Sold: The Red or Dead One

About The Red or Dead One

The Red or Dead One is a first for the Emporium, featuring both one of our beautiful, variegated ‘Marilyn Golden Tops’ for the body and headstock and our not-yet-quite-patented ‘Cilla’s Rusty Iron’ finishes for the scratchplate. All of which are protected by first coats of acrylic and then nitro lacquers.

The guitar is of course based on the ‘70s MIJ homage to a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster. Tuners and bridge are both takes on traditional parts and work perfectly.

As far as the pickups go, these are re-wound pickups from a Fender Strat and to give it a bit more of a grungy vintage, the tone knob is in fact a Sophie’s Filthy Booots Fuzz effect, based on a NOS Germanium diode.

All in all, it is a unique looking and sounding guitar. Verily groovy indeed.

*

To be clear, The Red or Dead 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 pleasant night checking your shoes. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Marilyn’s Gold Top, Cilla’s Rusty Iron Scratchplate

Electrics: Rewound Fender Stratocaster Pickups. Sophie’s Filthy Boots Fuzz

Guitar Type: Gibson SG body, Fender Strat Neck

Construction: Variegated Gold Leaf Finish to the body and headstock. Rusted Iron Finish to the scratchplate. Alder body, Maple neck.

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Dual Volume, Dual Tone, Three-way Switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#33

RSP: £499 - SOLD, SADLY SOLD

Sophie - Getting Some Satisfaction

Well, not a lot happening today in truth other than that I've gone deep down inside The Red or Dead One and very, very technically diagnosed, studied, analysed, determined, pondered, decided and generally come-up with a diagnosis as far as the mis-firing fuzz goes.

I then turned the germanium diode around so that is facing the right way, and now it works.

It is the little things, after all.

Don't get me wrong, this little Sophie isn't some mad in-yer-face explosion of fuzz, it is more of a thickener - think Keef getting Satisfaction, rather than MBV full-on mayhem.

It sounds great and authentic thru my nice little Blackstar, and it will stay I think - I  had half considered whether I should put the tone pot back in, but the fuzz stays. End-of.

As for The others, it is too hot today to think further, so I've instead been playing guitar a bit - it makes a change.

Introducing The Red or Dead One

Well I'm still waiting for a couple of parts for The Rusting Nail One, which is annoying because I have a deep need to hear them there pickups, but such is life. Hopefully Monday we'll be there and swirling twangy-like.

Among the despair, I turned instead to my beautiful Red or Dead One, and it is 99% there, and sounds, looks and plays rather smashing.

So by way of introduction, here is my Jaguar-esque piece of Jookiness.

Built out of a '70s Japanese 'tribute', The Red or Dead One has a jaw droppingly lush variegated leaf finish over a solid alder body, a look-of-the-week rusted iron scratchplate, three re-wound Strat pickups, and a sneakily incorporated Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz.

The only downside, and why I'm not shouting 'It's finished' like normal, is that trying now, well, lets just say young Sophie is proving to be a quiet one.Not putting out and basically however much I twist the knob, not a peep emerges from the girl.

Bit more work to do there then - probably put the diode in back to front again, I expect...

I'm quite keen to get the Fuzz working, as the history of the Sophie's is a bit frustrating after all, as initially I was planning on making some pedals, but unfortunately my shaky paws mean I can't solder things in that way too much.

The first Jooky guitar - The Paisley One - had a built-in fuzz, but this is a bit of a different design as it uses a Germanium diode, and doesn't need a battery.

There isn't even a switch, you just turn the little tone-knob-replacement and it is there or not, with lots of variety in between. Ultimate simplicity - and I still seem to have managed to mess it up...

Heh ho, shouldn't be too tricky to sort out methinks.

It's been quite a productive week though, two guitars very-nearly-there, and I am well impressed with the rusty iron finish. Amazingly, even my missus likes them (a first), though I am slightly worried that the guitars are starting to look a bit grown-up. Can't be having that now can we...

WIP: The Rusting Nail One

Well, after yesterday's spraying and drying, a fan heater and a bit of solid concentration...The Rusting Nail One is looking decidedly guitar-shaped.

