Everything is Lovely

Well, after yesterday's disaster with my slum-mud covered veneer, I've decided that I need to end the week on a high to avoid all manner of mental bobulisms, and so today, with parts in hand I'm going to finish off the resurrection of The Gordo.

Where we left it was beautifully battered with a gunstock treated oil, wax and walnut stained look that looks rather lovely, if you like a well battered gunstock, I err, guess.

Anyway, I've got some new Gotoh tuners with tulip ends (so they aren't too heavy), and have put some new posts at the bridge. I did get a Wilkinson tailpiece for sooper yet dooperish intonational joy, but to be honest I liked the battered original better so have stuck with it.

It is however, a complete change on the pickup front. At the neck I've gone for a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90, and at the bridge a Gibson '57 Classic, so basically it will have PAF and P90 tones, which are pretty groovy in my hoos. Other than that it is all new CTS pots, Switchcraft Jack and switch, a ridiculously enormous Mojotone capacitor, cloth covered wire and the rest. I've not gone for coil taps as was originally in the Gordo as basically the pickups aren't four-wired. Other than that I'll replace the strap pins with some jumbo ones when they arrive, and there we are.

And, after a bit of screwing and soldering, here it be....

I have to say I'm really rather pleased with it. The headstock is solid after I glued the cracks, and stained them obvious for goodly measurement, and the Phat Cat is divine. I'll have to admit not as biting as the Catswhisker P90 I've put in the Sick One (which I've also been preparing for it's new owner today - Matt it sounds cool), but pretty good. I think the Catswhisker one just feels bigger, but there we are. I'm not disappointed by it. As for the Gibson '57, that is sweet. Proper PAF sounds, just like everybody says. Even in this thinnest-of-mahogany bodied wonder it proper sounds, well, lovely.

So there we are, two lovely, lovely guitars I got to play today.

The week wasn't sooo very bad, now, was it?

Now that feels better.

Bloody veneers.

Well Oiled

Well, we're beyond Boxing Day and I've snuck in a couple of Jooky bits between the Quorn fillets and chocolate and liquorice allsort excess.

Not a lot to see, in truth, but I finished oiling up The Old Gordo and let it dry so that it is nice and nourished and shiny, and since have started to polish using the 'Stock Sheen and Conditioner', which goes on wet and needs a fair bit of buffing. 

I'm aiming for more of a softish sheen than a full on gloss, but we'll see how it turns out over the next few days. As I said, if I can get it playable by the end of the year I'll be well pleased with meself.

Once the buffing is done I have actually bought a second type of wax finish for the final coat, but it might be gilding the tulip and I may recognise it as 'finished' before I get that far anyway.

After that it is a put together job and a bit of soldering (and I got a shiny new soldering iron for Christmas) so hopefully not too much grief to come from that direction. Though I've just remembered the tuners never arrived before Xmas, so I'll probably be waiting for a couple of days for those.

Anyway, all the polishing is done so I'm off to linseed oil my rosewood...which is also now done, and looks lovely and dark and woody.

I've also just put the pickups on it, as it happens, the Seymour Duncan Phat Cat at the neck - bit of P90 joy - and I've stuck with the Gordo pickup at the bridge as I rather liked it and can't think of 'owt better at the moment. For the pots I've gone CTS, and the switch is bog standard Switchcraft

La la laaaa

*** Later ****

As it happens, I've since managed to wire this baby up and finish the polishing. It looks rather cool and sheeny, it has to be said.

All I'm waiting for now are the tuners and some bigger strap pin things as the others were a bit ropey.

Teerr-daaahhh

Flaunting The Imperfection

Staining the Back

Staining the Headstock and neck

Well, I managed to both charge the camera and put the walnut stain onto the back of The Old Gordo *, so here are a couple of fotos.

It will need a while to dry so it probably won't be until after Xmas that I get to do the front, but it looks pretty cool to me so far, so I'm reasonably chuffed. It nicely displays where I glued the cracks, which is always a bonus (ahem).

Flaunt the imperfection - the story of my life.

I can't quite decide whether to stain it all and then do the oil, or finish the back before I start the front. It's a toughy, I have to admit.

To do this all, I bought a 'Gun Stock Tarting-up' set with the stain, oil and polish in it, along with sand paper/wire wool etc.

All very nice, but it was the free target that most impressed me. Glow in the dark and self-adhesive - great for putting on some body's back as they leave a New Year party this year. All those drunken Young Farmers living around here will have a ball.


