Introducing The Fat Pussy One

Well, I'm pleasured to introduce you to the latest wee Jooky guitar, the rather fetching and very delightfilled beauty that is The Fat Pussy one. And I have to say, I'm really rather pleased with myself over this one.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've long fancied trying a Hand Scattered (isn't that a lovely phrase?) humbucker sized P90 pickup from Allan Price at Catswhisker. Allan is one of a few top notch 'winders' of pickups in the UK and an utter gent to deal with. Makes a nice change to be able to talk about somebody doing exactly what they say, earlier than promised and then that the end product happens to be better than you hoped, but this is it. A golden moment.

No, the irony isn't lost on me.

But the proof is in the stuffing it down your throat, after all, and this pickup really delivers in spades. It is quite simply perfect.
To put that into context, The Fat Pussy One is a single pickup guitar, so you always worry that it will be limited, but the fact that the pickup was set-up with the option of switching out-of-phase, means that you get two great tones for the price of one little chrome topped hunk of magnet and wire. And what you get are two amazingly raw and somehow 'real' sounds, that just make you want to play more and more. And even with my dodgy hands at the moment, I can't help but keep going back to this guitar - it just sounds 'proper', without any of the muddiness of humbuckers. I just love it.

When James Sant bought the P90 equipped Jazzmaster-esque The Psychedelic Surf One a while back, I remember him describing it as 'it sounds like sex in your face' and you can say the same of the Fat Pussy One, there is something primal about it.

I am a bit of a P90 nut, as you probably realise reading this blog, but I'm happy to say that this is the best P90 I've ever had the joy to play. And I like to think I've at least played most of the ones around these days, and quite a few of the 'originals' too.

But the guitar - well, in simple terms it has a single P90 with a single volume knob. This is a push-pull pot though, which changes the 'phase' - and the out-of-phase 'mode' is a joy, on a Strat you are getting that BB King/Peter Green hollowness, which is amazing for blues and Jazz, while the straight P90, well, take your pick.

As a bit of fun, I also put a red-topped Kill Switch on, which is great fun and a must if you like your effects laden noise-ville sonic architecturey...

What else? Well, golden USA Fender tuners are a joy to use as ever, and I can't quite believe I've got this far in describing an entrant to the Jooky academe without mentioning the cool black and red Paisley finishing combo...which just works perfectly.  And I need not say more, for once.

But there we are. As you can tell, I'm a tad chuffed with this one, especially since I rewired the Kill Switch so it works the right way around..

The Fat Pussy One, and ode to Jook, methinks.

Things I've Learned Today

Confucius - a fan of the traditional
Kill Switch wiring approach

Firstly, The Catswhisker 'Fat Moggy' P90 I've put into The Fat Pussy One sounds incredible. I would heartily recommend them to anybody.

2. The Out-of-Phase sound on the previously mentioned pickup, is absolutely brilliant. Instant Peter Green
apart from the playing.

c. If you wire a Kill Switch up the wrong way around, it works fine,
but you only get any noise coming out of the amplifier when you are pressing the little red button.

iv. It is very hard to play a guitar for long when you have to constantly press a little red button.

Finally. It is probably best if you wire Kill Switches up in the traditional manner.

That is all

Makes Me Wanna Sho..

What a girl... Makes me wanna Sho...

Well, it was always going to be another day waiting for things to either dry or turn up on the J-Bird, so I figured I might as well put the Jangly One together as well as the Fat Pussy One.

As I may have mentioned, this little baby has got one wild paisley finish, and a couple of Kent Armstrong Hot lipstick pickups to turn it into something a wee bit special. On top of that, there are some Golden Gotohs to sort out the traditionally dodgy Dano tuning, and the first ever Jooky copper excursion, in the shape of a quite beautifully enameled scratchplate.

A Lulu Copper Top, as they shall henceforth be known.

The only downside with it at the moment is that it is more a pile of bits than a guitar right now, and so....I needed to do something about that.

Well, first things first I put the tuners onto the neck. Easy enough and amazingly I didn't even have to widen the holes or look for bushes to make them smaller. I must remember that, these sort of Gotohs fit a Dano. Lovely. I kinda expected everything to be none standard for this kiddy, so it was a nice surprise.

