Buy My Guitars? Just Don't Feel You Have To Rush....

The Pink Panther One - Funky as a Funkster in Platforms

It's funny making all these Jooky guitars, because every time I do one it is because I want to play it - I make them to my taste, if you see what I mean, and then due to 'the rules of Jookydom' I have to move them on.

You could, of course, ask

"Why do you have to move them on?"

and I would have to reply...

"Well, I decided when I started that I couldn't really carry on making guitars and have them pile up for ever more, instead then I promised that I would sell any I made. The good part is that other people seem to want them too, and the money I get from flogging them pays for the parts for the next one I make etc."

Which is the truth, even if it sounds like an arty excuse for commerce, but there we are.

Whatever the truth of it all and whether I'm trying to convince myself more than anyone else - The downside is that I seem to have this constant generation game conveyor belt of guitars I really, really love, slowly moving out of reach.

In fact apart from an old acoustic, I don't actually own a guitar anymore - I just play them between the times when I make them and when they go out the door to pastures new and no doubt owners that can play them a lot better than I can anyway.

I do keep promising myself that I'll buy myself a guitar to play, but they are never quite what I want, if you see what I mean, as really what I want is a Jooky guitar and that is the only sort I can't have.

The Lulu One - All Corroded Copper and Paisley Teledom

The point of this rambling?

Well, I have fancied a Les Paul for ages, but none of the ones I ever try really hit the spot.
Although The Golden Shower One suits me perfectly.

Also, I'd like another Jazzmaster, but would it be better than the ones I've made myself - The Blue Moon One is gorgeous and The Pink Panther One is a funky as F&*k. And don't even get me started on The Psychedelic Surf One.? 

But would I find one to match up to my own made-to-my-taste creations?

Not to my mind as I made them all 'just' how I want them and you can't really improve on that.

So do I break the rules and keep one, or should I just go and buy something and mod it, but not tell anybody it is a Jooky one.

Can I even do that?
I dunno.

Saying all that, I've seen a couple of Yamaha SGs I quite like the look of...and there is always the Old Burny One, and there is a Tokai Lemon Drop I like the look of in a local shop, and maybe, maybe I should just save my pennies and get Wez Venables to make one for me...who knows. I also saw a Vox Teardrop the other day too, and I have wanted one of them for eons, and then of course...

So in summary - I'm loving The Golden Shower One and The Pink Panther One at the moment.
They both are exactly what i want in guitars.
They are both for sale, and no doubt one of these days, they will move on to pastures new, I know that.
Just don't feel you have to buy them just yet, eh?
Give a bloke a bit of fun first eh?
Tis only fair...

And Then There Were Two

Well, The Twangy One was sold earlier on, so we're back to the more common situation where this Emporium of ours has a measly two guitars being available to buy...

They are of course...

1. The Golden Shower One:

With it's 23 Karat Gold Leaf top, P90 pickups and everything else...

You can find out more HERE, of course...

And....



2. The Pink Panther One:

With it's equally 23 Karat Gold Leaf Scratchplate and perfect pinky purple paisley

(I'm impressed I can say that on a Saturday night too.)

 All the info about this baby is HERE of course too.


As ever, I'm open to part-exs, trades and brown envelopes full of filthy lucre. PayPal is OK too...

Other than that, not a lot has happened, though a rather bizarre Telecaster Body arrived earlier on that has been covered with what looks like Parquet flooring...

Not quite sure what will happen with it yet, but there we go...I'm sure I'll think of something...

Oh and West Brom beat Aston Villa for the first time since the Royal Wedding (actually the first time since Chas & Di got spliced, but there we are).

Blatant Ebay Plug and a Lot of Filler

I forgot to say yesterday that The Twangy One is up on Ebay as an auction at the moment - it ends on Saturday if I remember even something like accurately. And looks to be going dead cheap...so if anybody fancies a bit of double Fil'tron sounding Jookiness, this is a good place to go look, come see and all that.

Well, it's the only place, and last chance, lets face it.

OK, sad plug over - it has already gone...

