Feeling Fabulous

An Old Fender Coranado I
Earlier sometime.

Well, I'm grabbing a tender couple of hours today so that I can get The Dust My Broom One set-up and working. Yesterday was seriously frustrating - lovely guitar - pickups to fit and no chance at all to do it.

My timing is usually off.

Anyway, if it gets done I'll no doubt mention it once or twice.

Thinking forward, as The Old Burny One is off to pastures new, it means I've got the bunce to do a few things. First of which will be to get meself a nice Coranado-ish body to play with.

This is coming from a chap who makes such things, and I've already scored a nice Stratty neck to go with it.

A quick flurry of emails and he is going to put one together for me, tweaked to meet the needs of my very own peccadilloes...

Not strictly ballroom, but I have a Bare Knuckle Dogear P90 that might just find itself doing the noisy thing. Other than that I'm thinking single volume, single tone and the jack socket on the front.

I've also asked that there is a control cavity cut into the back, which again isn't one for the purists I'm sure, but makes life simpler for those of us that suffer with Multitudal Thumb Syndrome.

As for the rest I'm thinking some kind of fancy tailpiece as I doubt I'll find one of those clunky Fender 'Big F' ones, and I'm not sure I'd want one in truth if I could. With consistent indecision, I'm equally floating-voterish about the bridge just something arch-toppy I guess.

Finish-wise, I haven't really decided, though I'm thinking the back and sides should be stained and oiled dark, whilst the top should be a bit of a contrast. Maybe gold leaf or copper perhaps. I don't know, we'll just have to see how The Fabulous One grabs me when I see it in 3D.

La la laaaa

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

WIP: The BDSM One

Well, I've put The BDSM One to one side for a little while as basically, I don't want to peak too early. I've got the whole month to do it and I need the adrenalin rush of a last minute panic, otherwise it won't feel right. Needless to say it will be verily Jookified when I get around to finishing it. Probably on the 30th.

Where it stands is that the body is covered in lovely paisley. The scratchplate has a walnut burr veneer, and the headstock is a rusty iron combo. But it will stay that way now for a little while.

One thing I am doing today though, is covering a glow-in-the-dark, Tom-Cruiser-toothipeg-white Jazzmaster pickup cover in iron paint so that I can rust it. It will stand out like a twirly-lit-house against the walnut scratchplate otherwise.

Speaking of which, I edged that with iron paint, but didn't rust it in the end as it looked nice all dark and brooding.

But I'm not thinking about the BDSM One for a while.

Not even the lovely, slightly glittered paisley or, or, or well any of it.

Today then, apart from rusting pickup covers, I'm not thinking about The BDSM One, OK?

Although I have got to find some tuners, which shouldn't take too long.

And I could oil the roseywood 'board and give the frets a quick polish, as they are minging.

And I need to find some scrap strap pins, there are some leftovers around here somewhere.

La la a 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

Coool Cap With A Trilly Hat

Hmmm, well what can I say. I never got too far with the routing of The BDSM One on Friday, as I was a spanner short of a tool removal. Which basically means that I still, after 48 hours, haven't managed to get the router off of the router table so that I can use it.

Later then, I will be going spanner shopping, which is a tad frustrating, but there we be.

On a positive note young Marc of Mojo Pickup fame tells me he has started dipping bobbins and doing other technical things, and should be winding the pickups for The Dust My Broom One in the nearest of potential futures. I can't wait to hear them, not least because the comments/reviews I've read have all been suitably positive. It is a guitar that needs playing too - it is sat in the corner spitting poisonous gubbins at me as I type this.

He has already made a fistfilled with dollars, OK maybe capacitors, and sent me a nice foto of them - so here they be. Now are they the coolest thing, like Ever?

He really is a top geezer, I know I'm starting to sound like an iCarly fanboi, but such is life. Tell it like it is, know what I mean?

But the routing deficient The BDSM One. As I don't actually need to chop chunks out of the body, I could take a trip down the paisley highway so that I can point and shout 'See, I have started, really I have', but it would feel like I'm bottling it again, so spanners it be.

I have a whole month to do this, so how bad can it get?

