Sunday Morning

Battered Gordo with
unlikely upside-down logo

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

Not my style at all. (Ahem)

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

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

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

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

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

I go around in circles, I know.

Still, as ever, time will tell.

Win a Million Quid Guitar - Shocker

Well, I've been promising this for a little while, but The Beaton One is finished now and all that is left is to give it away. So here goes...

The Beaton One is a battered, psychologically damaged, beaten-up and generally well-bashed hunk of alder, has a maple and rosewood neck, and has been covered with a variety of gold, platinum and copper leaf, subjected to the humiliation of a variety of chemical drips and dribbles so that it is aged and rotted and looks somewhat tortured, it has to be said. Actually it looks more chewed in parts, but it adds to the ambiance.

The Beaton One has a Recommended Selling Price of a cool One Million, two hundred and seventeen thousand, eight hundred and ninety-eight pounds and forty-three pence. (£1,217,898.43) including post & packing, and lots of brown tape.

So as you can see this is a seriously cool offer, that quite literally is never to be repeated.

Beneath the bashed-around-the-ring surface though, is a cool guitar, 'boasting':


- Tusq nut,
- Fender Custom '69 pickups,
- Quality pots, switches, jack and vintage wiring,
- Wilkinson Bridge for three ton of sustain, and
- Wilkinson Easy Lock Tuners
- Tweedy Hardcase, Delivered to your door.

As with all of our lovely guitars, this is a totally unique, never-to-be-repeated, one-off, and comes with hand written tags, it's own 'handbook', arriving all wrapped in brown paper and string within a lovely tweedy hardcase. It'll probably still have a sticker on it with the price, but that'll come off with a bit of Fairy Liquid.

And for one lucky chap or chapess, it will be totally free, zilch, nowt, sod-all and basically a gift, delivered to your door, unless you want to pop around and have a brew and save me the postage.

So what do you have to do to get this vision of batteredness?

I'm glad you asked as I was losing the will to live.

If you would like to enter this free competition thingie, and really bug the PRS Custom players down your local open mic night, all you need do is reply with a comment on this very page, saying why I should give The Beaton One to you.

Extra marks for really weepy sob stories, general slagging off of everybody else that wants it and offers of slightly perverse yet interestingly imaginative bribes. Offers only please, the neighbourhood watch around here wear brown shirts.



And that is that. A million quid-plus guitar, up for grabs for nowt but a moment of your time, a sample of your humour.

So in summary:

- Free to enter, just comment below
- Include a name of some sort that you will recognise if I happen to pick you as the winner
- Entries must be dated/timed before 2.44pm on Friday 22nd July 2011 GMT
- No wheelbarrowload of cash alternative. The prize is a guitar, deal with it.
- Winner picked by me entirely at random or at least with whatever prejudice feels good at that particular time
- No arguing about anything, I bore really easily
- Guitar will be sent within a week using a courier that will no doubt damage/drop/send it via Melbourne
- Prize may be replaced with a different guitar if somebody buys it for the RSP in the meantime, assuming somebody reads this to a footballer or something and I haven't disappeared to South America with the money.
- If nobody at all enters, I will donate The Beaton One to science
- Can't think of anything else much to say

So let the, err, battle commence.

Introducing: The Beaton One

About The Beaton One

The Beaton One is a mashed together collection of our recent influences, using 23 Karat Gold, Copper and a variety of aged and variegated leaf across both the body and the headstock. In truth it looks rather battered all over and maybe even a touch chewed here and there. All of the damage is vaguely protected by first coats of acrylic and then nitro lacquers.

The guitar is of course based on the ‘70s  Fender Stratocaster, and the pickups are Fender’s own Custom ‘69s which are exceptionally Strat-like, you really can’t imagine. Tuners and Bridge are Wilkinson takes on traditional parts and work perfectly.

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

To reflect the sheer audacity of this guitar's finish, we're sorry to say that the current economic circumstances facing, well, everyone...means that it  is a little more expensive than has been the case with other Jooky guitars. Although, the RSP of £1,217,898.43 does include a tweedy hardcase and free delivery.

*

To be clear, The Beaton 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 odor eaters are still charcoal impregnated. 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, Lulu’s Copper Top and everything else we could throw at it,  really

Electrics: Fender Custom ’69 Stratocaster Pickups.

Guitar Type: Fender Stratocaster-esque

Construction: Variegated Leaf Finish to the body and headstock. Alder body, Maple neck.

