More Porn

I know I'm in danger of turning this into some sort of XXX Cigar Box Guitar Porn site, but I err, just 'came across' this picture of an Oil Can Guitar made by Chicken Bone John, who I previously showed playing some excellent slide HERE.

(This blog isn't just thrown together,
apart from when it is.)

Which is a nice way of introducing the fact that the article on my first Cigar Box Guitar build, is now up and available to be poured over by scholars and acolytes alike, on the Guitar Tools Web Site.

An article that describes the fact that my CBG was not quite as nearly lovely as the Chicken man's.

You can read all about it HERE at DIY Dunce

Chicken Bone John's web site, full of his amazing looking and sounding creations is HERE

DIY Dunce

It might seem odd, the fact that we have this Jooky place, making and (finally) selling some quite luverly amps and soon-to-be-seen effects and maybe not-quite-so-soon-to-be-seen-but-soon-enough, some handmade guitars, whilst at the same time I'm writing about how useless I am at DIY over on the quite excellent Guitar Tools web site.

It might seem weird, but there we are, the fact that Jooky is (to my mind) such a cool thing is only enhanced because when it comes to DIY I am indeed a technical cripple.

Jooky is cool despite me.
I can live with that.

Anyway, I haven't talked about the DIY Dunce column before so I thought I'd point you at it.

At the moment, it has a description of how I was guided thru the build of a guitar kit by my much-better-at-this-than-me six-year-old son, and in the New Year there should be new features on building a Cigar Box Guitar and some effects pedals, and who knows what else.

So have a look why don't you, it is OVER HERE.

Nowt New Under The Sun

It's funny, trying to come up with some designs for new guitar effects as basically (and I am thinking fuzz in the main here) there are so many variations already out there, that how you could possibly know that the 'great new fuzz sound' you've come-up with hasn't already been created elsewhere is beyond me?

Given a world with an infinite number of guitar monkeys with soldering irons, they can't all be writing Hamlet, if you see what I mean.

And having given this some thought, basically, I can't see that it matters. Sound and tone are personal (and like colour I'm still not convinced we all hear or see the same thing anyway) and taste more so.

What perhaps does matter more is how you create the sound and the way circuits are put together, the components used. There are two schools on the components which come down to one question, to use 'original' Germanium transistors or not. Other than that, 99% of components in a fuzz are hardly that interesting.

So yay or nay? Again, I don't think it matters too much, another matter of taste, but the Germaniums do seem to sound different, like valve amps versus solid state. Myself, well so far I've not used them, but I'm going to give them a go this week, so we will see.

On the circuits, again I can't imagine anybody these days is coming up with anything fuzzy that is truly original unless they are adding features or tighter tone controls or hotter boosters, but even then it is just tinkering and the law of diminishing returns will surely cut in. The basic fuzz circuit won't change too much. And these days it is so easy to find so many circuits out there. There are loads of web sites with schematics and layouts that you can use easily enough and try. Many of them (most of them) are clones of 'famous' pedals,and in some cases the only way to get your hands on one without flogging a limb, but there are a few scattered around that claim to be original. All of which is why I've deliberately not claimed our Sophie's Filthy Boots to be anything other than my interpretation of what a fuzz should be. My tuppence, as it were. I'm sure somebody, somewhere will have produced the same sound using the same components in a similar layout, but there we are. (Some dizzy whore, 1800 & 4)

It is funny though (and what prompted this Boxing Day whimsy) but I was reading somewhere about a fuzz some bloke had built, where the board layout was posted. He was claiming it as an original (as we know a dangerous game, I think) when even I could recognise it as a straight lift from one of the more obvious schematic sites. The really funny thing was that his schematic had been laid out using the rather brilliant DIY Layout Creator software, and the one that may have, err, influenced him is in that piece of software's own library of layouts.

Now, to be fair it may be a coincidence, as I have said about monkeys above, and in general terms I think anybody playing with building effects will do as I have and spend a lot of time looking at other people's work and trying to understand how they work, and maybe how you can improve them before coming up with your own variation, but even so it made me smile to read the bluster.

Learning Bottleneck Slide - With Keni Lee Burgess

I think I said earlier that I've been getting more and more into playing Cigar Box Guitars, and especially playing slide.

I've also no doubt mentioned that I'm not that good.

Good fun
Less good sound.

Anyway, as I'm not one to pass up a snog with a passing gift horse, I was well chuffed to get a pre-Christmas package in the post from the American busker and music teacher Keni Lee Burgess containing his video CD.

It was only ordered four days previously from the US of A, which is quicker than anything I've ordered in the UK recently, so fair play to him.

Anyway, I haven't got too far yet but I thought I'd give it a mention as what I have looked at is excellent and the man himself is quite a teacher. Not too technical (for us luddite divs) and yet covering everything you really want to know - like how to play some really good blues, and why it was really good in the first place.

I'll write a proper review sometime, but first impressions are very promising and good enough for me to recommend.

You can find out more about Keni HERE
You can buy your own copy HERE for about Ten quid delivered to the UK, and you really should.
Watch some of Keni's lessons and playing on YouTube HERE

Tinking About Tins

Obviously, we’re always looking for interesting tins and boxes to be used as amps or effects or whatever, and so when a ‘job lot’ comes up on eBay, I tend to get interested.

One such selection showed-up today, and very nice it is too as I’m sure I’ll show you in the coming months, though one of the boxes that stood out has left me with a wee dilemma.

Basically it is an old (pre-meter) tin that the electricity boards used to give out to people so that they could save up enough money to pay their bills. Shaped like a little bible, it is made of tin and covered with vinyl. Even the sides are finished to look like the collected pages of the ‘book’ and there is a slot for coins and a hole that will take a rolled-up note, which was probably optimistic, I would imagine. This one was issued by the Yorkshire Electricity Board for Area 4, wherever that is.

All in all, a beautiful thing and very interesting, and if something I would happily turn into an amp or effect, or maybe keep as a moneybox.

But that isn’t the dilemma. Where my problem starts and end is with how I manage to open it. You see it has a keyhole, but no key, and I’m not sure whether the leccy man would have held it, or whether it was something the customer would keep.

Interesting though, so any information or advice gratefully received.
Just call me Arthur Negus.
La la la.

DIY Pedal Kits - One For The Builders

Looking at our web stats, I notice that we seem to get quite a few people looking for DIY pedal kits, which we don't actually make or sell.

Obviously there are plenty of people such as BYOC and Tonepad who will supply your needs, but I must admit, being in the UK this can be a bit time-consuming and expensive and when kits start to get more expensive than buying a pedal that they are cloning, it can be a bit of a leap of faith and also not a little off putting, especially if it is a first attempt at building an effect for yourself.

Anyway, a while back I bought a fuzz kit from a fella on the Music Radar forums, and it was excellent. I was getting into my DIY trip and it taught me a lot, and I have to say the bloke in question was cool in not sniggering when I asked some quite stupid questions. The pedal sounded brilliant as well, and I've since noticed that everybody else on said forum who had gone for a kit was raving about them too (though like me, most were relieved that he was willing to put himself out on the Q&A front.) As it happens I've written something about the whole pedal build thing for the GuitarTools site, which will hopefully be up early in the new year.

But to the point - the fella has obviously gone on to bigger things and I've just found out that he has launched a company called (and it is all in the branding) DIY Pedal Kits.Com and as he is based in the UK, I think that if you fancy having a go, and are similarly geographically challenged, he is the one I would recommend as a great starting point.

