I'm in Lust

*Sigh*

 

Mapleglo

Rickenbacker 660

Now that is mighty pretty

The Cremery - Groovy Guitars

Following on from my Gordon Smith sycophantism, I wanted to mention somebody else in the UK that is making some groovy looking guitars. They have only been around a short amount of time compared to GSG, and to be perfectly honest I'm not sure whether they make totally individual guitars or those they have on their web site are a 'range' of products, as it were, but either way they are way cool. Maybe I should read the words rather than just staring at the guitars with my mouth open.

If I'm honest, I'm actually hoping that they are total one-offs as that would make them even more so rather awesome.

They are called The Creamery, by the way, better mention that hadn't I?

Anyway, the first of theirs I saw was a Zachary-inspired butcher's block telecaster, which looks utterly lovely. I quite fancied having a go at one myself when I came across the phlegmatic Mr. Zachary, but never quite got to Ikea to buy the board, but I might do yet.

Following on from that though, I used my offset-radar and discovered their Jazzmaster influenced guitar the Blackguard One. This looks gorgeous (I may have mentioned it before, thinking about it) and I would love to have a thrash on such a thing.

Since then, they have become winders of their own pickups and added to the guitar list (which makes me think - hope - that maybe they are one-offs) and generally got all rather swish-like.

So one off guitar makers or something new and special in guitarland, I don't know, but either way, they look beautiful and I think worthy of a long-term-eye-kept-on type of agenda.

I hope they don't mind me showing you a couple of their photos - if you are from The Creamery and do, let me know and I'll draw some artist impressions with crayons instead...

Gordon Smith - That's the way to do it...

I was talking about my plans for the yet-to-be-named guitars I want to make, and how they will be different from the total-one-offs I've been putting together so far.

For the infrequent flyers among you, the basic idea was that people would get a bit more of a choice. My attempt at a vaguely custom-like made-to-order thingie.

All of the associated hot air reminded me of the rather wonderful Gordon Smith Guitars, as basically that is exactly what they do - they have some fantastic designs and put you a guitar together to order.

Not that I'm saying GS are full of hot air - I think they are fantastic - or that Jooky ones will look like Gordon Smith's, there's not a lot of point in doing that, but I don't mind admitting that they are pretty inspirational and I'm not too shy to copy a good idea here or even over thereish.

My favourite Gordon Smith guitar is probably the simplest, the GS 1.6. It is under-stated, simplistic and utterly brilliant to play. I'll try and remember to put a photo up of one, but to give you an idea it is a sort of single pickup Les Paul Junior type-o-thing - the one I prefer, obviously, is the one with a P90 rather than the coil-tapped humbie.

You might think that it is odd to be praising 'a copy' of a Gibson classic, but the two I've tried are much better than the Gibbo equivalent, the tones much more usable and the necks are beauty-filled to play, so no apologies for that.

GS are the pooch's bobbins as far as I'm concerned, and the consistent six-month waiting list reinforces that. They are also handmade by a British luthier, not churned out of a robotic CNC on a production line, so they are truly individual, and beautifully made.

(I have no affiliation with GS Guitars, by the way, I just like them. So there.)

So am I going to rip off their guitars?
Nope, I want to make something different, but I can see the sense of how they work and I like the way they do things. So maybe that I will unashamedly snaffle

Any Colour You Like Baby

One of the things that has set me on my merry way with all this Jooky stuff, is the idea that in these days of mass production in guitarland, big American corporations utilising off-shore construction and everything else, that it is still possible to do-it-small, and make something cool without charging thousands for it.

Don't get me wrong, money is useful, but I'd much rather have the fun of building things without being scared that I've invested my life savings, or borrowed shed-loads of money, and that if I don't sell that Swarovski  encrusted Flying V for a few grand I'm back on the streets and pimping the brats to the local priest.

Which of course is why the guitars I've sold so far have been - let's face it - crazily cheap, and despite being all the things that normally cost the earth (one-off, unique, hand-made etc.) that's the way I like it. Saying that, I got told that they were suspiciously cheap, and I have noticed that the more I charge for them the quicker they sell, but there we are...guitarists are a strange breed. Luckily I can eat whether they sell or not.

But suspiciously cheap?
Well, I can see the point of the suggestion. If you put a couple hundred quid's worth of pickups in a guitar and then sell it for the same sort of price, it does look odd, I guess.