The keen eyed among you will notice a lack of strings and the keaner still, the gap where the nut should be...but I have to say - in 3D it is veritibly beauty-filled.

The Rusty Iron paint has darkened in a big way and looks stunning, it has to be said.

The headstock matches now as well, and I've put some split Klusons on, though these may change, we'll have to see.

For once it is wired-up, which is a miracle - wiring before strings, can you imagine...and the old knock-the-pickups-with-a-screwdriver test shows signs of life - it may even be finished tomorrow, who could ever have imagined that.

WIP: The Rusting Nail and Red or Dead Ones

Red or Dead - From the front
it is hard to know what to think

Well, I must admit I'm rather pleased with the progress yesterday, on The Rusting Nail and The Red or Dead Ones...if not on my Blue Moon One

Starting with the Red, the variegated leaf finish looks quite stunning already and I'm all agog, it has to be said.

Still not sure what to do with the scratchplate yet, but in summary - cor blimey.

I think I'm going to go for the set of Hayman single coils for it as they had a good rep back-in-the-day and are a wee bit different to the norm, after all.

As for The Rusting Nail One, well as you can see from the fotos, the iron paint of yesterday has rapidly turned into a mass of swirling rustiness.

Iron paint - all battleship like

It is quite beautiful up close and very effective from a distance.

I didn't try it in between, but I'm thinking that the middle distance will be pretty impressive too.

Can't quite believe my luck how well it went, in truth.



Anyway, today will be the real test as I'm going to lacquer both of them. I know the leaf will survive easily enough, but will I lose the rust? I'm really not sure - I hope not though.

One problem with it of course is that I forgot that I needed to drill a couple of holes in the guitar before I started rusting it, but I'll do that by hand once it is lacquered.

The Rusty Back

In other news, you may have noticed that I put a 'Coming Soon' link at the top of the page.

As time goes on I'll keep this updated as and when I start/finish different guitars.

Nowt flash but it'll help me keep my head straight if nothing else.

In even more otherish news, I've decided on what is happening with The Beaton One.

It will have a single Irongear Alchemist P90, which I think I mentioned before (or maybe didn't) and then a built-in Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz.

I got a good selection of Germanium diodes to try, and so basically it will have a volume and a fuzz. Simple as that.

And The Rusty Front
(though still drying at this point)

As for giving it away, basically I have decided to offer it as a swap or trade, where whoever offers me something they have made in exchange that is totally unique and catches my fancy gets the guitar.

I'm not too interested in value, so cakes, pedals, woolly hats are all good and humour is an advantage. Bodily fluids I'm less interested in.

So there we are, I'll work it out proper like once I've done the guitar, whenever that may be.

That rust really, truly is beautiful though.

Rambling Rose...

Well, I was really chuffed yesterday. Firstly, the Novatron (resonator meets Leslie pickup) arrived from the excellent Wizard Pickups in record time. I raved about the service from Catswhisker a while back, and Wizard have proved to be equally good.

The Rusting Nail One - Before it rusted.
So that would be The Nail One, then.

I ordered the pup on Thursday night, got a fone call Friday with the news it wouldn't really work well with a Strat. Instantly changed my mind and decided to put it into a SG instead...and then it was wound, wrapped lovingly and delivered first thing on Monday morning. In fact the post arrived three hours earlier than normal too. Which is more miraculous than magnifique. If it sounds half as good as the service, I'm going to be mighty pleased indeedy.

Anyway, that gave me a kick as far as The Rusting Nail One goes, and it received a liberal coating of iron paint today. The paint is basically a lacquer I think but with fine iron powder in it that is still 'active' and will rust. I believe it is because the iron bits stick out of the top somehow and are exposed to the elements, which is how Gold Tops are done but with bronze powder. I may have that wrong.

Once that is dry I've got some gubbins that speeds up the rustiness, which I'm going to apply over the top. In practise it worked well, though not as quickly as advertised, but there we are. Some things are worthy of a decent wait, after all. The foto shows it after the first coat. I've decided to use a brush for the paint as I wanted a bit of an uneven surface when I come to the rusting - bit more texture. Whether that is a good move or not we'll see I guess.

