Something Completely Different

I mentioned the pine tele body I'd picked up, you know the one I fancy turning into something vaguely Esquire like, although with a second pickup hidden under the blank scratchplate? Yep, that one to the left with the plain black scratchplate on it..

Anyway, I was away for a few days and spent them thinking a lot about it, and I've come to the conclusion, that maybe this is the baby where I should try something that I was saving for my first custom designed body shape thingie. Another proof-of-concept, if you like, as I have no patience.

Well, the Esquire approach is definitely the way I'm going. I've got a quite beautiful Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar pickup for the bridge, and am yet to decide on the neck pickup, but am thinking of a P90 of some kind, if that will prove powerful enough.

As for the finish, I was initially thinking of a deep brown stain - I have a hang-up about rosewood teles, and was thinking that that might be a nice idea, to try and get somewhere close to the colour. However, it struck me that it might be the time to try the copper-top I have been thinking about, and as it happens I think I will. I think I mentioned before that I've always liked the idea of the Zematis and Trussart guitars, with their different takes on metal bodied guitars, and whilst I don't really want to go the whole hog, I am thinking that a copper top for the body would be particularly lovely looking.

Not that I'd want to leave it all Duracell-a-like, no.

What I've been investigating over the last couple of months are some of the finishes sculptors and roofers use to artificially age metal. I mean, if you have a brand new tin roof on your cottage, why wait decades for it to go a lovely shade of weathered when you can help nature along a wee bit?

Another idea is maybe that I could have a go at enamelling (?) though I think I need a furnace or a blowtorch to do that properly as it involves, err, melting glass powder. Might try both of course...

Anyway, that is what I'm thinking - either a bit of enamel or an artificially and artfully aged copper top for the guitar, with the remainder of the body having some other finish. Maybe even the rosewood look, who knows.

So that is the plan, I'm going to get some copper and see what I can do from there (though I don't think I'll be using the traditional roofer method of a few pints of cider and then taking a leak over it...)

Naturally, this could well become The Weathered One...or perhaps the Teacher's Jewelry One. Who can say?

More belly buttons

I’ve said it many times before, but I'll say it again, I am sooo very indecisive when it comes to deciding on the pickups I'm going to use for any particular guitar.

I don't know why that is,

I lurve P90s

or maybe I do really.

You see for me, when I'm thinking about a guitar it is all about the finish. Don't get me wrong, I have a plan initially about how I want it to sound - usually that starts and gets somewhere close to ending with a P90 - but it is the look I'm really into. The thing that defines a Jooky guitar for me.

So I get a good idea about the design of the guitar, and then I have an initial idea of the sound, the type of pickups I'll need.
And then I change my mind.

Don't get me wrong, quite often it comes back to what pickups I have available, or if I'm being specific, what I can find to buy. Sometimes, I'll buy new pickups if I can't get, say a coil-tappable reverse wound humbucker sized P90 with blue neon flashy bits or a Tele pickup for the bridge that is really going to hit the mark. But mainly that goes against the 'ethos' and I'll come across something else that makes me think 'Wow' or 'what if' and then the chaos takes over and I'll change direction.

Like on the OCD one, for instance. my initial thought was a couple of single coil Fender strat pickups with a Bareknuckle humbucker at the bridge. But then I thought at the last about the lippie pickups and then the Filtron-a-like, as they seemed to fit with the rather intensely cool finish we've gone with and then its all change; a bing and a bong.

And so I'm sitting here thinking about the second scratchplate that is coming with it. The SSS one, which I was going to put some Fender Strat pups in, basically because maybe even the 'Plan B' should be something a bit more interesting too, you know what I mean. If Geoff ends-up switching the plates and then sticking with the triple-S, I'd hate him to find it boring. I'd hate for the guitar to lose out in the personality stakes. And maybe, just maybe, I'm thinking that I might be missing a trick.

Though don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that for the first time in Jookydom it isn't actually and entirely my choice - the guitar is being made specifically, and (shock horror) to a budget, so I can't suddenly completely change tack and throw another couple of hundred quid on a set of pickups, even if I wanted to. I have to be a bit more disciplined than normal, especially as the budget is already only relevant in historic terms anyway..all the money is spent.

Hmmm...Maybe I'll have to get creative.