So how does that happen?
Well, as I might have mentioned once or thrice, Jooky guitars are generally made from parts I've bought second-hand -  not always, but most of the time - or sometimes even based on guitars I've been given. Well, twice in fact, but here's hoping.

This means of course that the parts are cheaper, and whilst I could still maybe charge based on their retail. value, I don't really want to. Seems a bit unfair in truth. Often then, guitars will have parts that are worth a load more than the complete guitars are up for, but so be it

Everybody wins.

Don't get me wrong, I don't make a loss on them (actually I did on one, but there we are) but I'd rather they were out there being played than sitting here waiting for somebody to pay thru their schnozzle.

Well, that's the story so far, and for the Kylie/Leona/'Ones' guitars, that is going to be the way of things forever more, I think. If I'm not painting corners a bit close to home.

Moving forward then, with my ideas for shiny new guitars, how does that work then?
Well, I'm planning on building bodies from scratch, and then using top quality pre-made necks until I get the bottle to try making those too.

Pickups and other parts? I'm thinking that generally these will be new, mainly because when I come to sell such beasties, I want to give people options - not just say, 'you can have a Gibson pickup which I've seen listed on Ebay, if you are sharpish'.

All of which sounds a bit more luthier-like than Jooky, but I guess that is where the twist comes in, as I'm planning on making the bodies from reclaimed timbers, whether that is wood from a groovy reclamation yard, or old fireplaces or furniture, time will tell, but either way I don't see myself buying ready-to-use guitar 'blocks' that just need shaping.

Basically then, the idea is that I will have a couple of designs for the body, and then choices for the neck, pickups and hardware - and then of course, being Jooklyland, some interesting options for the finishes...which should be fun.

So again, my perfect plan part 73 1/2 - I talk sooo very much.

My Kinda Business

Have you seen, the most beautiful guitar in the world...? OK, it's a bass, but...

As I mentioned the other day, I've been thinking deep and long about building a Jooky guitar body from scratch, and so - more than any other time - I've been looking really carefully at a lot of guitars. Don't get me wrong, I know how they work and understand all that radius bobbins and intonation things and stuff, but I mean more from an aesthetic point of view. I'm thinking about form, baby, and trying to get my head around why it is that I like some guitars but not others.

And saying that - why I like - is probably a good starting point. If I'm going to come-up with my own design, I guess the easiest and most sensible way to do it is either to take an existing 'shape' - a Les Paul, Strat or Tele - and change a few of the curves. This will no doubt make the guitar more saleable too, and lets face it the majority of electric guitar players probably play a guitar that is more or less one of those shapes, even if that majority are playing a guitar that is influenced rather than influential.

I don't want to do that though - lovely though the Holy Trinity are, I can't really see the point.

So I want to do something a bit different.

At the other end of the spectrum then, we have the I'm-not-like-everybody-else approach, where odd and weird shapes are created not out of any desire for playability, but rather to scream LOOK AT ME. By that I mean the BC Rich kind of stuff, and the weird and wonderful things luthiers put together to get a few column inches in the press and on-line which will hopefully gain them a few more punters through the door. Though we know most of them will be asking for a Strat or Tele with added extras, when they do arrive.

But I don't want to do that either. I've done the Spring collection shock jock thing before, and fun though it is, I can't say I want to make things I really don't want to play myself. I may only ever make one guitar anyway, so it would be a shame to have some monster in the corner that I can only play on stilts with a false arm to hit the glockenspiel.

So where does that leave me? Well, I'm kinda ruling myself out of the heavy metal arena as it isn't my cuppa and I've never fell in love with the pointy things they play.
I'm also unlikely to go for the Holy three, much as I love playing those sort of guitars you have to ask - what would be the point of yet another copy of such things?

But what does that leave? I mean, the guitars I love are things like Jazzmasters, Jaguars - the whole offset thing - so they would naturally come into my thinking. I've said before that I love the look of a lot of the old Voxes, the Teardrop especially, but even the Phantom is interesting in a lot of ways, and I like the idea of stretching what a guitar can do without getting into Midi and track pads and the like. I also love the look of Rickenbackers, surely the most underrated guitar of all time. Ok the 330 and 360s get all the attention alongside that funny bass thing whose name escapes me, but their solid bodies look amazing. I just love the curves on a Rickie, less interested in the chrome addiction, but there we go. Some of the old Epiphones were excellent too - again the shapes are interesting and a lot of the time deceptively simple and you have to love that classic feel to their necks when you find a good oldie. Dan Electros are a similar case - the double-horned one especially, one of the most beautiful guitars I've ever seen.