Elsewhere, I did spend a lot of time playing The Foxy Roxy and Old Burny Ones side-by-side (not an easy trick, I think you'll agree), as I'm all intrigued and perplexed by the pickups in both. The both I'm talking about are of course old Gibson pickups - 'Velvet Bricks' in the FR and "The Originals" in the OB One, and have long been superceded by all manner of other types there in the wonder-filled world of Gibbo.

OK, the guitars are different materials, but I can't get my head around just how different they sound. The ones in the Foxy Roxy are a bit more defined and 'woody' if that makes sense, a really All Right Now sort of sound to them, while The Old Burny One is a bit more growly and harder to clean up.

I think the thing I'm confused by is how come they seem to have so much more 'personality' than the modern Gibson pickups I've played in recent Les Pauls. Don't get me wrong I like the '57s - the one in my Gordo has a great sound, but these two just feel a bit more...raw, or something. Less polite. foul mouthed and...alive. (Gord, sorry about this.)

Hmmm, interesting.

Should I mention that I'm football happy?

Well, in the last three games, we have put five past the Dingles, and got their manager the sack, 4 against the Mackems who luckily had only recently got a new manager and then yesterday brought a rare home win, rarer still as it was against Chelsea of all peeps. Who will probably sack their manager for stooping limbo-like and low.

And I know Chelski aren't at their best at the moment, but I never remember West Brom getting credit for all those years we were really crap when we got beat by all sorts of 'lesser teams'. What can I say? Harry for England, and we'll keep 'Woy' for another couple of years, if that is OK with you?

Boing boing, I'll say no more.

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.

Getting Foxy...Slightly Returned

Well, it's Day One of the MR £100 thingy, so obviously I spent it doing something else.

No point getting over-excited about it, now is there?

As you may have noticed I snuck in a bit of soldering over-night and finished off The Foxy Roxy One, and man it sounds crazy-good.

I really didn't know what to expect from the pickups/oak body, but the neck pickup has a really bright and biting tone, loads of 'definition' and I just find myself wanting to play Wire songs.

Really should learn some.

Not what I'd expected but a nice surprise. The bridge is clear and defined too, but a lot heavier - more Les Paul like and notes sustain for a minor ice age..

As I said, the 'Velvet Brick' pickups came from an old '80s Les Paul Custom and they really are excellent. Well chuffed with them and it am we.

The other thing is the neck - it's feels long like a Jazzmaster feels long (I probably should have guessed - Firebirds being extensive-of-length and all) and it is lovely to play. I've got the action quite low (for me)  but it still feels right.

And there we are, tis all good.

As for the others, well The Ronin One is still awaiting a pickup and a bridge from Stateside, and I haven't sorted pickups for The Dust My Broom One yet, though I am going to try Mr Mojo himself's Tele pickups out, just haven't quite decided which ones yet. Must email the chap...

As for The BDSM One, well I start on that tomorrow sick kids/meteor showers permitting.

A tootle and a kip

La la laaa

p.s. I had a bit of a lofi strum on The Foxy Roxy One, which probably tells you nothing, but it is Here if you are bored...

Sold: The Foxy Roxy One

Even by Jooky standards this is an unusual and unique guitar. Seemingly based on a Gibson Firebird, the body is made of oak, with the neck being mahogany and featuring a lovely rosewood board.

The top has been treated to a “Pam’s Baywatch Bronze” finish, which in turn has been attacked with our favourite ‘Home Brew Acid’ to force a gorgeous bluey-green corrosion. This dribbles over the edges and pools on the edges of the back as well as in the control routing and looks quite stunning.

Pickups are a pair of Gibson ‘Velvet Brick’ humbuckers, taken from a 1980s Les Paul Custom, and they are really amazing tone-wise. The neck pickup is bright and clear while the bridge is hot and heavy. These give a fantastic range of tones.

This has a lighter more defined sound than a Les Paul and would be great for indie-ness as well as classic rock or blues.

*


To be clear, The Foxy Roxy 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 this rather crazy guitar, with a case and delivered to your door for a crazy £299.23
** SOLD **

Technical Stuff:

Type: Pam’s Baywatch Bronze finish

Electrics: Gibson ‘Velvet Brick’ Humbuckers

Guitar Type: Gibson Firebird

Construction: Oak body, Mahogany neck, Rosewood fretboard, corroded metallic paint.