The Red or Dead One from behind

Once we're looking rusty, I'm going to nitro lacquer it thinly and then go for a bit of a craqueluer  finish on top for a bit of craziness. I've ordered a different type of crazing bobbins as the other wasn't as good as I hoped, so this will be the place to try it.

After that it will be a P90 and Novatron combo for the pickups, a bit of work on the neck and then hopefully it will all come together simply.

Unlike the Blue Moon One which I still haven't started again today, but am trying not to think about that right now as I'm in a good mood.


The other fotos show me starting to gild The old 70s Jaguar copy I got. It is in fact (I'm told) a bit of a rarity and was made by Conrad between '68 and '78 in Japan at the same factory that was making Tokai guitars. Whether that is true, I don't know, but it is a very nice guitar body/neck so that'll do me whether it was made in a sweatshop in Tipton last week.

Either way it is getting a variegated red/gold finish with a matching headstock just for the hell of it like. For the pickups I've been offered a set of olde worlde single coils from a Hayman guitar (which has a similar lineage to my Shergold), which I am being tempted by. Though maybe I should think about putting them in the Shergold - Hmmm. Why didn't I think about that earlier

The Red or Dead One - Matching Headstock Folly?

In other news, I had a couple of peeps asking about the Beaton One, and mainly about the 'giving it away part'. I do intend to, but I think there will be a twist there somewhere, just haven't decided what.

Still as far as that baby goes, the change of spec means more parts shopping, so it will be a few weeks before I think about that anyway.

The Futuristic One is still available though, and rather lovely it is too... Not that I need to sell it to buy more weird and wonderful parts or anything...

La la la

Futuristic Porn

Don't get too excited (though as half the hits for this site seem to come from Africa with a Google string of "Fat Pussy" I maybe shouldn't complain if you do...)

Anyway, I took a few more fotos of The Futuristic One, so I thought I'd share...

Getting A Grip On

The Beaton One with unlikely SSS Scratchplate

Well, I must admit I feel a bit happier about what I'm doing after putting my little list together the other day. One thing I did forget though was the hyper-glowy Lil Red Charvette I picked up a while back.

I've been mulling this one over and can't really decide whether to just restore it to it's former glory, or totally Jookify it... First things first though, I'm short of a couple of bits - namely saddles for the bridge. Or maybe a totally new bridge if they aren't standard parts I can grab from elsewhere, so I need to have a bit of a mooch for them.


Decisions, decisiveness. MIA.

Other than that, today is the day I'm planning to ironise (ferrousate??) the Rusty Nail One's SG body prior to getting deep down and tarnished with it. Fotos to follow, obv. It will be the first time I've tried this in anger so fingers-crossed that I don't mess it up. I am really tempted to put a ring of iron nails into the front of the guitar too, just for good measure, but we'll see.

Not that I have any iron nails, mind you, but I kinda like the idea of the guitar looking like some sort of ill-kept medieval armour. Though I suppose it should be hot-riveted then. And I'm a shipyard shy of those.

No, doesn't make a great deal of sense to me either..

As for the rest of my latest list of things I may or may not get around to doing one day, well I also am going  bullet-biting and finally going to try and finish The Blue Moon One. Either that or bin it (which I don't want to do, but that is my incentive). It is turning into a sore point with mental blockage capabilities tagging along like a vaporous trail at the moment and before it develops into something worserer psychologically, I feel I really need to just do it, get it out of the way or if I can't manage it, get somebody else to.

But I go around in circularish flight paths and there is nowt to be gained from rambling further in that direction. Just needs a bit of action.

The Beaton One - Taken from behind F'narr, f'narr etc.

As for incoming stuff - well, not a lot in truth. Some tuners for the Rusting Nail, oh and a bag of olde worlde Germanium Diodes. Why do I want them when I'm not upto the task of soldering pedals anymore? Well, I'm going to try and put a little fuzz into one of the guitars in the near future, so I thought I'd have a play.