So in terms of a body shape, I guess what I'm saying is that I want something that is going to look like a lost, small builder classic that stopped getting made in the Seventies because they never sold enough to stay in business, not a tweaked version of a guitar that everybody wants to play.

There, that sounds like my kind of business plan.

Sloth-filled and Lethargy Incarnate

Well, it's been a while and if I'm totally honest hardly anything has occurred in the land of Jook. Not that I see that as a permanent state of being, but it was the end of the school holibobs and then first-days-at-school, and other stuff got in the way.

This domestic blissfulness has given me a chance to think though, and I now have a pretty good idea of where I'm going on a number of fronts, and the biggest bombshell is that I will probably continue to do the odd Leona or Kylie guitar, as basically I like it. What will be different though, is that they will be more of a custom thing, but more about that soon I guess

As far as the pedals go, the 'TG Growler' I have been prototyping - breadboarding, I am very technical - and should be able to build the first one in a couple of weeks time when the youngest bratski is at school full-time and I have time to breathe. The open-wired one sounds good, and I've got a couple of alternatives to play with there too, which are interestingly cool. Not sure if I said before, but this is going to be a two-button-thingie, with a fuzz and a boost able to work together or on their ownsome.

As for Jooky pedals, I've got a good idea where that will go too, so the long winter months should be filled quite nicely.

In the longer term, I've been playing a wee bit with ideas for a Jooky guitar body design, and have surprised myself as it proved to be relatively cool, though maybe I should wait until I've built one before I get too cocky about that. I'm really into the idea of doing a body from scratch and have some nice ideas I think that will be a bit different from the usual Fender and Gibson re-treads. Again though, more on that as it moves...

And there we are. Not a lot new to report, but things should pick-up soon, methinks...

White and Sticky Love Wee Wee

Mickey-de-Bass

Following on from my musings on the not-so-glorious days of Suicidal Sperm I, err, came across Kevin our former drummer and got in touch the other day.

Facebook can be useful after all. Like catching-up with Tony the singer, it is all very cool and it was nice to get current on all the good news and as we're getting on a bit now, the not-so-very-good.

As it happens, the final piece of the jigsaw, Mickey-de-Bass, is still playing in a band who are pretty-bloomin'-excellent. They are called Urge and have some fine songs on MySpace, which are worth checking out. Have to drop him a line...

(And no, I can't see a Spermy revival as being on the cards, or anywhere else coming to that.)

Pedalling Away

Gord, where does time go. As it happens, I know, as bratskis are pretty full on, and outside of that I've been having a sneaky plan in a couple of directions...

First up, I've been messing about on paper with a design for a Fuzz and Booster combo, and am pretty happy that it is somewhere close. This is for the Guitar Grounds 'growler' project thing I mentioned before, but let’s face it, it is for fun. I don't mind admitting such things.

Taking my time up front is paying benefits though, as it has set me thinking about the whole approach to take, and given me an idea or three for a couple of Jooky pedals. I said (ad nauseum) before that I was going to be spending some time on pedals now, and I'm a bit happier with that now. I think Sophie will make a come back for one, but with a few new wrinkles, gord bless her.

Secondly, I've been looking at ideas for building a guitar from scratch. Well, a guitar body, crawl before I stumble, and all that. Again, a bit of time up front has helped me get my ideas together and I think if it goes well it will be a bit of a classic. I want something relatively simple - single P90 will come as a big surprise for the regulars - but the body shape and controls will prove to be a bit funky, I think. Not off-the-wall, despite the paisley I quite like nice lines and simple designs, believe it or not, but we'll see where we end-up I guess.

Anyway, the first step was obviously to come up with a design, and the second is to think about wood. For that I'm thinking something that has been reclaimed - it is still Jookydom after all - and as luck would have it there is a cool place not a million miles away that does that. As to the type of wood, I was thinking mahogany, but I'm quite open to trying a few different ones. Ash is lighter and zingier, and then, well, we'll see.

As for cutting it, I'm going to invest in a Router and hopefully I have somebody that will show me the ropes (though to be honest theoretically, I think I have a good idea.)

I'll document it as I go anyway.
Should be fun.

Cool.