Actually, I'd recommend him wherever you are.

He has a few different kits now too, and the prices look good so what have you got to lose?

(And no, I don't know him, we aren't related and I paid for my kit. It is just credit where it is due.)

Sold: The Shakey Spear One

All that glisters isn't gold, now ain't that the truth, but The Shakey Spear One might just be the exception to Old Bill's favourite rule. Built from a slightly battered looking Romeo & Juliet box, The Shakey Spear One is an old Warwick Bear of an amp, and not too shy about getting a bit grizzly here and there.

Featuring a delightfully twisted Amy-tone amp housed in an England’s Glory matchbox (which itself proudly proclaims that it is made in Sweden for some reason), this baby goes crazy right from the off, like some kind of Stratford-upon-Avon based go-go dancer fresh from that nightclub over Argos just off the High Street that somebody must have mentioned to me somewhere down the line as I can’t otherwise possibly have any knowledge of it.

The amp though, it is carefully crafted, entirely hand-wired and is most definitely not made by Francis Bacon.

But don’t mistake the literary heritage for a lack of imagination, no, The Shakey Spear One has a touch of the sixties about it and perhaps never recovered from a psychedelic day trip to the Isle of Wight Festival that turned into a Hydroponics  episode of a couple of decades. This trippyness is hinted at by the paisley of the speaker covering and a touch of free love, depicted by the illustration, if only it wasn’t for the balcony. And poison, of course.

The Shakey Spear One is only the fifth ever Jooky Cigar Box Amp we have made available and comes with a 9V battery and the trademark Jooky wrapping service, for a quite incredible £29 delivered anywhere in the UK.

Just to be clear, this is our fifth ever Cigar Box Amp and it is marked with the Serial Number: Jge#5. More importantly it is brilliant fun and we are quite sure that whether you or the guitarist in your life plays a Cigar Box Guitar or even a guitar that is more mainstream like a Gibson Nighthawk or something else that happens to be quite pointy, it is the amp that will be reached for most often.

SORRY THIS HAS BEEN SOLD

Technical Stuff:
Amp Type: Amy-Tone
Output: ½-1 Watt
Box Type: Romeo & Juliet Cigar Box
Construction: Paper over Wood
Dimensions 260mm x 140mm x 45mm
Power: 9V Battery
Input: ¼” Guitar Lead
Outputs: 8-Ohm Speaker
Controls: None
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered
Serial Number: JGE#5
RSP: £29

Oh Well

I know I promised to let you know about the other couple of amps I’ve been playing with over the weekend, but it snowed and there are sick kiddies to be tended and well, life ain’t always my own.

So sue me.

Anyway, as I said before, the Gonzo Gonzalez has gone to a new home (or will do tomorrow anyway), which left a couple of boxes to play with.

The first of these is a Romeo and Juliet box which I’ll tell you about tomorrow, but is basically another lovely fuzzy Amy-tone with a wee bit of a twist that amused me no end.

OK, I admit it, Amy-tones, I’ve fell in love with, as they are so cool to play thru.

I tuned my little cigar box guitar today using open G (I might have that wrong, G-D-G?), which sounded great and like a Harrier taking-off from the Ark Royal in a Typhoon when I put it thru the Gonzo.

And I could have stayed playing all day, which is going some, as I am truly hopeless when it comes to playing slide.

Bleeding awful,
I don’t mind admitting.

Saying that, I am rapidly falling in lust with slide guitar all over again since I built a CBG and Amy gives it a real hell-on-earth kind of noise that you just can’t get with a ‘real’ guitar. Amazing tone, and if you are a guitarist and have never played a CBG, you really owe it to yourself to try one. Most of them are pretty cheap – just check out eBay or Cigar Box Nation and you’ll find one easy enough, or better still build yourself one. It could be the best thing you ever do.

But I was talking about what I’ve been up to, and yes the R&J is cool, but it is the green Cano one that has really got me thinking. You see, much as I love the sound of authentic – Jook joint – delta blues, and much as I believe that CBGs are the closest you can get to that Robert Johnson sound. Much as all of that is true, I have to admit that Peter Green playing Black Magic Woman whilst a member of Fleetwood Mac, was my first and defining ‘Blues moment’.

There, out in the open.

And so, despite the fact that it is utterly meaningless, I wanted to do a none-signature, tribute model for our next Jooky little amp, and so the Green one will no doubt become The Greenie One and due entirely to the fella’s imagination and out-of-phase brilliance, I want to do something a bit different.

With this in mind then, I’ve been playing with the green box and have decided to do my own version of the classic BB King (OK, Gibson) Variotone, so that it will have a nice rotary switch that lets you instantly change the tone of the guitar (well, of the guitar’s sound as it trundles thru the amp) between a variety of presets.

What is taking so long? Well, rather than go with the basic Gibson settings I figured it would be nice to pick half-a-dozen of my favourite bluesy songs, and try and find tones that match each of them.

Which is tricky.

And takes a while, I’ve found.

But there we are, it is all
Good
Fun.

p.s. I'm also building a quite mad fuzz box at the moment, which is for the guitarist in a Bristol band. More about that if he doesn't think it is a pile of shonkiness, later on.

Another One Bites The Dust

Well, The Gonzo Gonzalez One didn't hang around. As I said, I have been a bizzy little chap this weekend, and Gonzo was one of the products of my labours, as it were. The rest I'll show you tomorrow or later anyway.

But Gonzo is done and gone now, gord bless him, destined to sit under a tree for a few days and hopefully bring a little cheer in the New Year.

It made me realise that I've not talked about our 'Trademark Jooky Wrapping' before now, so I guess this is as good a moment as any.

(I know I should probably claim that somebody has asked, but the truth of the matter is that nobody has, I just feel like telling you about it. Not the most interesting topic, to be honest, but there we are. It is snowing outside though, which is probably of more exciting relevence.)

But the wrapping. Well, as the foto on the left or right, depending on your perspective shows, we like to wrap our amps the old fashioned way. A nice bit of brown paper (bonded, I like a bit of bonding), with this being tied using good olde worlde twine or string or whatever you call it. With the finishing touch being a nice olde fasioned-e tag or label or whatever they are called.

You know,
the brown paper ones that you tie on with yet more string.

Why do we do this?
Well, I like how they look to be honest, and it does seem fitting that all of this filth be delivered in a plain covering.

Oh, and although nobody has asked this either, no, we don't post things out with no more protection than a few microns of brown paper, the brown paper wrapped parcel is put into something stronger that will hopefully help it survive being the football in a variety of sorting offices across the land.

And before an imaginary postie gets in touch and starts an argument I'll have to wage on the pages of this site/blog thing, I know you play football with the parcels as I used to work in a sorting office
so get lost gitski.

I think I'll go and watch the snow a while
Much calmer

nite nite

Sold: The Gonzo Gonzalez One

There ain't much fear & loathing when it comes to The Gonzo Gonzalez One, but we can safely say that Hunter S.T. would have been proud to call this little amp his own. For lets be straight about it without any need for prevarication or artifice; this is one crazy mother of an amp, and is as likely to run naked through the crematorium on the day of your Granny's funeral as it is to give you a smooth, MOR blues.