Other than that,  I must admit I have been all-a-buzz since I got The Pink Panther One finished yesterday, and to be totally honest, I can't keep me dirty donnies off the lass. I just wish I had a flanger to join up with my Big Muff for extreme noisnik-ness. (I have got an old Zoom 2020 multi-fx thing, but I can't raise the enthusiasm to wade thru the multi-lingual instructions and get my head around all the modes and banking it seems to require. Always been a bit analogue on the sly, me, which is a bit limiting for a Computer Programmer, err, Information Architect).

Still, all good fun and I just love offset guitars, which I guess makes it odder still that this is only the second ever.

But there we are, old news am we.

I do want to get on and finish the Lulu and Blue Moon Ones, but that will probably be next week now as guess what, yep skools out again and my proclivity toward productivity is greatly diminished.

I have just remembered that I popped the dirty stinking Floyd Rose equipped Nuno-esque Poodly type of guitar I acquired a while back, into our local guitar tech and have heard no more about it.

That was in January, hmmm...

I know they were busy, but..

Still, no panic, I might give them a ring about it. I can't even remember why they have it now, though Floyd Roses and locking nuts are voodoo as far as I'm concerned, so it probably had something to do with one of them...maybe.

Sold: The Pink Panther One

About The Pink Panther One

I was going to write a little story about Citroen DS cars, Inspector Clouseau, Monet, Perrier bubbles going ‘Ooh’, Thierry Henry, The Eiffel Tower, Doctor Who with a twist in there about Grace Kelly getting lost en-route from Monte Carlo.

It was going to be an exceptional little tale, that would have peaked with all the gossamer strands being pulled into a single thread of a blue-ribbon wrapped around this beautiful guitar.

But when I thought more about it, I figured that a picture in this case is really worth all those words, and so I introduce the latest Jooky guitar – The Pink Panther One, with these thoughts:

Fender Jazzmasters are the coolest guitars ever.

Fender Jaguars are pretty close.

Fender’s Pink Paisley Tele is probably third.

Fender Custom pickups are awesome.

23 Karat Gold Leaf scratchplates are beyond the pale.

The Pink Panther One is a Gallic nod towards American cool, with a twist of Parisian Chic just for good measure.

The Pink Panther One is a gem.

End of Story.

*


To be clear, The Pink Panther 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 evening stuck between floors in the Eiffel Tower lift. 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

Electrics: Fender Strat Pickups

Guitar Type: Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar Style

Construction: Cloth over wood. Yamaha Tuners

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

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

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

Serial Number: JGE#24

RSP: £399

*** Sold - Sorry about that :( ***

Introducing The Pink Panther One

Well, the plan was to finish The Blue Moon One, but a lack of time due to forgotten appointments, and the fact that this little dah-lin' caught my eye, it just had to be the Pinky that I made today instead.

I have no shame

But here she is, and man she plays beautifully.

Anyway, proper details later, I'm sure, but for the record...

A handmade, ash offset body - Jaguar/Jazzmaster-inspired, take your pick...

A lovely maple and rosewood neck - sooper-low action (by my standards anyway) all buzz-free and super quick.

A truly oh-my-god paisley finish - which is very, very un-runkled around the edges.

Not quite sure how that happened, but I guess I wanted to 'keep the lines true', as it were.

The scratchplate is of course gilded with the finest 23 Karat gold leaf, and suitably worn and generally aged.

It looks stunning in 'real life' without being gaudy somehow.

Actually, I'm not really sure what happened with this guitar it is quite neat for some reason.

Pickups are some Fender ones - I'll have to try and
remember what they are, but I think they are Custom '69 Strat ones...

And there we are. Stunningly cool.

I'm off to play a bit...

End of the Holibobs

Tomorrow...Only a Day Away...

Well, my Signature guitar idea seems popular (I've never had so many emails - tis soooo very bizarre immediate popularity). so that I will need to sort out in the very nearest of futureness.

Last day of the school holibobs today mind, so I'm thinking more about finishing a guitar tomorrow.

Which to choose..hmmm?