More Meandering Like A Bee

I know the last few days have been about pedals, which is all cool, but I have also been thinking a bit about what I want to do on the guitar side of things.

First things first, I need to finish off the unfinished business. The Funky One, Glistery One and that there double-neck are all staring at me like puppies (which makes a change) and so once the school holibobs are out of the way, they will need to be put-to-bed.

I'm thinking that I will keep one of the three - Mellow, Spangled or Funky - but can't decide which as they are all cool as far as I'm concerned. The other two, we'll see what happens there...but as far as the 'Ones' go, that will be that.

The end of the series, and there we are.

As for future guitars, it depends really on my abilities. In the longer term I'm thinking that I would like to make my own bodies, if not necks, and then look at the finishes there. Hand painted ones are an option, but if I can find some decent wood I quite fancy having a go at some stain and wax or oil finishes. I won't rule out paper or cloth, but it isn't toppermost in my mind right now.

As for the shapes, well, I've got a couple of ideas for that as you might expect. As a starting point though, I would like to not go the traditional route and reproduce Fender and Gibson's finest, or tweak variations of those. They are the most saleable options of course, but as with the 'Ones' I think if people get the design, they will go anyway, and as ever I'm only doing it for myself....

I have always fancied something Vox Teardrop-like, mind you, so we will see, but it won't be clones.

One of the other things I'd like to try again is to incorporate some electronic bobbins in them. The fuzz that went into The Paisley One, I always liked, but it would be nice to go a bit further than that, certainly if I can play with sustainers and the like they could get interesting.
Heh ho

The lung and whining rooooad

Getting Growly

A Fuzzy Face, obv.

Well, the forum pedal idea is starting to take shape, and it seems as though some kind of combined Fuzz/Booster is the favourite, and so I'm starting to fiddle around on paper and see what I can come-up with. It is going to be called 'The TGG Growler' by the way, and you will be able to follow it's 'progress' here if you want to join in. If you haven't seen The Guitar Grounds forum, it is well worth a visit, by the way, a really nice bunch of people and no tw*ts allowed. Your present company excluded, and all that...

As you may know, I built the Sophie's Filthy Boots fuzzes before and never quite got as far as making any to sell, but hopefully this will get me going again, so who knows, you might see Sophie make a comeback at some point as well, while I'm at it.

Though I think this will be a bit different in the Fuzz stakes...she was such a dirty gurty.

The 'TGG Growler' pedal will have to be designed to be built, if that makes sense, which is something else to think about, and I've already come to the conclusion that a modular 'Lego-like' approach is worth a pop.

What I mean by that is that it will have a couple of easy to solder boards that will 'snap' together, and maybe the rest of the wiring could be soldered away from the pedal too. Anything that makes it easy to test in isolation, and easier to fix together at the last is worth the effort, after all.

So, basically I'm thinking it will be two switches - turn fuzz and boost off or on, in splendiferous isolation. It will have a Fuzz knob, and a Boost knob, maybe a third for Volume too if I'm feeling adventurous. Oh, a couple of LEDs too, I guess and it all has to be true-bypass, so it is nicely quietsome when it is switched-off. And then I guess it should work for both battery and 9V power too.

Hmmm...sounds like it could be fun...

Michael Finnigan

Well, there I am pondering about what to do next and a rather nice chap called Rob from a forum I have recently started to frequent suggests that maybe a 'forum pedal' would be a good idea.

I alway liked these enclosures from
www.pedalenclosures.com

Something that anybody who fancied having a go could follow and hopefully end-up with a nicely working pedal. I think a fuzz or overdrive/booster is probably the best bet as they are always useful and not that hard to put together for anybody other than me...

And I have to say I quite like the idea of that, a bit of a foto story sort of thing without the girl kissing her teacher halfway thru on a park bench while he both wrestles with his conscience and her training bra strap.

Whatever happened to Jackie and Blue Jeans?

But  that isn't important.

What is, is that it sounds like fun and it will get me going again in the pedal department...

Cool.

I can feel my Rapid Electronics addiction coming back to the surface again..yeah, ho.

Catch 'em While You Can...

This is the end, bong, bong, and a bong

So, is everybody Jookifying their own guitar at the moment?

OK, maybe not, but at least you know how to if you want to.

As it happens, other than the two or three I've got left to sort out (finish), I don't think I'll be doing any more guitars for a while. In total there have been six Leona's and a single Kylie and I think that is a nice time to settle down and have a think about what to do next.