What makes this baby the ultimate in screw-ups, is that despite the lovingly designed and hand soldered Amy Tone amp, fitting snugly and gently into an England’s Glory matchbox, with it's clean-cut lines and tendency to get a little sniffy when the pressure is on. Despite all of the hand craftedness and feel good polish, and everything else that is good and sane. Despite all this tenderness, we decided to chuck a hairdryer in the bath and wallop a crazy speedball of a fuzz circuit into the same box for good measure. And man does it make a mess.

You could feel like you are waking in a desert, so be warned.
Don't mix it with too much tequila.

The Gonzo Gonzalez One is only the fourth ever Jooky Cigar Box Amp we have made available and comes with a 9V battery and the trademark Jooky wrapping service, for a quite incredible,  £29 delivered anywhere in the UK.

Just to be clear, this is our fourth ever Cigar Box Amp and it is marked with the Serial Number: Jge#4. More importantly it is brilliant fun and we are quite sure that whether you or the guitarist in your life plays a Danelectro or a White Falcon, it is the amp that will see hair greased to a quiff, lip curled and Gonzo thrown in the back of a Thunderbird, most often.

Just don't chew too many worms.
They bite, you know?

Unfortunately, you can’t buy The Gonzo Gonzalez One, as somebody beat you to it.

Technical Stuff:
Amp Type: Amy-Tone
Output: ½-1 Watt
Box Type: Flor De Rafael Gonzalez Cigar Box
Construction: Paper over Wood
Dimensions 260mm x 140mm x 45mm
Power: 9V Battery
Input: ¼” Guitar Lead
Outputs: 8-Ohm Speaker
Controls: None
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered
Serial Number: JGE#4
RSP: £29

Izzy Wizzy

Well, looks like it is going to be a busy weekend, as I've kind of talked myself into building a couple or three amps, with Christmas and everything. No complaints though, don't get me wrong, after so much time spent thinking about it all and then trying a million variations, it feels good to be actually getting on with it.

Not that I expect to do too many builds as a rule. I'm thinking a couple each month will be as much as we do around here at the best of times.

Nope, I was talking to somebody who knows earlier, and it was good to see that his approach was pretty much the same as my own. This whole building thing is about doing it, rather than aiming for world domination.

So I won't be turning into Henry Ford just yet, and I'm afraid Jooky things will be available as and when.

OK, it might not be professional or the way to build a brand, company or pension fund, but it's enough to keep my brain active I guess, and while it is fun it is worth doing.

Simple as that.



I have got quite a lot of interesting tins right now though, and it would be a shame to waste them...

Have a fine weekend.

Don't worry about me getting wrecked on solder fumes.
No, really.
It's cool I tell you.
Honest.

Sold: The Snake Hipped One

There was a time when every popstar was a lizard skinned, bile spitting, static crackling, fakir swaying corrupter of adolescents.

There was a time when the dirt under the chewed fingernails glistened in spotlights as fiery fingertips pounded fretboards and Hepcat hillbillies stalked rough sawn stages, trousers of leather moulding around them, snake hipped, magnificent.

There was a time,
and then there wasn’t.

But maybe,
just maybe
it is time
for such a time
to return.

And if this is such a time-of-times, perhaps it is a good thing that The Jooky Guitar Emporium is proud to present only it’s third ever guitar amplifier, and that it happens to be known as The Snake Hipped One.

Like all of our products it is handmade and a complete one-off, and will make a fine gift for the guitarist in your life, even if that guitarist is you.

Especially if the guitarist is you.

The Snake Hipped One is built from a 1960s cigarette tin that has been covered with what we believe to be genuine Snake Skin. It boasts one of our dirty, spitting, most venomous Amy-Tone amps, housed lovingly in an England’s Glory matchbox, and plays it dirty from the off, unless you really start to make it angry, and you’d have to be a little mad to make a snake angry, in our opinion.

And we really have to say that this has got to be one of the most unusual guitar amps you’ll ever see, and as ever it is utterly unique even by our standards. To our knowledge there are only six of these tins anywhere in the world, and we have them all.

The Snake Hipped One is a perfect guitar case size and is a stripped down rocker of a practice amp, just plug in your guitar lead and play. It’s as simple as that.

The Snake Hipped One is only the third ever Jooky Cigar Box Amp we have made available and comes with a 9V battery and the trademark Jooky wrapping service, for a quite incredible,  £29 delivered anywhere in the UK for not a penny more.

Just to be clear, this is a unique, handmade guitar amplifier and only our third ever Guitar Amp and it is marked with the Serial Number: JGE#3, signed and dated by the maker and sure to be a collectors item. More importantly it is brilliant fun and we are quite sure that whether you or the guitarist in your life plays a Cigar Box Guitar or even something more mainstream like a Fender, Gibson or PRS, it is the amp that will be reached for most often.

To Become The Proud Owner of The Snake Hipped One visit our eBay Store - CLICK HERE.


Technical Stuff:
Amp Type: Amy-Tone
Output: ½-1 Watt
Box Type: Cigarette Tin Cylindrical
Construction: Leather and Snake Skin over Tin
Dimensions 85mm x 67mm x 67mm
Power: 9V Battery
Input: ¼” Guitar Lead
Outputs: 8-Ohm Speaker
Controls: None
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered
Serial Number: JGE#3
RSP: SOLD

A Bit More Spirit to keep you warm

I mentioned the other day that I really rated Juju's 'Plank' guitars, but hadn't at that stage asked the man if it ws OK to leech a foto to show you.

Anyway, that proved no barrier, and so here it is...

I have to say that while I love the wood, it is the details that really make it for me, especially the braces across the crack in the wood, although the JD bottle bridge is class, and the knobs again are just perfect.

He tells me he'll have a few more available early next year, and I think they will be worth checking out.

More importantly, here is one of them being played at the 1st British CBG Festival, in October 2009. This is played by a fella called Chickenbone who (I believe and apologies if I get this wrong) organised the festival. And bleedin' good the man is, too.

Cigar Box Guitars and The Spirit of '76

One thing I’ve not really talked about so far on the old Jooky blogthing, is the humble blues monster that is the Cigar Box Guitar, but in a way they are what set us on our merry ‘journey’ in the first place. If you haven’t come across them, they are exactly what you’d think. Guitars made out of wooden cigar boxes or anything else that the builder had available to them at the time. They can be as simple as a plank, a box, a couple of bolts and a couple more strings, or at the other end of the scale, some people build what can only be described as beautiful pieces of art.

Much like ‘normal’ guitars then.

And despite the fact that it is still quite small, there is a very real ‘movement’ going on around the whole CBG (as they are known), DIY scene. A scene that is growing alongside other areas such as the DIY Pedal makers, and other pockets of people who are perhaps fed-up of being pushed toward yet another variation on the Strat, The Les Paul and the rest of the mass market, big business orthodoxy.

Sisters (and Brothers) are doing it for themselves, and I for one think that is the coolest thing that has happened in this decade.

The focus for all of the CBG side (so far anyway) has been The Cigar Box Nation, which is a Facebook kind of site dedicated to the homemade. Within this is an active, self perpetuating community of builders offering a fantastic resource for anybody that wants to have a go at building one themselves. Free plans, plenty of advice and no end of Mojo is on offer and if you aren’t up to building your own, there are plenty of friendly faces who will help you out with one-they-made-earlier.

But I’m not being cynical, it is an amazing collection of people, and perhaps surprisingly there is a thriving British builder group, that I must admit includes a couple of people that have inspired me no end, and without whom this whole Jooky adventure wouldn't have happened.