Tuners on, I figured I might as well put the neck on to the body. I'm never sure whether it makes more sense to sort everything out on the body first and join the two bigger bits together as late as possible, or if getting the neck on is as good a place to begin as any other. I do like to think that it starts to look guitar-like sooner rather than later, and if I'm going to break a screw in the neck I'd rather not have done everything else first and wasted my time.

Either way, I put the neck on; it still fitted, not having grown since I took it off the other week, so no big deal. It looks like a guitar now.

After that I remembered that I had forgotten to drill the screw holes in the scratchplate. Wasn't fancying this at all to be honest - drilling copper with a hand drill on a wobbly imitation Workmate, isn't any kind of cool, but it only needed three holes, thankfully, and I didn't kill myself. So happy days.

On the 'Full' Lulu copper tops - where most of the top will be covered with the shiny stuff, I'm planning to nail it on with copper nails, apart from of course any scratchplate areas which need to be removed. But this is Lulu-light, so it just needed screwing..
.
After that I couldn't hide from the wiring any longer, but thankfully even with my shaky mitts, it was only a couple of wires to de-solder and then re-solder to swap the pickups. Pity they aren't gold coloured and in fact they are almost exactly the same to look at as the originals, but there we are. Can't be helped. Maybe I'll touch them up with some nail varnish or something (now there's a thought).

Now for the bit I was really dreading. Trying to put the wiring together with the pickups, pots and everything else, back into the body.

As this is the first Dano I'd taken to pieces, it was a kind of a finger in the wind experience, working out how to even take it to bits. Obviously, being clever I took lots of fotos and notes along the way. Well, I would have if I had been clever. I had certainly meant to, but...well, things get in the way.

Anyway, once I'd managed to get the pickups thru the body and into place, luckily I remembered that I’d had to unscrew the bouncy spring things beneath them. On a normal guitar, you have normal springs, on a Dano they look like those amazing blades you see people running on in the Paralympics. Still, as it happens I think they are a great idea. and they went one without too much wobbling or finger-bleeding.

After that, the rest wasn't too bad. I did have to adjust the potholes slightly, which was a ball-ache, but there we are. Pretty much done.

Obviously, as per there are still things to do before I can put some strings on and give this baby a good strumming, but it's 90% there now. Just got to find out what I don't know I've done that I shouldn't have, I guess...

The Jangly One, uber cool, with the copper coloured top.
Sort of.

Punishment For All. Just like the '80s all over again

Well, everything is going J-Bird at the moment, but it is the finish that is taking a bit of time to work out. The scratchplate was the final piece of the jiggysaw, but I think we've just about got that 'designed' now, and I'm sending it off for somebody else to cut it.

I could probably do it myself, but as there is so much going into it, and my wobbly hands, it made sense to get a pro to do it. (Am I selling out? No burning holes with a soldering iron anymore? No pyrography tools, burned '78s and everything getting a little twee and pristine? Dunno. can't see it yet mind. Wait until you see the Jangly One finished before you decide.)

The finish is my next concern as we are still at the R&D stage, but I've been picking brains and I think we've got a plan now.

Basically, the idea is for the body to be covered with pages from a 1980s Marvel 'Punisher' comic or three, with this being stained a blue colour before having a logo superimposed over the top. It should make for a stunning looking finish and as per, I can't really wait to see how it turns out.

Silly as it sounds, it is the staining that has been the problem, as trying acrylic, water colour and even ink looked to work initially, but disappeared once the lacquer went on. Anyway, I've been picking them there brains and am going to try a spirit based stain now, so fingers crossed that will sort it out.

Other than that, I gave the OCD One a high volume test and really annoyingly the buzz resurrected itself. I was rather err, 'angry', but luckily didn't go Townsend about it. As the only parts that haven't been changed in the last week are the output jack socket and the mini-switch for the coil tap, I'm going to swap them out too, and hopefully....

(If this turns out to be my mobile fone interfering with the guitar, a thought that woke me up at 4am, that really will get kicked into the estuary this time).

WIP: The Fat Pussy One

Despite the fact that I'm pretty full-on with the customs right now, having one of the brats home sick from school means I'm a bit limited on what I can do, so I thought I'd bolt together the Fat Pussy One today.

