Dublin TV Dinner

Well, it was really nice to hear from one of the Dublin Jookies - Kevin Rowe - this week, to say that a year on he is still loving The TV Dinner One, as basically I always wonder what becomes of the wee things when they leave the Jookyland borders and rarely do I find out..

This is what he had to say, so I asked if he could send me a few fotos, to show the world, which hopefully appear here too.

"Hi, I bought your "TV Dinner One" about a year or so ago and I just wanted to say that since then its been an absolute workhorse of a guitar. I've gigged it relentlessly all over the country in all sorts of circumstances and it sounds consistently killer! Btw I've also had the back of the headstock signed by Steve Vai, so its now even more unique! Thanks again, its been fun spreading the Jooky name! 

Kevin Rowe "

Not sure who this Vai geezer is, but anyway, if Kevin wants some random stranger to scribble on his guitar, who am I to complain.

La la laaa

Sold: The TV Dinner One

The TV Dinner One is a guitar dedicated to a Transvestite Imaginary Friend called Erika. It has been based on the classic Fender Telecaster and the walnut body has been stained and hard waxed to give a feeling of old wood.

To add a slither of colour, the scratchplate has been coated with bronze and copper rich paints before being attacked with our Home Brew acid to force it to corrode spectacularly. This is an old looking yet jaw dropping guitar.

From there, the pickups have been specially wound by Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups to replicate the best of the early Tele sounds. This ‘Broadcaster’ set is (to our mind) the best sounding Tele pickups out there and we’re proud to use them here along with one of Marc’s Ye Olde wiring looms, proper pots and switches and hand made PIO caps.

Hardware is relicked courtesy of Wilkinson and is rock solid, with an ashtray cover for the bridge adding a final sheen. There isn’t another guitar like this and there won’t be another made. This is in so many ways a one-off, just like the imaginary friend that inspired it.


*


To be clear, The TV Dinner 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 - and why shouldn't you, you're worth it? - to this amazing guitar, for a silly £499 including a hardcase and delivery to your door (assuming your door is in the UK) be the first to  click on the Big Yellow Button. Somebody will, they always do...

*** SOLD ***

Technical Stuff:

Type: Norma’s Natural Guitar

Electrics: Mojo Broadcaster Telecaste Pickups

Guitar Type: Fender Telecaster Style

Construction: Walnut body, maple/maple neck

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#63

RSP: £799

Introducing: The TV Dinner One

Well, I'd like to introduce you to the latest progeny of the Jooky stable, as The TV Dinner One is officially in dah harrss. And what an understatedly cool looker it is too.

If you remember, the original idea for this was that it would be influenced by my imaginary friend, a tatty and faded transvestite called Erika and in my mind at least that turns out to be an Old-Wood-looking Tele with an acid strewn scratchplate that, like gauche makeup, is meant to deflect the eye from the reality.

Deep, I am, verily.

So from the top, it is:

1. A two piece solid walnut body, that has been stained a darker colour, scraped and torn around the edges and generally looks a little battered to the untrained eye. I wanted this to get that 'Old Wood' look and I think it has just about got there, which is cool and surprising in equal measurements.

2. The neck is a lovely maple/maplejob, with aged Wilkinson tuners at the top being solid in the face of many a hissy fit.

3. The scratchplate has layers of bronze and copper with acid gently sprinkled into it's face for variety. Kinda the average Saturday night in the places Erika hangs, as it were.

4. Pickups are a matched set of Mojo Broadcasters, specially wound by Marc Ransley and to my mind the best sounding Tele pickups there are, bar none.

5. A matching wiring loom using all the old familiar parts was also created for this guitar by Marc and as ever gives great sounds as well as looking as cool as funk.

6. Other than that the aged Wilkinson traditional Tele bridge is adjustable for intonational goodliness and a super shiny ash tray adorns the top, for a bit of out-of-place glitz. The knobs and control plate are also aged nicely, just for good measure.

How does it play?

Well, I can honestly say it is one of the nicest Teles I've ever strummed and picked, and I know I'm biased but what else can I do but speak as I find?

It just is.

The tones are fantastic and there is a real depth which may be enhanced by the walnut, but to be honest I don't really know. I plugged it in and started smiling, and that is how I rate guitars.

So there we are, I think we've done Erika proud, The TV Dinner One. Lovely, faded, and a bit beaten about the ring and glamorous all in one.

La la laaa

p.s. Erika sends hugs, mwah x

WIP: The TV Dinner One

Well, things moved along, if not to plan then at leastforwardlyish.

The TV Dinner One made the most progress in the end, with the 'plate bolted on and the control plate all sorted out too. That is looking mighty fine in a traditional Tele kinda way. Apart from fitting the tuners, when the pickups and wiring come we'll be there on that.

I'm loving the look of the walnut body and it feels proper even as it stands, and as I'd forgotten that the loom has solid of shaft pots and got the wrong knobs, but after a quick visit to Axesrus with a bit of luck the knobs will arrive tomorrow, and I slipped in a wee ash tray cover just for good measure. It's gonna be a good 'un, I can feel it in me water.

As for The Tickled Pink One, well tuners are on, neck is drilled and again it is just a case of adding a smidge of the leccy stuff and we'll be there in clover. Must do the rear cavity cover though, forgot about that.

Elsewhere, The Fallen One is drying and will be ready to go together in the next day or two and The Confused One now has a neck to boast of.

Will anything get finished tomorrow? I hope so, but we'll see, and to be fair if the brat is school bound I'll probably be playing with the router anywaysup.

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Love, Love, Love....