The first of these that I came across was a Yorkshire based fella, going by the name Smojo. I ‘found’ his blog whilst searching around for some blues music, as you do, and I have to say he blew me away with the fact that he was making some really cool instruments out of, well, junk.

Now, I’ll be honest if I’d had some money I would have probably just bought one of his guitars and that would have been that, but I didn’t and so instead I read all of the excellent advice he’d put together and decided to build my own instead. So he lost a sale, but I can’t imagine he would have particularly cared about that, as like most people I’ve met in the CBG world since, I really think his motivation is more likely to be in the doing rather than the retail.

Nobody is getting rich hand-making guitars and selling them for £70 or £80, lets face it.

One final gift from Smojo then was a link to the Cigar Box Nation site, where there are some amazingly talented people, and you are guaranteed an ‘Oz’ moment the first time you look at the collections of builders’ photos of their work. After years of wandering around guitar shops where the same old guitars are reissued, designs recycled and at best given new names and pictured clutched by this season's Disney-faced endorsee, seeing such a variety of different shapes, sizes and ideas is simply mind blowing.

Originality and talent, can you believe?

I think I saw more imagination in five minutes on the ‘Nation’ site than I have in twenty-five years of visiting music shops. But as I said, it was a really nice surprise to find that there is a thriving British ‘chapter’ among the ranks, and I am only sorry that I never made it to the first CBG Festival in Birmingham in October. It sounds like it was quite an event.

But I was talking inspiration, and the second builder I stumbled across was another Yorkshire based bloke going by the name of Juju, and man this guy is putting together some fantastic guitars. Even among the ‘Nation’s’ builders where there are some brilliant craftsmen, Juju stands out as something completely different, and I can remember seeing a foto of his ‘Plank’ guitar at the time I was finishing my first (very basic) three string box. I felt like I had gone to night school to build an acoustic and looked up to find Paul Reed Smith next to me. I didn't give up, but man...

(I also understood the Waterboys song ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ better than ever before.)

But despite the rainbow in Juju's hand, I finished my CBG and I was well chuffed with it, but left with a feeling that I could take this as far as I wanted. Even the orthodoxy of the two by one and a cigar box had gone out of the window. It finally sank in that quite literally anything goes. Inspired, I thought about what really buzzed me out and I then made an amp or two. Nothing flash, but they worked and were fuzzy and fun. Next, I tried making an effect pedal or three and then started to have a go at designing my own. I didn't find it easy, don't get me wrong I'm not the most practical geezer around, but if I set my mind to it I could do-it-myself.

And so on, and so on, and now here we are.
We’re doing something we want, and that is the truth of the matter.
Whether it is CBGs or the amps and effects we’re putting together, it is all about individuality and that Ye Olde Punk ethic that means you don’t have to take what you are given, you can have what it is you like, all you have to do is give it a go.
It’s all cool.

But some people are cooler than others, and you should check them out.
You don’t know where you’ll end-up going with it.

Smojo’ blog is HERE.

Smojo’s website is HERE (I notice he is doing some tin box amps too now, well worth checking out. Blimey, praising the competition, what was I thinking ;)

Juju’s web site is HERE. Check out Planks 1 & 2.

The Cigar Box Nation site is HERE

p.s. The foto is my first attempt at building a CBG. The full story of that debacle should appear on the Guitar Tools web site sometime in the next few weeks. The other box, regular viewers will recognise as our first ever #1 Cheryl-tone amp, which is being rejigged today as it happens, and sounding pretty foxy I have to admit.

eBay - How Much Is A Despot Worth?

Well, I know we have put a price on the head of The Despotic One if you want to buy it direct from us (which would be rather nice of you as we need the money to buy some more capacitors and resistors and things), but to be totally honest, we didn't really have a clue what to charge.

I mean, on one hand it is totally unique, hand-made and a complete one-off. It has a serial number of '2', which when you think about it in Fender or Gibson terms is kinda crazy (ahem) and could mean that the amp is worth, err, millions in years to come.

But on the other, it is home made from a second hand cigar box with the electronics housed in a Swan Vestas match box.

So, its worth is probably  a matter of perspective.

To help us decide whether this is crazy cheap or madly over-priced, we figured we'd let you decide (or at least the people who notice it on eBay if anybody does.)

You can see how it is doing HERE

And if nobody notices it and it remains unsold, it'll stay here and I will continue to do my best Sonic Youth impressions...

I really don't care either way.

And, finally....

Well, yet another change of plan saw the cigarette tin replaced by an absolutely beautiful Bolivar Cigar Box, but as you can see below or in the 'Shop' we've finally broken our duck and made a little amp available to punterdom. Yep, you can finally buy one of our amps and it is The Despotic One that is out and about.

In the end we went for a complete no-frills jobbie, no knobs pretty lights or anything else, but I tell you what it is excellent to play, that Amy-tone circuit, great fun and I didn't even wake anybody up at three this morning when I was giving it some welly... Brilliant.

As for the Cheryl-tone amps, well, a minor glitch has been resolved and hopefully we'll have one of those up and about tres soonest, but to be honest I'm off to play with Amy, she knows how to make even the sourest despot lively.

Right, now does anybody know the chords to Wild Thing?

Sold: The Despotic One

The Jooky Guitar Emporium is proud to present only it’s second ever guitar amplifier, The Despotic One.

Like all of our products it is handmade and a complete one-off, and will make a fine gift for the guitarist in your life, especially if that guitarist is you.

Looking like it was the beloved of a South American Junta, The Despotic One is built in a vintage Bolivar Cuban Cigar box and is a super cool amp at low levels but a complete homicidal maniac once the chips are down.

The Despotic One boasts an Amy-Tone amp housed lovingly in a matchbox, and plays it dirty from the off, unless you really start to make it angry, when things can get particularly messy. It looks so respectable that you would never know that it is quite capable of burying your children in an unmarked grave in the middle of a forest alongside the rest of their schoolmates.

While you may not think that there will be any controlling this amp, the rather handy volume control on your guitar at least keeps it chained to planet reality. Just remember that it isn’t a fuzzbox. It won't take kindly to being stomped on, if you see what I mean. It isn't the natural order of things.

The Despotic One is a stripped down, no frills, dirty rocker of a practice amp, simply plug in your guitar lead and play. It’s as simple as that.

The Despotic One is only the second ever Jooky Cigar Box Amp we have made available and comes with a 9V battery and the trademark Jooky wrapping service, for a quite incredible,  £29.99 delivered anywhere in the UK, although the rest of the world will have to stump up for more postage and won't get the battery as we are allergic to controlled explosions and orange jumpsuits…


Just to be clear, this is a unique, handmade guitar amplifier and only our second ever Cigar Box Amp and it is marked with the Serial Number: JGE#2, signed and dated by the maker and sure to be a collectors item.

More importantly it is brilliant fun and we are quite sure that whether you or the guitarist in your life plays a Cigar Box Guitar or even something more mainstream like a Fender, Gibson or PRS, it is the amp that will be reached for most often.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy The Despotic One, as somebody beat you to it.