And I guess that is another area that is making the move to building the 'Jooky Customs' interesting to me, more problems to solve, keeps the brain ticking over whilst the fingers are burnt and covered with glue. I wonder if I'll ever do another one

Nowt on the block again

I typed 'Potless into Google, and...

The keen eyed among you may have noticed that I'm back to the 'nothing to sell' stage again, which happens quite often I guess. 

This time it is because a nice chap called John has gone for the Spangled One, and hopefully will report back soon with his impressions of it. 

In the end I decided that I wasn't 100% on the pickups, having spoken to him about the type of music he plays, so in a last minute reversal, I swapped in a rather nifty set of Fender Tex Mex ones. These are lovely pickups (apparently the ones they put in the Jimmy Vaughan signature geetar), and I love the fact that the middle one is reverse wound so that they hum cancel in those crucial in-betweeny positions.

Anyway, as part of the deal I have a nice Dano '59 reissue coming back in this direction, which I think could be fun. I'm on a bit of a lippy pickup hike at the moment, so the timing couldn't be better...

Still, I guess I'd better get my finger out and do something. I like the idea of doing the Custom things, and the OCD One has been a joy so far, but it is nice to do them the old fashioned way and make it up as I go along, innit?

I'm a Jigsaw - Or all about going to pieces in the box

Fabien de Frietas - Another dodgy finisher

Well, the OCD One started so well, but I don't mind admitting that I cocked it up. Nothing drastic, and no real harm done, but it wasted a bit of time and added a few more days to the 'Expected delivery date', which isn't good.

What did I do?

Well, the lovely finish we're going with involves a cream coloured cloth with a rather wicked design on it. This, I think will look the canine's cojones when it is done, but I didn't think about the fact that the guitar body I'm using (a lovely, lightweight Alder one, if you are wondering) had previously been finished in black.

Don't get me wrong, I've used black bodies before (and red, blue, purple, white, silver and well, lots of colours now) and never had a problem, and maybe it is because the fabric is a little thinner or that the cream is just that bit more tender, but the bottom line was that you could see the black thru the cloth, which kinda killed the effect somewhat.

Worse still, where I'd applied the adhesive with a brush you could see brush marks through it too.

In summary, nightmare.

Anyway, that was a little too Jooky, even for me, and so I've stripped the guitar back, given it a good smoothing too, and done what I should have done in the first place which was to give it a nice white undercoat. Something that will pay dividends later on...methinks.

So there we are, confession over.

While I've been waiting for the paint to dry, it has given me the chance to get on with some other OCD bits, and I thought the neck was as good a place to get going as any. As I mentioned before the wood is really nice and as it happens there wasn't much to do other than to put the Schaller tuners on and add the logo. I did, give it a light sand and a couple of coats of very thin nitro - investment for the future kind of thing. It was a practically unfinished neck so it needed a touch of something and oil didn't seem to fit with this one.

Other than that I've started to prepare the finishes for the two scratchplates. The one the guitar will 'ship' with (the HSS Filtron and lippie pickups) is having a black version of the cloth, to give a nice contrast. I was a little worried that it would look too busy, but as it happens it doesn't, and I'm pretty chuffed with that.

The second one, which is the three single coils, is going to be cream to match the body, and again it was nice to see how that worked out as it retained the cream look and gives a nice indicator for the body, of course.

Surprisingly, I even remembered to use the right colour pickguards (I had one white and one black...soooo...)

So, basically we're getting closer now. Once the pickguards are finished I'll wire them up, and I can be getting on with the body finish after a bit of flattening of the undercoat.

In more of an upbeat summary, can't be bad...

Back On Track, All Over Again

Well, things are getting back to busy in Jookyland once more. I'm putting the finishing touches to the Funky One - more on that soon, and my first Custom job, The OCD One is coming along too.

On top of that, I've decided to have a go at another Tele after picking up a beautiful hand made pine body from a chap, and a lovely neck off the bay. I must admit I've always been intrigued by the idea of pine bodies, since I read that some of the original Teles were made of pine, and more recently I (think) that the Fender Baja Telecasters have gone that route again. Actually I just checked on the Fender site and they are Alder, but there we are. They do make Custom Shop ones though, so there. More to the point, what I'm planning to do with this one is something a bit swish.

First off, it will have a rather cool finish - no surprise there, I guess - but I want something that looks a little along the lines of a single pickup esquire, with no pickup at the neck.