I think it will have to be The Blue Moon One, as basically that just needs some soldering and I should be able to get that done before the brats get more holiday for a wedding of all things. It was bad enough that they got a fortnight off because some geezer got crucified, but a wedding - sheesh.

It'll never last anyway.

Still, the Blue Moon One -  Lippy pups and all, that would be nice.


Today though, I am mainly 'visualising' what I'm going to do to my Old Burny One, as I've finally got to the bottom of the finish. Basically, it is going to have a 24 karat gold top to it, but it will be an aged and crackled visage if it works out as planned. I decided not to do the lacquer with nitro, leave a year, attack with a hair dryer plan, but instead am taking my lead from some well known fakirs of antiques and using some special chemicals I'm hoping I can get the effect I want a bit quicker.

(I found a great web site on 'faux' middle eastern antiquities and followed on from there, and man some of the things people use to artificially age bits of plate you really wouldn't believe. I thought I was doing well with a wet tea bag and  a paint by numbers Monet.)

Anyway, once the chemical lorry arrives and I don my NASA suit, I'll try it on my well goldified Strat body and see how it looks. If it is anyway close to what I want I'll go ferrit on the Burny.

As for the Burny, I'm really not sure what to do with the headstock. As it stands it has an awful attempt at a Gibson logo, which looking closer seems to be stuck with super glue over the original Burny one (Why would you do that - crazy?). So do I try and restore it as a Burny, or do I Jookify it proper-like? I think the latter, but I always wanted a Burny, so maybe, maybe..

Nah, Jookification, tis the only way.

I have to say I am looking forward to doing it though - bit of Love's labours about it - fifties wiring, Bare Knuckle Mules, proper gold top, '70s or '80s guitar (actually I could probably age it if I dug out the Burny logo from beneath the Gibbo one, thinking about it).

But circles, go around and around and around again.
Be nice to start doing things again.
Finally.

Searching For The One One

I've been thinking about this for quite a while, and as a premier builder of individualistically beautifilled guitars (ahem), I thought it was about time that I created a signature guitar - you know, came up with a guitar that somebody superbly fameified plays publicly that everybody else points at and sort of says 'Wow, if he plays one of them there Jooky guitars, then they must be truly cool and I should play one too'. Leading to queues of people wanting to buy sweatshop build 'replicas' and multimillionaire status.

Obviously that isn't what I want though.

Instead, I thought it would be a lot cooler to make a signature guitar for somebody who isn't a household name. In fact, for somebody that I, at least, haven't heard of.

Don't get me wrong I would like to make one for somebody who plays in a band and does a decent amount of gigs each year and doesn't mind being seen in public clutching one of my babies, but I won't be paying them and as it will be the only one I'll ever make, there won't be royalties either. So basically, they will get a free guitar and that is that.

It will however be fun, I hope, and there we are. Oh, they will have to appear on this blog/web site here and there too.

But how to pick this personage? Well, I guess I could have a competition, that would make sense, and it should probably be on line. Maybe I'll do that - people could tell me in thirty words why they should be 'the one'. Or better still, maybe they should describe the guitar (at least that way I can work out if it is something I can build... la la).

Anyway, that is the plan - our first and probably only signature player, the one one.

Coming soon, when I get around to it.

In truth, very little

Well, it's been a quiet few days in terms of guitars in Jookyland, though in other ways more bedlam-like. Typical school holibobs really.

I have done very little in truth, though I did decide to get my head together as far as the Skull & Roses covered Explorer is yet to go, and have stripped it back to the wood - or at least the varnish on top of the wood, and know what I'm going to do with it.

As I said before, I'd got a couple of platinum covered Gibson pickups for it which should be suitably raunchy (a word I never thought I'd find myself writing seriously, if I am, of course) and I've decided on the finish too for good measure.

I haven't got it yet but I'm looking at Molten Iron for the top, and wood back and sides at the moment. Whether this ends up as rusty metal or something more spectacular - well, there is a bit of work to be done until I find out.

