That Was The Week That Sorta Happened

Well, that were quite a productive week, that was.

I'm really rather chuffed with The Dust My Broom One, and glad that I didn't go the EMG route in the end. I don't think I'm cut out for such blatant modernity and despite sounding like a Mojo fanboi recently, the pickups are truly awesome, so no apologies for the religious zeal.. Or to the neighbours and their colicky baby. It keeps me away all night, so I'm just returning the favour in the daily-lit hours

*sniff*

The BDSM One too is a rather stunning guitar to play - I don't think I've ever played a Strat that lets you glide around the neck quite so easily. I could get used to this low action bobbins, I never thought it would catch on.

I must be getting old.

I am totally loving the pickups on this one also, The Gretsch 'bucker is excellent. Nice and twangy clean as you'd expect, but a great hot tone too I've got a matching bridge pickup which I'll have to find a home for sometime soon.

The Mojo Jazzmaster pickup, in this guitar at least, has a lot of the P90 to it, which is very cool indeed, as well as *that* darkness I've always loved.. It came as a bit of a surprise, but there is such a rich range of tones I have to say I can't really believe my luck.

I spoke to Marc about it and we're coming down to different environmental factors - the wood of the guitar, the wiring/capacitor, the fact it is raining, American primaries are on and England don't have a manager and people are still talking about Roy Hodgson - to explain the difference in sound between this and what is pretty much the same pickup in my Jazzmaster.

Don't get me wrong it sounds brilliant, just different, which is no bad thing, of course.

Whatever the cause, it has a great separation of the notes even when you get fuzzy with it that I'm loving.

Almost seems a shame to give it away, but there we are.

I did promise that whoever buys the truly lush The Foxy Roxy One will also find this in their stocking. (I think I might need to put my prices up or at least work on my far-too-visual imagery) so that is the way it has to be.

As for what is next. Well, I've given up on America and have ordered a boxy 70s bridge from Fake58 for The Ronin One. I'm a tad concerned that it won't fit, but given my lack of options I'll just have to get clever about it if my luck runs out. There must be a 'For Dummies' book that covers plugging holes and then putting new ones in in the right place.

The good news from the US of A is that the Gibson pickup is likely to come, which is rather nice. It just seems to make sense to go for the proper pups if i can.

That is for next week though, and at least I know Fake58 will deliver, which is more than I can say for some peeps.

Looking further forward onwards, I've grabbed some wood to practise my slashing and routing on and I'm hopeful of an old mahogany mantle piece to use 4Real, as we used to say in the olden daze.

I just figured I might as well get on with it as the worst that can happen is death and amputation or maybe a nice splinter to show the grand children. My plan is to go for a Teardrop outline with a couple of tasty pickups, Strat bridge and neck. But then it may be more amorphous blob with sharp bits that is more likely an outcome. I'm going to have a praccy freehand, but I'm guessing that there may be templates in my future.

If I can manage that I'll try and get adventurous later. I think that is the right direction to take though if I'm going to keep things interesting for myself, if nobody else.

Today though, not a lot to be done, so I think I'm going to try and record something embarrassing again.... No animals will be hurt in the process, however much it sounds like it.

La la laaaa

Sold: The Dust My Broom One

With The Dust My Broom One, we wanted to put together a classic, yet hot sounding Telecaster of the old school. An ash body married with a maple/maple neck, gets you half way there, particularly with thru body stringing and a brass saddled full sized ‘plate.

From there then you need pickups that will deliver, and the set of Mojo Pickups’ ‘Broadcasters’ are bang on the money. Voiced to match that sound of the ‘50s yet surprisingly hot, the pickups were handwound like the old days, one-at-a-time. They deliver twang without blinking, and if Keef is more your thing, you can nail his tone too. Stunningly good.

As for looks, the back and sides of the guitar were initially treated to a right-royal rusting, before a copper and bronze top was added and ultimately despoiled. A matching scratchplate sets it all off, as do the Gretsch knobs and Fender/Kluson tuners. This is truly a stunning looking guitar that sounds even better.

One other treat is a wiring loom put together by Mojo again, complete with CTS pots, cloth covered wire and a handmade oil-in-paper capacitor.

*

To be clear, The Dust My Broom One is an utterly unique guitar, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely hand built and finished cooler than a slo-mo run across the pebbled beach at Portishead. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.


To Treat Yourself To The Dust My Broom One for a rather daft £399 including a hardcase and delivery to your door (in the UK at least), Just Click on the Big Yellow Button before somebody else does. And they will..


