Introducing: The BDSM One

Well, I'm rather shocked and awed to be able to introduce to you, The BDSM One, a raw and twangy Strat I'm really rather proud of.

From the top - this is my 'Entry' to the 2012 Music Radar £100 Challenge, where you are aiming to produce or pimp a guitar for a £100 or less. With a little help from my friends, I've just about managed it.

But the guitar:

It is based on an old and battered Squier Strat, of indeterminate vintage, pedigree and character.

The body is solid wood though, always a bonus, and the maple/rosewood neck is decent quality now that the frets and 'board have had a bit of TLC.

Pickup-wise, there is a lovely sounding Gretsch humbucker at the neck. This was taken from a Gretsch 5120 and really does the business, from twanginess to hot and heavy.

At the bridge is a Mojo Pickups handwound/scattered Jazzmaster pickup that is immense. It is quite P90-ish in this guitar and has a great wild sound to it, beautifully raw. With a touch of reverb, this guitar is sex, end-of. Marc at Mojo gave me the pickup - one of his prototypes - and it sounds as good as everything else he scattered his magiic dust onto.

Wiring is a pair of pots and a switch I got given by Simon at Fusion - out of a Les Paul, I believe.

The trem is half a pound of brass that has been chromed and was taken from a 70s Japanese Strat copy. It really sings, I'm seriously impressed with it. The jack plate is from the same place too.

The tuners are some pre-aged Wilkinson ones, which work great and look good, and a finishing touch in the shape of some Gretsch knobs was a bit of an extravagance, but there we are.

As for the finish, the body has a lovely rough and glittery paisley, with the scratchplate being veneered with walnut burr and a bit of rust here and there for ageing perps.

And there we are, it looks great and sounds better and is a bit of a joy to play.

Cheers for the freebies to Marc at Mojo Pickups, and Simon at Fusion Guitars.

As for the £100 Challenge aspect, my updated numbers are:

Donor Squier Strat: £44.50
Gigbag sold: -£20
Squier parts sold: -£20

Body & Neck Net Cost: £4.50

Gretsch pickup: £12.50
Old '70s Bridge, Jack Plate, Claw, Springs: £10
Scratchplate: £12

Paisley fabric: £5
Walnut Burr Veneer: £1 (Ten sheets for £5, using 2 sheets " 50p each)
Finishing stuff: £12.95

Jazzmaster pickup: Free
Pots, Wire, Jack, Capacitor, Switch: Free

Knobs: £8
Tuners: £20

Grand Total: £85.95


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Mr Mojo Landing

Well, I (literally) just received a lovely parcel from Marc at Mojo pickups, it were like Christmas - paper everywhere and a little quiver in my voice.

My hands were shaking too, but nothing new there.

And so I opened it, and inside there were a pair of Tele pickups which I will be plopping into The Dust My Broom One quite shortly enough.

These are based on the old Broadcaster ones and use Alnico IV magnets, for added warmth on even the chilliest evening.

In addition, the chap has done a fantastic job on a wiring loom for the same guitar, including a 'Jooky' branded capacitor. Of which I'm secretly verily pleased, even though my hard-man-of-fabric-covered-guitars image won't allow me to suggest such a thing.

So clearly it means nothing to me.
Oh Vienna.

But they are here, presented perfectly and ready to go. I can't wait.

So next job is to put that little lot into The Dust My Broom One, and try and remember some Muddy Waters madrigals.


But what is that, in the corner of the pile of Mojo paper?





Could that be another wee pickup?

(It is still panto season, innit?)

Well, beholden and Lo - Marc seems to have given me a Jazzmaster pickup to put into The BDSM One.

And that bit is true, Marc has very kindly donated one of his prototype Jazzmaster pickups to the £100 Challenge cause, bless him.

This is made a bit differently from his normal Jazzmaster pickups, there was something about the winding wire, and has something else different that he explained very, very slowly using words of teensy syllable counts, but I've forgotten anyway.

So I can't be waiting to hear that either.