This is the one with the Catswhisker Fat Moggy P90 pickup and a lovely neck too. My only problem with this baby was that the tuners I had available weren't the greatest, and more to the point were chrome, when I really saw this one needing a bit of gold to bring out the red/black paisley and the laughter in my eyes.

I didn't want anything else gold mind, just the tuners as they are far enough away, but still...blah blah blah. I can't explain what I mean.

Anyway, luckily for me I spotted some Fender USA tuners going begging, which solved the immediate problem, but better still they were goldenised.

It is all fated this Jooky bobbins.

So there we are, I've plonked it together, neck on, tuners to be replaced when they show up, everything apart from the wiring in place...can't be bad. Oh, the neck needs some serious lemon oil tenderness too, of course, and strings. I always forget about the strings, and a few of the screws. (I'm avoiding any obviously crude puns at this point, hope you appreciate my restraint, it would be far too easy to start talking about screwing fat pussies at this point, but I like to think I can rise above such things..)

As for the wiring, I must admit I am for once making life simple for meself.

A P90,
a volume control
and that is about it.

Oh, a kill switch, just for those RATM Morello moments.

And I'm using a push-pull volume pot as Allan at Catswhisker had kindly wired the P90 so that it can be put out-of-phase, which is nice of him and I can't wait to hear it...

So maybe not sooo very simple, but it will at least look that way.

Here is the WIP of it anyway, hopefully I'll get the wiring done at some point too, being as the pickup wire is peeking out from under the scratchplate on the fotos, I notice now it is too late.

I must admit single pickup Strats are something I've really begun to love doing and playing. My signature dish, somebody said the other day - though I think they were trying to say I was simple - but there we are. Simple is as simple does. That's me.

A Phoenix From The Tame

Well, Geoff's OCD One is finally done, bar a little high volume testing, so I thought I'd get going on the prep for our second Katy's killer custom - the J-Bird One.

I know I repeat the names a lot, and it isn't an attempt at brand awareness, just that I forget them otherwise.

As I picked up a quite beautiful neck for t'Bird the other day, I thought I'd sort out what I'm going to do about turning a leftie Strat headstock into a Firebird kind of shape.

Well, first of all, I haven't got a Firebird to copy, and though it would help (if somebody wants to send me one please shout out ;) as the headstock sizes are different and therefore I figured I'm kinda on my own anyway.

What I've done then is find some fotos of a FB headstock and play with them in Photoshop to get them sized sort of close. There is no point trying trace them on as basically they don't fit, but they are a good reference point.

Next, I drew around the Strat headstock onto a piece of paper.

After that, I've used my quite awful sketching skills to draw a Firebird shape onto the Strat picture. Which is the crummy picture over there.

As it hasn't scanned too well, I'll explain that the hatched areas are wood that will be removed and the shaded are the parts that will be thinner to give the right shape and depth.

Next, I guess I keep repeating the exercise until I actually get a bit closer (the sonnet writing simian that I am) and then I'll do a cardboard cut out, draw it onto the headstock and reach for the sharp things.

Gulp.

So there we are. Hopefully you'll agree it looks somewhere close to where we want to be, and that maybe I should go to nightschool or get my 4-year-old to draw it next time...

Game on, methinks...

Credit, where credit should have been due in the first place...

Gord, don't you hate it when you balls things up?

Well, I do anyway.

I've been talking about The J-Bird One - the mixture  of Jaguar and Firebird we're putting together for Andy, and even showed a nice mock-up foto (I thought) and all the time I didn't realise that I was not being quite as original as I thought...as the mock-up was actually a WIP image of one being built by the quite wonderful British luthier-types, Feline Guitars.

I was rather embarrassed when this was pointed out (very nicely) by Jonathan the chap who owns the company. I'm still a bit on the lobster side of things as I type this...

So to be clear, it was obviously a complete cock-up on my part, and all credit to Jonathan and Feline for a great idea. Obviously, there was no sleight or credit-grabbing intended and all that, and I hope no hard feelings.

Saying that, I'm going to totally push my luck now and point you at a later foto of the Feline guitar as it is bleeding stunning. Click Here and see what I mean...

*sigh*

I really can't think of a decent title, I'm fried I tell thee

Blimey - fotos to follow later, but I finally got the OCD One into a buzz free state at 10.30pm last night, which is a relief as I was beginning to think I'd lost it big-time... But it is done, finally, and a blast thru the Ye Olde Vox later today will be an absolute pleasure.