** SOLD ***

Technical Stuff:

Type: Pam’s Baywatch Bronze, Cilla’s Copper Top, Lulu’s Rusty Iron finish

Electrics: Handwound Mojo Pickups ‘Broadcaster’ pickups, Mojo wired loom and capacitor

Guitar Type: Fender Telecaster

Construction: Ash body, Maple neck, Maple fretboard, corroded metallic paint.

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume, Tone, 3-way-switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#46

RSP: £799

Introducing: The Dust My Broom One

Well, I'm pleased to be able to introduce you to The Dust My Broom One, a quite exceptionally cool Telecaster that plays and sounds dee and vine, in that order.

From the top it is an ash bodied Tele, maple/maple neck and features a ratherly stunning corroded copper and bronze top, and rusted iron back.

Tuners are your traditional Fender/Kluson jobbies, while an old Japanese Fender ashtray bridge gives all the twang you could want from the, err, thang.

The piece de la Resistance is a set of quite face-ripping '50s style Mojo Pickups handwound Broadcaster pickups. These, along with one of Mojo's handwired looms, and a rather unique Jooky branded capacitor, sound absolutely amazing.

In fact my normal font of hyperbole is dry and crumbly.

Over the last year or two, I'd come to the conclusion that the Bare Knuckle Brown Sugars and The Boss sets were my favourites as far as Tele noise-makers go. Then, with The Gypsy One, the Jess Loureiro ones I felt were as good as the Brown Sugars, which was definitely high praise as far as I am concerned.

But, I am slightly shocked to have to re-calibrate my prejudices and beliefs (ahem) as there is something extra about these Mojo Broadcasters that I think give them an edge on any of the others.

Yes, roll your eyes, and I know we all claim our latest squeeze is the best ever, but there is truly something special about the pickups Marc at Mojo is winding at the mo', that leaves me slightly smacked-of-gob.

I guess it is hard to describe such things, but there is this little spark of something that even my missus recognised.

The Jazzmaster ones were exceptional, and these are too. I almost daren't try his other wares, but no doubt will in the coming weeks and months.

Suffice to say this is a special sounding as well as looking guitar, and I'm all chuffed and pleased and verily rather proud. Didn't even burn my fingers this time either ;)

In summary, cool as funk, and if you are looking for Tele pickups (among others) I'd give Mojo a try.
oh, and if you want a cool sounding Tele, you're going to have to fight me for this one....

La la laaa.

Waiting For The Imaginary Man

Well, another day here in la-la land and I'm still waiting for the postie..waiting, waiting waiting...

While I have been doing that, and being as I have offered to give it away, I figured I might as well finish as much of The BDSM One as I can, and when the missing tuners arrive we'll be in clover.

So that be what I did and done done.

The pickups are connected to the switch, the switch is connected to the volume, the volume takes a wee diversion into the tone cul-de-sac and then pops back before making a dash for the jack socket thing.

It is like topographically-challenged-clockwork, quite lovely.

Of course I can't really tell you much about the tone as without strings all I really hear in a 'clang' when I tap them with a screwdriver - I used to have a tuning fork which was more tone-filled, but haven't got a clue where that has gone.

But in so far as you can tell by comparing clangs and the odd 'clunk' for goodly measurement, they sound well matched, so I am hopefilled about them.

Other than that, it is all back together again. And I even touched up some of the chips in the walnut veneer with iron paint so that the vile plastic beneath doesn't glow in the dark. I really should have painted in before putting the veneer on, but there we are. I wanted a splintered veneer so I can't really complain too much, as splintered and mishoven it be.

I remembered to put the Gretsch knobs on though, which is sad but makes me happy and smiley. I do in fact smile, despite the lack of post to get excited about.

Assuming the tuners do arrive I might even have it playing today. (Be afraid).

Though as the bratskis are home before the postie can drag his sorry carcass all the way up here from the nearest pub or three, tomorrow is perhaps a better bet.

I've just realised that I forgot to ground the trem.

*sigh*

Which is probably the clincher. There is always something.. Oh, and I've got to ream out the tuner holes, and I don't know where the reamer is. It is all coming back to me.

Also waiting for the postie's tender caress, is of course The Dust My Broom One, and depending on the timing of his appearance, assuming he makes one and doesn't have another dozen for the road, ending up face down in a bush sleeping it off with my parcels as a pillow, I might even get both of them sorted on the same day - which would be a first and is therefore unlikely to happen.