Technical Stuff:
Amp Type: Amy-Tone
Output: ½-1 Watt
Box Type: Bolivar Cigar Box
Construction: Paper over Wood
Dimensions 260mm x 140mm x 45mm
Power: 9V Battery
Input: ¼” Guitar Lead
Outputs: 8-Ohm Speaker
Controls: None
Special Stuff: Certificate of Authenticity, Builder Signed and Numbered
Serial Number: JGE#2
RSP: £29.99

Bugged, for the lack of a Hole Saw

Well, my little Amy-tone amp was ready to go, and all I needed to do was put it in it's tin (I had decided to use a cigarette tin for this one - absolutely gorgeous and time-stained it is) and typically something screwed-up.

Oh, the amp worked, and the tin is perfect.
The hot glue was warming nicely -
all I needed was to cut a hole.

But that was fine, and I thought  it wouldn't be a problem
after all I had bought a set of hole saws.

Lovely little toothy things that you put on your drill
cut holes
perfect.

You see I want the speaker to drop into a hole in the top of the tin.
Nowt flash, but neat, if you see what I mean.

But nope - the hole saws I had bought were only for wood and plaster (despite being advertised as 'bi-metal' and fit for purpose, as it were.)

Teach me to trust poxy eBay sellers of dodgy merchandise.

So I've got to get the right one now..

Another week gone

Blahhh.

Getting Side-tracked again

OK, I admit it.

As promised
I was getting our numero uno together,
and fixing the lights on our Cheryl-tone boxetta,
and I kinda started to daydream a bit
and then,
I started to mess around wth some bits and bobs
and then
thought
'Hang on a minute, couldn't I just...'
and then
did a bit of soldering
and then
I thought a bit more and figured
'If I just change that around I could make the Amy-tone even more filthy and fetid...'
and then

I did.

And so,
despite not having
quite finished
our very first little amp,

I've managed to
not quite 
finish our second
ever
amp.

More details tomorrow,
but man she is gorgeous in her
dirty
rotten
stinking
disgusting
scum
sucking
little way.

Gord love e'r.

Doing what I'm meant to be doing

Well, I've got it all mapped out as far as the Paisley one is going, but today, I figured, it was about time that I put together one of our little amps for real.

I don't mean that we haven't built one at all so far, believe me there are loads around the place. No, what I mean to say is that it is time to bring everything together into one little box and put it up for sale.

It's kind of put up or shut up time, basically.

So, it may or may not surprise you that our first ever amp is going to be a Cheryl-tone, Amy will have to wait until next time.

It is also going to be built using a cigar box (lovely little wooden one that we've artificially aged using some cold tea, believe it or not) as opposed to a cigarette tin, again that will probably be next time.

And it will be all hand-wired and feature a bit of mood lighting for those cold winter evenings. The picture up there on the right is it working-in-progress like. Although it needs re-wiring. But you can't see that from where you re sitting.

So anyway, next time I will hopefully be introducing you to JGE#1, 'The Little Square One', our first ever Cheryl-tone amp.

Be interesting to see if anybody will want her..

Running out of excuses

Well, if I was looking for an excuse not to start, that time is over as all the parts (pretty much) have arrived for the Paisley one.

Saying that, I haven't started yet as I need to work out a few placement issues and beg, borrow or buy some chisels to make the hole big enough for the P90, but start I soon will.

I've also got to work out exactly how I'm going to fit the cloth to the guitar body, which seemed a lot more trivial before the cloth arrived.

Nice colours though.

I'm quite pleased with how the Soapbar looks, against the material. I'm thinking now that I should definitely try to cover the old scratchplate with the paisley too, at least to see how it works.

OK, it is paisley, and the maker even named it Woodstock, but I'm quite pleased that it doesn't look too paisley, in a Fender kind of way.

Actually, I'm not trying to avoid this at all (though adhesive, I've just realised will come in handy), I can't wait to get started.

Purple Paze

It's in my brain..

la la

Well, not a lot more to report as far as the paisley strat goes, apart from that I'm trying to get my head around what I'm going to do with the scratchplate. I've been looking to buy one (which goes against the grain), but as you might expect there aren't exactly a lot of Strat plates cut to house a single P90 soapbar. I did however, find one for a single humbucker, and at a push I'm guessing I can make the hole a wee bit bigger somehow or other.

That, is OK, I guess.

I managed to find one company who are a bit more flexible and will actually cut one to fit for me, but it's looking to be £25ish and that seems a wee bit on the bleedin' 'ell side of things.

I was cutting up about the tenner the humbucker one was going for.

As an alternative, I have actually got a scratchplate which maybe I can use somehow. The only downsides are that it is white, not black, is left handed and has been cut to fit three single coils. Clearly, not ideal but it does have the benefit of being cheaply free.

If I do use it, the plan will be to flip it over, scrape off the sticky silver foil shielding stuff, cut the P90 shape out and then cover it with some of the paisley cloth.

Apart from over the hole, of course.

OK, not ideal but it should (hopefully) give a nice magic eye effect, and make the scratchplate look 3D.

Well, maybe.

I may of course have to splash out, we'll just have to see.

Since I've started on my paisley route, I have of course seen Richie Sambora Paisley Strats everywhere I've been.

Well, where there have been guitars, I mean not in the Co-Op or anywhere like that.

Just the way of things though. I'm just chuffed mine is going to look so much better (ahem)

Another Paisley Strat Digression

Well, as far as my Paisley project goes, I've organised most of the parts I need, and 'tightened up' the specification.

It seems my vague musings of a Strat with a Jazzmaster trem/bridge, isn't a runner as I suspected, and so after a lot of looking around at Mustangs and the like I've gone for the boring Strat trem. Basically this is down to the fact that it is already routed for one, and there we are.

As for the paisley cloth, I've found one I like (on eBay, believe it or not) and hopefully that side of things will work out. I'm planning on sticking it to the body with aerosol adhesive and then varnish/clear-coating over the top until it is pretty solid. I have read about some other stuff that is used for decoupage, which is better and all shiny glossy, but I’m not sure what it is and whether you can get it in the UK. Also, whether it would work on a guitar/material combo.

Other than that, the neck came with tuners, string trees and a nut, and so the trem/bridge and a neck plate were the only two things I really needed.

Oh, apart from the pickup, but I think I mentioned that I'd got a second hand P90 soapbar type one out of a PRS SE One. As to how it will sound in a (very) lightweight Strat body, time will tell I guess.

As far as the effects go, I have decided to put a Green Ringer type of circuit in for starters. This is an octaver originally built by Dan Armstrong, but I'll be using a PCB I got from Tonepad. I could probably wire one myself, but to be honest I'm not sure if I'll leave it in for long anyway. I will probably put one of our Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz Circuits in too if there is room.

And I think that is that for now. Once the post brings all the goodies I'll show you them. Oh, the foto is the cloth I’m going to be using (assuming it works.)

Digression and the Paisley Strat

This isn't really what is meant to be happening here, but I managed to get hold of a nice old Strat body (bit battered around the edges) and a Squier neck that had been reshaped to look like a Suhr one, which appealed to me for some reason.

Anyway, they showed-up on Friday and I've been filling the hours trying to think what it would be best to do with them. Apart from fitting them together, that didn't take quite so long to work out.

Basically, I've always fancied a bit of a strange Strat, and this looks to be the chance to do it, so I'm thinking of the following:

1. I don't like the cream coloured body much and it is a bit tatty even if I did, which I don't, so instead I'm planning on doing it in a fetching shade of  Paisley. OK, hardly original, Fender even sell Teles that are Paisley after all, but mine is going to be covered in Paisley cloth and not paint, which I figure will make a difference.