Saying that, I'm really tempted to have a hidden humbucker or overwound P90 under the traditionally blank pickguard, so  that the options are there, but without it looking like it.

This has it's own problems, I guess, as the magnets will be further from the strings and covered by a layer of plastic, but I'm hoping that a higher powered pickup should overcome this. I'll give it a wee go... Other than that, I could maybe put a boost circuit in or something...

Anyway, no doubt you'll hear more about that soon...la la la.

Feels like we're back on track

***

Speaking of the OCD One, if you've been following my escapade into Customness, I'm pleased to say that it is coming together quite very nicely, and more to the point it has been a real pleasure working with Geoff, not least because he makes decisions a lot quicker than I do.

As far as the future goes, I am actually quite keen to try it again, so if you have always fancied one of our guitars, but never quite seen what you want, give me a shout, and who knows...we could make beautiful musical instruments together.

I am sooo very cheap, you wouldn't believe it. Laaa.

Jooky Custom: Getting a bit more OCD

Well, I mentioned The OCD One, which is my 'tester' of a first Jooky Custom Guitar, but didn't really explain what is happening in any detail. Which has a certain irony, I guess.

Anyway, the idea is simple - I've worked with a really nice chap called Geoff and agreed a spec for the guitar, which is basically a Strat shaped, large headstocked, HSS pickuped thing of beauty. It is going to have a quite amazing emo-goth finish, which is cool even by Jooky standards, with a contrasting scratchplate design. I won't explain the finish further yet, but it will really be a moment of jaw dropping intensity. If you check the comments on this site, Geoff is very nicely explaining how it goes from his perspective. (Which I might regret in the long run - la la la). But the OCD One:

Wiring wise, the humbucker is going to be something spesh, coil tapped and generally cool and then there are a couple of single coils in there in the middle and at the neck for all those traditional sounds.  As far as the humbie goes, we're going for a good old-fashioned Filtron look, in the shape of a GFS Hot Liverpool Retroton. Again these are something a bit different, giving a flavour of the old Gretsch twang, but they have still got the balls of a good PAF. I like these a lot as you don't get the mushiness which you find on a lot of hummers when you try to clean them up. I've never coil tapped one before, so that is something new for all of us.

The two single coils are going to be Kent Armstrong Hot Lipstick beauties, which will give it a good range of sounds methinks. I like these because they give you that Dano sound, but then have a lot more too. Easy to get the standard Strattiness, but then can get almost Jazzmaster like with a bit of tone fumbling.

The neck is a one piece maple jobbie, with a (surprise, surprise) maple fretboard, which should be nice and bright and it is a lovely large '70s Fender headstock at the top. It's got a lovely 'pattern' to the grain, but nothing in your mush and PRS-wallpaper-like.

To fill the holes in the end I've just grabbed some Schaller tuners, which should mean that the tuning will be as solid as a rock and for the bridge it will be a nice piece of Wilkinson Steel which will give a good dose of sustain, and generally everything is going to be nice and solid. I just can't wait to play it.

To make things even more interesting, it is going to be 'supplied' - I am sooo very businessman-like - with a second scratchplate, set-up with a standard three single coil combo - Fender pickups in there. This will mean that it should easy enough to swap things around if the need ever arises. The design will be different on this, and all in all, I think that is a nice touch. Might even be a little cigar box amp to match, if I get my act together, and I already owe somebody else one too. (Note to me: Make some amps you muppet.)

As with a couple of our guitars before, I'm planning to finish the err, finish, with a thin coat of nitro, over a poly lacquer basecoat. I know a few people will throw their hands up at such a concoction, but especially with this guitar, I think it will age beautifully that way. I do the same with a lot of the necks anyway, despite the usual abuse and oil I inflict on them...


So things are looking good, and I think the first Jooky Custom is really going to look like a custom guitar...

All in all then, I'm looking forward to this and have spent the last week or so scurrying around and gathering the parts, and I'm rather keen to get back to doing some guitars. Pronto like, missus.

OCD, is definitely the new cool.

Incoming.....

It is probably stating the obvious, but I don't tend to plan too much, as far as all this Jooky bobbins goes. I have plenty of ideas and stuff, and I probably talk about them before I've thought them through, but generally I make it up as I go along. It's cooler like that.