****** Musical Interlude **********

Well, as it happens the stain had dried before I had gotten around to posting this missive, and so I went ahead and gave the back of the body, neck and headstock an initial coat of Tru-Oil, which looks rather nifty. The stain has gone into the scratches and scrapes beautifully and the oil has brought them and the grain out super-smartly. I'm really pleased.

Oiling the Back

No doubt, I'll have wire-wooled and re-coated it before I get around to putting this up too, so you'll probably be able to see what I mean.

******* Another Gap of Hours ******
Well, I smoothed it down with the wire wool and gave it another coat of Tru-oil. Left it a couple more hours yet, and did it again.

It really does look cool and a fair few shades darker than the Danish Oil had left it, so I'm pretty pleased with that. I'll finish the back before I start on the front, I think as it seems the right thing to do.
Hopefully the oil will be finished by tomorrow and I can have a play with the 'Conditioner' or polish as I would innocently call it.
.
This is all so exciting that I've even dug out the new wire, pots and switch, so I might put them together. just for the hell of it, like.

There's always something productive about holibobs I've noticed. I guess it is a good way to escape the bratskis...

*** The Next Day ****
Well, Crissie Eve and the oil on the back is done, is verily sheeny and looks rather good, I have to say. As the next step is to wax it, I've decided to start on the front, and that has now been stained too. Once that is dry I'll do the Tru-oil thing and hopefully wax the whole guitar as one next week. It would be nice to be putting it together before the year is out, just depends on the way Xmas pans out, I guess.

Anyway, once again, have a fine Crimbulmus.

* Note to self:
Wear gloves next time you use stain stuff, the eighty-a-day-habit look is sooo outdated.

A Well Oiled Headstock - with stain enhance cracks

Staining the Front -
Loving the grain and the scrapiness

Happy Holibobs

No, I can't see it turning out that shiny either

Well, not a lot doing at the moment that doesn't involve tinsel and queues, but I have started on my little re-vamp of my old and generally battered Gordon Smith. Just to keep my hand in, like.

I know I've mentioned it before, but the bottom line is that it had a few wee cracks at the headstock around the tuners, and I figured that while I was gluing and clamping those I may as well give it a right royal seeing to, as it were.

So first things first, I stripped it down, and have used some Titebond  and a couple of clamps. This stuff did the business when I fixed the neck on the Busted Dot and these are less critical, so I'm sure it will be fine.

Once that had dried, I ordered some new tuners that will fit the original holes, which will hopefully stop any reoccurence...

The next job will be to refinish the body.

Now when I got it, one of the attractions for me was that it was 'naturally aged' in fact battered and scribbled over in parts being closer to the truth. At the time I de-gunked then Danish Oiled it and it improved no end. However, this time I'm going to go a step further and stain it a darker shade of walnut and properly finish it with Tru-Oil, conditioner and wax. This is basically the approach people take to protecting their Gun Stocks and should look the business without losing the original charm.

At least that is the plan, guess time will tell.

After that it is hardware. The tuners of course are new, and then I am replacing the wraparound bridge and posts with a Wilkinson one which will help on the intonation front. Must admit it isn't something that over worries me and I'm in two minds, so that is a maybe at the moment as I like the original tailpiece and the Wilko one looks a tad shiny and bulky by comparison. So I might just change the posts which are the bit that are broken after all, we'll see.

Pickup-wise, I've got a P90 - a SD Phat Cat - for the neck and will probably stick with the Gordon Smith pickup at the bridge. Though I have a SD '59 which might be sweeter. Apart from I am swapping that for a guitar body. Hmmm...maybe keep the Gordo then, or look for a nice PAF. Not sure.

What I do know for sure is that I'm going to take the chance to replace the pots and wiring while I am at it, as it is daft not to, let's face it. I've got some Ye Olde Worlde wire and a MojoTone cap, so that should work out OK.

As for the rest, the frets are low but good apart from a couple which are a bit flat, so I'm going to break out my lovely crowning file thing to sort that out. I've been practising on old necks and am feeling pretty good about it all now. The proper tools definitely help, I've come to accept.

After that, I'm going to Linseed oil the fretboard which should give it a lovely dark hue - I used to use Lemon Oil but read somewhere that Raw Linseed is better if you don't leave it on too long and it seems to do the biz - and there we are.

Basically then, this is meant to be my Christmas holibobs project, so I'll wang some fotos up as I go...once I've charged the camera back up anyway.

And of course, if this proves to be 'it' - Happy Xmas and cheers for reading along with the vaguely psychotic chaos that this Jooky bobbins is...