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Single Volume, Dual Tone, Five-way Switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#33

RSP: £1,217,898.43 incl. Hardcase & Delivery

Reporting Live From The Scene

The Beaton One
With a Million Dollar Smile...

Well, after the usual stuttering courier shenanigans, the Futuristic and Rusting Nail Ones finally made it to The Fat Old Man last night, which for some reason amazed me....just hope he likes them. I really miss The Rusting Nail One at the mo' - don't feel I'd started to scratch the surface with those pickups.

The Beaton One is also nearly done - new parts fitted, though a different bridge as my attempts with a measuring stick (ruler?) proved inept. Same with the tuners, but man can I ream a hole in a crisis.

Anyway, hopefully a formal introduction to that later today and then we're in business. It really is a battered old thing, but Ye Olde Fender Custom '69 pickups should make it sing. It has also been wired 'old style' and breaking a habit of a lifetime, I've actually used some Strats knobs - as they seemed to go nicely with the 23K Gold scratchplate and the Tele switch cap.

It ain't just thrown together

*sniff*

Just looks it (boom-boom)

I am really impressed with the Wilkinson Easy Locking tuners though, I can see me using them again if they are as stable as hoped. I've put strings on now and for the first time in ages not sliced a finger in the process. So The Beaton One is unblooded, not that that is a marketing triumph, claiming in all literalness that 'There's a piece of me in every guitar.' It doesn't sound quite right somehow.

You'll have to forgive the rolling-nature of this post, as I am writing and setting the guitar up at the same time, and I've just plugged the wee thing in and it sounds well cool. I forgot to polish the frets though when I oiled the fretboard, so I'll need to do that as sliding around isn't as easy as it could be. These pickups sound great though, everything you'd want in a Strat - cool.

Right, I'll do a bit more on it and get some fotos/do a proper introduction later on...

Lulu Live & Personal

Dan and Lulu - as captured by Andrea Brown

Ah, I love it when I get to see some fotos of Jooky guitars being used in public, so I was doubly chuffed when Dave, the keeper of The Lulu One sent these through yesterday.

Dave plays in a couple of bands - the rather excellent Gorman and the equally chilly cool Frank's Wild Band a Tom Waits Tribute. And you don't get cooler than that, Lulu must feel well at home.

Anyway, no more blether from me, just check the bands out and let your eyes see the glory of the coming of Lulu.

Incidentally, The first atmospherically beatified foto is by a very talented lady called Andrea Brown, while the others are by another talented happy snapper, known only as David Norris - for it is his name - of Wizards Photography.

Hopefully Dave will pop along and correct all my mistakes/omissions....and of course many thanks to Andrea and David for letting me illuminate my little site with your talented pictureness

Dave & My Lulu - as seen by David Norris

God she's pretty

Dave looking for his sandwiches

Ah, I remember 1974...

Dave counts his strings and wonders why they
are poking out of the headstock

There are a load more of David Norris' fotos on Facebook, HERE if you affiliated...

A Day For A Black Heart & The Golden Shower

Well, typically, the courier did the no-show thing with aplomb yesterday, so today is going to be a bit more boring than expected.

However, in my defence, I have laid out all the underground parts for The Blue Moon One, and all it needs is a bit of steadified soldering. How hard can it be?

(The simple answer is that if it proves easy, you'll hear all about it today, otherwise you won't, I guess.)

Other things that may or may not happen today, are that my Blackheart Killer Ant could well turn-up (in which case I hope you'll realise that everything else goes out the window), and also I should be getting a bag of parts to finito The Beaton One.

Oh, and a battered old Strat that leapt at me from Ebay the other night. The body looked awful, but the neck was, well, sensual. I really shouldn't drink alone then hit the 'net. Gets me into all kinds of trouble.

I do seem to be collecting Strat parts at the moment. I haven't done one for a while, my move towards different shapes has worked and I think it has been three SGs, a couple of Jaguar/Jazzmaster sorts and an Explorer, oh and a Telecaster (Lulu, my Lulu) not forgetting of course, my Golden Shower Les Paul.

It was good to do, and I'll keep on doing the do, but maybe a couple or three Strats wouldn't be the end of anything round and sparkly.