As firsts rarely do, of course.

Especially twice.

That, however doesn't need reaming, assuming I ordered the right control plate, so I might do that first, if I am quite honest. Which I try to be, flies with warts and all etc.

As for my other long-term-sick baby, The Ronin One is still waiting for a bridge from the US. Which probably means that there is an American postal operative off his face on gin andfunny looking rocks, hiding my parcels in his loft. I've read Bukowski. I am also waiting for a pickup too, but am coming around to using the one I took from my Gordon Smith instead as I liked it and have a low tolerance for boredom, which is odd as I am a Baggies fan..

Anyway, in other news, I'm not quite sure how, but a couple of peeps seemed confused by my little offer yesterday, so to be clarity incarnate....

If you Buy The Foxy Roxy One by Clicking on the big yellow button on this page,
I will also send you the rather crazy The BDSM One absolutely free.
Where FREE means for nowt, zilch nada and not a penny more.

So, Buy One, and You Get One Free.

Tis being as simplistic as that.

But aren't we all?


La la laaa

Soooo tired, Tired of waiting...

Frustration, comes in many forms
But not often

Well, tis the weekend and sneaking away to put The Dust My Broom One together isn't looking likely, but you can never say never.

Instead I've been having a mooch around as apart from being a few-parts-short-of-a-Jooky, all the "Coming soon" guitars are pretty much done.

Scores on the doors:

The Dust My Broom - Install pickups (Maybe this weekend, just maybe)

The Ronin One - Waiting for a bridge and a pickup in a letter from America

The BDSM One - Waiting for tuners and to be put together/wired-up

After that, I'm not sure what I'll do next. The Explorer is still drip-drying/being decontaminated down at Hinkley Point, and that is the only other one I have lined-up. It is all most odd.

I said the other day that I might have a go at a Semi, so it is a possibility if I can find the right body, and speaking of bodies I really should have a go at making my own. But before I can dabble in such majique-noire-thingies I need to get some templates and wood to do it properly and I need to sell a guitar or two before I can go shopping on that front.

Similarly, I am really tempted to have a go at winding a pickup, but the pot is bare, so there we are. It will have to wait a while.

So, back to waiting on the postie, trying to get the chance to finish some stuff.

Same old, same tale-of-woe as of old.

La laa laaaaa

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.


La la laaa

Of Poetic Wiring and Rustified Pickups

Mojo Wiring - Pure Poetry

Well, OK, I got carried away with The BDSM One, but it is seasoning for a while now, so I'll really keep me mucky mitts off of it. The pickup cover is particularly rusty and lovely though, I'll sneak you a foto out whilst I'm not looking.

Elsewhere, and I know I'm going on about this, but I had another foto from Young Marc at Mojo Pickups, showing the wiring loom he had done for me, to go with the pickups he is winding for The Dust My Broom One.

And isn't it lovely? (OK, it might just be me that thinks so as I haven't had to torture meself in the process, but it does look cool, of that I'm sure.)

I do feel a bit lazy though, it has to be said, even if it is clearly for the greater good, and all that. I must admit I'm trying to be all grown-up about it, but I really can't wait to plumb it all together and give The Dust My Broom One a bit of a bashing. I'm sure you will be glad for me to shut up about it too. Go on, admit it...

I'm thinking that I really should change my Golden Rules of Jookidom as at the moment, only being allowed to keep one of them is a bit restrictive. (OK, originally, it was none, but stay with me.)

So I'm thinking that maybe it would be OK if I kept one-of-each, so maybe a Les Paul, a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, a Jaguar, a Firebird, a Jazzmaster, a Ricky etc.

That would be OK, wouldn't it? I mean, not one of each finish/colour/design, that would be excessive, I think.

Of course, it might not go down so well locally, so I might need to compromise and start making double-necks. Or deck the loft out or something. I think we have a loft - should probably check. Do houses still have lofts these days?

Thinking a bit further forward, I quite fancy doing another Semi Acoustic, maybe something Coronado or Rickie-like, I don't know. Something unwieldy and jangly really, I'm not totally sure what, I have to admit.

I'm also feeling that I should at least have a go at winding a pickup. Not that I am hankering to move in such a direction, I've read about it and I think it would do my head in, but as a kinda right-of-passage, I think I should at least have tried to make one, once. Even if it is just so I can better understand the grief my dithering imposes on the winding folk proper

Rustified Jazzmaster Pickup Cover Thing

It's like cutting guitars out of wood and hammering frets into slots and the rest, all part of the meandering pathway that isn't a journey but goes from back there to somewhere up-front, that I feel I should err, take.

