The Paisley One - On The Bay

Well, I've done something I never do, over the last week or two, and got rid of a few guitars and related bobbins.

It's funny how you collect these things, but I realised that there are only so many I can actually play, and so...better to make a bit of room.

I think generally, I'm getting into the whole Jooky thing a bit more seriously now. Lots of people are visiting the 'For Sale' part of the site, and finding nothing, and more are asking when they can buy various stuff. So it would be nice to get a bit on top, I reckon. If I'm being honest, I like it too, which is the main thing.

Anyway, as the final plank of my decluttering tendency, I've put The Paisley One up on eBay, and am open to offers. That is the hard one, as it is the first Jooky guitar I've made and I have to say I love it loads, but there we are.

Half making space, and half a justification to make more guitars.
And my Tele is so ready to be made now.
The Nouveau Riche One as it is soon to be known.

If you fancy The Paisley One with it's lovely fuzz and good looks, you can buy it or make an offer HERE.

Sold: The Paisley One

It wasn't all free love and The Beatles vs. The Stones in the Sixties, there was a fella who played the Guitar called Hendrix, and a thirst for invention and advancement that saw mankind race to the moon...look around and then come back with some Seaside-of-Tranquility rock for the kids.

Millions watched in black and white as an acid-fuelled world turned technicolour around them, before Jimi burned his guitar and single-handedly ended the Viet Nam war.


I might have that part wrong, I wasn't born until '68 so I am basing a lot of this found-memory on Time Life commercials and the dim recollections of my parents.

Ever since, we have all become accustomed to a variety of re-writes of history and the glorification of the dead stars of the day.

Jim Morrison was the lizard king not some fat alkie who rarely washed.

Janis Joplin was an artist not a clapped out drunk who ingested her body weight in Southern Comfort before breakfast,

And of course Jimi Hendrix was the best guitarist ever to grace the planet,
despite never being able to keep his guitar in tune.

And it is Hendrix that inspired us to make this unique piece of guitar history that is The Paisley One.

It is Hendrix that we thought we would cynically cash-in on, like everybody else does

It is Hendrix and the questions that are raised every time the circulation of a guitar magazine dips,
that pushed us to think about the eternal lament -

'What would he be doing now if he hadn't snuffed it?'

And The Paisley One is our response to that unanswerable question.

The Paisley One is our retort aimed with barbs at the Disney-esque 'Gibson Hendrix Authentic Electric Guitar' and to all the other phony nostalgia that people pedal, based on myths about stars they never met or even rated at the time.

There were forty million people at the Isle of Wight festival back then, 
and they are just the people I've met.
Woodstock?
I hate to think.

And The Paisley One is our response,
for we truly believe that if Jimi Hendrix were alive today,
he wouldn't be stretching the limits of music and musicianship
with midi-controlled voodoo robots,
and he wouldn't be creating
Venusian soundscapes
full of psychedelic volcanoes
erupting dolphin-inspired
operas.

Nope, he would be doing what
every
other
relic
of that decade is doing and
would be playing
a
Paisley
Strat
on the end of a pier
or if he is lucky
in a Vegas casino,
or at the Albert Hall,
cashing in on ersatz nostalgia and
burning
his
guitar
twice
a
night
and three times on Saturday
for the Chicken-Kiev-in-a-basket brigade.

So it was with sadness that we set out to create a Paisley Strat,
to add our own tribute to the King of the Fuzz
to a world already teeming with them
in the shape of a guitar with a Strat body, PRS pickup, Suhr shaped headstock
and a Jooky built-in Sophie's Filthy Boots fuzz thing.

It was with a tear that we tracked down the coolest and grooviest design and
finished it with true psychedelic love.

We did it for Jimi,
and we did it for you
just you
to give you a piece of Jimi
to let you say you have
his guitar
because you are special
and we're not
at all
cynical
we love Jimi
and you
especially
you.

And we feel Jimi
would have wanted it
would have wanted you to have
The Paisley One,
to own his guitar.

Be him.

And one lucky person can now be Jimi,
can own his guitar,
can be
The Paisley One.

But there can only ever be one Jimi Hendrix
can only be one owner of The Paisley One
can only be one Paisley One
Will it be you?