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Twin Volume, Twin Tone, 3-way-switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#48

RSP: £799

Always a Day Away

Well, as unlikely as it sounds, I thought I'd have a little practice with my new router thing, on something less than critical - before I start to destroy The BDSM One tomorrow.

We never use the kitchen table anyway.

I know, it's almost a grown-up approach. Must be the slightly more warmerish weather.

And I have to say that it is ridiculously impossible. I mean I know I'm big in the nerdy-wimp-raspberry-ripple department, but I felt like some kinda toon flying around, hanging-on for something grimly life-like.

Sheesh.

I might have to get my 5-year-old to do it instead.

Needless to say I will Percy McVeer and then dig out the only chisel I never broke last time around.

Despite all of this, I do have a good feeling about it all. The Gretsch pickup will hopefully be hot, yet twangy, while the Jazzmaster has that darkly P90 type of thing going on I know and lurve.

Which is all cool. I'm kinda hoping that now I have been able to flog the spares that the budget will stretch enough for me to get a Mojo JM pup wound, but for the challenge the MIJ might have to do.

In fact despite effectively getting the neck and body for a grand total of £2.50 (I flogged all the parts and the gigbag it came in) I'm still going to be pushed.

I can always upgrade it later ;)

Last year I think I replaced mostly all of the parts within a week or two, but there we are.

Wonder if I will ever see The Golden Shower One again...?

As for other things, well the parts for The Foxy Roxy One showed up, so that is all done apart from the usual soldering escapades. I'm going to do those later today. Honest.

I'm pretty pleased with the bronze top dripping over the sides...nice.

La la laaa.

Of Foxy Roxy and the BDSM One

Well, I thought I'd get my parts together for The BDSM One, the Strat I'm going to build for the Music Radar £100 Challenge during March, mainly to see what I'm missing.

Despite not finding all of them among the part explosion, it seems like I am not so far off.

From the top:

1. Squier Strat Body and Neck.

2. Nice roll of sparkly, yet tastefilled, paisley fabric.

3. A small but perfectly formed collection of walnut veneer wood stuff thingy.

4. '70s Strat bridge - solid brass and well zingy. Claws and springs etc. Not sure where they are, but they will turn up somewhere.

5. One Jazzmaster bridge pickup (MIJ)

6. One Gretsch Humbucking neck pickup

7. Electrical bobbins - pots, switch, jack - thanking Simon at Fusion.

8. One funky capacitor - similarly thanking Mojo Pickups,

9. Strap Pins

Things I need to get that I haven't yet:

a. Scratchplate - though I might make this out of something. In fact I am tempted to paisleyificate the body and walnut veneer the scratchplate, but we'll have to see.

b. Tuners - I have a set of barely-OK-ones, which if the budget is tight I might use, but I'm hoping I can sell some of the parts from the Strat I don't need to fund something decent.

c. Knobs - I want to use a couple of Gretsch knobs, but it depends on the budget. If not it will be a couple of whatever-I-have-lay-around ones.

So not so bad.

Before that though, I intend to finito The Foxy Roxy One as the remaining parts should be here tomorrow. This is my little bronze corroded, oaken of body Firebird sort of thing. It has kinda jumped ahead of The Dust My Broom One as I still haven't sorted out the pickups for that baby, but such is life.

I must admit (as per) I can't wait to play the Foxy Roxy One, there is something that is just wrong about the shape in a very cool way, and I'm loving the look of it.

And that be about that.

La la laaa

Crawling Along In My Automobile

Sex on a sticky stick

Well, I can honestly say that last week was a bit frustrating in lots of ways, but I'm happier now I've decided to replace the EMGs with something more archaic in The Dust My Broom One

I'm a Luddite, what can I tell you?

The end of this week sees the start of the Music Radar £100 Challenge, for which I am lacking in the part department. Not over-worried about that as there is a month to sort it all out, and I'm more interested in trying something different anyway. I'm going to have a go with the router to at least have a Jazzmaster pickup at the neck.

That is the first job, so should be interesting. As I said it'll be a bit of a paisley and wood veneer look which I think should work well, if there is enough body left to stick them to after the nascent rootling.