So anyway, a bit more research is in order but before the year is out, I'm going to make a P90. So there.

Of course it will be really, really quiet and have knots in the wire, but such is life. Maybe I should learn to tie shoe laces first.

So plans for the rest of the year - wind a pickup, build a semi acoustic of some sort, buy a Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster and cover it in rust, get a nice SG, or at least one of the cheapo Epiphone bolt-on SGs they sell in that memory lane place, cut a body out of wood and turn it into a guitar, do some fretting and probably make a few more guitars along the way.

That should keep me busy, which is all good, and I feel better as I have to keep dreaming this Jooky bobbins up again and again, or I stagnate and nobody likes a stagnant brummie. Ozzy apart, of course.

La la laaaa

Rout to the Edge of Something or Other

Well, I guess yesterday was the real Day One as far as The BDSM One goes, as I actually managed to do something.

Firstly, I did eventually finally de-couple the router from it's beloved table, and then used it to make a Jazzmaster-pickup-sized hole in the scratchplate.

It isn't what you'd call 'neat' mainly because I hadn't realised that I should tighten the router bit (technically known as 'the very sharp bit') and it came off and careered quite spectacularly, taking a bit of the 'plate with it but thankfully nowt critical in the body parts dept.

And the squared corners are distinctly rounded too, now I come to think about it. Still no stitches required thanks mainly to my ninja-esque reactions (or dumb luck - you decide), just a bit of tiling, and I have learnt something else new.

I've filed the episode between 'don't try and stop jigsaws with your fingers' and 'don't use a carving knife to cut Ben and Jerrys' in my cabinet of life's lessons learnt.

After that I convinced myself that getting back in the saddle was a good idea, and started the paisleyification of the body. I forgot how much fun/torturous this is, but the paisley is on the back, and on it's way to being on the front as well, so that is looking good. Lots of lacquer is the next step there, closely followed by 'what am I doing with the veneer' conversations with myself.

I'm going to use an unusual lacquer for the body as I want it to look oldish and age well over time. Never tried this one before so tis a bit of a gamble, but I got it from a geezer who ages paintings and statues prior to auction, all totally legal I'm sure, and it seemed worth a pop.

As for the remains of the scratchplate, I was thinking it should really be walnut veneered. I was toying with the mouse of an idea that maybe rust would be good, bringing the fabric/veneer/metal corrosion finishes together, but I think it may be a bit much to get heavy on the rust this time.

I am going to go for a bit of a rusty burst around the edges though, as I think it will look rather nice..

Least I think I am.

The only worry is that there will be a whole lot of gubbins that might react with each other. I should be OK if I lacquer in between the different things, but I'm a tad wariness-incarnate, I have to admit.

^^^ Musical Interlude Type of Thing ^^^

In the end though, in a spurt of decisiveness, I put a walnut veneer onto the scratchplate, which I think should be a nice contrast to the paisley. I'd show it you but there are a couple of large bags of salt atop it at the moment, and I'm not one to interrupt a bit of bonding.

I'm still thinking about whether to veneer the body too, but I think I'll wait until the paisley is done-and-dry and see how it looks.

On the rust front, I've gone with that for the front of the headstock, and probably will have a touch around the edges of the body. A subtle leitmotif, or a note for the milkman as we call them down the South West, if you will. Or maybe if I will, or won't. I don't know.

Hmm, decisions.

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: TBA
Tuners: TBA

Grandish Total So Far: £57.95

So that leaves me £42.05 to cover the tuners, knobs and any other finishing gubbins I need.

Should be easy enough if I don't take too many wrong turns.

In more professional news, Mr Mojo sent me another foto of the nigh-on-finished pickups for The Dust My Broom One, bless him.

They are looking good, dontcha think?

Ah, movin' and a groovin'

No, don't know why I said that either.

La la laaaa

If I had a Spanner...

 

Well, here we be, Monday again, and as I never got any spanners yesterday, that is toppathelist, so I can attempt to try and do some routings for The BDSM One.

Other than that, I'm aiming to have at least got the body together this week even if it be sans lacquer.

I finally decided that I would go for a Gretsch plus Jazzmaster pickup combo, as variety is Ginger Spice and all that.


As for other things, still the wait goes on for parts from America for The Ronin One, so that is burning around the back. Nasty rash, what can you say?