I'm also dithering about the Charvette. It is in one piece again, I think I said, and plays amazingly well, even if I don't, and I was just going to shove it on Ebay...but I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe I should do something else with it. I am sorely tempted to try laminating it with some ridiculously OTT birds eye maple - not that I've ever done such a thing before, but it sounds fun, but then, I can't but help think that it would be a great one to do some sort of comic book thing. Marvel rather than  a Beano or Dandy, maybe Spiderman or Hulk, the Xmen or my fave of all time Captain America - with a healthy film tie-in. La la la.

Well, we'll see. I still have the problem about the pickups, but I guess I could replace them. Or is that all getting a bit predictably obvious. Maybe it is.

¬¬¬¬ Not Very Musical Interlude ¬¬¬¬¬

Well, the scratty Strat showed up, so the neck is off and I think I have got blood poisoning removing the rusted strings, but there we are. The neck is indeed beautiful under the silt. The body looks as though it has been attacked by a 6-month-old with a box of Crayola.

More importantly though, my little Blackheart Killer Ant just arrived too and it is already plumbed in and earning it's corn.

And I have to say I am very impressed. Only 1W but 1W thru the little speaker in the Blackstar is a helluva a lot quieter than 1W thru the Blackheart's Cab.

Ask the neighbour's three-week-old son.

Still it is very nice indeedy, and I have to say The Golden Shower One's P90s sound immense.

No reverb though, so I might just have to find a pedal, that's a shame...

So in summary, not a lot will get done today again I expect...

Thank you for the Daze

The Blue Moon One
One day destined for strings

Well, a sharp flurry of guitar wrapping since my return means that I can now settle down to my favourite task of all.

Waiting for couriers to show-up,
or not as the case may be.

I'm on a bit of a run with TNT at the moment as they have twice now picked-up when they are meant to, delivered when intended and everything arrived in one piece. I know it can't last but after DHL, HDN, FBI, MI6 and the CIA, it is nice to be surprised in a good way.

As for The Beaton One, well, 'awaiting parts' would be the status if things were that technical around here.

More accurately 'lay on the kitchen table', though to the same effect.

As for The Blue Moon One, well I am determined that tomorrow, that beatified piece of offsetness is going to be finished.

No more excuses, I'm going to stick with it until it works. (Though hopefully my Blackheart Killer Ant will have shown up by then as I haven't got an amp here at the moment. Ah, I could use the Line 6 PC thingie, that'll show if it works or not. Not the same mind without the glowing toobz and all that.)

But tomorrow,
or this week at least,
The Blue Moon One.

I'm really going to do it this time.

And the Beaton One, that's two.

Both of them. It is going to be soooo cool.
Can't wait.

Then I can have the summer off with an easy mind.
Phew.

A New Week Dawns

Beaton around the ring?
Who can say?

Well, The Red or Dead One went pretty quickly in the end, despite my best efforts at adopting the Basil Fawlty approach to sales and marketing. Maybe I should try the Ratner approach next...

Either way, it means we're back to our natural state of no-guitars-for-sale, which is good as it always makes me feel lazy and induces a deep-seated need to get my finger out and build something. More to the point I can afford to buy some much needed parts and finishing materials, which always helps

All this talk of money though, well it makes me feel better that oddly, the next Jooky build to be completed, is The Beaton One which I won't be selling at all and as I mentioned a dozen times before, am intending to give away. Just as soon as it is complete.

And complete it nearly is, apart from a few home-run-niggles, where I've been 'disappointed' by the tuners which despite being classy Schaller ones, don't seem solid enough to me to be stable and well, a couple of other things I need to do as well, which are far too boring to talk about on a Sunday.

This week though, I expect to have it done and I'm aiming to give it away next weekend, or at least the following Monday. But we'll see. I need to get a super and dooper tweedy case for it of course, must remember to do that. Always embarrassing when I come to wrap things up and I haven't got one.

After that, I need to get to grips with The Moulin Rouge One, but in truth that might be one for the Autumn, as we are winding down and into the school holibobs trough. Though I have all the parts, which always makes it tempting, it has to be said. Though the finish I'm still all-of-a-bobble over.

We'll see though.

Clearing The Decks...

Well, it seems more comfortable to be back to the single-guitar-for-sale position we're used to here in Jookyland, but not as good as I feel when there are no-guitars-to-sell, as that gives me a kick and I go on and do, well, something.

Saying that, having three just feels wrong somehow. Not that I don't miss my little kiddies when they move on, but there we are. Who wants their kids stuck in a dark box and left to warp?