Well, a first instalment of parts arrived today, so other than staining the Fallen, I managed to put strap pins and bridges on to the others (remembering to drill ground wire holes handraulically), and an Esquire plate on The Confused One - think I'll leave that as plain black - and I have started to smother the 'plate for The TV Dinner One in bronze, with copper and acid to follow.

Got spanked on Scalextric by the six-year-old though, so it wasn't all good.

As far as The Tickled Pink One goes, I made holes in the Fab 4 scratchplate with an old soldering iron, chopped off the excess melted placcy stuff with a Stanley knife, and then screwed it to the body with old and rusty screws.

Somebody asked me whether I would be playing safe with the Tickled Pink One, so I think I probably am. I haven't even thought about setting it alight yet.

Though....nah. better not.

Anyway, I followed this with a nice circle of rusty screws all around the body as, well, I liked the idea and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Tis all good.

And that is about as far as I can go right now. I did forget a bridge for The Confused One, so I need to sort that out, and I'm still waiting for control plates, electrosockets and a few other bits, but they should be here tomorrow, as will the pickups and wiring from Marcy Mojo.

Another quick thank you, firstly to Marc at Mojo who has donated the pickup and loom for The Tickled Pink One, and to ESBlonde from Music Radar-land, who sent me some strings to go with the guitar on it's travels and £20 which has already hit the Just Giving page. It is really cool how many people are chipping in, in lots of ways, and long may it last. This is before there even is a guitar or we've started to get it moving around the country.

But there we go, the brat will be back at school the 'morrow, so hopefully I'll get tuners installed along with string trees and necks connecting to bodies. Oh, and I need to finish the finish on The Fallen One, that is pretty and cool too.

La la laaaa

Waxing Literally

Well, today is a bit-more-of-the-same in so far as I'm still trying to move The TV Dinner, Confused and Tickled Pink Ones in a forwardly synchronised direction.

As you can hopefully tell from the foto, I now have three bodies where the back (and the front of TV) have all been stained and now treated with a goodly coating of Hard Wax Oil. That will sit around for four hours before I can do another coat, which is OK. I need beauty sleep.

Once that is done - tomorrow hopefully all will be dry, I'll stain the TV, throw acid in the face of the Confused and generally pamper with fine fabrics the Tickled Pink. I told you I was intent on starting my own religion.

As for today, while those babies are drying, I have a couple of necks that needs a tad of fret-love, and in the case of the rosewood one a good dollop of oil too. So that should keep me out of trouble.

Probably

La la laaa

Bodies Piled High

Well, no post at all today, but I did dig out the bodies for The Tickled Pink and TV Dinner Ones, and tomorrow sees them as well as The Confused One getting a bit of body work done.

The Tickled Pink is of course destined for a pink-of-ribboned top, but the back and sides are going to be dark stained and waxed, so that is numero uno on the list.

Similarly, The Confused One which needs a bit of sanding first, will be a darker hue to show off the top which is going to be groovily acid fried. Obviously I still haven't carved out the control plate hole yet, but will before I do anything much else.

As for The TV Dinner One, that is destined for a rosewood stain which looks good on walnut, clearly, though I doubt that will be the end of it's travails, as nothing in the Teensy Kingdom of Jook is ever so simple.

So that is for tomorrow, and hopefully necks will also be apparent.

I seem to be on a bit of a Tele binge at the moment, not really sure why, but there we are.

La la laaaa

TV Dinering

Mojo Broadcasters...yum

Well, it seems the next couple of weeks are going to be pre-occupied with real life (tm) so it might be slow progress, but I'm aiming to get The Tickled Pink One done before I get back to 'work' proper. I even bought some pink ribbon yesterday - 100m, not quite sure what I'll do with it, mind.

Other than that I've snaffled a lovely Walnut Tele body, that is going to provide the kernel of The TV Dinner One. I haven't done a proper two pickup Tele for a while and as I also managed to snaffle a rather nice maple/maple neck, it seems predestined and all that.

As for the pickups, I'm going to get a set of Mr Mojo's finest broadcasters as they are officially my Fave-Tele-pickups-in-the-world-ever, and there we be. Not quite sure about the finish yet, but that's detail dahlink, I'm more of your conceptualistically fascinated kinda guy, dontchaknow.

As for today, well I guess I'd better post the Fat-Old-Man his T-Shirt, had I not? And then, well, who can possibly say?

La la laaa

TV Dining For One

Well, I read something the other day friend-of-Jooky Sean had put on Facebook, that reminded me of a long standing wish I've kept for years, only to be spontaneously unveiled with a flourish, in Bm.
When I was a kid I always had an imaginary friend, he/she spoke to me, and yes, I answered back. Tis true. And I realise that it may sound a bit cracked, but sometimes I still do.

I won't introduce you as (s)he is anything but shy and tends to take over. But the lad/lass is with me always and in lotso ways, that does me good.

I can't say I've ever worried about it, it just isn't the type of thing that you bring up in brightly lit conversation, if you see what I mean.

But saying that, Erik(a) always seems to talk a peculiar sense, and in my teenage years it struck me, that (s)he would have made a great religious leader, and in fact I've always nurtured the dream that one day it would happen.

And unlikely though it sounds, what Sean wrote was that 'when one person has an imaginary friend, we call them mad, yet when many people have one, we call it a religion.'

And that was what I'd always thought, so maybe there is hope yet.

In the meantime, I thought I'd make a guitar in Erik(a)'s honour, which would be half glam-filled glitz and half dour reality, so I'm going to go for a completely new - rather dashingly chic design, sprinkled with faerie dust yet in some way a little bit tawdry and tattered.

So that'll be the TV Dinner One, and who knows, maybe one day people will think of it as Ikonic.

La la laaa