Honey on my mind

Well, back in the land of the setting sun, I'm getting all excited about The Lingering Honey One, not least because Marc at Mojo Pickups has again come up with the goodies in the shape of a spiffing pickup and loom.

For those napping at the back, The Lingering Honey One is going to be a Jooky Classic of a Les Paul Jr but with a few twists...

From the top it is a classic single cut - single piece mahogany body, single piece mahogany neck, rosewood 'board, long tenon neck...gurrrt lush.

The body is destined for a right royal rusting, with the neck being stained and oiled which should be rather lovely indeedy.

Where things get really cool is that instead of the expected Dogear P90, we are going to nail on a Mojo Gold Foil - suitably aged in Halifax - and pair it with a top quality loom.

Other than that, it is going to have some fancy pants Grover tuners and a Tonepros wraparound tailpiece.

Now how groovy will that be?

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If Boogaloo is Cool - the Mojo Gold Foils are Far Out...

Well, I've spent the last few days explaining or at least trying to, what The Boogaloo One sounds like, so I'm going to get my finger out and do some sort of recording. Soon, really soon.

To my mind they are somewhere between a TV Jones and a P90 - gorgeous cleans with special jangly bits, but really at their best with a bit of dirt as they have this amazing sustain to them.

But they sound great, but I figured that maybe it is just me - it's in the fingers, dontchano? - so I was pleased to find these YouTube videos  and I thought I'd share them with the group. They sound fantastic with a slide in hand   (listen to the tres cool Ramon Goose below and see what I mean)  - in summary, they can be awesome.

Just maybe not my hand.

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And Then of Course...

Well, still a bit slo-mo-a-go-go at the mo-mo, but I  did get a chance the other day to sand back the top of The Boogaloo One, and stain it a proper white, and it looks more the part now.

It still needs some work in the sanding and re-staining dept. before I give it a sheen of hard wax oil, but it is more what I was hoping for and that feels nicer.

From here it is of course going to have that lovely bound Jazzmaster neck nailed on, a pair of Mojo Pickups Gold Foil Toaster Specials (I'm sure he will make up a better name if he ever makes any more), and I am thinking  that a nice Bigsby will be a good way to hold the strings on.

When this will be occurring, who can say, but I am planned-up and that is always nice amid the chaos of real life..

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Golden Years Da Da Da

Well, still a bit AWOL at the mo', but before I configured the life raft, I did receive a double dose of Vitamin Gold Foil from Marc at Mojo Pickups, and bloomin' gorgeous they are too.

It'll be a while before I get on with them, but I couldn't help a quick plonk together of The Hartlepool and Boogaloo Ones with their gilt racked, as it were.

The Hartlepool One is obviously a lot closer as it has been, err, finished, and in a way it makes sense as I should get to play with the real deal as far as the Gold Foils go before moving on to toasters and toppings.

I'd forgotten how pretty Hartlepool was though, all verra nice indeed.

As for The Boogaloo One, I'm really pleased with the neck. It is a Jazzmaster one, maple, black blocks and it is bound too, which is very lux. The body is going to be Lake Placid Blue, unless I go darker and I'm dithering whether to put the proper Ricky 660 pickguards on - or the ones I cut from an LP - forgot about those, wonder where they are... - or maybe even to stay au natrel. No panic though, plenty of time..

Just when I'll get to be doing them really...

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Gold Foil a Go Gooooo

Well, planning-and-a-plotting as I am, I was somewhat delighted to see that Mr Marc Ransley of the Mojo Pickups parish has finished me some of the coolest looking pups this side of the Stirchley Bowl...

First up, are the authentic and uber classic Gold Foils that are destined for The Hartlepool One (that slice of offset semi-acoustalification that has been waiting under the stairs for such an occasion). These are a long held dream and I really can't wait to get them fitted and fettled...

The other, if at all possible are even more special. As you no doubt know, The Boogaloo One is going to be a funky little momma, based on a Rickenbacker 620 with a groovy maple blocked neck, I'd initially thought that I'd get Marc to make a couple of his Toaster pickups, but in one of those weirdly cool moments, we have ended-up with Toaster-sized Gold Foils which look quite frankly, stunningly cool. I don't even know where to plug in the hyperbole for these babies...or indeed how the hell he has managed to put them together at all, but the boy is a genius. End of.

So, in summary - all is golden, all is glistery.

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Going For Gold Like Scooby Snax, Yeah

Well, all is chaos at the moment in the little kingdom of Jook, with baubles all over the place and more glitter on show than at a convention of 1970s peedos, but will we let such shenanigans get to us and cause us to hide under the stairs, stroking korina with some wire wool? Not a chance.

And excuse the excitement, but there is something else that is golden and shiny on my mind, as after many months of searching, I heard from Marc at Mojo Pickups yesterday, that he is finally in a position to make some authentic repro Gold Foil pickups. I know he has wanted to do these for ages so it is really cool news.

Now these originally appeared in the coolest of vintage cool guitars, things like Harmonys and Silvertones and Mr Ry Cooder's own tone owes them plenty, so they are well worth checking out methinks. In fact, it is no big surprise that I can't wait to give them a try, but have the slight issue that I haven't got a guitar to put them into.

Obviously, I ordered the first set he makes (ahem) without considering that flaw in the plan.

Not that that is too much of an issue as for quite an eon of an aon of a while I've fancied making meself something along the lines of a Mosrite in all it's twangy off-key-looking-ness.

Which is something I've wanted for years (a Mosrite, I mean) but never quite got the chance/excuse/energy, and the copies I've tried haven't really hit the spot.

So I'm going to get Jezz of Woodroffe Guitars to make me a nice semi acousticalified body of the right shape, plonk an incongruous big headed Strat neck on it and see where that gets us.

As you may have noticed, a lot of the new guitars seem to be classic old shapes that have been Jookificated, and this is something that I think will continue for a while as it is fun, though I have a couple of ideas of my own that I really must get sorted. Groovy indeed.

So, back to the future, coming soon to an obsessive near me, The Scooby Doo One, tis gonna be groovy.

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