2. I'm not sure this is possible even (although I think it will work with a bit of woodwork), but I've decided that I don't want Strat pickups. I don't even want humbuckers or humbuckers that are the size of single coils. No. What I want is a single, P90 soapbar pickup in the bridge position, with a single volume pot to keep it company. I've even managed to get hold of a P90 soapbar pickup out of a PRS SE One, which will hopefully do a decent job (until at least, I decide whether I want a Bare Knuckle or a Bulldog, or maybe a Wizard.)

3. Bridge wise, I quite fancy putting a Jazzmaster one in, although I'm not sure that the Strat body is either big enough, or flat enough to be honest. If it isn't, or I can't find a way to cover the hole already routed for the trem/bridge bobbins, I might go for a hardtail one. I don't ever use trems so it seems pointless putting one on unless I have to/there is a good reason to do so.

4. As I'm going to wire the thing up (even I can work out one pickup and a volume pot), I'm thinking that it would be nice to add some other electronic gubbins. What I'm pondering is maybe a clean boost, an octaver and a fuzz. Or maybe just one of them, we'll see.

5. As far as the scratchplate goes, I can't make up my mind. It would be nice to get leary, but with a busy body design I'm reluctantly admitting that a plain black scratchplate is probably best. (Reluctantly, as it was my 'art director's' suggestion and well, there you go.) I might try and cover it with the same cloth though,see how it looks.

6. The only other thing that springs to mind (though there will no doubt be a 100 other things later on) is that although the neck is really nice, I would prefer it to be a bit darker, so I might Danish Oil it or something like that anyway.

And basically, that is the plan. I've got a hundred other things to do, but I'm aiming to have this together by Christmas (assuming I can source the parts). Be nice to give it a go anyway.

Sophie's Filthy Boots: Fuzz In Excelsis

Moving on from amps a wee bit, we have also been spending some time trying to come-up with a dirty, sleazy, slapper of a fuzz box, and believe it or not, the convent education hasn't gone to waste after all, and I think we might just have got there.

Breathe.
Must remember to breathe.

I'm sure there will be more as time moves on, but I'm chuffed to announce that our first pedal is a rather naughty little bint we've decided to give the moniker 'filthy boots' or to be more accurate 'Sophie's Filthy Boots', as we feel that it is quite a sophisticated little number, if truth be told, but one that is perhaps trying to shock, if you see what I mean, and deflect attention from it's quite nice, BBC, middle class roots. Our Sophie is a one knob girl, and seems to scrub up well to start with before basically going ape-shit when the party starts.


We were actually going to call this something like 'Lou's Patent Leather New York Boots', but forgot, and so didn't, but the dom imagery of shiny-boots-of-leather could have fitted quite nicely and maybe fed into our decision to go for the daughter-of-the-Beeb kind of nomenclature. So Lou could have worked and maybe should have.


But in the end didn't prove to.

So there we are.

Things to Make & Do

One of the fun things we do in Jookyland (?) is spend time trying to find interesting and unusual ‘enclosures’ for the amps or pedals.

(By enclosure, I mean the boxes you put the electronic gubbins in, by the way. New one on me too, to be honest, but there we are, every civilisation has it’s own alphabet.)

Now generally, if you are making guitar effects pedals, you will probably buy some metal boxes and either paint or powder coat them, and then screen print some kind of logo on the top. Doing this means that you can buy in bulk, and generally have a ‘product’ that is easily replicated, making you lots of money.

All good stuff.

As you know, our approach is a bit different, in that we are only ever really interested in making one of anything, and as a consequence probably never making enough to feed the termites.

So quite often we’ll be scurrying around and finding, for example a tobacco tin, and then try to decide what to do with it. Not a world of limitless opportunities, but the conversations tend to be along the lines of:

‘I just got a tin’
‘Cool, what shall we do with that?’
‘Dunno, maybe an amp?’
‘Nah, too small.’
‘A Pedal then?’
‘OK’.

And that is when I’m on me tod.

From there on in, we generally just play around until we find something we like. And as you will see over the next few months, we do quite like old (pre-WW2) tobacco tins, and Cigar Boxes, so you will see them pop up quite often.

We have also come across some modern, but fun tins that I think will either end-up as small amps or groovy effects, but basically anything goes and whatever we find is fair game.

The reason I mention this, is because I recently got hold of some wooden tobacco ‘pots’ (for want of a better name) that the seller tells me are from the Sixties. All very nice, but probably more interesting because they are each covered with genuine (apparently) snakeskin. This looks real to me, for what it is worth, and I’m thinking maybe a pair – an amp and a pedal of some kind. I'll put some fotos up sometime, about time we had some on this site.

Cool, cool & cool.

And me a vegetarian.


Still, I promise not to eat them.

Amy-Tone: Dirty Amps

Well, we spent all that time making the perfect little amp and our beautiful shiny-faced Cheryl-Tone finally came along, all pure (at least on the surface) and sure to make you proud.

And we should have been proud,
but at the back of our minds was a
lurking little boiling
hubble of a darkness
that we could never seem to
displace.

Oh, we tried to stay in the light, avoid the shadows and everything else, but we couldn’t resist the dank, dirty little charms of our Cheryl’s darker and more insidious big sister.

And so we finally just had to give in to the urge, accept that we can’t imagine a world of clean bright tones for every occasion, we have to accept that sometimes we all want a bit of filth right from the off.

With a heavy heart, although a racing of the pulse, I commend to you our ‘other’ type of amp I bring you Amy-Tone, and may God have mercy on all of our souls.

But what does she sound like?

Well, Amy-Tone is a dirty and fuzzy bitch right from the off. She is seedy, Lo-Fi in-excelsis but guaranteed to give you a good time just as soon as you plug in. A quick twizzle of your knob though, and she turns into a furious mess of fuzzy fury, biting spitting and encompassing you in her emaciated filth.

She is a dirty little secret that'll eat you for breakfast, but man it will be the ride of your life.

Blimey

I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but I just heard a piece of incidental music that wasn't by Take That.

On television, I mean.

Who'd have thought it?

Cheryl-Tone: Tweedy Amps

When we decided to build some Jooky little amps, we were very keen to make them a wee bit special. All of them would be hand-made, we knew that, and all of them would be unique in some way (and we’re not just talking about the serial number.)

They would all run from a 9V battery, come in stoopendously imaginative and interesting boxes or tins, and generally would be pretty swish and special and excellent. Some would have mood lighting, others would have mad effects or crazy paint jobs. Whatever, they were all going to be good and we couldn’t wait to make them.

Of course, there was also the slight issue of what they would sound like, and so we put our thinking caps on.

First things first, they would be quiet. Not very quiet, but use-at-home quiet. They would be practice amps, with the added bonus of being able to drive a speaker cabinet if you wanted to. But generally around the ½ to 1 watt vicinity.

Next, they had to have some kind of clean tone to them. We always loved Smokies, but it has always been tricky to clean the sound up, and to be honest, we think that it’s good to have options. We like the idea of something that you can get clean tones out of, but that will break-up when things get a bit hotter. And do you know what? I think we got where we wanted to be, and are totally proud of our first, little amp.

But how to describe it? 

Well, suffice to say that our Cheryl-Tone circuit goes (and goes) from a tweedy sound to something more glam, at a twizzle of a knob.