I am fancying having a play with pedals again, but that won't really be until the autumn as life gets simpler with School reconvening. I'm also going to start to play with wood a bit more and maybe turn a couple of ideas for guitar bodies into reality. So generally, I guess I'm saying that we are entering a zenish period of contemplation and R&D.

I also have an idea that I'm trying to get my head around that is in a different direction but still related to Jookydom, so that could be worth a potter over too.

So basically, if you were thinking of getting a Leona or Kylie to play with in the Winter months, they are a dwindling breed and I can't imagine that there will be more than the two we have up for sale at the moment (The Spangled One and The Mellow One) with the Funky One to follow in the next week or so.

What of the double-neck and The Glistery One? I don't know in truth, maybe I'll give them away like I suggested before - a competition or something.

There will be more Jooky stuff, just not the same.

See I told you you should grab one while they were hot ;)

I have just realised that I haven't got one to keep, mind you. Hmmm...that wasn't sooo very clever, and worst, I can't afford the second-hand prices..

How to make a Jookified Guitar in Lots of Easy Steps

I keep getting asked how to make a Jooky guitar, or more to the point, how do you turn a bog standard Tele into a paisley one - so I figured I would give a rough guide to rough finishing.

Before you start though, think about it. Do you really want to do this? Especially if you are starting with an expensive or beloved guitar... If you think you do - cool, and good on you - but don't blame me if you are disappointed with the results. Silly as it sounds, it takes a fair bit of care to get things looking quite this disheveled, but still working and likely to last a fair old while, so it isn't a wham-bam kind of thing. It can be, but the more you put in, the better the result.

There you are then, continue at your own risk - I'm not worth suing anyway...

Going ahead? Cool. So in simple terms, and to be honest it is all pretty simple, this is how you do it:

1. Buy some good parts, or take a guitar you already have and take it to bits. Take lots of fotos as they may come in handy when you have to put it back together, especially the wiring bits if you are going to change them or you haven't messed with such things before..

If it's parts you are going with, get a neck, a body, some pickups, some tuners, a bridge and any bits that needs like springs, a scratchplate, some pots, a switch of some sort if you are using one, some wire and lots of screws.

2. Find some nice cloth or paper that has a cool or groovy design on it. If you are going the paisley route, and why wouldn't you, type 'paisley fabric' into Ebay, and pake your tick.

3. Sand the guitar body so that it is slightly rough.

4. Stick the cloth or paper with your design on, taking care to flatten out any bubbles and leave it nicely runkled around the edges. Get a really, really, sharp craft knife as you'll want to cut bits off and that makes life ever so very much simpler.

5. Get some sort of grain filler. There are lots, but test on the cloth/paper before hand as some react badly. What you are trying to do with this is turn the fabric/paper 'plastic' in the truest sense, so that it will be hard wearing and not tear or peel off. Unless you want to have it torn or peeling. I do sometimes. The one I tend to use is an American fabric craft stuff, rather than a woodwork one, which acts as a glue and a grain filler in one. It's called Mod Podge and a fiver's worth will usually do a single guitar. However, I think a wood grain filler might prove to be equally as goodish.

6. Sand the filled covering smooth and use a tack cloth to get rid of the dust.

7. Spray it lots of times with a lacquer of some sort. I like matte ones as they give a more aged finish, but gloss works too. This will make the finish hardwearing, but still look good. With Mod podge this will stop it being a bit sticky to the touch, which can happen apparently, though never has to me. You can use nitro for this if you like, but it takes forever to dry and you really should get some proper breathing apparatus. Normally I just hold my breath and run from the room every so often. Either way, you will need quite a few coats and lots of drying time. Sanding between will give a smoother finish, depends how Jooky you want to be really.

Once that is out of the way, get some T Cut and use that, and then some guitar polish, and err, use that too. Instructions are helpful here, so read the back of the bottle.

8. As for the neck, first things first, if you have a logo you will want to sand it off. This obviously upsets some people, and taking Fender off the headstock often makes me look a bit dense, I guess, but there we are. That's my trip, you can leave that part alone and just cover the body and claim you spent $3,000 at the Custom Shop. However, if you are following the plan at this point you should also sand the rest of the neck roughly.