Fotos and 'reaction' to follow then...

In other news... the J-Bird One is also moving in the right direction after a few false starts with people not being entirely accurate in their descriptions of things they are trying to flog.. I said before we want it done pre-Xmas, and time is already shooting past so now that Geoff's magnifique guitar is in the land of the living, nothing gets done before this baby, baby.

Well, nothing gets done until I hit a wall in every direction, is perhaps more like it, in truth, but there we are...

Anyway, all the parts are now ordered bar a custom scratchplate. Which is quite a job in itself wondering where to put everything, and man I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the wiring job with coil taps, kill switches and everything else. Actually, it should be fun (must find that multimeter).

Other than that, the finish has started to be tested on another body. I think I said before it is a Comic book look with a bit of a twist, and it is based on the Marvel Punisher series (top film, I watched it last week for research perps - well worth the effort.) It's a bit trickier than normal, but should be worth it, I reckon. Just worth practising up front, I feel.

All of which is good, but the one that's on the list that is haunting me at the moment is the neck. Now, as I said in the first place, what we are trying to do here is come-up with a guitar that has a Jaguar/Jazzmaster kind of body (and we're close man, we're pretty damn close), but rather than ape Fender's finest (and have they ever come-up with a guitar that looks that cool since or before - nah).

Where was I?
Oh yeah, rather than go for a straight Fender-esque headstock, Andy wanted something even cooler - one from a Gibson Firebird.

Now as you no doubt realise, Firebirds have fixed necks and Jaguars have bolt-ons, which gives a clue about a potential problem. Also of course, no bugger is likely to be selling a Firebird neck and so - what do you do?

At this point I'd have probably gone Hmmm and got a bit lateral, but Andy had already sussed it and had got a wee beauty of a plan.

So basically, what we have done is find a very nice, hand made, left handed Strat neck, with a CBS-esque large headstock, and I'm going to shape it so that it does good impression of a Firebird.

How cool is that?
Tell you what, I wish I’d thought of it.

Into that we're going for the bestest vertical banjo tuners we can lay our hands on - the Steinberger gearless ones that everybody bangs into their Firebirds if they want to stay in tune (as Gibson’s - shhh - aren't very good, I'm told)....and there we are.

So all in all, quite a bit of work to do, and I need to dig out my whittling knife (last used on a tent peg in the scouts, circa 1980) and see what I can do.

I have to say, I'm really enjoying the custom side of things, just as much as my usual Jooky fare, but for a different reason - both Geoff and Andy have turned-up with ideas that are stretching me in a different direction and making me think a bit more. And long may it last..

Sorry if that was all a bit muddled, I'm fried...

Bit of Julian Cope to make me feel sane again...

More Delays and My First Copper Thingie..

Jooky Copper Scratchplate - Imagine

Well, for all my high hopes of getting the OCD One complete yesterday, after far-too-much-pain, it turned out that one of the 'pots' was knacked, and it occurred to me far too late in the day to get a new one, so that is the job for today. Get a pot, fix the guitar. Simple.

And then that will really be it.
End of.
Honest.


(Hopefully.)

In the mean time, I stripped the J-Bird One down so that it is ready for finishing and ordered what remained of the parts - minus the pickups and scratchplate, of course, which I'm still sniffing about for.

Never simple in the Jookydome, telling yer.

A guitar loses an Orca, gains a Seal

Other than that, I started to lacquer The Fat Pussy One and The Jangly One (must remember to use really short names in future to save on the typing)

As far as The Jangly One goes, last night I girded my loins and then dipped them into the hot water that is cutting a scratchplate out of copper and then enameling it. OK, as the body is quite a busy design, I should probably have gone for something simple, and I did thank that for a moment, but then thought - stuff it - and dived headfirst into something impressionistic with two types of glitter...



This took quite a few layers and 'firings' - god I am sooo very arty - and still has to have a clear top put on it, but what do you think?

I have to say, drilling the holes was a complete bitch, but that will no doubt come with practice, or maybe the right tools, but the cutting out the shape only cost me minor blood loss. But I get that every time I change a string, so nothing new there. (All those people who have a Jooky guitar are looking carefully at stains that assumed were intended for Jookiness purposes.)