To be clear, The Paisley One is an utterly unique instrument, and there will never, ever, be another made.
It is signed and numbered, and was entirely handmade by somebody who was at least born as a product of the Summer of Love, even if you weren't.

We're Sorry to say that you can't buy this guitar, as it has now been Sold.

Technical Stuff:
Type: Custom Guitar
Output: Single PRS P90 Bridge Pickup
Guitar Type: Based on a Fender Stratocaster shaped guitar with a Gibson-rip-off-style-headstock
Construction: Cloth over wood
Power: 9V Battery for the Fuzz effect
Output: ¼” Guitar Lead
Modes: Standard Bridge P90 and Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz, selected via a Slide Switch
Controls: Volume and Tone. Tone provides a fuzz level control when in Sophie's Filthy Boots Mode
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered, All Wrapped with our Trademark Jooky Wrapping.
Serial Number: JGE#6
RSP: £SOLD

Finally, Really Finished, Honest

Well, I thought it would never end, never mind you, but I am oh-so-gloriously-happy to be able to say that I have finally finished The Paisley One. Or JGE#6 as it will be forever known.

For the record - it is based upon a second hand Strat type body and I believe a Squier neck of some kind, although cut into the shape of a Suhr.

Though, I might struggle to pass this off as that.

The body is covered in a beautifully colour-rich fulsomeness of paisley fabric, which has been glossed to a sheen and sort of polished a bit here and there. Which makes taking fotos a bit tricky, but there we are.

The scratchplate is a second hand, left-handed one I flipped over and covered with the same cloth.

The pickup is a single P90 that came off a PRS SE One, that sounds excellent and sustains for a week at least.

The Volume pot is just that, but the Tone pot is really a Fuzz control knob thing, for the cunningly hidden-under-the-hood Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzzy thing, that is switched on with a little sliding switch on the scratchplate.

Other than that, I've put a nice ashtray bridge cover on which serves no practical purpose and doesn't quite fit right despite the gentle persuasion of my lump hammer. It looks good though, and that'll do for now.

All in all though, it sounds amazing and is all made from lots and lots of boney old scrag end...which is of course what my Jooky little adventure is about..

I'll try and record a video or something later on so you can hear The Paisley One in action


Cool as

Finally, Nearly...OK, I Still Haven't Finished

I'll admit it, despite spending a whole 37 minutes on it earlier today, The Paisley One lies uncomplete on the kitchen table, and I've resorted to beer.

Now, don't get me wrong, I did actually do something. I foiled the cavities - if that doesn't sound like something they are introducing in Manchester Airport - and I sorted all the knobs and pots and jacks and little match box with the Sophie's Filthiness inside it, and I even put a string on to see whether it sort of worked.

And I'm pleased to say that it sort of worked,
better even when I flipped the pots over and
put the wires
in
the
right
places.

But it isn't finished, and is all a tad noisy-in-a-bad-way for my liking.
So I need to do more
but not tonight
with beer to drink.

La la & a la.

Filthy Stuff, no strings attached

Well, in yet another last minute change-of-mind, for which I'm becoming somewhat known and in-fame, when I came to wire up The Paisley One, I decided that rather than go with the previous forty-seven ideas, what I really wanted was one of our Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzzy things available on-tap.

And so that is what is happening,
I've changed the switch to a different type,
Sophie is in her little England Glory matchbox, and
the tone knob is now going to be a control for the fuzz -
so it won't mean a thing when the switch ain't got that swing -
doowap, doowap dooo-wap.

As for actually finishing this guitar that has become a bit of an odyssey or perhaps an Iliad,
that should be done today.
Wired-up and ready to go.

Just one problem
I've realised
I forgot
to buy
any
strings
so I
might
have to
pop-on
and out.

la la la

p.s. The Foto of Sophie Ellis Bextor has nothing to do with the Sophie of the Filthy Boots, clearly. I just thought it made a change to see a model with some flesh on her. She is my new heroine.

Limping toward the retreating line

Well, the Paisley One is so close now, but still I can't seem to kill it off.
It's starting to annoy me now, to be honest, but so many other things seem to get in the way.
Bleurghh.