9. Write 'Jooky' on the headstock with a marker pen, along with the guitar's name. You'll probably not want to write Jooky as it happens, so call it what you will, I don't mind. Use a Sharpie kind of pen so it sticks around, and then with a soldering iron or a pyrography tool if you have one, burn the name into the headstock, following the lines sort of carefully..

10. Using Danish oil or something similar, oil the headstock and neck. Make sure your burned-in name gets filled as it colours it nicely Again, the more you do the darker it will get. If you only roughly sanded the neck you will get a lovely aged look to it all. Again, upto you.

11. If you didn't want to burn the logo in, just give it a light coat of lacquer to stop it rubbing off.

12. Now that all the finishing is complete, give it a few days to dry and touch up or rough it up to taste.

13. I forgot to say, if you want a matching scratchplate, you need to do all the stuff you did to the body to it as well. Sorry if you didn't read ahead.

14. Now for the fun bit. Install the pickups, pots, switches and connect to the output jack. This is obviously different for every guitar - at least every one we do, so that is up to you, I’m afraid.

For that aged, Jooky look, take care to have mismatched and rusty screws, don't put them all in to the level and generally scuff things up a wee bit as you go along. If you wanted a relic type of look, you might want to invest in nickel covered hardware and stick it in some vinegar or lemon juice or something. You can find plenty of information on the web about that sort of bobbins though, so I won't bother repeating it here. Mainly as I would probably tell you wrong and they would go black or dissolve or something.

15. Bolt the neck on, if applicable, and then err, put the guitar back together....

And that is it.

Simple.
lovely.

OK, there is a bit more to it than that, and you should expect to take a couple of weeks over it all at least, but in general terms that will get you somewhere close.

Alternatively, use your imagination and do something different that suits you better.
This is meant to be art sweetie, and there ain't any prizes for plagarism sugar.

I hate to go on a bit, but...

I had a couple of people ask if I would build them a Jooky guitar again this week, which is always nice, but I'm afraid it is still a bit of a cringing 'no' moment.

I've no doubt said it before, but the making of them is the fun part for me - the deciding what to make is the interesting part, after all, as it is all about what parts are available - and if I start to have to think about what guitar somebody wants, and then sourcing the parts, well, I might as well set-up as a business, and there isn't a lot of joy to be had for me in such things.

For the record then, what I do is make guitars that I will be quite happy to keep forever. I put them up for sale for a couple of reasons, firstly as the money lets me build something else making this a free * hobby, and secondly because I really haven't got any need for lots of guitars (ahem) and if they started to stack up I wouldn't really be able to make any more without developing a harder skin...and investing in a crash helmet.

So, if you fancy one of our guitars, keep an eye on what is available. I'm always open to offers and trades (unless I'm really broke, thinking about the latter, which is most of the time) and sooner or later one may well come along that toots your horn, as it were...

Better still, make your own. It's far more fun than buying one, believe me. I think I'll do an easy-to-follow, How-to guide, that might help.



* There may be a few caveats to that particular statement, if you know what I mean...

From Beyond The Kitchen Table

I have to say that not having finished the Funky One is doing my head in at the moment.

It's still sat where I left it - annoying everybody as that was in pieces on the kitchen table - and every time I walk past it I can hear it nagging.

I think I’m going to have to do the rewiring in the evening or at night or something, but to be honest I'm so knackered at the moment that after 5ish I can hardly see straight, never mind think about what I need to do or contemplate holding a soldering iron with any kind of authority or competence.

Blah blah, woe am we, and all that.

So, get your act together and do it, a voice in my shell-like says, and I guess it is as simple as that. Starting is the key. It'll be worth it when it's done.

Here are the uber cool Pale Fountains..

Heroes

Gavin Monaghan - Top Banana

I mentioned before that I'd gotten back in touch with Tony, the-singer-from-a-band I once 'graced' - as in left the rest praying I'd get better -  in my relative youth, and as it happens he was in the neighbourhood the other day and I met up with him.

It was the first time in 15 years, by my reckoning, but it was nice to compare notes and do the sad middle-aged misty eyed thing about playing to three people in a pub and our bass player playing tambourine with a broken arm...the usual stuff, I guess.

One thing we both had in common mind you was that neither of us had proper copies of the songs we recorded over a few visits to a recording studio in Wolverhampton. We both had DAT tapes but no DAT player, and to be honest neither of us could face spending a couple of hundred quid or more on buying one from t'Bay just to hear the songs again.