The fact that a lot of what is made comes down to the parts and things that I happen to come across helps, of course, but there we are, I wouldn't want to get too hung up on stuff and I do have quite an addiction to chaos, randomness in-excelsis.

All of which is why I'm rather excited about a guitar that I've picked-up from t'bay, which is all very off the wall. As you know, I tend to get a bit from here, a couple of parts more from over there somewhere and then hustle for the rest before I 'create' dah-lin'. This time though, the guitar is trashily perfect as it is and other than a few minor changes - I'm going to refinish it Jookily, and maybe put new tuners on as they are a touch to the left of ropey, and I think probably I will end-up rewiring it too - it will just be fun from the off.

What it is, is a bit of a mystery, but I'm told by somebody who appears to know more about vintage guitar bobbins than I would ever want to, that it was made in the early Seventies, probably by Teisco. It might be Argos for all I know, but my own eyes tell me that it is vaguely Strat like but as with a lot of guitars at the time (and I blame that Les Paul chappie) it has a bunch of knobs and switches which control a fine collection of effects such as distortions and even an Auto wah. (I lurrrvvveee an Auto wah). Couple of batteries slip in the back and away you go.

The body is thinner than a real Strat and as far as 'carves' go, there is only one which nestles my ample stomach quite nicely, and an excuse for one so that it doesn't chafe my batwings, but man does it sing. It has that lovely Danelectro kind of sound to it (the tin can bridge might have something to do with that) and in summary it is beautifully cheesy.

So all in all, as far as Jookiedom gets, this is a bit of a gift-from-the-dogs...and I'm looking forward to piecing this one together big-time. I'm thinking that I'll keep the black scratchplate for once, and Jookify the body with something nice. Maybe cowgirls or death-head-skulls would be fitting. Or maybe even Paisley, who can tell..

Nice words..

It is always nice to hear from somebody who has taken the plunge and bought one of our Jooky little things, and more so as it is entirely unsolicited and not even a little bit prompted (ahem).

OK, I always ask if people will let me know what they think and some do, others don't but there we are.

Either way, Paul the newly proud owner of the gorgeous Mellow One had this to say, gord bless 'im:

"Stumbling across The Mellow One on ebay, it was fascination, quickly turning into love at first sight.  In the flesh, the vibe is 100% rock 'n' roll with its single humbucker and the mellow paisley finish complementing that maple neck and big 70s style headstock perfectly.  The playability is spot on and highly addictive.  In fact it's taken me 30 minutes to write this, 'cause I keep stopping to play it!  As for that BK pickup, it sounds superb, both clean and dirty - I just know the neighbors are going to agree!  The only problem is this worrying interest I'm starting to develop in paisley..."

Ah....

Custom is as it does

Well, after much thought I've finally got a grip of Ye Olde Jooky Custom Programme. Though I'll obviously have to think of a better name. The idea is then that I'll now be making (or at least offering to make) Jooky guitars to anybody that wants one. They'll get choices on all the bits and bobs and then I'll create their monster for them. Which is all good stuff, and it means that I won't quite be surrounded by guitars that I have to try and sell before I can make the next one - and more to the point it should stop the emails saying 'I really like the Mellow One, but couldn't it have X, Y or Z'.

How does this fit with my aim to start making some original designs?
Well, I'm glad you asked.

Basically, they will just become options - you can have something traditional, which I'll source elsewhere, cloth or paper finishes a specialty of the house, naturally, or you’ll hopefully be able to pick one of the designs I've been working on.

So will this all cost people shed loads?
No, I don't think so. I still very much want to keep the old recycling ethic going, and like anything it depends on what you pick...

All I need now is to do a proof-of-concept, to see how it works in reality...


And guess what?

Yep. I'm pleased to say that I've got my first err, victim. A lovely chap from down south who is game enough to let me try and put a guitar together to his spec. And I have to say I'm really looking forward to it, as it is a bit more of a challenge in some ways, yet nice to have somebody to bounce ideas off. The guitars will still be complete one-offs, of course, and the whole ethos remains the same, but it makes things a bit more professional and basically gives me a sharp kick up the back and side, which is all good.

Anyway, the first of these babies is to be a Strat shape, CBS shaped headstock and a HSS pickup arrangement.. All maple neck and tapped coils, with a fine and uber cool finish.

Sounds like fun, and I'm already scouting for toys, as it were.