As for The Dust My Broom One, I had some more fotos from the Man-from-Mojo, these showing the bobbins having been aged. They apparently need a bit more time-machine work and then Marc will do the winding.


I don't know what you think, but it all sounds a bit organised to me, as though he knows what he is doing, has all the parts easily available and is in some way structured and 'together'.

It'll never catch on.

Here, anyway.

So looking forward to them...

But spanners, time to find some spanners.

La la laaa

10.15 On A Friday Morning (is BDSM Time)

Horrible Scratchplate Shocker

Well, what can I say apart from that today is going to be the day I use my wee router thing in anger. So, equally it could be the last day I write, unless I learn to type with my tongue or something.

So what is Job Uno, I hear nobody cry apart from the baby next door?

Well, the plan is to make a big enough hole in the Strat body of The BDSM One that I can fit a Jazzmaster pickup in. Actually, I just looked at it and as I'm going for the JM pup in the bridge it isn't a problem due to a minor jacuzzi shaped routing already being there.

To be honest, I could put the pickup in a dingy and it would bob around quite happily in the widely opened spacedom.

Hmmm...

So after a bit of a rethink-de-rapide, today's job is now to cut a big enough hole in the scratchplate that I can fit the said Jazzymaster pickup thru it.

And if I manage that and live and am somehow feeling brave I might do the same at the neck and go for two JM pups. That does require the body to be routed too, so we'll have to see.

On one hand it would be nice to use the Gretsch humbucker - different tones and all that - but on the other it would free-up twenty quid of my dwindling budget to buy a replacement body/parts when I inevitably wreck them.

Tough call.

Actually, I want to use the Gretsch one, so forget I mentioned it.

I did in fact get a rather ugly plastic scratchplate in the end for The BDSM One, mainly because I wanted to have a go at doing this instead of bottling out again. Not that I have before, of course, well, I say that but you know the truth as you are my conscience and realise how this really goes down.

But where was I?

Oh yes.

Assuming that body and scratchplate are suitably chopped, the next step will be down memory cul-de-sac and will involve putting paisley fabric onto a Strat body.

Whoever imagined two years ago I'd still be repeating the same party trick?

Still, it is for a good cause.

After that I will need to decide exactly what I'm going to do with the veneer - apart from obviously using it to cover as many of the gouges I will clearly be making in the scratchplate as I can manage.

In other news I finally got my act together and had another chat with Marc at Mojo Pickups, about a set of his Broadcaster Tele pickups for The Dust My Broom One. I've said before I want to try these as the people who have (that I've found on-line) have been raving about them like foamy cheeked pooches..

And let's face it, I'm rather pleased with his Jazzmaster pickups and all.

He is also going to wire me a wiring loom (?) which has the benefit of it no doubt working first time and not relying on my dodgy mitts to stop shaking long enough to do it.

It is something I've been moving toward with the Shugz and Fake58 looms, and it makes sense. Plus I like the idea of the Jooky guitars having 'Mojo Inside' - must ask Marc for a sticker I can put on the outside ;o)

He is going to send fotos as he builds the pickups again, so I'll no doubt be sharing with the group as and when.

But to the router - I will no doubt be back to present the alternative reality that will be Plan J17.V later today.

La la laaaa.

That Fried-day Feeling Good

Old Parts. Not the most interesting foto, I'll admit

Well, I think I have just about descended to earth after yesterday's Mojo-Pickup-Rush. It was nice to see a few concurring voices in the comments/on forums etc. as you start to wonder whether they can really be that good.

They still sound it this morning though, so I'm assuming I didn't dream it all.

If I can work out how to do it, I'll try and record the wee thing today so you can tell me if I've gone gaga or not.

On the other side of pickup life, I have to say I had another go on a Tele laden with a set of EMGs yesterday evening, and I've come to the conclusion that they really aren't for me.

All of the Jookies have to be guitars I would want to own, and they just left me cold, so there is no point. So I'm going to move them on and try something different.

Though I must admit the fact that I don't like the way they look may have a little to do with it. Sad, I know.

Where that leaves The Dust My Broom One is pickupless, but I'll sort something out I'm sure. Mojo's Tele pups being favourite when I can get a few bob together.

So that is my holy trinity all awaiting parts, how daft is that?

It hasn't turned into the most productive week as far as Jookydom goes, but I'll console myself strumming away on my Mojo'd Jazzmaster, I guess. So not so bad.

As for The BDSM One, I stripped it down yesterday as far as removing all the parts goes. I'm going to keep the body and the neck but that is about it. I think a bit of fretty TLC could make it decent.