One to think about over the coming school holidays, I fear.

Blackheart Killer Ant -Actual Size?

As it happens I've been having a bit of a guitar related clearout in recent times, and my little Blackstar 1W amp is to be posted today to somebody new. No real reason other than I get itchy feet and need to try something else. No doubt I'll be buying it back before the summer is out.

To replace it I've got hold of another diminutive home-loud amp in the form of a Blackheart Killer Ant. This is still teeny weeny, 1W again, I think, but is a head plus a cab, so in reality will be louder than the Blackstar was, I think.

Quite looking forward to trying it anyway. One drawback compared to the Blackstar is that it doesn't have reverb - I'm addicted to reverb - so it is a good reason to go find a pedal. I used to have an EHX Holy Grail which was cool, so I might try one of those again, we'll see. Though I like the look of their Cathedral too. Maybe I should wait for The Vatican or Holy Lands or something bigger still.

What else? Well, the Shergold is off to a nice chap called Rob - who bought The Pretty In Pimp One aeons ago and seems to have similarly odd tastes to mine. And then there are some other things.

Guitar in need of a new home

I've also put together/fixed The Little Red Charvette I was talking about a while back, but like the Shergold, can't quite bring myself to change it enough to Jookify it, so that will probably be Ebay bound soon as well.

There are other things too, but this is getting tedious.

What is this all about? Well, I guess I'm clearing the decks a bit, although I haven't quite explained why to myself yet. Time will tell, no doubt.




Anyway, people seem to like special offers, so I'll do another one for The Red or Dead One later today. Not sure what it will be yet, but something good methinks.

Loving it when a plan sort of works, eventually, like

Well, my one-off Bogof turned-up trumps at the end, and the Fat Old Man himself snapped up another couple of Jookies, which means that he can retire once everybody realises that I'm the new Paul Reed Smith and the four guitars he'll have are worth a fortune. Couldn't happen to nicer bloke.

Other than that, work-shy relatives mean I'm playing Flo' Nightingale for the rest of the week, so there is unlikely to be a lot of progress on the Jooky side of life. I did however get a wee bit of work done on the neck of The Beaton One but never showed you, my imaginary reader, and gave it a jarring, and most unmatching headstock.

Rubbish foto, innit?

This is some new leaf for me - a rather jazzy blue/gold variegated one, and is destined for a guitar body, but it seemed right for The Beaton One to have a little taster as it has just about every other leaf I've used so far on it. And I have to say, it looks rather lovely. Even though the foto is terrible and doesn't show it at all.

Thinking about The Beaton One, I decided that the tuners I had planned to use weren't good enough when I came to put them on, so I've ordered some nice locking ones, and while I was at it I've ordered one of them there sustain-filled steel blocked tremolos as well.

Oh, and some different knobs (I'd gone for speed knobs, but I can't say I like them - they always look so clunky to me) so I think I'd like to try some Tele knobs on it. I'm going for a Tele switch tip as well, because, well I like them.

Hopefully then this little gem will be up-and-running next week, and then on to pastures new. In terms of giving it away, I've been thinking of lots of weird and oddly strange ways, and finally come down to the simplest. I'll ask who wants it and then randomly choose somebody from the, well let's face it - millions - who respond. Can't beat simplicity. It also means I don't have to do much work.

As for The Moulin Rouge One, I decided to change my mind again, as there is a 'Y' in the day, and it is now going to feature a PRS P90 and a Bare Knuckle 'Stormy Monday'. I know, another change,  I can't keep up myself. The reason being that I just feel like it. Blah blah blah.

Other than that, the summer holibobs are rapidly approaching, and so I'm planning on winding things down a bit. I'm going to aim to do a pedal or three if I can manage the soldering, and apart from that the only guitar I'm going to touch is The Old Burny One over the six-weeks-of-hell, as it is known around here. And if I haven't finished it by then, The Blue Moon One, before it has an anniversary of it's own.

But there we are, enough of that drivel... I need to find some brown paper and get the FoM's guitars off to him...

BOGOF - Last Day is Today and then more interesting stuff

If you want me...

Well, first things first - when I mentioned the BOGOF yesterday, I was half joking, but then it seemed a 'Why-the-hell-not' kind of idea and I went with it.

As a few people asked about it, and I never really thought it through, I realise I neglected to mention how much of an offer it was. In fact it was only going to be for yesterday, but as I didn't say that, I'd better say it was for today as well. Especially as it is half over.