As for the lonely three waiting for their measure of solder, nothing has changed though I'll hopefully turn my gaze in their direction next week on one of the two days the brats are back learning something. We'll see I guess.

Ho diddy hum. Have a fine Easter...

Everything is broken

OK - in the school holibobs, as I may have mentioned once or twice, things can take a turn for the disorderly, even by my own standards. Time to do 'stuff' is at a premium and usually grabbed in between teeny and weeny chunks, and generally it is often a case of doing something rather than following thru in an orderly manner.

Not that I do that normally, but I always think i will do sometime.

So, I thought I'd do meself a wee check list so that I can see where I stand...

1. The Pink Panther One - This has been paisleyified, and has also now been lacquered, in an off-and-on manner. It looks good, so far. Other than that, the scratchplate has been gilded and lacquered, and I have wired up the pickups. As for the neck, I've got one now which is lovely, and it even has the name of the headstock - just not burned in yet  In summary, in the pink. (Tee & hee) Rather typically then, the last one I started is closest to being finished.

2. The Blue Moon One - All done apart from the wiring, which I've started but not yet finished. Looking awesome, it has to be said and I just want to play the thing now

3. The Lulu One, body is complete, neck needs some work and I need to wire it up. Cool, but not yet killer. The finish though is awesome, I can't help but keep looking at it.

So as far as those three go, it is soldering time I need, which is the hardest thing of all to get right now.

Other than that, I've had a bit of a change of heart on something else. A while back I mentioned that I'd got an Explorer-esque shape guitar - lovely bit of mahogany and everything else. Anyway, at the time I was thinking of doing something more high-voltage, than is normally my want, and so had got a couple of PRS Tremonti pickups, and then some Super Distortion/PAF Di Marzios. I even covered it with a lovely roses and skulls finish and then, basically, well nothing happened.

In time I flogged on the pickups, and the body has sat there half finished for ages now. I could say I don't know why, but I guess i do really as it had never totally grabbed me for some reason, and so I've done other things that have interested me more.

Today then I decided that I would rather start again with it. It'll make a wonderful guitar, and I've just snaffled some other ones for the bridge with numbers i e of the other ones for the bridge with numbers i can't recollect as I sit typing this.

So the plan now is to give it a completely different look, remove the skull and roses and make it more of a classic rocker, than a fizzy heavy metal 'axe'. I'm excited about it again now and am a plotting and a planning, which is a good sign. It'll probably get finished that way and on current form it will just be waiting to be soldered along with everything else. Such is life in Jookyland.
Other than that, I grabbed a few yards of paisley fabric. I've come to the conclusion that I like the idea of mixing things up, but I am still a sucker for a fat quarter.

Blah blah blah.Everything is

Candid Creep - Live at Last

Well, I never made it there - but I was really chuffed to see the fotos of Candid Creep's first gig, not least because they feature Kyle playing The Fat Pussy One....



Along with Craig on the Bass and Scott on the tubs at the back, I think it could well be one of those events that hundreds of thousands of people will be claiming to have attended in later years...

You can find out a lot more about them on their Facebook page thing HERE and they Tweet too, over HERE.

Whatever that means.

Tis all cool...so tell your friends to tell their friends to tell some people they know but, you know, maybe aren't really that close to.

Debut EP on it's way too in the very near..

Obviously, Craig is slumming it with a Fender Bass, but we can't have everything.

Cool

On the other hand...

Well, I forgot to show this earlier, but I started to put together The Pink Panther One, and as per I'm getting all over-excited and keen about it.

As you know I haven't even got the last two I started finished, but what the hell.




This is an offset Jaguar/Jazzmaster type of thing, and it is pinky purple and it is paisley. What's not to like.

Anyway, as you can see from the fotos, I've plastered the glue, lovingly touched the fabric up, grain filled and sealed and generally moulded it around the beautiful offsetness until it fits likely a cute little southern belle's glove.

And I have to say, in all modesty it is an absolute beaut.

To top it off, I decided a bit of glitz and glamour was needed and so the scratchplate has been 23K Gold Leafed to within a few millimetres of it's life and then roughed up a bit as life is like that, lets be honest about it.