Yesterday, however, I did manage to assemble everything minus the electronic bobbins, and it now stands proud with a neck, tremolo/bridge and block thing with springs in between.

It also has a backplate - black which looks boring and might have to be covered - and at the top of the shop the chrome tuners and string trees that came with the neck in the first place.

So basically, the electronics I still haven't sorted out are becoming a 'must'.

But I can't do them until tomorrow afternoon
which bugs me
lots.

On a more cheery note, it looks like there is to be a £100 guitar build challenge again this year,  over on the Music Radar forums. The idea of this is that you basically build a guitar - or update one - for a ton or less.

All the parts and everything apart from labour and postage to be counted or estimated.

Which sounds like fun and as it has to be completed within a month - assuming that the rules are the same as last time - it might put a rocket up me to get going and finish everything else first.

The trouble is, I'm off thinking about that now,
not the Paisley One,
Sophie's Filthy Boots,
or my dearies,
Cheryl and
Amy.

Despite all my promises of focus and dedication
to the cores.

*sigh*

Decisions, decisionless

Well, the little Paisley One is pretty much there body-wise now, and it has come down to a couple of decisions before I put it all together. Starting with the trivial, it is a case of whether I go for a cream coloured pickup cover, or a black one. I've got both, just can't make my mind up...

The second little problem, which to be honest will dictate the pickup cover vexedness, is whether to go for a plain black pickguard instead of the paisley one. Again, I guess it doesn't really matter too much, but I can't get my head around whether the one-hundred-per-cent-paisley approach is a bit much, and a little less could be a lot more effective.

On a more interesting level, I'm finally about to sort out the leccyness, and thinking that perhaps the sustainer idea is one for another day, as I'd rather get this working without six months R&D. So, the plan is to utilise the cunning teeny sliding switch I've put onto the scratchplate, and offer a choice of the basic P90 or the mayhem of an octaving fuzz thing. Whether that will be my own variation, or for easiness/laziness I use the Tonepad Green Ringer one, I'm not sure. Mine sounds a bit brighter, but the other sustains a little better, so I'm not clear which I prefer..

One other thing, is the tone knob. I wasn't going to bother with one, but I've cut the hole now so I might as well. I'm thinking this will either be a variatone idea or maybe I'll have it as a blend and include a piezo pickup under the hood... unless I go for a boringly normal tone knob.

Decisions, decisionless.

The fotos are a chuck together, by the way, to see how it looks before I really nail it good and proper-like.

It's In My Brain

Well, managed to do a bit more cutting and pasting, and The Paisley One - to give it it's formal title - is looking a bit more likely to succeed.

Hopefully, you'll be able to see in the fotos that all of the creamy colour has now been paisley-fied, apart from the cavities, and generally it is starting to look the part.

There is still a wee bit of work to be done, as it is a bit untidy here and over there, and we've got to get into the sanding and clear coating cycle for a while, but generally it is rough enough for my tastes yet looking solid enough to survive.

The neck too, mustn't forget that. I've resisted the urge to go Bisto-like, and so it has ended-up nicely honeyed rather than daytime-telly. I also had some gold tuners, which are on in the foto, but as all of the rest of the hardware is chrome, may not be for long.

Going forward, I'm going to wire it basically and fit it together once a few bits show up, and then decide what to do about the electronics for real.

That is the interesting part, of course. I'm kind of torn between using the octaver/fuzz I've been playing with, putting a Sophie's Fuzz in or trying to build a little sustainer, like the Fernandes or Sustainiac ones.

One step at a time though, getting it to play in tune will no doubt be the first step...

Making holes & a Bit More Paisley

Not too much time today for Jooky-stuff, but I did manage a couple of jobs before real life took over..

Firstly, I finally put those there chisels I got from Homebase to good use, and 'routed' out a bit more space so that the P90 pickup will fit in. I also made more room generally at the front as to be honest I am still not entirely sure what sort of electronic gubbins I will be including in there, or more to the point, how much room it will take.

Once the chiselling desisted, it was nice to be able to at least place the pickup and scratchplate onto the guitar. It either looks nice, or horrendous, depending on your view of such things, though more 'real' if nothing else, all would have to agree.