So to clarify

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THE ONE AND ONLY EVER JOOKY BOGOF OFFER

So if you want to buy a lovely Jooky guitar for £399 delivered, you can choose a second free.

(As there are only three Jooky guitars for sale, I guess this will end if anybody actually does buy one, if you see what I mean.)

God smallprint...sheesh.

***

You can have me....

Moving on, I've had a bit of a brainstorm as far as The Moulin Rouge One goes, and travelled away from the long held belief that it will have a P90 at the neck and an old '70s Gibson mini-humbucker at the bridge, and so now I've decided to go for something a bit different.

At the neck it will now have a beautiful Bare Knuckle Stormy Monday humbucker, whilst at the bridge it is going to be treated to a normal Telecaster bridge pickup, maybe a Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar or a Bare Knuckle Boss.



Unless I change my mind again

The reason for the change is down to The Lulu One, as the Brown Sugar in that was awesome, and basically, I quite wanted this Tele to have a few Tele-type sounds on tap too and this looked a good plan.. I'm also going to use a proper Tele bridge if I can work out how, instead of the fixed one I started with.

Anytime, anyplace...I'm yours...

To complete the rowt, it is going to have a corroded copper finish (blue-ish) with a corroded bronze scratchplate (more greeny coloured), assuming I can manage both. I may have those around the wrong way.

So it is not going to be looking very rouge at all, in truth, but there we are. It should be rather stunning anyway. And maybe I'll put a bit of lace across the headstock or something. Sigue Sigue Sputnik style.

It's odd, but for once I can see (in me noggin) exactly how this one will/should look once it is done. In fact the picture is so clear that I almost don't need to build it as I already know what it is going to be like once I have. Trouble is, when I do 'visualise' it, I see it with a maple 'board and I've got a rosewood one...

*sigh*

It never ends, day it?

BOGOF? Maybe a little rude for a Tuesday...

Well, rather typically for a Monday, I changed my mind all over again, got somewhat going, and 'made great strides' as far as The Beaton One goes.

Rather rubbish foto of
The Beaton One

The final specification is now formalised, and in typical fashion, I'm back to where I started with a three single coil Strat, covered in a variety of golden leaf and a selection of verdigris.

It is even wired up, though I need to do a touch more work to the neck, not least attach it to the body, which is one of Jooky life's fundamentels.

Why the change of plan?

Well, I'd actually managed to confuse myself somewhat and forgotten I'm doing two Strats (or planning to anyway) and that I had already sorted the other one out for the pickups I was half thinking about using on The Beaton One. And as they can't be in two places at the same time (Schrödinger's cat, apart) something had to give.

It is that clarity of thought that makes Jookyland such a fine place to be.

Always predictible and rarely
sad.

Anyway, I'm hoping that The Beaton One will be finished by Thursday, and then I need to think of a good way to give it away.

Saying
              'Who wants it?'

seems a bit obvious, after all.

Not least because nobody might.

Always a worry.

More generally, I am in the odd position of having three Jooky guitars available to buy at the same time.

Very rarely has that happened before, and if I get my finger out and finally finish The Blue Moon One I may have to get a bigger web site or house to hold them all. Which would be expensive and rather annoying.

So to avoid such rapid expansionismistic thingies, I'm open to offers/trades/ for any of them.

In fact if you buy one of them for £399 you can pick one of the others too for free.

Until I forget or maybe change my mind and deny everything.

So a short-term BOGOF offer, who'd have thought it?

And even that is likely to be a one-off.

Sold: The Rusting Nail One

About The Rusting Nail One
The Rusting Nail One is a first for the Jooky Guitar Emporium, as it features a rusted iron paint finish both to the body and the headstock. This is a tricky old effect to pull off – the iron really has to rust – but we are all plumped up feather-wise and proud of the result.

The body is of course based on a Gibson SG, with the neck more of a Fender Strat influence. It is quite a visually stunning guitar. Actually, it looks incredible. I am not too proud of my modesty to avoid the facts…

Pickup-wise, the Rusting Nail One gets even more unusual. At the neck is a stunning sounding IronGear Alchemist 90 – a P90 in a humbucker-sized tin. These are a Jooky favourite and deliver a nigh-on-perfect P90 bite. At the bridge things take a turn for the more unusual, with a handwound Wizard ‘Novatron’ pickup.