As for the neck, I have a choice of two at the moment and can't make my mind up, so I'll probably come back to that later.


The pickups , for once, are sorted and decided - some rather exceptional Fender Custom '69s.

And there we are...it's a start anyway.

Obviously a fair way to go, yet.

In other news, The Blue Moon one still needs a bit of a solder as does The Lulu One and well, probably will remain that way for a while longer. Such is real life.

Not So Loveless Any More

Well, Sean got The Loveless One and I'm pleased to say that he was 'delighted' with her.

He said some nice things which I'll unashamedly paste below,
and sent me a few fotos of her nestling between his Gibson 2002 Les Paul and his not-very-plain-at-all Paul Reed Smith 2009 SC 245 10 Top -

and what a beautifilled trio they make...

Sometimes, it's just worth it dah-link

mwah
x

What Sean had to say was.....

"It is a joy to behold! A quick review for you. Packaging and presentation are first class, the wrapping and guide book are excellent and welcome touches. The guitar itself looks amazing and is very light, the pickups sound brilliant individually, but the middle position is a killer, just like Peter Greens Les Paul, very nasal and pinched sounding. That would be my default setting as the volume is lower than the individual.

Hope that makes sense!! From a very delighted owner!!"

Early Morning Mourning

Could I really finish something?

Finally, today after much messing around by UPS, the Royal Mail should be delivering the Loveless One to Sean, who snaffled it oh-so-quickly. I hope he likes it, I certainly do.

I must admit, the T-Topped pickup and P90 combo certainly caught me. It really was a striking sounding guitar and I have to admit I'm missing  it big time already. Looked amazing too, but the sound was right on the edge, even thru my little Blackstar babushka and I can't think of anything else I've played that sounded quite as sweet as it.

Actually, maybe I hope he won't like it and I can have it back again..

Other than the mourning, The Lulu One has been lacquered, looks great and just needs to be put together, soldered and generally alchemised. Though I haven't got a clue what I've done with the nut, if I'm being honest, and the tuners too, thinking about it. It is looking cool mind, it has to be said and I'm itching to get it finished..Teles always seem like proper guitars to me. Maybe me roots are showing.

Moving on, The Blue Moon One needs to be soldered in a big way, but that isn't kiddy friendly in the activity stakes, so will have to wait for a tender moment. Still, I might manage to sneak a half an hour here or there and get it done. Fingers crissed.

But none of these jobs are really plannable as young kids + hot soldering irons = bad mix.

So what to do between requests for drinks/food, visits to parks and all the other stuff on the agenda for this week?

Well, I figured that as I now have the lovely, loverly Fender Custom '69 pickups, the paisley to hand and a deep seated love for all thing offset - I might as well start on The Pink Panther One. The paisley I have is gorgeous and I've been thinking a long time about how to make the best of it. Not sure I have a suitable neck, but we'll see. I do like the idea of the Fender pickups, and they get rave reviews, and as I have a lovely Strat body or two around the place, maybe I'm being a tad perverse putting them in a 'different' guitar, but then who cares if I'm being honest. It's only an outline, after all.

(I do realise at this point that I should be careful, given my tendency to start lots of things and end-up finishing none of them, but what can you do? Multiple viewings of the Garfield movie aren't grabbing me overly, it has to be said.)

So where to begin? Well, as I've mentioned a few times over the last six months or so, I'm struggling with shaky hand syndrome a fair bit, which makes soldering a tad chore-like. I'm OK with small amounts, but it isn't easy and can be verily frustrating, particularly when there are three or four wires going to a small area, like a pot or switch or something. I've been thinking about this a lot, and have finally come to the conclusion that I should come-up with a different way of doing things that works better for me.

Initially I was thinking some kind of socket/plug idea, which would work, but to be honest I'm not sure that given the fact that guitars tend to get thrown around a bit, they would hang together as well as a properly soldered joint. It's still an option though, and I've used it for convenience here and there - mainly to connect switches in Les Pauls, I have to say.