Anyway, it was good to move on that bit.

Next, I got down to the real business of the day, and following the procedure I described yesterday, managed to stick some lovely paisley stuff onto the back of the guitar. This still needs a couple more coats of the Podge, and the usual sanding and clear coating, but man the shape - it looks like a guitar...which feels good after all this time.

If I get the chance later to put the front on, I'll let you know.

As for how easy it was to do, well lets just say the flat and the big curves were fine, but the neck end was a 'mare and I've decided that there will probably be a bit of patchwork going on to make it all nice and neat.

No matter anyway, though If I ever do this again I think I'll either got for a nice flat Tele, or go the Fender route and only apply it on the front, painting the edges and bursting around the design. That would be a load easier, but there we are. I'd worked that out up front to be honest, I was only ever being awkward.

DIY Groovy Scratchplates & Fake Tan For Your Neck

Well, I wanted to get on with the Purple Paze this weekend, but realised that the 'chiseling' part of removing wood from the guitar to fit the pickup in needed a chisel, which I didn't have. Which slowed me down a wee bit, but meant I could concentrate on a different bit instead.

Two jobs then, and the first is easiest dealt with... When I got the neck for this guitar, it had - has - a lovely feel to it, but I have to say I thought it looked a bit insipid and pale. What I decided to do then was to give it a bit of a fake tan, so first job of the day was to break out the trusty tin of Danish Oil I used on the neck of my Cigar Box Guitar, and try and warm it up a wee bit. As I write this there are a couple more coats to go, but so far so good.

The second one was more of a trial, but seems to have turned out beautifully, and is a nice 'proof of concept' for the main guitar body. As I couldn't go ahead and start covering the guitar body with my Paisley cloth, I thought instead I'd try it on the scratchplate - see how it worked.

The truth of the matter is that I'm not sure whether I will use this scratchplate anyway, as design-wise I'm figuring a plain black one will look more effective against the background ocean of Paisley, but you never know, and nothing lost whether it works out OK or not.

How to do it though, was pretty easy.

First off, I traced an outline of the scratchplate onto the back of the cloth and cut an inch or so around that, so that when I lay it on the scratchplate it flopped over the edges.

Second, I came over all Martha Stewart - God, that would be aw-fful *- and used a product called Mod Podge to glue the cloth onto the plate. I covered the back of cloth and the surface of the plate and then stuck it together. It's not hard.

Third, to make it nice and smooth and bubble free I used an old debit card to spread the cloth out. The only pain was  because there are the three pickup holes cut already, the cloth naturally dips into them. One will be cut out, but the other two are a pain. Hence the thought that a new custom cut scratchplate might be the final solution.

Fourth, I let the scratchplate dry for twenty minutes, and had a cuppa. Hard work all this, I ain't kidding you.

Fifth, is the good bit and what will either make this whole cloth covered guitar idea work or not. The clever thing with this Mod Podge is that it isn't just a glue. Nope, it will also act as a 'grain filler' and sealant, and so the next step is to literally paint it over the top of the scratchplate.

This will fill the teeny little holes in the cloth, and eventually make it hard and smooth, and to be honest putting it on is a dream. Painting it pretty thickly, it is just a case of leaving it twenty minutes to dry for each coat - it goes on white and ends up transparent, so you can tell when it is 'done' - repeating the process five or six times. At the end of that, the material is like pliable plastic, and slightly rough to the touch, with a nice gloss sheen to it. There is a matte version too, as well as some others. Cool, to be honest.

Sixth, once that was dry, I used a Stanley knife to trim the excess cloth off from around plate, and it looks excellent and feels very hard wearing. The finishing touch today will be to smooth it down with some wet and dry, and seal the whole shebang with  couple of coats of clear coat, which I have left over from the guitar build. It doesn't actually look like it needs the clear coat, but Mod Podge can get a bit sticky apparently, and that is meant to cure the problem.