It is really a bit glittery, but you can't tell. Sneaky huh?

If nowt else it has fired me up (a tee and a hee) to get on with the proper copper topped Tele, but the Customs come first so I'll have to fit that in when and as. At least I know what a usable thickness is of copper now, that was a voyage of discovery.

One drawback mind you, I forgot to drill the screw holes (ahem).

And so back to the OCD one today... Must remember to buy Geoff a pint after all this...

Finally, finally getting OCD about it all..

This looks sooo much better with strings. And screws.

Well, I finally got the OCD One back from my mate the soldering tech last night, but unfortunately we're only 86.349% there, which means that today, if I manage to do anything else, it will be to finally finish it. 

I started talking to Geoff about the guitar on the 6th or 7th of October, so in real terms it hasn't been ultra slow, but man it feels like it has. 

And to be perfectly honest it is doing my head in.

So today is the day. 

Definitely.

You can set your watch by it...

Just call me Mr. 13.651%.

(Watch out for fotos later, at a blog near you).

Preparing for take-off...

Not a great foto, but a lovely piece of wood, methinks

We've been having a fun old time trying to find a Jaguar body for our latest Katy's Killer Custom guitar, the J-Bird One, and it is starting to remind me why we seem to do so many Strats - it is a lot easier to find the parts.

Anyway, we've got a couple of options, with one of them being an old custom made guitar being broken up by a friend-of-a-friend. Actually, there are two guitars being broken up, and two bodies, if I'm being specific.

These aren't exactly the right shape and I'm not sure that we'll use them for the J-Bird but I've decided to grab them either way, as they look a bit fun and as I said, such things are hard to find without importing them from the U.S of A and paying the tax man far too much for the privilege..

Andy is yet to see them (actually so am I), but either way I think it is about time we ventured into offset territory again anyway, and this is a chance too good to miss. It's been a long time since The Psychedelic Surf One - which is with James Sant still, of course - and features on a lovely new recording of his. I keep forgetting to mention that; I'll put a link up later.

But anyway, where was I? Yes - so whether Andy goes with one of them or not, the other is going to be for me and it will turn out to be a bit of a one, I think. It is practically begging for a single P90 soapbar, let's face it, and as I've already got a neck or three lay around that will fit (hopefully) it could be an easy put together.

(I always think that and it never is.)

We'll see when they arrive anyway...

Later that night, in the Jooky Kingdom...

I fell over taking this 'shot'

OK, the guitar bodies turned up before I had a chance/got around/stopped eating/could be bothered to post this on the blog. And they are really very nice. lovely sparkly finishes, Blue and a sort of old Red colour. They've been left with three single coils in them and a bridge, so I figured I should really bang a neck on one of them and see what they are sounding like.

First impressions, the body is heavier than I expected. Not anything Gibson-esque, but a good Strat weight. Actually, it is similar to my Jazzmaster, which I guess I should have expected.

Nice offset shape, so it is comfy from the off - slightly thinner than a Jag or Jazzmaster, but it feels fine. Verily nice in fact.

Strumming it acoustically, well it totally sings. I'm really surprised. The bodies are swamp ash, and the sound unplugged is nice and vibrant with a good sustain.

Plugged in, well three single coils, a five way switch and Fender American Strat pups, it was only going to sound like a Strat wasn't it. Very nice tones, good and responsive, bit of a twang, all the right in-betweeny noises and I love it when a guitar starts to break up more the harder you 'pick'. Bit of overdrive and everything is sweet, and then all out mayhem ensues without any unwanted feedback. I think the middle pickup must be reversed too as the 2 & 4 positions are quieter still.

All in all, very nice. the bridge is a crock of something smelly, but I am guessing it wasn't the original as everything else has been sold.

Sooo, a bit of a treat to find this and now that it is at my tender mercies...lovely.

Does it get me further forward with the J-Bird,
I'm thinking possibly maybe - tis upto Andy.

Will I get to make a bit of a jingly guitar or two in my favourite shape of all, oh yes.

The Drowning Man

I hate to admit it, but I've got a bit carried away on the guitar buying front in the last few weeks.

And that's just under the stairs

It's all down to the fact that for the first time in ages I've had a chance to get a bit of a run at it, and then I get keen, and then I get into the old 'wouldn't it be nice if I just...' mindset, and then all of a sudden I've got bodies and necks all over the place, complete guitars I'm going to lift and separate and pickups coming out my ears.

