polar bears.

If you want it, if you want a guitar that is so utterly unique that people will do double-takes and fall down stairs and generally act as though they are in a Carry-On movie whenever you play it, you can. But you had better be quick.


This Item has been Sold - Sorry about that.


Technical Stuff:

Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar

Output: Two Genuine Gibson P100 Pickups

Guitar Type: Customised Fender Telecaster-type guitar.

Construction: Cloth over wood

Strings: Rotosound Flatwound

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume and Tone. Three-way pickup selector switch.

Scratchplate: Gold record Scratchplate, made from a 10" Vinyl Single

Setup: The guitar has been set-up to be played as a Slide Guitar.


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

Serial Number: JGE#8

Made: 4th April 2010


RSP: £299 incl. P&P in the UK.

Pimping The Pimp

Well, now that the Challenge is over, I've been able to spend a wee bit of time on replacing all of the parts I skimped on last week, and it feels a lot tighter now that I have, especially with the new Wilkinson tuners which are rock solid, and a better bridge and set of spindly twirly bits beneath.

On top of that, I've rewired with new wire, put a better Les Paul-esque switch to good use and invested wisely in some lovely new pots. Not a crickle or a crackle in sight, or sound.

Just to really set it off, I'm about to order a nice Tweedy case for it, and also one of those Diamond Bottlenecks I was talking about before.

I have also been pondering about having it purely as a slide guitar, and I know that if I come to try and flog it - as I no doubt will - this will be a bit limiting, but it just sounds so right, and I don't think I've ever had as nice a slide sound as this. After spending an hour on the Pimp One I went and tried playing something slippy on my Jazzmaster and it just doesn't work as well.

Don't get me wrong, the action is high but you can still fret a note.

We'll see anyway.

The big question though, is what do I make next...?

Tuesday 6 April 2010

A Tune For Tuesday

Kicking back a bit today, and I thought I'd share my wake-up tune...

"The Green Groves of Erin" by The rather 'triffic Bothy Band


Sunday 4 April 2010

Introducing "The Pretty In Pimp One"

Well, it's the end of the £100 Challenge today and I seem to have just about snuck in before the end, with a burned and battered-looking slide box of a guitar - The Pretty In Pimp One.

I'll give  better day-lit photos later, but here it is and I have to say it is a stunning one to play...and it sounds absolutely raw.

For the record:

The Donor guitar was a Telecaster Clone. Maple Neck and some rock-solid hardwood body.

The Neck has been shaped, and rough oiled and generally burned to give an impression of smoke-staining with a touch of revolution around the edges.

The Body has been covered with Green Velvet, soft on the front and back, rock solid and rough as hell on the sides.

The Hardware is gold, a Jazzy bridge  and ABR tailpiece, six neat little tuners, which with the gold explains the Family Stone counterpoint, to Marvin Gaye's revolutionary call.

The Scratchplate is made from a 10" Vinyl Single, painted gold and melted strategically to let the pickups, switch, pots and jack to peep through.

The Pickups are Genuine Gibson P100s which sound immense, far better than I hoped.

The action is crazy high, set-up for slide and tuned to Open G.

The Strings are Flatwound Rotosound 12s.

The Name is burned into the headstock, with love.

As I said before, this was meant to be a bit of a concept - mixing revolution's fires with the fun '70s kitsch of a pimp's livery. I think it has ended-up something a wee bit special, and even with my rudimentary slide skills, it sound quite frankly incredible.

And yes, I think I'm allowed to say that..

Saturday 3 April 2010

Grand Unveiling

Well, tomorrow is the last day of the £100 Challenge, and I'm already thinking about how to best introduce my finished entrant, The Pretty In Pimp One, to the world. It doesn't seem barely a month ago that I was looking at the pile of bobbins on my right, *sniff*. They grope so fast these days.

But thinking about the point of this post, I have actually got a box of fireworks somewhere, so that is an option. and I do know that the local village hall is free after an unfortunate incident meant that they had to cancel the spring fair. Something about being unable to find a traditionally required virgin or other.

The other thing is, of course, that as I still haven't finished it, I'd better get me finger out. Obviously, the eBay muppet and non-seller of 10" singles hasn't delivered, but I have been lucky enough to fin a fella via Freecycle who will give me some old 78s. The only downside of this is that they are made of Shellac - which I guess is sort of like Bakelite, and might shatter. So that will be a voyage of discovery.

Other than that though, it should be do-able, and if the worst happens I can use my last attempt. It does still look pretty good to me anyway, and I guess I'm just looking for the extra 1-per-cent, blah blah & blah.

One good thing is that West Brom played and won last night, so I won't be pacing around wondering about that... Boing and boing, as they say.

Anyway, a chilled out tune for the day..another old fave from The Mekons and 'Ghosts of American Astronauts'

Friday 2 April 2010

To burn or no to burn

After the Paisley-in-the-post fiasco - thanks again for that DHL - I decided that I should break a habit of a lifetime and buy hardcases for my guitars, instead of going for the gigbag-in-the-corner and fingers-crissed, approach.

At least for the good ones.

Anyway, thinking about The Pretty In Pimp One, which I have been quite a lot, I decided that getting a case for it might be a good idea. I'm not saying I'm going to sell it, but a velvet finish isn't something I want my brats having jammy-fingered access to, if you see what I mean.

Worse, it tends to be Marmite around here.

Anyway, I've been-a-looking, and decided that it really has to be something tweedy and/or gaudy...so if anybody knows where to find such a thing - either burnt looking or pimped-to-the-max, I don't mind either, I'd be mucho pleased to hear from you.

I like this one from Gear4Music- though it is for a Les Paul, and not big enough for a Tele, I don't think.

Maybe I should do LP next time around, so I can use that sort of case.

Heh ho

Thursday 1 April 2010

Starting to think...

...that maybe selling these things we're making here in Jookyland, isn't the best idea.

For my mental health
such that
it is.

For instance, I keep looking on eBay to see if there are any Paisley guitars..

And found this beauty.

A '60s Paisley Fender Duo Sonic

*sigh*

I am thinking that I should do something else paisley, although it could never be 'The Paisley One', that has been and done gone already..

The fella flogging the Duo could play a bit too...

Somebody buy it please,make it
go
away