Necks on Squiers constantly surprise me, even on a lot of their cheaper guitars there are good ones to be found, though a little fretwork can pay dividends,
even when I do it.

As for what I'm going to do, well it will be covered in paisley fabric, with the top having a walnut veneer which will be distressed enough that you can see some of the paisley peeping thru.

Not quite sure whether that will work in reality, but there is only one way to find out. I might do the back the same way too - I got a job lot of veneer this time...

Pickup-wise, I'm thinking either my MIJ Jazzmaster pups, or maybe one of them with a Gretsch Humbucker at the bridge. Depends how the budget goes really - though I have a pile of Squier parts and a gigbag to flog which will hopefully help the running total.

Once it is done I'm going to raffle it off or otherwise give it somebody, because that is the kinda guy I am.

La la laaa.

Reality Nibbles

The Ronin, Foxy Roxy, Dust My Broom and BDSM Ones
Talking to the Taxman About his bloody awful poetry

Well, I'm starting to think that perhaps my newly totally vaunted one-guitar-at-a-time approach isn't exactly going to plan, and I'm kinda not verily getting close to finishing anything at all at the moment.

Before me I have sitting a string of unfinished bobbins, and I'm starting to lose track, so excuse the memorandum-esque lists while I try to remember/plot/plan/regain my life:

1. The Dust My Broom One

This is all done apart from the EMG pickups still needing to be soldered together again.

I have to sort this, though I'm a bit back-on-my-heels this morning as I played a Tele last night with exactly these pickups, and I wasn't best impressed. Not quite what I was expecting, which kills the confidence somewhat.

Still, I have got to try them and see how it goes.

2. The Ronin One:

This is waiting for a pickup from the States, some wiring and a Bridge.

So "waiting-on-parts", I can live with that.

3. The Foxy Roxy One:

This too is "waiting for parts" - pickup rings, tuners and wiring loom.
So not a lot I can do right now either.

Hmmm. So basically, the only thing I can do is sort out the EMGs on The Dust My Broom One and see what I think of them.

They start out pink, fluffy and innocent...
And then they end up into BDSM.
It saddens me.

Of course there is my Jazzmaster too, which follows on and needs a bit of tender loving Mojo-ing and the slight matter of the MR Strat I picked up yesterday. Yes, the pink one.

This is better than I hoped, and amazingly it sounds quite good with the stock pickups it came with.

Weird.

I'll think about that later though.





Can't start it until March anyway, so no panic this week about The BDSM One.

La la la - going around in circles again.

In The Army Now - Soldering On

Yes, they need soldering too.

Well, I realise I start every day telling you that I'm going to solder the wire out of The <Insert Current Tale Of Woe Guitar> One and then don't, but today, really, I am going to be soldering.

I really am.

I am going to  solder the EMG laden The Dust My Broom One.

And if by some miracle I finish that, I am going to re-wire my Jazzmaster with groovy Mojo Pickups, and wire, and cool Mojo Caps and more wire and CTS pots and wire and a jack socket and wire and some more solder.

It may even work.

Though perhaps not first time.

That never happens..

But I will persevere.

Fighting on the beaches.

Soldering on.

It is as simple as that.

And I will also finish the lacquerisation of The Ronin One.

I will take fotos.

I will show you the evidence.

And tomorrow I will write something different.

Just for a change.

La la laaaaa.

Dazed and Confused, Dusting My Broom

Hmmm... Well, I managed to proper confuse myself and put some strings on The Dust My Broom One and gave it a set-up.

Which is all good, but maybe a bit premature as I hadn't done the soldering.

So that is the next job.

It looks and plays good though, which is nice to know.

Back in my structured and sane regular day, I finished the finish on The Ronin One (OK, bit more lacquer and curing to be done, but basically it is there) which is all coming together.

I'm still waiting for one of the old NOS Gibson pickups to arrive from somewhere in the U.S of A, but hopefully it will be here by the time I get around to wiring it.

I'll do a plonk together tomorrow no doubt and we can see how it looks.

Soldering seems to be my Achilles heal again at the moment - opportunity is the real killer but it is always my least favourite thing to do. Mainly as I'm convinced I'll lose an eye yipping-the-iron, one of these days.

Still, on we trundle, cares not of this world..

La la laaa

The First Coat Don't Hurt At All...

Well, the holibobs are over again, bratskis back at school and it is time to move on.

First up, I really must solder the solderless EMG pickups into The Dust My Broom One. I am sort of desperately curious to find out how that little beaut sounds. It looks mad with the black pickups and, well, I need to do it.