Now this is like nothing else in many ways and some of the tones you can pull from it are really hard to categorise. When Wizard talk about them they mention a resonator sound – it certainly has an acoustic tone to it and an amazing clarity for a humbucker, and they also mention a ‘Leslie tone’ too, which to my mind is quite a way away from a resonator.

However, again, I have to agree with them, especially when there is some gain and especially fuzz involved, it really is something completely different. All in all, this is a hard guitar to describe tone-wise as I think whoever gets it will need to spend some time exploring the possibilities. Doing so will be well worth the effort though. Rhythm on the Novatron moving into a solo on the P90 is simply something divine.

*

To be clear, The Rusting Nail 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 the in-growing nail on your sixth toe on the backporch of your shack. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long. Although, given how much fun I'm having with it, I'm hoping I'm wrong about that.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Cilla’s Rusty Iron Guitar

Pickups: IronGear Alchemist 90 (neck), Wizard ‘Novatron’ (bridge)

Guitar Type: Gibson SG body, Fender Strat Neck

Construction: Corroded Iron Paint over wood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard

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#26

RSP: £499 SORRY THIS HAS GONE, GONE & GONE

Saturday is Tizzwaz Day

Well in the interests of doing something useful, I've ordered some parts - enough for five pedals. These I think will be varieties of Sophie's Filthy Boots fuzzes and there we are.

When they will be finished, I'm really not sure but they will one day, sometime, somewhere. If nowt else it is something to do over the summer holibobs, though I don't see them as being something I do a lot of in the future, just here and there.

Just doing my sums really.

As for guitars, I've been thinking about The Moulin Rouge One, and about what I'll do with it.

I said before I've got the PRS P90 Soapbar and '72 Gibson Mini-humbucker, so that side is easy enough, but it's the finish that has got me going around in circles.

I have got some red paisley, which is the main plan-plank, but I don't know in truth. I've also got some gloriously ziggy-zaggy leaf, which could be interesting.

Saying that, I fancy doing something else with copper and this would be an ideal one, or maybe even corroded bronze, which is another option too.

But then, as per,
    so many options
         so few decisions.

                 All so verily tempting.

Having said that, I like the idea of something else rusty, but maybe with a different approach to the lacquer - maybe try to go for a brighter shade of reddy rust if it is possible.

All of which no doubt means I'll change the name three times before I start to actually do anything about it and then doing something completely different anyway.

As for other guitars, I've been doing well at reducing the body (and neck) count around here, and so have ended-up with a single Strat after those mentioned already are done, that are for Jookification. I have got a couple more things too, but I like them as they are, so they probably will just get moved on or built into 'normal' guitars and moved on like that. Not something I've done too often before (never in fact) but there we are.

The Charvette is case in point, what can I do with that that will make it 'more so'?

I don't know.

Anyway, it's time for a break from guitars and to do a bit more experimenting over the summer.

Did you miss me? Yeah,...

OK, maybe Gary Glitter songs don't present the kind of image us wholesome purveyors of fluffy guitars are in search of. Forget I asked.

The Beaton One
Needing a new scratchplate methinks

Well, back again, and I've been having a play with The Rusting Nail One this morning, and it really is quite intriguing. Most of the 'interest' has been about finding out how the Wizard Novatron performs, of course, and the simple answer is that the more I play it, the more I like it.

I think playing it quiet, as I did the other day, doesn't really show it off at it's best. It is very clean and noise-free-quiet, and very useful, but it isn't until you crank it up a wee bit that what is different about it starts to shine.

It is subtle but in a lot of ways stunning. When Andy, the Wizard chap, mentioned both resonator and Leslie tones, I was a bit confused as basically they aren't two that I would naturally put together as being likely, but he is bang on the money as it can certainly give you plenty of options in both 'camps'.

Hmmm, navel gazing, time to move on.

Today then, will involve some tweaking of The Rusting Nail One, not least because I've realised that I have lost the rear compartment cover somewhere, which is annoying, and because I need to spend a bit of time setting it up.

Obligatory Sexy Red or Dead
Gratuitously close-up and impersonal

After nailing the Nail, I'm going to do something about The Beaton One. I've got another Irongear Alchemist 90 P90 thingy, which will be uber cool as it is in the Rusting Nail One and in so many others I'm sure, and alongside that I'm going to use the Catswhisker PAF humbucker I forgot I had until I remembered. Other than fitting those, I think the guitar is pretty much done if I remember correctly. Which I don't usually, lets face it.