La la laaa

And Finally...

Well, I'm all rather pleased with meself today, so I am, as I've managed to get to the bottom of the quietnessicity of The Old Burny One. Rather typically it was simple, and even more as expected it was down to me. Basically, I'd managed to break a wire and couldn't really tell until I'd stripped it all out and replaced it.

Heh ho, such is life.

Other than that, I need to string it up, set it up and we are there. I'll do a proper introduction once it is finally back together again, next week sometime I expect..

In other news, I finally got hold of an Explorer to play with - a body and neck from downtown Osaka or somewhere, so that will be nice in the new year. I've also divested meself of The Orpheum and the Dot, with the Jaguar bass going soon too. In fact there are very few guitars left, just an old acoustic my lovely Jazzmaster and the battered old Gordo which I'm giving a refurb.

I'd actually sold the Gordo, but on it's travels it seems to have developed a couple of teeny splits on the headstock. This I've taken as a sign from somewhere or other that I should keep the guitar forever. And that I should give it a bit of love.

So the plan is to firstly glue and clamp the headstock. After that I'm going to put new tuners on as I think my half-hearted use of some old Epi ones caused the weakness that caused the fault that gathered the grain, that ground it to flour, that cooked the bread that gave me indigestion.

After the repairs, I've decided to make the most of the battered and scribbled over wood and give it the full Gunstock experience - some walnut stain, Tung-Oil and a good wire-wool and polish.

As for the rest I'm going to replace the wraparound with something more newerish, and as I've never been 100% on the pickups, I'm going to replace them. I have a Seymour Duncan '59, which will be nice at the bridge and I'll probably put a P90 at the neck - not sure what yet, we'll just have to see.

In Gordo We Trust

Degunked, wire wooled and
Danish Oiled into submission

OK, I promise not to go on about this anymore,

mooning over some knackered old guitar

- well -

I agree that it is maybe a bit sad for a chap of such advanced age..

...but I did finish my lovely old Gordon Smith yesterday, and figured I should show you.

It has been stripped, smoothed a bit and Danish oiled.

I put a new bridge post and some Epi Casino tuners on after I broke the ones that came with it.

Fretboard got lemon oiled like a Roman god.

Slightly re-shaped one of the nut slots - brass nuts, sound great, a bitch to 'edit'.

Yes, I can't find the switch tip

Future plans:

I will probably change the knobs if I can ever manage to remove them.

I may replace the pickups or at least the neck one which is a wee bit bland.

OK, the keen of eye may notice that I've managed to misplace the switch tip somehow, but there we are.

Isn't it lovely?

Divine?


I just keep giggling.

Normal service will resume soon enough, I guess, but I'm all teenage and starry eyed, and would you begrudge me that?

I'm lurving the logo is upside down, and the Epi tuners

You say it's love?
It's the back of love...

WIP: Old Battered Gordo

Well, after a weird kind of week, I finally got my hands on the old Gordon Smith guitar I was talking about, this weekend. As expected it has a few signs of decrepidness, and I'm not totally sure what model it is or how old it is  come to that. As the serial number has long gone, it isn't likely that I'll find out either, but I can't say it matters much.

I'm guessing it was originally a single pickup jobby a GS 1.0, or maybe a Single coil plus a humbucker - a GS 1.5 - but whichever, it has had a humbucker fitted at the neck and the coil taps aren't wired anymore.

The original scratchplate also seems to have been removed with less than forensic subtlety. At least there seem to be a couple of bits left behind.

Other than that the bridge is held in place by a piece of wire, the tuners are new locking ones - or were until I broke two of them somehow and generally it seems quite sad about itself in every way, even the strings were rusty, bless them.

All of which amounts to not a lot compared to the beautiful neck, amazingly buzz free yet low action, and great sounds the pickups put out. I'm guessing one of them is the original Gordo pickup, the bridge looks the right style compared to other Gordos I've seen, but not sure what the other is, there are no markings other than a number - 025520 if that means anything to anybody.

Whatever it is though, sounds pretty good, if slightly anonymous compared to the bridge pickup which has more of a 'throaty roar' (tm) Every Guitar Magazine Reviewer In History.

Anyway, I've now stripped it down, cleaned it with some heavy duty de-gunker (the same stuff I follow my daughter around with - dirt maget that she is) and amazingly there was some wood under there. As it is well scratched and scored, and I like such a lived in face, I gave it a gentle going-over with some wire wool (XXX or maybe AAA, I forget) and have given it a well needed dollop of Danish Oil. And even the first coat has made it look glorious - despite appearances, I love natural oiled wood finishes as long as the wood has lived a bit of a life first.