Actually, it is The Beaton One that is going to get Sophie'd after I had a brain storm last night and decided to make it a bit of a Rock machine in an alternative indie kinda way. It is going to have a single sooper hot pickup (probably coil tapped) and a Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz built-in. I really couldn't face doing a straight three single coil Strat to be honest, but this should be a bit 'wow' and 'Jeez' and maybe even a little 'Cor blimey'. All wrapped up in one.

I'm happier now I've decided, but am missing lots of parts so that is slipping to the back of the rear burner thing for the moment until I have some money to buy them.

Did I say I was going to give The Beaton One away? OK, will maybe explain that later when I've thought it thru proper-like.

So this week - Finish the Blue Moon One, start the Rusting Nail One, gather parts for the Charvette, try and sell something so I can buy more parts (so if you fancy The Futuristic One, I'm open to offers ;) and generally do - something.

Anything.

Just get on with it and stop talking so much.
All words, no action.
Get some trousers.
Walk the walk etc.

That should keep me going, until I repeat the list next week.
And the week after that.

Progress, Regress...

Well, I must admit I didn't get much 'work' done yesterday, but what I did do was step away from the chaos and have a little think about the guitars I keep mentioning that I'm really-really-and-very-really-going-to-build sometime soonish and tried to get things a little straighter in my little brain. I needed to do a list of parts (stock-taking, can you imagine?) and an idea of the guitars I'd at least promised myself (mainly because I come to do something and realise that the neck I was going to use has already taken a starring role elsewhere).

I know, of course, that as soon as I list them everything changes (but you) but what the hell; here are the scores on the doors, and all that.

One Day...I might have Strings Attached

1. First of all, I really do need to finish The Blue Moon One. A blue paisley Jaguar/Jazzmaster type of thing with a copper scratchplate, Schaller tuners, and three lovely lipstick pickups - well, it is the ultimate Jooky guitar by my calculations.

OK, no P90 but I'll forgive it that. All it needs is for my hands to stay steady long enough for me to finish the wiring. Oh, and my brain clear enough to think in a straight line while I'm at it. I need this guitar finished. I even wrote the date on as I was so close to finalising it (and that is always the last thing I do) - and that was back in April.

2. Next up is The Beaton One. This is a Strat, multi-leafed  experimental (or maybe just mental) finish and genuinely chaotic. Just needs putting together, it is even wired. This was an odd one in a way, as the body had been around for a while - I'd tried different types of leaf on it, and then at some point decided to tidy it up. And looking again in a gloriously techni-chaos I noticed that well, it just looked amazing. A quick scurry around and I had a neck, all the parts and voila. Apart from I haven't done the final put-together.

Why that is, I'm really not sure. What I do know is that I've decided I'm going to give The Beaton One  away once it is done, I'm just not sure who to or in what way.

One day, I just...might.

3. The Old Burny One - my '80s Burny Les Paul, the top is already gold but needs more work. This is my own personal purgatorial challenge as like The Blue Moon One, it has gone on a bit. Not sure on the pickups for this one now, as I sold the Bare Knuckle  Mules I'd planned on putting in it as my 'gut' said they were wrong, for some reason. And you have to follow your gut - least I've never managed to overtake mine. I'm coming to the conclusion that if I can manage to fix the damage I did to the Bill Lawrence 'The Original' Gibson 'buckers, they would be somewhat fitting. Time-wise anyway, I might of course revert to type and just go with a couple of P90s instead. Other than that it's my 'Hugh' '50s wiring, Gibson tuners and everything else is ready to go. A familiar tale, I just need to get my act together.

4. The Rusting Nail One - OK, I haven't started it, but this is another SG of sorts, will have a rusting iron finish, a Wizard 'novatron' pickup matched with an IronGear Alchemist 90. Sooper keen to start this one, as you can no doubt tell. But I haven't yet. The Novatron should show up next week as will other other bits I was light-of, so fingers crossed and heh-ho for the open road.

5. The Red or Dead One - This is another offset wonder and is to have a lush red variegated leaf kind of finish with maybe something different for a scratchplate. Can't quite make up my mind on the pups - though I have a couple of Jazzmaster pickups, or is that too obvious? Dunno. I am thinking about a set of Burns single coils, as they are lush, or I notice The Creamery are releasing a set of their own along the same lines, which too could be chilly-cool.