Be nice to have it finished today too, it would mean I can start afresh next week. Or have a little nap or something.

All of which will mean that I'll have four completed Jookies in my possession, which is a first and can't last. I'll have to give The Beaton One away soonish, methinks.

All good though...

Introducing: The Rusting Nail One

Well, typically real life has a habit of taking over, which meant that whilst I just about had managed to get the Rusting Nail One together, I only had a few minutes to grab a couple of fotos and test drive the wee thing before I had to be elsewhere.

As a result of such things, not a lot will be happening for a few days now, not even the collection of a lovely old battered Gordon Smith I should have been receiving or a day in the guitarish flesh pots of Bristol. Sometime soon though, with a bit of luck.

But how did the Wizard Novatron sound after all the build-up?

Well, daft as it sounds, I'm not sure I really had enough time to find out. But from the top, it is a low output humbucker, so I wasn't expecting screaming highs and that in itself takes a moment or three to get used to. In fact the tone is hard to describe, being almost more single-coil sounding, if that makes sense, but it really is quite beautiful. I understand what Andy at Wizard means when he describes it as resonator-like, as it definitely has an acoustic tone to it, and equally there is something going on beneath, which again is an almost Leslie-esque.

All of which is most odd, but verily seductive. With a bit of reverb it just sounds gorgeous and I just found myself smiling. It sounds nothing like one, well maybe a tad, but it was like the first time I tried a chorus effect, I'm no kind of player by any stretch - just sounds beautiful.

So clean it is beautiful, but when you add a bit of gain or fuzz it just sounds - gah. Simple as that, no fancy effects just a different sound, and when you think about it there are precious few of those around.

The Rusting Nail One then, with the Novatron and the P90 at the neck (which is as cool as ever) has a completely different set of sounds to what you'd expect. Blues it has it all, indie - god forbid - it may make you stand out from the crowd, and classic rock, it can handle it too. Where it stretches things is to explore it for a while yet to come... 


From the top then -

Mahogany Body
Maple/Rosewood Neck
Kluson Type Tuners
ToM Tailpiece ABR bridge
Alchemit 90 P90 Neck Pickup
Wizard Novatron Bridge Pickup
2 x Volume, 2 x Tone


In summary, well pleased.

Getting Rusty With It

Well, The Red or Dead One is a thing of beauty, and I really can't stop playing it at the moment. That isn't an advert, btw, I'm quite happy to keep the dear thing local for a while...

The Rusting Nail One
A nut short of a Wizard day out,
or something

But time moves on, and I now have the nut for The Rusting Nail One and so today is dedicated to sorting that one out too. I'm still desperate to hear the Wizard Novatron pickup, I have to admit. I'm not sure such expectation is good for the soul or more likely for one pickups ability to impress, but there we are. It's going to be fun to see anyway.

In other news, I am still dithering about The Beaton One's pickups. I was going to go for a straight single P90 type of thing, but have changed my mind again and am going to pair a P90 with a humbucker. I know P90s are my addiction, but if I'm going to give The Beaton One away, I guess I should make it more likely to be useful for other people too. A single coil and a humbucker are a good mix, and there we are. Anyway, the decision is made and I just need to dig out a humbucker to go with it.

I love Rusting Iron
(That's not palare for a ginger rent boy, btw)

I had got a Bare Knuckle Mule, but it didn't work when it arrived which was a tad annoying, so I need to search a bit more. Though I have got a Catswhisker PAF type of thing, so maybe that is the answer. It probably is, in truth.

Other than that, I am dithering about adding another Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz to it, or maybe a killswitch, but then you can over egg things, so I don't know. Decisions and a few more decisions.

After these are out of the way and I've gotten a long overdue grip on The Blue Moon One, I'm not sure what to do next. I had planned on doing The Moulin Rouge One, the Tele custom with a P90 soapbar and a '72 Gibson mini-humbucker combo, but I think I might  try and do some other things first. Too many guitars in a row gets a bit boring and I start wanting to repeat myself. Instead, I'm going to have a go at making a couple of Sophie Filthy Boots pedals. I'm not sure if my dodgy mitts are upto the soldering, but it is worth a try.



Finishing one would be good anyway as I promised I would do my best to get one sorted out for a Jooky guitar toting mate of mine...

We'll see anyway.