Obviously, while the solder is hotly dripping I may have to tart up my Jazzmaster with some Vitamin Mojo. It'd be rude not to, after all.

Assuming that they don't take the whole week, it will be on with The Ronin and Foxy Roxy Ones with some bronze and coppery mayhem.

Still waiting for a hand-to-be-filled-with-parts, but I can get the finishes, err, started, I guess.


(OK, in a moment of weakness, I put the first coats of Copper and Bronze on. I never said I was a patient chap, but in my defence the soldering iron is warming up. Just one more coffee and I'll be on it, honest.)

Other than that, not a lot to be done really.

As for the MR £100 Challenge, my ideas have all got too expensivo, so I'm going back to the future and doing just-one-more-after-all...single bucker'd Strat. I haven't done one in ages and I have all these old '70s Strat parts - the solid brass block rings like a bell - and Gretsch pickups, and, and, and....well, there we go.

I've got some walnut burr veneer, which might go nice with - dare I say it - a touch of paisley.

We'll see anyway, plenty of fish to fry-up before then, methinks...

La la laaaa

A Gathering of the Witless

Well, it seems as though we are guitars-for-sale-less again, and both my beautiful Old Burny and cool-as-funk Gypsy Ones are off to pastures new. So it means I can get on with other things and buy some parts, but why do I feel as though I am in mourning?

I don't know, tis daft really, but I think the Old Burny One was my ideal Les Paul and I kinda feel like I've done something stupid. I'll have to chase up my charming local tech type and see if the Golden Shower One is ready for a splashback.

Though it wasn't the same, I hate to admit.

But, looking forward as ever, I'm slowly getting the bits together for the Foxy Roxy and Ronin Ones, which I'm looking forward to getting fettled. Must remember to order some paint and chemicals, I've kinda run out again.

Oddly, I had almost forgotten about my little fretless wonder, The Iceblink One, but there it stood in the corner peering thru fluttering eye-lashes.

I've actually been doing that passing-play thing with this, as in everytime I walk past it on the way to the kettle, I have to pick it up and have a wee go. And as I have on average 23 coffees a day, I have kind of got the hang of it's fretlessness now, and I love the sounds that come out of it. Little slides and slurs make such a difference and I'm starting to understand why bass players like to go au natrel. It's not an every day guitar (for me anyway, somebody more competent might disagree) but if I was recording it has some great sounds that you just can't get on a fretted guitar.

I'm still tinkering on the setup though and all is well apart from the high E which I've come to the conclusion is too close to the edge of the neck, so I'm going to cut a thinner nut for it. I'm also going to put a string retainer on - one of the Floyd Rose types to give a bit more pressure on the nut. All of which means I will have to nurture it for a while longer. Shame.

La la laa

I am sooo very technical.

As for The Dust My Broom One, all remains done apart from the soldering of the EMGs, which is somewhat delayed by the fact that I keep forgetting to buy a switch, and lack of opportunity in the soldering dept of course. I'm hoping this week though...

I am quite intrigued to see/hear what the EMGs sound like, and not a little trepidationalist about the whole caboodle. They look pretty cool though, has to be said.

So today is about courier waiting, and a bit of nut cutting in-between waiting toe and fingernail on my bratski superiors, bless 'em. Still haven't got the router out the back of the motor yet mind, so wood chopping is still in the middle-earthen-distance.

heh ho.

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...?

La la laaa

Going To Dust That Thing Right Out Of My Hair.

Well, I've sort of put my La Cabronita - The Joe a Taxi One - ideas to one side for a little while as a couple of other interesting things popped up and caught my eye.

Highly Speedy Dusting

The first of these is a bit of a '70s relic, and is a Japanese - CMI, who I think were/made Ibanez guitars - copy of a Gibson Marauder. And after all my Gassing for a Fender Marauder...it's the fates, don't you know?

Anyway, in case you haven't come across them, for a wee while in the '70s Gibson made yet another attempt to steal some of Fender's thunder, and made a couple of bolt-on necked wonders, the Marauder being one of them. The pickups were a humbucker and a single coil designed for them by Bill Lawrence, and it looked like a Les Paul crossed with something more Danelectro-insprired.

As with everything Gibson release, nobody particularly liked it much at the time - too Fender for Gibson fans, too Gibson for Fender-o-philes - and they quietly dropped it.