But I can't find a strap button for love nor dosh.

And it is madness, this path.
But it is also rather fun.

So at the moment, apart from the two customs, which take top priority, I've actually got plans for eight more guitars. And this after I said that I was going to have a few months off at the start of next year to get on with the woodwork and copper cutting.

Still all good fun, and if you like offsets and Danos, Strats and Teles, Semi acoustics and Flying Vees, all with quite odd twists, this might be the place to be over the coming weeks and months.

*Whispers* There are 14 guitars in the house at the moment, and I'm worried that somebody might begin to notice soon. Shhhh....

Jangle Jewelry

WIP - The Jangly One, minus just about everything

I was quite pleased with myself yesterday as I managed to pick up a couple of Kent Armstrong Lipstick pickups for the Jangly One to replace the 'Stock' reissue jobbies. They are the slightly hotter than normal ones, which I'm thinking will keep 'that' sound, but maybe give a couple more tricks for the olde one-trick-pony too.

They are the same ones I've put in the OCD One, of course, which should be as good a recommendation as you can get, if I ever get it back from the soldering-chap and find out for sure, but different bodies, wiring and everything else, well you never can tell.

I am chuffed with how the wee beasty is coming together. I've done the body work, and the paisley is quite simply gob-smacking, but I had a bit of a dither with the scratchplate as initially I was going with a trancy rave kind of thing, but it looked horrendous and now I can't even begin to think why I ever thought it would work.

Instead then, I'm going to break my duck and dip my toes in the enameled copper water and have a scratchplate like nothing else. I am still doing the copper-topped Tele, but this seems to be a good time to try it out on a smaller scale, so we shall see.

If you look at the comments, John - the proud owner of the Funky Spangled One - who part ex'd the Dano in the first place made a suggestion I like, which was a copper banding  that runs around the edge and overlaps onto the front and back. To replace the traditional Dano cheapo vinyl tape 'binding', if you see what I mean.

Well, I'm not sure if I am up to the job, but if I can find some suitable copper, I might just give it a go. I also like the idea of nailing it down using either copper or zinc nails if I can find some small enough. Against the paisley I think it would look amazing. So cheers John, much appreciated.

As for the tuners, as everything is getting a bit gaudy at best, I'm going to see if the gold plated Gotoh tuners I picked up the other day will work. The Dano ones were OK-ish, but, I'm never one for half-measures if I can go ferret, as it were.

By the way, here are some veeerrryyy early WIP fotos of the Jangly One and the Fat Pussy One.

The taste-filled Fat Pussy One WIP

All good stuff.

Baby Please Come Home

Hopefully today it will actually have strings attached

Well today is the day that I finally get the OCD One back from the chap who is helping me out on the soldering front.

It's taken a week, feels like a decade, and it has been me that has been getting narky about it, Geoff has been really calm.

I'm sure I'm doing this wrong and it should have been the other way around somehow.

In the end practicalities dictated that we've gone for a mini-switch instead of a push-pull pot for the coil tap, but not the end of the world and in truth it might be more useful in those live-stress-filled-moments where you want to give it a bit of welly without changing your volume and all that.

I just can't wait for it to show up, to be honest, I just want to give it a blast and make sure it is all bang on before it gets the brown paper and string treatment and winds it's way down the M5 to it's new home.

I know I've done this a few times now, but I still get all emo-tional about it....

Anyway, when I've got it and all is well, I'll put some fotos up of our first example of Katy's Killer Custom Jookiness

Needing a Fat Pussy

I did suddenly think that there is a bit of a lack in my life right now, a bit of hardcore that I'm missing out on, so I decided that as is traditional in Jooklyand, I needed to do another guitar with a P90.

What prompted this was a bunch of Strat parts in one corner, and a long-held desire to have a pickup handwound for me by Allan Price at Catswhisker pickups.

Catswhisker do a humbucker sized P90 called The Fat Moggy that I’ve heard from quite a few people is bang on the money. I tried one in a Les Paul a while back and it sounded stunning and since then I've had a bit of a yen.