It's going to be called The OCD One, it is going to have a crazy goth-come-emo-esque finish, and I can't wait.

Ta-daaa

Jookadelic Baby

OK, enough belly-button-spotting, time to get back into Jookyland proper like.
First things first, is the Funky One. If you remember this is a lovely '72 Tele-esque guitar, with a rather crazy and yes, funk-filled, paisley finish to it. I love the Seventies Teles, all monster scratchplates and double humbuckers, and this one is a lovely player, I'm pleased to say.

Anyway, I have a decision to make about the thing, and it is my usual dilemma of pickups, as basically I've got some interesting ones to choose from.

First up are the Wilkinson PAF-like pickups that came with the guitar. I must admit, despite the rather excellent Vintage (tm) guitars, I'd kind of assumed that these would be a straight pull-out-and-chuck-away thing.

I know, me of all people being snobby, can you imagine?

Anyway, that changed in the nano second it took me to play my full six string repertoire, as they sounded amazingly good. Couldn't quite believe it, and I'm really tempted to keep them. But as ever, I have some other pickups to hand and so there is a...

Second option, which was really what I thought I'd do in the first place. These are an odd couple. At the neck would be a Di Marzio pickup who's name escapes me, but that was taken out of a Fender HM Tele. This has an amazing, tone to it and is quite unlike yer bog standard humbie. I really like the pickup, but not enough to remember its name. With this then, I was planning on slapping an IronGear Hot Slag into the bridge. Again, a bit of a monster of a pickup, but one that cleans up amazingly nicely - you could almost take it home to meet your mother, if not mine.

Third option, and a bit of a wild card, is a pair of Tokai PAF-esque pickups that came out of a Japanese Les Paul. Are these called 'Love Rocks', or am I getting muddled-up about that? Whatever they are called, these are a bit more traditional sounding and I think they would be lovely like a lovely thing in the Funky One.

So what to do? Stick with the Wilko, go heavy with the Slag or take a punt on something from the orient?

I don't know.

The wiring too, I'm dilemma-angsted about. I had originally wired it a la Les Paul with two volume, two tones and a switch (like a '72 Tele, surprisingly), but I'm coming to the conclusion that (apart from if I use the Di Marzio and Hot Slag where the extra controls might come in handy) it might be nicer to go more simplistic, with one tone and a single volume.

Again though, what to do.

Still, I have time to decide, how hard can it be...?

Back In Black

It's funny, but after going around in circles for the last few weeks, I've finally got it straight in my head about how exactly I want the 'New Jooky' to work. With me the hard part is cutting down the ideas to those that I can actually get finished without turning in 28 hour days, nineteen days a week, and that is the case again - there are so many cool things to be doing, that I need to keep it simple if I'm ever likely to do something I'm happy with. Blah blah blah. I know, I go on a bit. Tis boring already.

Anyway, lots of R&D to do, but of more interest is the one-that-has-been-sitting-patient-like-on-the-bench, the fabled twin buckered '72 Tele-a-like, The Funky One. Basically, it is waiting to be wired for the second time, as I probably said, due to the fact that my daughter took pliers and wire cutters to the insides and I haven't had a chance to look at it again since. The time though is right now - well, next week anyway - and I'm going to get it sorted out.

I haven't done many Teles before - this will be the second in fact - which is mainly down to there being a lot less second-hand parts available for some reason, but this is a bit of a beaut and I'm starting to itch about it all. The finish is absolutely beautiful if mad and colourfilled paisley is your thing, and there we are.

I've also promised to get my act together on the Growler pedal project, which has had far too many false starts and unavoidable delays already, but is all cool...

Anyway, meandering through fields of vague promises again, time to stop.

Gone, Gone & Gone - something Paisley and Spangled, all at the same time

Just a quick note to say that for the next few days, the rather glittery Paisley that is The Spangled One is available a wee bit cheaper...

So if you have been hanging in there, thinking 'Hmmm...' this might be your chance to do a good deal.

(I am sooo very car trader)

Anyway, in summary - for the next few days, for this lovely guitar, I am very much open to sensible offers..

Thank you very muchly

If you are interested email me at info (at) jooky (dot) co (dot) uk

p.s. In case you are wondering, this post previously mentioned The Mellow One too, but that has now sailed off into the land of the rising sun.
Near Ipswich, if my geography isn't as bad as I think