And that is that, and exactly what I plan to do on the guitar body. I have to say, I was leaping into the night a wee bit with this whole thing, and I am surprised how well it worked on the scratchplate. Better than I had hoped in truth. I still have to cut out the hole for the pickup, you may have noticed, but I figured I'd do that once I know exactly where it will sit in relation to the scratchplate. It would be grim for things not to line-up, and all that.

It does set me thinking about scratchplates generally though as it is an easy way to update your own with any design you like on the cheap. The Mod Podge cost £3.49 and the cloth was pennies, but it will stick paper as well as cloth and the scope for that is endless.

Other than that, I went and bought some chisels - set of five from Homebase for £3.59 - so I'm going to have a go at routing it out today, and maybe do a bit more cloth sticking for real.

* Copyright Rob Newman, sometime late in the 1980s 

New Year Bobbins

Well, now that we're well and truly into the New Year I figured that maybe I should start to do something about the Purple Paze, my cloth-eared P90 Strat thingie.

As I said before, I think I've got all of the pieces, but am a little bemused about how to chop chunks of wood out of it so that the pickup will fit in.

The plan then:

Firstly, I've marked where I want the wood removed.

Secondly, I'm going to take a chisel to it (although I have been offered the loan of a router, but not having used one before it might be something I leave for another day.)

Thirdly, I'm going to cut a hole in the dodgy old, flipped over scratchplate, again so the P90 will fit.

Fourthly, I'm going to have a go at covering the scratchplate with the paisley cloth. I figured, it would be good to try it on there before I brave the body itself.

Its a start anyway...

Other than the Paze, I'll probably spend most of this week actually trying to play something on a guitar, as those fine people at Guitar Tools have somehow managed to put over 160,000 guitar tabs up and on their web site. Just about everybody you can think of is represented on there, and it looks likely to expand as time goes on...

They were still tuning the server last time I looked, but well worth a visit if you want to fulfill your life and nail that elusive guitar solo in George Michael's 'Faith...'

La la la
Happy Noo Year

Running out of excuses

Well, if I was looking for an excuse not to start, that time is over as all the parts (pretty much) have arrived for the Paisley one.

Saying that, I haven't started yet as I need to work out a few placement issues and beg, borrow or buy some chisels to make the hole big enough for the P90, but start I soon will.

I've also got to work out exactly how I'm going to fit the cloth to the guitar body, which seemed a lot more trivial before the cloth arrived.

Nice colours though.

I'm quite pleased with how the Soapbar looks, against the material. I'm thinking now that I should definitely try to cover the old scratchplate with the paisley too, at least to see how it works.

OK, it is paisley, and the maker even named it Woodstock, but I'm quite pleased that it doesn't look too paisley, in a Fender kind of way.

Actually, I'm not trying to avoid this at all (though adhesive, I've just realised will come in handy), I can't wait to get started.

Purple Paze

It's in my brain..

la la

Well, not a lot more to report as far as the paisley strat goes, apart from that I'm trying to get my head around what I'm going to do with the scratchplate. I've been looking to buy one (which goes against the grain), but as you might expect there aren't exactly a lot of Strat plates cut to house a single P90 soapbar. I did however, find one for a single humbucker, and at a push I'm guessing I can make the hole a wee bit bigger somehow or other.

That, is OK, I guess.

I managed to find one company who are a bit more flexible and will actually cut one to fit for me, but it's looking to be £25ish and that seems a wee bit on the bleedin' 'ell side of things.

I was cutting up about the tenner the humbucker one was going for.

As an alternative, I have actually got a scratchplate which maybe I can use somehow. The only downsides are that it is white, not black, is left handed and has been cut to fit three single coils. Clearly, not ideal but it does have the benefit of being cheaply free.

If I do use it, the plan will be to flip it over, scrape off the sticky silver foil shielding stuff, cut the P90 shape out and then cover it with some of the paisley cloth.

Apart from over the hole, of course.

OK, not ideal but it should (hopefully) give a nice magic eye effect, and make the scratchplate look 3D.

Well, maybe.

I may of course have to splash out, we'll just have to see.

Since I've started on my paisley route, I have of course seen Richie Sambora Paisley Strats everywhere I've been.

Well, where there have been guitars, I mean not in the Co-Op or anywhere like that.