I am in the strange position of having three guitars all waiting on parts yet nothing in particular to do, which is a tad annoying, but it will be good when I catch up.

Friday's feeble attempt at recording my Mojo pickup laden Jazzymaster did inspire me to try and record some of the Jooky guitars in future, which is something I've avoided due to lack of talent and an excessive level of sloth in my bloodstream. I might record The Old Burny One this week, as then there is no excuse for those that follow.

I guess I should find some backing tracks, but a few layers from the same guitar seemed like a better way of showing it off, even if the end result isn't all that musical and is played with fists of ham. Plus I've never much liked playing other people's tunes, so I can never been arsed to learn them.

Unless there is a whizzy Bristol based guitarist that wants to have a go at demo-ing them for me...? It doesn't pay, but I make a mean cuppa and have some divine coffee on tap.

La la laaa.

I apologise To Mojo Pickups Intensely

Well, I had an hour to try and do some recordings of the rather brilliant sounding Mojo Pickups I put in my Jazzmaster yesterday, and it all went horribly wrong.

I'm not much of a player (I don't mind telling you, just keep it to yourself, OK?) so I thought I'd keep it simple and strum some bits and bobs, you know - this is the neck pickup clean, this is it dirty. This is the middle position clean etc.

Now hard can that be?

I'd done the same 'Before' and I figured the difference would be obvious and it is.

Anyway, I then did the professional thing and ate my homework, or gave it to the dog to play with or something. And can I find the files? I'm sure I saved them, but nada. Nowt. Zilch and sod all.

Have I got time to do them again?

No.

Do you really care?

Probably not.

So, all I have left is the rather embarrassing thing I recorded last. Four tracks, clean, reverby, slight echoey and a bit fuzzy. All together. I really should drink more coffee in the daylight hours. It is all a bit maudlin. But thankfully short.

So as punishment to me, and no doubt you, here it is.

Jazz One

I presume I won't see you again.

Happy chuckling...

La la laaaa

Note to Marc: I will do proper files next week. I hope this does nothing bad to your reputation. I am deeply sorry.

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.

Jazzmaster - Now With Added Mojo

Well, I have to say before I start that this little missive may contain a touch of excitedness.

I am trying to appear calm and professional, like normal, but am not so sure that I can pull it off.

Here goes though.

As I have mentioned once or twice, I like Jazzmasters. I like them a lot.

Over the years I have had quite a few. I have had a couple of American ones, and I've lost count of the Japanese ones. I even had a 1968 original for a while. I've not owned any of the Mexican ones or the recent Squiers, as I've yet to find one that doesn't sound more Stratty to me than what I want it to sound like, but I'm sure I will.

In that time I have also tried a variety of pickups to try and catch the real Jazzmaster sound. I love the old sound of Jazzmasters, the proper dark-yet-clear tone you got on the original ones, and with the exception of one MIJ one, it isn't something I've heard from Fender's stock pickups.

Of the after market pickups, I'd have to say the Curtis Novak ones come closest. I've tried a couple of sets and they are really good - maybe slightly brighter than I'd expect, but on the money. Tres expensivo from this side of the water, but worth it.

The Seymour Duncan Antiquities were good too, though not quite right. No banana.

And so on.

Anyway, when I came to upgrade my little MIJ JM, I was planning on trying Jess Loureiro's ones. His P90 and Tele pickups were great and it was worth a pop.

Before I got my act together and ordered some though, I came across Mojo Pickups - I was looking at their Tele pickups, and ended-up having a chat with Marc who runs them.

Cutting a long story, I took the plunge and he wound me a set and also suggested that his PIO capacitors were worth a try, being Jazzmaster specific and rather pretty

It might have been me who mentioned their prettiness.

And so today, copping out on everything else, I finally installed the pickups, caps, new pots and switches along with a proper red torty scratchplate and aged covers and knobs. The knobs are genuinely old, I thought I should make that distinction.

Obviously I scratched the new scratchplate and generally it ended-up with a hint-of-Jook, but such is life.

And then I plugged it in, and I have to say I couldn't quite believe the sound.

I'll be honest now, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I had heard somebody else rave about Mojo's JM pickups, but we all do that about new gear, if only to justify it to ourselves, so I took it with a handgrippedfull of salt.