Another alternative I've tried is connecting all of the ground wires to a single point - a washer - that then goes out to the jack socket. This works well and simplifies connections elsewhere - 'Star grounding' as it's known, but I can't help but think it is only solving half a problem.

My latest thought then is to use a bit of strip board, so that all of the grounds, lives and everything else are connected in a planned order. This seems a good idea, and I'm going to try that later on if I get a chance.

Why mention this? Well, I can't sleep and this is what goes thru my head in the early hours of the morning. Sad innit?

While I'm talking about under the hood, somebody had posted a link on Music Radar to a site that gave a  great tip on adding a 'fuzz' effect to a guitar that is passive - not needing a battery. I can't say I know how well it will work, but I do fancy trying this on the Blue Moon One. Basically it means that the tone control turns into a Fuzz control. Full on is no fuzz, full off is total fuzz. I only need a diode, which I should have around somewhere, though maybe a LED would work, and I have tons of those. Pondering again...

But there we are, probably a few weeks work to keep me busy and despite the fact I know I will only be able to snatch minutes here and there for the next couple of weeks, I still delude myself that I will have everything done by Friday...

Go figure.

La la laaaaa

WIP - The Lulu One

Well, a bit of sun and things go nice all of a sudden, and better still I even managed to grab a few hours over the last few days to get a trot on as far as The Lulu One goes.

As you can see in the plonked together WIP shot, the body is now lacquered, the neck now fits and generally we are getting somewhere...

It still needs to be wired up, the nut needs to be fitted and all manner of other stuff, but right now it looks pretty cool to me.

I'm not sure the fotos catch it proper-like, but the copper leaf looks different depending on the angle you look at it, which is cool.




Where it has been eaten thru on the top, the paisley looks exceptional, as it does on the back and sides of course.

I know this is quite a leap in many ways, but it feels like a great guitar already and I can't wait to hear the Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar at a decent volume...

Well, and there we are.

Hopefully it will be completed in the next couple of days.

Speaking of which, The Blue Moon one just needs soldering too, which I want to do tonight or tomorrow given half a chance...

Heh ho and on we go..

Continuing Journeys In Paisley

Well, I've started to lacquer the Lulu One, and I must admit I was a wee bit worried about how to ensure that I didn't lose the lovely copper sulphate lines where the copper has been eaten away to show the paisley beneath. I searched around a while and couldn't get any useful hints anywhere so I kinda decided to just go for it and do very, verily, very light coats.

The first one was a bit fraught but hopefully that will have sealed it a bit and subsequent ones are 'away' from the copper, if that makes sense. Fingers crissed, but so far I seem to be getting away with it.

I can't quite believe how well this worked, and the guitar is probably the most stunning I've ever seen (OK, I may be biased, but honestly - it is seriously cool in 3D). I was feeling bad about covering the pine - I had half a mind to give it and the neck a very light lacquer and leave it like that, but I am really pleased I didn't. I'm kinda fighting a natural tendency to dive in a and rush to finish it, as I'm kinda scared that if I even look at it wrong I'll screw it up and never be able to replicate it (not that replication is my kinda thing - but this time, I'd really want to.)

As you may have guessed then, I love the effect, and if I can pull it off I think this will be a helluva-striking-piece-of-guitarwork. Hmmm hmmm and a Hmmm.

Other than a bit of lacquering though, I can't see too much going on around here for the next couple of kiddy-caring weeks, but we'll see.

One thing I was pleased about was that I managed to pick up a set of Fender Custom '69 pickups, which are meant to be uber good. I'm thinking these will either go into the speckled Strat body I showed you the other week, or maybe even into the pinky purple Jaguar body I've got - the matching body to The Blue Moon One - The Pink Panther One, that's what I was going to call it, I remember.