But then things can start to go wrong. A bit of pressure or attack and everything gets as dark as coal and she turns into a hissing and spitting fishwife harridan of a nightmare.

So whether twang is your thang or you prefer something wrong in a thong, we call it Cheryl-Tone and hope you will want to make the lasses’ acquaintance.

I Think I'm Talking Siamese, I Really Think So.

Another day, and still I play. We’ve actually ended-up with two different types of amps – the relatively clean one, which we’ve been working hard on ‘finessing’, and a much more fuzzy experience that to be perfectly honest I quite like and stamped my little foot over keeping.

So one has become two.

So be it.

This has naturally meant that our ideas have all got disconocorated and generally messed up, as we were only going to have one option (any colour you want as long as it is black, like Harrison Ford), but there we go.

On the plus side, it means that we can actually start building some of these amps for proper-like, and that is the next step.

To actually put one up and for sale, and then I guess try to spread the word a bit and maybe even sell it for money.

Or swap it for something good, anyway.

We’ll see.

Next week
Rat-a-tat-taaaat.

Maybe a Time to Stop Digging

If you read earlier, I mentioned that we were still playing with our little amp - swapping a few components to see what happened and generally trying to make the design a lot neater and all that. This, we're still doing off and on, but I'm guessing that not for much longer. I think we're pretty much there.

For the record, the prototypes sound pretty cool - lovely clear 'tweedy' tones to start with, and responsively overdrivable as you increase the volume, all the way into fuzzy oblivion.

Or something like that.

We are chuffed though as what we really wanted to do was find a way to avoid the immediate fuzziness of some of the small amps - like the Smokey - which although great in their own right, are kind of one-trick-pony-limiting, especially if you want to plug something in with a piezo pickup, like a Cigar Box Guitar.

Close to our hearts and all that.

The next step though (once I finally accept that there isn't a better transistor or resistor to be used on the mush of the earth) is to put the little thing into a box and see how we go from there.

I think I said before that all of our amps will be numbered, and this will be numero uno, as it were, so it is going to be tricky to know whether we should try and sell it and break our duckbilled-cherry, or whether we keep it and move on to number two.

Other than the amps, the R&D continues in different directions. We have some fun/cool add-ons that will be scattered sparingly across the amps, and then we're looking at a pedal or two as well - again, unique in some way, and I really can't see them being in Hammonds etc. to start with anyway. There are also designs down for a piezo pickup/pre-amp that will be cool for the CBG builders too. So plenty to think about.

Still, just figured you might be interested, now that we're in a double-digit readership.

Being Arty & Up Me Bum

I had an email today, from somebody asking about our amp. Pretty good going, I thought, considering we haven't actually made one yet, just a dozen-or-so out-of-the-box prototypes. It was nice to get though, and our mailing list now stands at 1.

Nice to meet you Brian.

One thing Brian did do though, was make me think about the little amps, and that perhaps I could be less enigmatic about the idea, despite my natural instinct not being to talk about them in detail until there is an actual product that somebody could buy.

In other lives I've whipped up a bit of hype before and it is fine if things go smoothly, and a pain of regal proportions if not. I'm not looking for a job here though, and certainly don't need any hassle, so there you go. Lets keep expectations snake belly low.

What I can explain though is that we are going to be making small and teeny amps, rather than 100Watt stacks, things you can use around the house or keep in a gigbag.

We want eveything (pretty much) to be unique in some way.

All of the amps (guitars, effects) will be limited editions of one, signed, visually interesting and have a story attached, a reason for it's being. In terms of the sounds or electronics, as I say we've been putting together a standard amp that we are happy with, and we will use this as a basis.

What I mean is that it will be tweaked or added to if the story fits, and that really is the key. When I say all of them will have a story attached, it is this story that will define the characteristics of the amp. So if we look at a cigar box that we think will house an amp, and it looks like a South American Dictator, that amp might become 'The Despotic One' and have some sort of styling or features that fit that idea.

Probably sounds entirely up-me-bum and arty, but there we go. It will probably make sense when you see it rather than read about it.

It is meant to be fun and make things interesting,
la la & la.

The Acquisition of Stuff

At the point when we started to do the whole Jooky Emporium thing, one of the ways that I sold it was that it would be fun, yet amazingly cheap.

Very little up front investment, followed by slightly more return if things happen nicely.

Not that the making of money is a factor ( when you eventually see our prices, you'll understand that comment) but equally, I didn't really want to be laying out loads of dosh, then getting bored and wondering what I do with a garage full of components.

Not that I've done such things before, you'll understand.

Anyway, once we started on the amp project, it became apparent that the parts weren't exactly going to cost the earth. A few quid, tops, although the time spent making things work and everything else would be a different kettle if we let ourselves free to tally

But we don't,
so there we go.

So given the low cost angle, it seemed a good idea to try lots of alternatives. I mean, our amp (really must tell you the name) is pretty cool, but transistors and op-amps are cheap, so why not try some alternatives in the interests of possible progress, perhaps.

And so to the point of this.

Despite the keep-it-lean-be-mean motto tattied on my forehead, I have noticed that the number of 'bits' are growing rapidly.

I have every kind of resistor, capacitor, chip and socket going. I've even bought a fistful of old, vintage trannies made out of geraniums or some other fleur-de-loon that caught my eye despite not actually knowing what they are other than that some blogger I've never heard of thought they may have sounded more authentic than the ones I can buy anywhere for pennies.

A blogger writing in 2001,
page 712 on Google and no doubt having
changed his mind
thirty times since then.

So I've decided that because of the fact that I am ecstatic with our amp design, and the fact that it sounds awesome and runs a 4x12 and everything else, maybe I should leave well alone and think about putting it in some sort of box, wiring it up to useful things like Jack sockets and generally finishing something for once in my life without getting side-tracked by the Rapid web site.

Maybe I'll clear the garage too, the space might come in useful

In case you are wondering about the scenery..

Just to say, we're having a play around with the look of this wee blog at the moment, and that means that it is changing every few minutes, in terms of how it looks.

When I started this post the blog was white and bland.

Now it is vibrant pink with a lipsick kiss in the top right corner.

Can't see that lasting.

Now, it has twigs, which is nicer.

Yet again, it has gone all moody and forest-esque.

So in truth, by the time you read this it could
and no doubt will
have changed many times until
we find something
we
like.

Then we'll change that too.

Its just the way of things.

Waiting for my man in a dress

Well, we've reached a point that I hate which means we're waiting.
Waiting waiting waiting.
Bored bored bored.

What for?

Well, our little amp needs a few bits and bobs and the usual Rapid, Bitsbox, RS or Maplins, where I would normally buy electronics stuff don't seem to have it.

Oh, they can get it, I'm sure, but I don't want to wait.

Never do.

Its a transistor, and I can probably use an equivalent, in fact I know I can, but who wants to compromise so early in your career as the impresario of an emporium of such delights?

Bored
bored
bored.

Still, our girl has been christened, and it kind of fits well

I'll tell you about that when I've got more time though.

Sisters are DIY

Well, the whole basic-amp-design has come along wonderfilled-like, and to be honest I can't stop smiling.

Don't get me wrong, we're still getting it all ironed-out and swapping transistors and capacitors and resistors and things I don't actually recognise for other things I can't even spell, but you can plug a guitar in and a sound comes out that is nice and pleasing to the ears.