6. The Moulin Rouge One - This is to be a Tele Custom with a PRS P90 at the neck and an early '70s Gibson mini humbucker at the bridge. It is going to have a quite screwed up red paisley finish, with leaf used somewhere or other to add a touch of glamour and magic. All set to go on this one now too, just need to, well, start.

After those I still have a ton of bodies and necks and more parts that I can think of. But that will no doubt be into the new year, and I'll have done something different by then anyway.

For the confused, I know I  keep changing the names of the guitars, but who cares really? It's only make believe at the best of times...

Something Completely Different

A Rusting Nail

Well, I've been thinking about this one for ages, but I'm finally going to get my act together and do it...

I've got a lovely old Strat neck and body, and it is soon to be covered with rusting iron. (I know I was going to use this elsewhere, but I'll come back to that.)

Anyway, along with the rustiness, it is going to have a couple of really interesting humbuckers.

The first is an old favourite of mine, the IronGear Alchemist 90 - basically their P90-in-a-humbucker-tin - which is one of the best I've used and generally sounds great in a Strat.

The bridge pickup is a hand wound Wizard 'Novatron' which I can't wait to try. I've talked about these before, but I've finally taken the plunge.

A Wizard Novatron - a Resonator in disguise?

Wizard describe them, thus:

"Something really very different, from the stunningly unusual looks to the unique almost resonatoresque tone these pickups are way out. With low dc resistances these pickups have a clarity and hollow tone seldom found in humbuckers. Despite this turn up the gain add some crunch and they take being driven hard extremely well, being able to cut through when other humbuckers turn to mush. Handwound wire 42 gauge wire and Alnico V magnets these are only available in standard 50mm spacing.

A fabulous pickup for those who want something unusual and want to stretch their limits, the bridge dcs at around 7k ohms and the neck at 4.5k ohms."

Which I think will be rather natty and should offer some interesting tones, methinks...

I think I'll got for Les Paul controls - twin volume, twin tone - so that it has the best chance of getting the most I can out of them...

So there we are, The Rusting Nail One, coming to an Emporium near you, very soonish.

Hopefully.

---- UPDATE ----

Well, typically after I said about this, I had jumped the gun and Andy - the magician at Wizard - gave me a call to point out that his Novatron pickup really needs to be in something with Gibson spacing, to get the best out of it. (There was a clue in the text I nicked from their website). So The Rusting Nail One will now be an SG rather than a Strat...but still have the same finish...

He also tells me it has a really cool Leslie Speaker sound to it, which should be amazing methinks...

Which, in summary, is probably a good thing all around...

Though what I do with The Strat now, hmmm...

Search and Redevelopment

Well, my funky iron paint arrived yesterday morning, so the day was a bit of a scratch 'n' sniff kinda time, of product research and development. Well, I painted a bit of wood with it and am letting it dry before I plaster some of the 'Verdigris accelerant' over it to see whether it goes rusty or not.

It's very technical and pretentious around here, I have to say.

R,J &F - Post Matthew Corbett but before
the fat geezer from Eldorado

OK, I could just leave it in the rain and let nature do it's thing, but then when I come to try it on a guitar I'm not sure that bird shite and cat piss are a direction my muse wants me to follow. Plus I'm not sure it is good for the wood. Certainly not so good for whoever ends-up playing the thing.

Another finish I've been playing with is mixing medias again and using lace corrupted with acrylic and then copper leaf and well, might as well chuck some mayo, tomato sauce and Miracle Grow on while I'm at it. Well, I would if I wasn't being all considered and scientifically structured.

(I found out that to be scientific you need to have a parallel 'control' sample, an approach that let me discover that if I paisleyify one guitar and leave the control original, you can definitely see the difference afterwards, so something must have happened. Scientifically proven, that is..)

Generally though, I do enjoy the mixed-media approach especially when I can mix it up with a little bit of degradation and chaos. It works for guitars too, as well as my personal life.