That is going to have a nice pink paisley finish, and I like the idea of Stratty pickups in it, so these could be they. I have also got some Hot Texas Strat pickups coming too though, so we'll have to see how I feel when I get that far
.
Speaking of pickups, I've also been thinking more about the Wizard Novatron pickup I mentioned the other day, and I have got an interesting idea for the Strat I plan to put it into (once I've got the dosh to buy it, of course). What I'm thinking is that I would like to try and find a nice way of capturing a sort of rusted iron look. I know there are paints that are ferrous and I'm sure there will be a way. I've always loved the rusty iron man sculpture in the middle of Birmingham, so maybe that sort of effect would be good. We'll see, and maybe it would be more appropriate on a Tele than a Strat anyway.

Ah, so many ideas so little likelihood of completion. Still, tis the thought that counts, apparently.

But, another day of waiting for a courier beckons....

Sunday Musings of the Inactive Kind

Well, it's been a bit of a flurry over the last week or two with various guitars coming and going and generally I've been pretty pleased, courier no shows apart.

Now, of course, it is the school holibobs so things take a turn for the slow, but I'm hopeful that I'll at least get the chance to finish The Lulu and Blue Moon Two, if nothing else.

I've given up on trying to plan - which in a way has proved 'freeing', so I'm reluctant to talk about anything other than immediate futures anymore, but no doubt will anyway.

A Wizard Novatron - worth building a guitar around?

Not least because I've picked up a lovely old Strat which seems, to me, to be begging for a single Wizard Novatron pickup. I think I mentioned these before and I have to say I am intrigued by them, being lower output than normal (no bad thing in my book, Les Paul seemed to manage quite nicely) and giving an 'unique almost resonatoresque tone'. It looks cool too, which always helps, let's face it.

I might have to order one from Wizard then - can't imagine there are too many floating around in the grey zone of second-hand parts, after all. And did I mention it looks cool?

I'm still dithering about my old Burny Les Paul project too. I have all the parts, well nearly, but I can't quite decide on the finish - or more to the point how I go about getting it. I am going the 24K gold direction for the top, and was thinking about taking the nitro-wait-a-year-attack-with-hair-dryer fork in the road to getting a nicely cracked finish, but I've come across a gilding product which would possibly give a similar effect a lot quicker.

Should I be patient and do it proper-like, or cut across shorty-like and speed things up? I want this guitar to be one I keep, so maybe the former as I'll have it a year before I can finish it, but then...oh, I don't know.

I always want to keep them, of course, but never do - it's the golden rule, after all.

Other than that, I think the web site needs a bit of an overhaul. I like it's simplicity, but as the days of little amps and effects are gone now as far as Jookyland goes - my hands shake too much to solder them, I'm afraid - and the focus is totally on the guitars, it could be simpler. Also, I like the gilded finishes too, so they will stick around a while  I think. I especially like mixing them with the fabric, hmmm... But I'm not talking futures, am I?

Degrading Lulu Gracefully

Well, the courier never showed-up, rather annoyingly.

But what can you do?

I love the fact that they say that you can't report a missed collection until after 5pm,
which oddly is when they
shut
for
the
day.

On a brighter note, my gracefilled degradation of The Lulu One's copper top amazingly worked a treat.

Hopefully you can see that the copper has chaotically corroded away, leaving some lovely blueness - copper sulphate? I had a chemistry set once - as well as allowing a few glimpses of the quite delightfilled golden paisley beneath.

I'm well chuffed - just hope the blueness doesn't get washed away by the lacquer next week.

Heh ho

WIP - The Lulu One

Step 1 - Find a Girl and Cover her in Paisley

Well, another day of waiting in for a courier to show up (or not - depending on which way the breeze tumbles), I've carried on a bit with the Lulu One.

Following on from yesterday, as you can see I have completely covered the pine-of-loveliness body with my golden paisley. Bloody good it looks too, and to be perfectly honest I was severely tempted to just lacquer it like that and be done with it, but I've taken so long to get around to doing Lulu that I couldn't give in there, now could I?

Step 2 - Cover Her With Copper

Anyway, I have a master plan for this one, and it would be a shame not to at least try it out.

And that is the key to The Lulu One - I really don't know how it will turn out. Haven't got a clue. Zilch and nada. Uncharted shark infested paddling pools, is where I find meself hopping to and fro.