Anyway, as it happens the chap who produced us all that time ago has since gone on to be a rather famous  producer, recording people such as The Editors, Ocean Colour Scene, The Twang, Kings of Leon, Robert Plant Jesus, Robert Johnson and god knows who else. I keep seeing his name on those little notes they put on CD display stands in HMV 'Produced by the Gavin Monaghan', for it is he, as a major selling point for another up-and-coming band he has found and polished into a little gem.

So, springing into life a decade late and using the power of Facebook, I dropped him a line and despite being an international super-producer-chap, he replied within a couple of minutes and said that he will take the music off the DATs and put them on a CD for me, which you have to admit shows a nice bit of class.... It was before midday, so I'm guessing he hadn't been to bed yet. Rock 'n' Roll, and all that.

So all I have to do is get myself organised and send them him...

I must admit at the time, we all figured him for a top bloke; he was already pretty well established - I might have this wrong but I think he engineered the bands on The Tube, which if you are old enough to remember Paula lay on a bed and Jools causing scandal by swearing on the telly, is pretty impressive - but he would still let many a local band pop along to the studio in his Magic Garden for a day and record a demo or a single or something, which probably cost him money in truth as basically, he just loved what he did. Even when we did it, as he let us in three times in all.

I hate to admit it, but I am really rather (yet, sadly) quite looking forward to hearing how we sounded - with a tadness of trepidation, as I don't think you really hear it right at the time.

You hear what you think you were playing and obviously we were entirely original and displayed no signs of any outside influence whatsoever. Apart from the Rush bits the drummer and bass player managed to insert, seemingly at random. (I know I mentioned that before, and I love them both dearly as it happens.)

Of the songs, I do remember one featuring a rather mean bit of piano playing deep down somewhere in the mix, though which one I couldn't say. Gavin played it, but very nicely buried it, I guess so as not to embarrass the rest of us with the fact that he was rather nifty at that as well as everything else.

Anyway, more of my glory days sometime later, but I just wanted to say -  Gavin Monaghan, what a geezer.

You can follow Gavin on Twitter HERE

A brief introduction to our newest babba

Well, soldering the Funky One (and the Glistery One, and probably another one somewhere too) was out of the window due to aforementioned bratski-sitting-duties, so I thought I'd get on with playing with the new Strat I keep subtly introducing to the conversation without getting any kind of definite about,
well, most things.

The Spangled One

Anyway, the sustainer, octaver and fuzz will have to come later as - obviously - they need to be soldered too, and as my brain has to work, a bit of quiet comes in handy too.

But anyway, I haven't had a chance to either solder or think and so instead I've gone for a finish rather than a leccy uniqueness for the latest baby on the slab, and although it is not quite finitoed, I'd like to introduce you to the latest in a growing line of Leona's Groovy Guitars - "The Spangled One. "

*cough*

Featuring a lovely alder body, maple neck, rosewood board, Strat shape and for the first time ever three single coil pickups - from a Mexican Fender Strat, I should point out, and all the better for it - it is quite lovely to play.

Oddly there is a knot mark on the fret board, which looks wicked. Don't know why I mention that, apart from because I just happen to like it, I guess.

Flaunt the imperfection, as we used to say in the Eighties.

Oh, but the finish. How can I forget that?

Well, it is a lovely sucked Raspberry Paisley, beautifully ruffles up around the edges and boasts (!) a nice simple design that works really well geometrically-like.

But, and here's a thing,  the front has been given an extra wee treatment that has made it all spangly and a bit glittery.

(Wee as in small, not hot and yellowy liquid, figured I should explain that.)

Anyway, it isn't something that you'll notice most of the time, but get on stage with a few lights and it will look tree-mendously cool, it has to be said. Better still, don't practise in the dark or even aim a spotlight at the guitar as you play it. I know I always do.

So anyway, JGE #15 'The Spangled One' - more about that to follow, I'm sure, but it is a-lovely-and-a-jubbly. Sounds pretty nice too, in a Stratty kind of way.

This is it nearly finished..she's a babe ain't 'er?

Sold: "The Spangled One"

The Spangled One moves our Jooky journey forward, with Marc Bolan and David Bowie as our inspiration. Both started in the Sixties with a flower-powered Paisley inspired sound, but blossomed in the Seventies when the softer approach gave way to the glimmer and spangledness of glitter and glam.