It sounds like an amp.
Bleedin' hell.
It's got a little speaker and it is pumping out at least 1/2 a watt of fist-pumping-stadium-drenching-testosterone-laden noise.
It's beautiful.

I still need a name for this.
I'm thinking Suzi Quatro

often.

R&D

Well hello again. I thought I'd tell you a little about what we're up to right now, in case you were wondering.

(Although, I'm guessing nobody is reading this at the moment, but you never know it may have future historical significance. Well, a boy can hope, can he not?)

Future history apart, we've been having a lot of fun in designing what we think is going to be our main 'thing'. The thing we'll be using as a boring basis for a lot of interesting stuff, if you see what I mean.
Maybe you don't, I'm not really being that clear am I?

OK, what I'm trying to say is that we've been looking at how to come up with a nice little circuit that we can use in some little guitar amps, that doesn't sound like a tinny fuzz right from the off, maybe has some clean tones you can use and then breaks up a bit naturally. That's the aim anyway.

Why are we doing this if everything is meant to  be one offs? Well, I like the idea that we have a basic amp to start with, and so we're putting one together that we're happy with.
And we are getting somewhere.

I've got to think of a name for it though, any ideas?
Let me know.

Early days, yet.

Well, what can I say apart from welcome to The Jooky Guitar Emporium, although there isn't a lot to see as yet and as that is the case I can only talk about what-may-come-to-be, rather than what-is-here-now.

You see, I wanted this little blog to act as a way of tracking the building-from-scratch of what I hope will be a fun place to be, if you are into your guitars and more to the point if you like things that are a little unique and one-offish.

That is the plan for the Emporium you see. I want it to be a place where you can come and find some interesting guitar related things, whether that turns out to be Cigar Box Guitars,  hand wired amplifiers made out of cigarette tins or fuzz boxes that nobody else has got, it will all be special.

And handmade and
as rare as ruby hen's teeth.

Not that I'm looking for Boutique prices, or trying to stiff anybody.
I like the idea of making something and then if somebody wants it,
selling it to them for a fair price.

No stock or product lists, just as simple as that.

So sometimes you might come along and there be nothing to buy.

Other times there might be something you just can't do without.

But we'll see, time will tell.

Pop in again and see what the score is..

The Jooky Emporium - Take Me, I'm Yours

At the moment, I hate to say, we have nothing at all for sale.

Not even a little Jooky Amp or Effect Pedal left over from Christmas.

Clearly, this isn't very clever for an emporium of any type, and so we are planning on changing this and making something that you really might quite like.

Soon.

So please come back.

The Small Print

Welcome to the Emporium, the Palace of Jooky delights, and a place where you can find a varied collection of one-off guitar related things, built by hand and never a sign of anything being made the same way twice.

I say 'things', because this isn't a traditional shopping experience.

Everything that gets sold at the emporium is built at the emporium.
Everything we have is made just because we feel like it.

We don't have a product range or a stock rotation policy, we just build things we like or maybe think that would be helpful to other guitar builders, and then if you want to buy one you can.

If not, and they hang around a while, never mind, we'll still like them and there we are.

No harm done.

Are you wondering what the 'Jookiness' is all about?


Well, Jook is another name for junk, or bootlegs, and that's how we see ourselves. We make guitars out of boxes and amps out of tins and basically, like a lot of fine people subscribe to the idea that you don't have to have the same as everybody else to be cool.

So, we make things out of what we've got and we make them with the tools we've got and I'm not sure I can even spell CNC some days never mind know what one is meant to do and if that means that things aren't streamlined and homogenised, well what can I say, that's just the way it happens to be..

You see, if you want a proper Marshmallow stack of amps or a hot rodded, made-in-the-U-S-of-A guitar, this isn't really the place for you. Go check out Fenderland or Gibsonville, they have Quality Control and Pastry Cutters and trademarks and patents and consistency.

Well, so I hear.

We on the other hand, well, we just don't. Our stuff is built from what we can get hold of, whether it is old cigar boxes or cigarette tins, second-hand bits of guitar or just wire we found hanging around.

(Actually, we usually buy the wire as you don't tend to see a lot of that lay about the place.)

Anyhow, we're not time served luthiers either, but we like it that way, it makes things more interesting, if you see what I mean, and the guitars, amps and other things we put together each have their own personality, their own sense of style. Like I say, they are all one-offs too, so if you are playing a gig you won't be surrounded with another dozen people playing  the same guitar, through the same amp as you. You won't have to hear that 'tone is all about fingers', if you know what I mean.

Just to absolutely make sure that everything we build is unique, they are also numbered and signed, but to be honest that is more for our benefit than yours, it helps us keep track of what we have been doing with ourselves. Keeps us out of trouble in a funny kind of way

What we do though, is care about everything we make. It may be built from this and that, and we very deliberately make things a bit shonky around the edges if they aren't already, but the end result has to be good and 'for real', and be full of personality. No point flogging anybody junk after all, you can find that anywhere. Selling stuff that you make from junk, but that turns into something else entirely, well, that is different.

That’s an artform.

But that is enough about the Emporium, just have a look around and if you see something you fancy, why not give it a whirl. If you don't, come back another day, we might have been busy and come up with something new that you do like. Either way, say hello, we're pretty friendly most of the time. We just like to do things our own way, and not really trot along with everybody else just because that is how things have always been done.

You never know, you might grow to like being a little bit different too.


Something About Us & How To Get In Touch
The Jooky Guitar Emporium is a fun little project and not really a for-profit kind of thing at all.
We make the odd guitar amp, effect pedal or guitar in a DIY non-traditional way, and sell them to pay for the next couple. It isn't really a business, but obviously there are rules about selling things so there are some Terms and Conditions we have to abide by.

1. If you buy something from us, you should be aware that it will often be made from pre-used boxes or tins. Therefore, they won't be in pristeen condition, although all electronic components will be brand new, unless otherwise stated. We like things that look battered and broken, and this is reflected in what we make. Things will be well made, but generally you wouldn't know it by looking at them.

2. If you buy something direct from us and change your mind, or don't like it when you see it, we will happily refund the cost of the item. Just email us and we will tell you what you need to do. We won't however be able to refund the cost of P&P.

3. If an item you have bought direct from us doesn't work 'straight from the box', please get in touch as soon as possible. Obviously, all of our 'things' are handmade and soldered, and whilst they should be OK for everyday use, aren't designed to be thrown from tall buildings or otherwise mistreated. Saying that, we will usually try to fix anything that you break for free, as long as you cover the cost of P&P. Talk to us first though, as we may not feel quite so magnaminous if a box full of beer and shattered amp parts turns up and ruins the Axeminster.

4. If you aren't happy with anything we do, please email us and tell us, and we will try and cheer you up. We do this for fun,  and hope to carry on doing it for a long time, and basically don't need any hassle any more than I'm sure you do.

If your name is Cheryl, Sophie, Leona or Amy and you are famous and feeling litigious, we really love you and the Amy, Sophie, Leona and Cheryl that inspired our designs are nothing to do with you. They are another bunch of psycho scrubbers we came across back in the day.

5. We use PayPal, and sometimes eBay so all of their rules apply in those cases as applicable. We don't accept returns from eBay sales unless we feel like it in specific cases.

If you want to Contact Us, feel free to email us at: info (at) jooky.co.uk

To see a complete list of everything we have sold, by serial number, visit The Jooky Hall of Fame