Other than that, as I mentioned, I knackered the existing tuners, so am going to replace them with a set I got off an Epiphone Casino. I might get something different in time, and could get Gordon Smith replacement parts, but that isn't really the vibe for this and to be honest I can't see it as a resurrection project. Nobody is going to be collecting this one for a couple of millenia at least. And then it will be because nobody remembers wood.

I am loving it though, and before I took it to pieces it just felt like home. I already know that this one is a serious 'keeper', which is unusual for me. I do love that it has obviously had some work done at some stage in it's life too - the fact that a replacement GS logo has been put on the headstock upside-down is brilliant. And though a quick Ebay search showed somebody selling replacement - official even - headstock logos, I don't think I want to make the change. In fact everything about it just feels right to me and it is a real where-did-that-hour-go? kind of guitar

It's funny, I've been craving a Les Paul for ages - years in fact - and I've gone through every combination of objet de lust: Gold Tops, Cherry Tiger Stripes, natural wood, Juniors, Customs - you name it - and even barely finished BFGs, and I've played and tried a load over the years.

I've also always wanted a Gordon Smith, but that was always a bit of a 'I should try one, some dim and distant day' kind of thing. But when I finally do, it's mad but I just love it. It truly is everything I want in a twin 'bucker guitar, fantastic neck, great sound and battered to bits.

But there we are, I've got a beater and man I've never played a Gibson that feels this good. Sod Nashville, Viva Les Mancs, and I never thought I'd be saying that.

(Maybe if I do change the neck pickup I should give The Creamery a shout, they're up that neck o' the woods an' all...)

*** 

I went to the Bristol museum last week as it happens and had something confirmed that I have long wondered about. I was looking at the dinosaur exhibits, and in small print it said that they had been illustrated as being green, but nobody really knows what colour they were as basically you can't tell from fossils.

Now I've always been bugged that every book shows dinosaurs as being green, and had an argument with someone once about it. You see, I've always felt that dinosaurs were more likely to be running around and stomping in a variety of day-glo colours. I remember the counter argument still, 'But they would have been green for camoflage purposes' - which firstly assumed that plants were green then, which I let past, but secondly, and most obvious of all - why would you assume that dinosaurs were good at camoflage when they're all bleedin' extinct?

So it was nice to realise that I was probably right all along.

What that has to do with guitars, I don't know.

Sunday Morning

Battered Gordo with
unlikely upside-down logo

Well, it seems as though there are maybe one or two people out there who'd fancy The Beaton One after all - though how I'll decide who gets it, I'm really not sure. I do quite fancy a sandwich, though it has to be said...I'm a tad worried that we're attracting so many, well, strange people.

Not my style at all. (Ahem)

Of course the coming week is my last before the holibobs start, so I've got four whole days to finish The Blue Moon One before I can relax into a summer of child care with a clarity of conscience, previously unknown, assuming I manage such a  feat..

Saying that, one day of the four is ear-marked to be a whirlwind tour of Bristol's guitar shops, and there is also the teensy matter of a new-to-me, but old and battered Gordon Smith guitar coming this way.

I've wanted a 'Gordo' since, ooh, the late Eighties but it has never happened, but maybe this time it will. I like the fact it is battered too, the idea of a pristine Gordo seems wrong somehow. They need to be prole-like and agricultural, to my mind. I think what attracted me most to this one is that the bridge is a bit knackered and held together with a piece of bent wire. The logo is also upside-down, and I think it has been converted from a single pickup jobbie, to a twin-tub.You can't get better than that.

But back to Jookyland and I think I said before that the plan over the summer is to finally do The Old Burny One. A labour of lurvvee, but without any pressure. Which no doubt means it won't take any time at all, and I'll be bored out of my box before you know it. It is going to have a 23 Karat gold top, with a cracleur finish to give it that aged look. I have in fact already gold leafed it once, but wasn't happy with how it turned out, so it is stripped back to square one.

I talked before about the traditional Gibson wiring loom I got from Shugz/Hugh, which looks amazing, and the fact I've finally 'decided' to use the Gibson Bill Lawrence 'Original' pickups I managed to screw up but then fix a while back. In fact, all the parts are pretty much Gibson originals themselves. Not really sure why, but I guess I've always wanted a Les Paul and this will be as close as I'm likely to get to a Custom jobbie.

I go around in circles, I know.

Still, as ever, time will tell.