So in summary, what a complete star the boy is. He has even put connectors in the bag so I can plug them together instead of soldering them. Genius. That's one less trip to casualty.



Right, I'll be back later on to formally introduce The Dust My Broom One, as let's face it, even I can't screw this up....

Well, maybe.

And I've said it before, but feel I should repeat that Mojo Pickups can be found here, and here, and they come highly recommended from all in Jookyland.


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Always a Day Away

Well, as unlikely as it sounds, I thought I'd have a little practice with my new router thing, on something less than critical - before I start to destroy The BDSM One tomorrow.

We never use the kitchen table anyway.

I know, it's almost a grown-up approach. Must be the slightly more warmerish weather.

And I have to say that it is ridiculously impossible. I mean I know I'm big in the nerdy-wimp-raspberry-ripple department, but I felt like some kinda toon flying around, hanging-on for something grimly life-like.

Sheesh.

I might have to get my 5-year-old to do it instead.

Needless to say I will Percy McVeer and then dig out the only chisel I never broke last time around.

Despite all of this, I do have a good feeling about it all. The Gretsch pickup will hopefully be hot, yet twangy, while the Jazzmaster has that darkly P90 type of thing going on I know and lurve.

Which is all cool. I'm kinda hoping that now I have been able to flog the spares that the budget will stretch enough for me to get a Mojo JM pup wound, but for the challenge the MIJ might have to do.

In fact despite effectively getting the neck and body for a grand total of £2.50 (I flogged all the parts and the gigbag it came in) I'm still going to be pushed.

I can always upgrade it later ;)

Last year I think I replaced mostly all of the parts within a week or two, but there we are.

Wonder if I will ever see The Golden Shower One again...?

As for other things, well the parts for The Foxy Roxy One showed up, so that is all done apart from the usual soldering escapades. I'm going to do those later today. Honest.

I'm pretty pleased with the bronze top dripping over the sides...nice.

La la laaa.

Strategic-am-we

A Piece of Wood
Earlier Today
That I Don't Have

Well, school holibobs for a week or so now, so I'm back into thinking mode, and the thinking I've been ponderously thoughting is what to do with my lack-of-work-in-progress thingies, and this is the current state of play:

1. The Dust My Broom One

This is all together, has some EMG pickups in place and just needs wiring. That should be easy.
Well, confusing, but not a lot to worry about.
Unless I cock it up, which is always possible,
unless I don't in which case it'd be a shoo-in.

2. The Foxy Roxy One

This is my delight-filled Oak bodied Firebird-ish one. It will be copper and acid clad and grunged up, some lovely '50s wiring, and I think a P90 plus a PAF-ish humbucker in the pickup department.

3. The Ronin One 

This will be bronze and acid drizzled, blend potted, Marauder Single Coil plus a Marauder Humbucker after a bit of ker-jiggling. The blend pot is instead of a switch, which is something I keep meaning to use, but haven't until now. So all-in-all, it should be lovely.

I'm thinking it might be nice to have a paisley scratchplate, just for old times sake, though it will probably be a plain black one in truth. as it will work better with the corroded copper.

How much of that I get to do in the near future, I'm not entirely sure, but painting and buying things I can manage, even if the solder and hot wiring has to be done when freedom beckons once more 'tween the hours of 9am and 3pm.

Blah blah blah

Other than that, I'm a bit stuck what to do for the £100 Challenge as I have already blown the budget in a big way for the Marauder, and will only take moments to do so for the Firebird as well.

Oops, just blown that one too.

It seems a bit of a cop out to simply get a cheap Strat body and neck and do something with that, though it is an option. I have got some walnut burr laminate, which I could use, but what to put it on? Tis a tough call.

What I'd really like to do is make a body out of some wood (that I haven't got) as that will be something I haven't tried before.

Hmmm....I think I need to get the router out of the car and plug it in, see if I can work it or not.

Maybe that is what I should do for the challenge though - it is a great place and time to try something different, and you never know where it will lead. Have to think this one thru. I've been mithering for ages now about building my own guitar body from scratch, and there we are.

Why not just get on with it...?

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