No doubt they will reintroduce them for three grand a pop in the near future and we will wish we'd bought one all that time ago. Well, I was 8 and my pocket money wouldn't have stretched that far as it was tied-up with a weekly Beano, but you know what I mean.

As was the way at the time, it got copied over in Japan and quality wise there wasn't a lot to choose between them.

Marauding On Another Man's Sofa

So, coming this week I have a CMI Marauder, which I am rather excited about as I've always loved the shape of the thing. And there we are.

The other one I snapped up, is a bit of an oddity, and was (I believe) made by a luthier-type as a one off, but never finished. It is vaguely Firebird shaped, and has an oak body with a maple neck. I just thought it looked rather stunning and couldn't resist it, so there we are.

What I end-up doing with the pair of them, who knows. But it should keep me thinking for a while.

As for the Music Radar $100 Challenge, that is on now and while we're in the midst of a foney war during February - hunter gatherer time - I'll be doing my best to put together a guitar for a ton during March. What, I really don't know...

Other than that the EMG pickups for The Dust My Broom One arrived, and to be totally honest I haven't got a clue what to do with them. Not least because there are three pots and only two holes for them in the control panel. Although one good suggestion was to use the tone control as a trim pot, and hide it away under the control panel, leaving the volume a SPC pot - which is a bit of a sooper active booster kinda thing) in the usual positions.

So today has been given over to trying to get my head around what bits go where. I have four sets of instructions, none of which seem to agree and there we are.

Hmmm...not sure I'm cut out for all this modernity. Still, we shall over-come... (All together now).

La la laaa

WIP: The Dust My Broom One

Well, I'm really rather shocked and stunned to be able to say that it must be down to the cold-snap, but productivity has gone thru the roof around here and The Dust My Broom One is pretty much there, apart from the sticky wee matter of a lack of pickups and leccy bobbins.


Or maybe I have just caught up on the blog a little (ahem).

It looks rather cool too (to these eyes of mine) with it's mixture of the old (OK, a Fender ashtray bridge from an old Japanese Tele and a set of Klusons) and the new (everything else).

All of which means, with the Explorer still another fortnight away, I am at a loss as to what to do next and until I flog something, somewhat lacking in the cash-4-parts-buying-department.

So if anybody wants to make me an offer on The Old Burny, Gypsy or Dust My Broom Ones, now could be a good time...

La la laaaa.

Yeah, Yeah - The Magic Brush

Well, after the excitement of The Iceblink One yesterday - and a few hours tweaking it into something verily nice indeed, it is back to part two of this week's unfolding tissue-dramatica, The Dust My Broom One.

Magic Brush With Stripey Paint - Lush

(Actually, I do still need to do a bit more work on The Iceblink One, as I think I may have shaved the nut a wee bit excessively and the high E string is a bit plinkier than I'd like - but it's close I tell thee, close.)

But The Dust My Broom One - when we left it, it was feeling kind of rusty around the back, but not much of a lot else.

Without you noticing, this got a bit of a lacquering and some may have left it there and alone, but not here.

Not me.

Oh no.

Nope, from there the front got a smothering in bronze, then a bit of a feathering in copper with a minging dribbling of acid to follow, for some splishy sploshy bluey-blue-ness. This too has now been lacquered and is all colourific and gorgeous.

I've also gone for a simple copper-shrekked 'plate, which goes quite sweetly too.

(Like an iPad app advert, I may have speeded the gaps between the stages up a wee bit).

Anyway, come this morning, it is looking particularly barking and 3 of dimensional, and so we are back to some more of the lacquer stuff and there we are.

Once that is done, it is all about pickups really, and this is where I've had a bit of a change of heart.

I was planning on going trad with the Mojo 50s/60s pickup, and keeping it all Esquire-like, but then something else came spidering in from the left-field which made me go 'Hmmm'.

Now, I must admit I've always thought of them as sooper-hot ceramic and sterile, but apparently you can get a set of Tele pickups with Alnico in their core from EMG, and it is those that The Dust My Broom One are going to boast...

Not too sure about the Skate-tastic black pickup covers, but such is life. You have to grasp the nettle if you want some tea, or something.

So...tis a bit of a shot in the dark, it has to be said, and I haven't even thought about where the battery will go yet, but it simply has to be done and should be fun.

I ask you, active pickups in a Tele, little old me, I ask yer indeedy?

So in summary, lacquer and drying, with a sprinkle of fairy dust, to taste.

La la la, Summertime and living is E and Zee

Give Me Bronze

Give Me Copper

Give Me Ass-eeed