But even strumming a few things clean I couldn't believe how good they sounded. (Not my usual response to my own playing), and then adding a bit of reverb just took me into surf heaven. From there I played a bit louder and things got fuzzier, but even with a full-on face of fuzziness, there was still a clarity to it that was just beautiful.

It is really hard to describe the change in the sound the pickups/caps have made, but I'd deliberately played the same guitar with the Fender MIJ pickups in for a while this morning, and the difference between what I thought was pretty decent to these is crazy.

Not so much taking cotton wool out of your ears as going from a 12" black and white portable to a 43" 3D HD Plasma. It just feels alive somehow that it never did before.

Don't get me wrong, I loved playing this guitar anyway - there wasn't really anything that big that I felt needed 'fixing' which has only shocked me more.

(This isn't meant to be turning into an infomercial, even though I can feel my hair waving and teeth whitening as I type.)

I really don't know what else to say about them. I will do some recordings so you can see what I mean, but over the last couple of years I've built 50ish guitars, used all sorts of pickups from god knows how many different winders and gurus, but I can honestly say that this is the biggest change in any guitar I've ever known. Tis as simple as that.

I think you know where this is going, I'm going to be having to check out some more of this chap Marc's wares. The geezer has got something going on that's a bit special.

Yours, gobsmacked of Portishead.

Check out Mojo HERE

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.

Jooky Special Filter

Well, what can I say. It started well, then all went shonky once more. I've got to pop out a get the new Stratty thing for the MR £100 wotsit this evening, so tomorrow will have to be solder day after all. Still, I did at least get something done.

In between being verily extremely busy, I've been playing the rather lovingly lovely The Old Burny One and it really is every bit as cool as I thought. A few days apart and well, I realised what I was missing.

So naturally I have put it back up for sale.

All of which may sound odd, but I have had a good talk at myself and if I am going to keep on doing this I really can't be keeping the guitars. Otherwise I would have kept all of them and would be living in a shed somewhere eating beans out of a tin.

So if anybody fancies it for a reluctantly obtuse £399.99 in it's cool Hiscox case delivered to your door and would thus like to save me from myself and penury, go and have a shufty HERE.

You don't have to rush though.

I won't mind even a little bit.

As for the MR guitar, I got some beautiful paisley today - like old times - and it is going to have a combination of that and walnut burr veneer. How that will work, I'm not quite sure, but that is half the fun.

As for pickups I am dithering between a simple yet lovely Gretsch one at the bridge and nowt else, or perhaps that plus a Jazzmaster one at the neck if it proves to be viable and I have whipped them out of my Jazzymeister by then.

Which involves soldering, of course.
Which sounds familiar.
Ahem.

WIP: The Ronin One

Keep On Ronin...

Well, I started on the soldering of the EMGs...and am planning to try and kill it off this evening (so hopefully more later.)

I may though, have gotten a teensy bit totally side-tracked by The Ronin One, and instead have got that further along the tracks leading to looking-like-a-guitar-again junction.

And (changing subjects rapido) it is looking pretty hot. I am loving the blurry corrosion of the copper and decided that the black/white/black 'plate set it off rather nicely, so I resisted the urge to do something with that too.

As the observant among you may note, I am still waiting for the bridge to cross 'the pond' but hopefully that will be here soon as, well, the strings can be a bit floppy without one. Though who am I to criticise?

The psychic among you may also have taken notice of the fact that there is a Gordon Smith pickup at the neck. This is there for two reasons, one of which is that it had the right vibe, with the other one being that the NOS Gibson pickup that should be there is also swimming the Atlantic as we speak. Or rather I do.

In truth I will try both and see which sounds best.

As for the rest, well I've gone for a three-way-switch in the end rather than the blend pot. Can't quite remember why, but it is probably because the switch looked better there than a knob would have done. It has a chrome tip, which I think explains well enough.

King Shallow, I am, tis true.

So there we are.

Back to the soldering later on.

I hope.

Although The Old Burny One just arrived and in a fit of enthusiasm I decided to change the knobs and managed to knacker both - no half measures here - tone pots, in the process.

*sigh*

La la laaa.