The Spangled One is a bright glittery thing with the sounds to ching with the Glam just as easily as you can get folky or bluesy. But all that glisters, and all that, the Spangled One has a darker, harder edge, a glass chilled cutting edge that will break through any mix.

The finish to the guitar is jaw dropping, mixing a traditional Paisley pattern and enhances the glammer with a glittery finish to the front. Stunning in daylight it will really come to life on stage.

*

To be clear, The Spangled 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 Thin White Jook. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.



Technical Stuff:

Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar

Pickups: Fender Stratocaster single coil

Guitar Type: Fender Stratocaster Inspired

Construction: Cloth over wood.
Dean Markley Jimi Hendrix Pure Nickel Strings 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: 1 x Volume, 2 x Tone – ‘wired out of sink’

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

Serial Number: JGE#15

RSP: £399 SOLD

A Love Unrequited

I'm troubled.

You may have worked that out , I admit.

More specifically, I am troubled by a daft kind of lust.

A silly, yet deep, insane and adolescent crush.

I know, I know. I'm 42; I should be over such things.

But as itches go, well, it's been around since I felt too old to be in a band at 22 and it has nagged at me ever since.

I know I talk about the odd guitar I'd like on here. The Les Paul BMG, the Vox Teardrop - actually I haven't mentioned that before I think, but I've always wanted one of them as well.

There's also the ones I let get away, sold when I should have kept, like my Rickie 360/12 - a gorgeous Mapleglo beauty and the best made guitar I've ever had the privilege to hold never mind own.

The Danelectro I really shouldn't have given away.

The Antoria Thinline Tele clone that weighed a ton but sustained like a Les Paul.

The Psychedelic Surf One, thinking more recent-like.

But the one I'm thinking of at the moment is something I had only seen in a book for years - a black and white foto at that - and I guess because of that it took on a mythical air as far as I was concerned.  I wasn't even sure that they existed, probably only seen in smoke-filled shops run by fellas called Clyde in America in small towns I'd never visit.

And then one day I went into a shop in Brum and saw it, staring at me. £100. Crazy mental cheap.

And worse I had more than that in my pocket. I'd popped in to buy a guitar as well, and it was the most amazing colour, the grain of the wood simply awesome. Just sat there, already plugged into a wee amp. It even had headphones if you were embarrassed about your playing.

I looked at it for an age, and finally took a step.

Focused intently on it,
A very real, pain-filled love at first sight.
I took that step,




but in the other direction.

I bought an Epiphone Les Paul, if I remember rightly.
Didn't even play it, just picked it up and handed the money over.
I sold it weeks later unplayed. Untouched and unloved.

I still can't tell you why.
It would be easy to say it was because I didn't feel worthy of such a guitar, and perhaps it would be true. But I think it was deeper than that, I think it was more that I was scared that this guitar I'd lusted after for eons just wouldn't be everything I dreamed it to be, and instead of finding out,
I bottled it.

The ultimate jigsaw centre forward,
I went to pieces in the box.

I never went back to the shop.
Scared it would still be there,
terrified it wouldn't be.

And I've never seen a Rosewood Tele since. I've never held one, smelt the wood or felt the weight in my hands. I still don't know the truth about them, and I guess I never will.

A chap on the Music Radar forum I frequent put a foto of his up the other day and it brought it back. He nicely said I could pop around and play it, but I don't think I will.

He was selling it a while back too, and again I couldn't bring myself to buy it.
I'm glad he didn't though, guitars like that shouldn't be sold.
They should be cherished.
I should know,
I can't even bring myself to touch one.

Serial Offender

I know a few people have been a wee bit confused about our 'serial number strategy', and especially by the fact that, for instance, The Spangled One will have a serial number of 14 when in fact it is only our sixth (or is it seventh, I can't be bothered to check - sorry) guitar.

Now, I see the point, but as we explain on our Hall of Fame page, we have made things other than guitars, and wanted to keep just one list of numbers, whatever the Jooky thing we happen to produce next may be.

So that is it really, and I know a couple of people who think they should have got 'single digit serial numbers' in fact didn't, but to be honest it isn't like we're talking about mass-production here. I mean, what do Fender and Gibson do as a Limited Edition - a hundred? a thousand, maybe? I don't know. Compare that to us where everything is a one-off, and well, the number isn't the buzzy-bee-all, now, is it?
Really?
It's not, is it...?
Nope, didn't think so...

You can of course see all of our things to date at the Jooky Hall of Fame, if you so wish to.