Just the way of things though. I'm just chuffed mine is going to look so much better (ahem)

Another Paisley Strat Digression

Well, as far as my Paisley project goes, I've organised most of the parts I need, and 'tightened up' the specification.

It seems my vague musings of a Strat with a Jazzmaster trem/bridge, isn't a runner as I suspected, and so after a lot of looking around at Mustangs and the like I've gone for the boring Strat trem. Basically this is down to the fact that it is already routed for one, and there we are.

As for the paisley cloth, I've found one I like (on eBay, believe it or not) and hopefully that side of things will work out. I'm planning on sticking it to the body with aerosol adhesive and then varnish/clear-coating over the top until it is pretty solid. I have read about some other stuff that is used for decoupage, which is better and all shiny glossy, but I’m not sure what it is and whether you can get it in the UK. Also, whether it would work on a guitar/material combo.

Other than that, the neck came with tuners, string trees and a nut, and so the trem/bridge and a neck plate were the only two things I really needed.

Oh, apart from the pickup, but I think I mentioned that I'd got a second hand P90 soapbar type one out of a PRS SE One. As to how it will sound in a (very) lightweight Strat body, time will tell I guess.

As far as the effects go, I have decided to put a Green Ringer type of circuit in for starters. This is an octaver originally built by Dan Armstrong, but I'll be using a PCB I got from Tonepad. I could probably wire one myself, but to be honest I'm not sure if I'll leave it in for long anyway. I will probably put one of our Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz Circuits in too if there is room.

And I think that is that for now. Once the post brings all the goodies I'll show you them. Oh, the foto is the cloth I’m going to be using (assuming it works.)

Digression and the Paisley Strat

This isn't really what is meant to be happening here, but I managed to get hold of a nice old Strat body (bit battered around the edges) and a Squier neck that had been reshaped to look like a Suhr one, which appealed to me for some reason.

Anyway, they showed-up on Friday and I've been filling the hours trying to think what it would be best to do with them. Apart from fitting them together, that didn't take quite so long to work out.

Basically, I've always fancied a bit of a strange Strat, and this looks to be the chance to do it, so I'm thinking of the following:

1. I don't like the cream coloured body much and it is a bit tatty even if I did, which I don't, so instead I'm planning on doing it in a fetching shade of  Paisley. OK, hardly original, Fender even sell Teles that are Paisley after all, but mine is going to be covered in Paisley cloth and not paint, which I figure will make a difference.

2. I'm not sure this is possible even (although I think it will work with a bit of woodwork), but I've decided that I don't want Strat pickups. I don't even want humbuckers or humbuckers that are the size of single coils. No. What I want is a single, P90 soapbar pickup in the bridge position, with a single volume pot to keep it company. I've even managed to get hold of a P90 soapbar pickup out of a PRS SE One, which will hopefully do a decent job (until at least, I decide whether I want a Bare Knuckle or a Bulldog, or maybe a Wizard.)

3. Bridge wise, I quite fancy putting a Jazzmaster one in, although I'm not sure that the Strat body is either big enough, or flat enough to be honest. If it isn't, or I can't find a way to cover the hole already routed for the trem/bridge bobbins, I might go for a hardtail one. I don't ever use trems so it seems pointless putting one on unless I have to/there is a good reason to do so.

4. As I'm going to wire the thing up (even I can work out one pickup and a volume pot), I'm thinking that it would be nice to add some other electronic gubbins. What I'm pondering is maybe a clean boost, an octaver and a fuzz. Or maybe just one of them, we'll see.

5. As far as the scratchplate goes, I can't make up my mind. It would be nice to get leary, but with a busy body design I'm reluctantly admitting that a plain black scratchplate is probably best. (Reluctantly, as it was my 'art director's' suggestion and well, there you go.) I might try and cover it with the same cloth though,see how it looks.

6. The only other thing that springs to mind (though there will no doubt be a 100 other things later on) is that although the neck is really nice, I would prefer it to be a bit darker, so I might Danish Oil it or something like that anyway.

And basically, that is the plan. I've got a hundred other things to do, but I'm aiming to have this together by Christmas (assuming I can source the parts). Be nice to give it a go anyway.