I should of course be showing a few fotos of my dawdles down la Rue Scienetifique, but whilst being quite a technician these days, I forgot to charge the battery on my camera, and I've never quite worked out what I'm meant to do with the one on my fone.

Tomorrow, further adventures as I move toward building The Rod, Jane and Freddy One. Perhaps.

With All Humility...Ignored

I've said it too many times before, but this little Jooky Crusade is entirely ego-led, and so it is always lovely to hear what the folks who end-up with one of my guitars, through no fault of their own, thinks about it...

I was pretty chuffed then to hear from David, despite the juddering of the journey seemingly jarring the bridge out of kilter..

Anyway, here are a few nice things he said yesterday:

"She's a beauty. ....I plugged her up and had a wee noodle. What
a great array of tones. The Brown Sugar is all Tele twang and the P90
is luscious, warm and mellow - but still with that great attack when
soloing up the neck. I love the middle position as well. I was
surprised when I realised that this sound was being produced by the
P90 since it sounded much more similar to the Brown Sugar, but I like
it a lot. It sounds almost like a telephone band-pass filtered version
of the bridge pup. Deliciously lo-fi. The variety of tones is as
unique as the finish; all in all, a sonic win.

The neck feels great. I also love the ash-tray cover. It'll need to
come off at times for palm-mutes, but when finger-picking it's a great
place to rest your hand and be at ease. This will only add to
theatricality onstage.

I'm very pleased. Thanks a million."

 and today...

"Lulu went to rehearsal today. Lulu excelled at rehearsal today. I think she's going to become my go-to in my current band. I play in a rock band with a pianist and the Lulu sat really nicely on top of the piano sounds in the live mix. Deep win.

The only other interesting thing I noticed tonight is that ashtray covers + high gain = feedback. That surprised me as I probably would have expected the opposite, but maybe it's acting as a wee high-freq resonance chamber since it's open at one end. Again, not a complaint, just an observation. "

 Cheers Dave - I think I've learned a bit along the way too - like maybe loosening the strings before I send guitars isn't sooo very clever :)

It's Lust I tell You

Well, I got started on The Blue Moon One yesterday, but haven't quite finished it, but hopefully tomorrow will see that finally ready to go.

Relight my Fire?

One thing I did manage to do was get hold of an old Gibson mini-humbucker, well it isn't here yet, but hopefully won't be long. So that should nicely pair with the PRS P90 in the Tele-Custom-with-no-name-yet. I'm really looking forward to doing that one, as it is going to be my first attempt with 'weathering' some iron. This is likely to be iron paint made rusty if things work as I hope and the gubbins arrives before my boredom threshold is exhausted. Tis a long cherished dream, about to come true. To rust my own iron, I have simple tastes. OK, I'll call it The Rusty One for now as that word keeps popping up.

The day started well too, as I got a lovely email from a nice chap called Dave to tell me that the Lulu One had arrived and that (thankfully) he liked it. The Stealth P90 and Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar combo was a real winner to my mind (and ears) and Dave agrees, so that is cool, though less pleased that the couriers tender mercies had jolted something or other and he needed to get the Allen key out and adjust the bridge. Really bugs me that. I've lost track how much fun couriers cause. Bleurgh.

But Lulu, that was a beautiful guitar and in a way I'm a tad disappointed as I was hoping he would send it me back... Ah Lulu, me and Jason Orange eh bab?

Burns Trisonic pickups - Yum

I also took delivery of the Jag/Jazzy body and neck I mentioned the other day, which are a nice surprise as I thought they would be a bit ropey, but quite the opposite is true. The neck in fact looks hardly played at all. I shouldn't be surprised, but when I hear the words 'Stuck in a cupboard for forty years as a project I never got around to completing' my brain instantly translates into 'Played to death then left in a muddy field full of Hereford Heifers and shat on a lot'.

But no, though old the guitar is in really top notch condition, and better still is really made of wood not ply. I think it'll be fun to do.

Anyway, I have a great finish lined up for that baby and if I can get the dosh together am planning on treating meself to a set of handwound Burns Tri-sonic pickups, which should be something a bit 'wow' and not a little 'Groovy'. They looks rather nice too, not that that ever influences me at all...