But I have hope and as step one was to paisley it up, so step two is obviously going to be for me to cover the top in copper leaf so you can't see the paisley at all.

Makes sense, eh?

Well, that I did and very coppery it looks too.

So is that it?

Step 3 - Pour Acid On Her Like Tears

Nope, by jimminy, there is a final flourish that will either make you gasp and go 'wow' and  generally wiggle your ears in admiration, or it will fail dismally and all the effort and planning will become a waste of time (and we have so little, each and every one of us, so we need to make all our arrows count. I learned that on a course once.).

Step 3 then was to slightly rough the copper up in a few places, and then drip and drop a secret mixture of magical bobbins in liquid form onto the copper front.

Why would I do that?

Well, the idea is that it will artificially age the copper leaf so that it 'patinates' and goes funny colours. Better still, and this is the whole point, it will in places, hopefully dissolve patches of the copper entirely so that (roll of trumpets, fanfare of elephants on balls)...allow the lovely golden paisley to show thru.

Well, that is the plan/hope/dream and I haven't got a clue as I type this and wait for the magic copper burning elixir to do it's stuff, whether it will work or not.

Step 4 - She goes to pieces, basically

It could end-up horrible, and in truth I don't know how the grain filler on the fabric will react to all of this elixir-ing either, so we will just have to see. No flames yet though.

(Maybe I should have lacquered the fabric first, I don't know Hmm.)

Still, as you can see in the final foto of the day (it took me a while to get around to posting this) it has started to work. Have to see what it looks like tomorrow, I guess..see if any paisley is making an appearance thru the front door.

But that is the best part innit? Taking a chance and seeing if there is any magic to be had, any hold in them there gills.

And on that fishy note, I'll go back to my waiting. I'm sure the courier will arrive, sometime.

Getting Coppery

During - paisley on and drying

Well, waiting for other things to happen - like me getting my finger out to finish The Blue Moon One, for instance, and mourning the fact that The Loveless One only stuck around for less than a day, I thought it was about time I did something about my Copper-topped Tele.

This has gone on a bit, I admit, but I finally cut the nut slot on the maple neck yesterday, which I've dreaded doing but proved to be quite easy once I'd had a couple of tips and faced down my demons. So there were no more excuses really.

Anyway, today has seen the beautiful pine body be attacked from the rear with a paint brush and some lovely golden paisley. That is the plan see, paisley on the sides and back, copper top on the, err, top, I guess. That is going to have a bit of a twist as it happens, but we'll come to that another day.

Before - am I doing this wrong?

Other than that, this is the Esquire type-of-bobbins I keep mentioning, a single Bare knuckle Brown Sugar pickup at the bridge, nowt at the neck and some interesting leccytronics to give a few more options.

Tis going to be good, I think.

I'd have one more twang on the Loveless One, but it is in a case in a box in some brown paper, awaiting a courier, as per.

La la laaaa

p.s. I know it has had 47 different names already, but I've decided to call it the Lulu One, for many reasons, most of them obvious.

WIP - The Blue Moon One

Well, it's the usual can't be bothered to screw or solder it all together type of 'Artist's Impression', that you have no doubt gotten used to around here, but I thought I'd give you a glimpse of how the Blue Moon One might well look when I get around to finishing it...

Though saying that, as it is obviously a bit of a 'Slacker' guitar, maybe it should remain forever unfinished, I dunno.

Anyway, from the top,
- it is an Ash Jaguar-esque body,
- hand made maple neck with the perfect big headstock crowning it's glory.
- Pickups are some Hot lipsticks with the middle one reverse wound for a hum-free yet still single of coil experience.


I've used these before, of course, and they give a lot more than the jingle-jangle you'd expect.

- As for the finish, it is a sea-green paisley with a hand gilded copper leaf scratchplate.

- And finally a Telecaster switch tip and Gibson Top Hat knobs, for a touch of retro goodness.

Sounds more like a menu, when I put it like that...

Anyway, groovy is as groovy does..