I do realise that it kinda goes against the old Jooky ethos, but I've had my eyes open for ages trying to see one for sale second hand but they never seem to come up, which I took as a good sign. So I've bitten on the bullet and had one handwound for me to fit the specific guitar, and there we are.

Anyway, that's the plan and imagine how impressed I was at Allan's 'service. I ordered the pickup on Saturday morning, and he emailed me that evening to say he had already wound it, would be wax potting it Sunday and posting it to me Monday. And true to his word it was delivered here on Tuesday morning.

Bleeding hell, the guy is a diamond. I just wish I'd got the guitar ready a bit quicker...

I must admit, in my search for a perfect P90 sound out of a humbucker packet, I think I'm going to try a few of the 'other' handwinders in the UK over the next few months, but I bet nobody delivers quicker than that. The Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen is excellent, but it is nice to see what else is out there. So I've got Shed and Wizard on my radar too for future builds... Shed's even come with a proper plastic, scaled down soapbar cover, and you don't know how tempting that is to me...

As for the guitar, I thought this time, that I would go for a two-tone Paisley kind of thing. Something a bit more understated than the recent Funky One and Jangly Ones have seen. So what I have planned is that classic red and black contrast, for a bit of drama and the rest. Though this in no way means that I am a Holocaust denier or lover of Wagner. I never am fancy dressed up as a Tory politician either.

I think it will look pretty good when it is done, The Fat Pussy One.

Sold: The Peace Train One

The Peace Train One moves our Jooky journey forward, away from the Paisley and into a full-on flower powered, love story of an acid fried generation. Peace signs and a hallucinogenic finish beam like the Love, Love, Love generation, and a whiff of incense brings back George playing his Rocky guitar, John and Paul in Pepperdom and Ringo with his Yellow Submarine in the bath at number 48.

The Peace Train One isn’t just a fancy finish though, it has a darker almost Seventies side beneath it’s scratchplate and all manner of switches and knobs above it.

For built in to this pacifistic innocent, is a Lou Reed sleazy dirt beneath, with pulsating auto-wah and filthy distortion just the flick of a switch away, to take you from the neon lights of Carnanby Street direct to the rain sodden time-stained sodium of Berlin's seedy underbelly...

*

To be clear, The Peace Train One is an utterly unique guitar, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely hand built and finished cooler than a Perfect Day. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar

Electrics: Teisco Strat pickups

Guitar Type: Fender Stratocaster type, but of unknown vintage. Believed to be based on a 60s or 70s Teisco guitar.

Construction: Cloth over wood.

Strings: Fender Stainless Steel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Active circuitry:

-    Master volume on/off switch
-    Three volumes, one per pickup
-    Three effect switches turn on/off Auto Wah, Distortion and ‘Normal’
-    Three pickup selector switches
-    This is an active guitar and only work when the batteries are installed.
-    Needs 2 AA batteries, supplied.

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

Serial Number: JGE#18

RSP: £399 SOLD

Oh Dano Boy...

They are very, very complicated pickups...

Well, I think I've got to the bottom of what it is I should be doing with the Danelectro '59, and in some ways it is making me a little sad.

It has a name now, by the way, The Jangly One.

I'm feeling imaginative today,
it probably shows...

OK, but back to the point - what am I planning.

Well, it is obviously going to have a killer finish, and the slightly dodgy bits will be upgraded - that's fine.

And I think I'm going to replace the pickups with something more 'original Dano authentic' if I can find some that work for me, which I'm happy about too. My biggest concern is keeping the Dano sound really, so we will have to see.

Anyway, I've started to dismatle the Dano and am already up to my neck in gubbins putting the rather tastefilled finish on it and I have to say, I almost feel bad about it. It means I can't jingle around the living room like a floppy fringed indie boy. Better do the vacuuming instead, I guess.

Actually, bad.
But not that bad...

Wassup, for our American Readers

Well, it seems as though the J-Bird One, that is the name for our second Katy's Killer Custom guitar, is coming along quite nicely. I think the specification is pretty much there now and I'm kinda chuffed that my scouring of the byways and airwaves for various parts has already thrown a few up, including a rather helpfully routed Jag-esque body which I should get my hands on later this week, so things are going well on that score.

While I search around for everything else we need, I'm also trying to polish off a couple of the other guitars that are in various stages of completion. I'm also hopefully meeting up with Geoff sometime this week to hand over The OCD One, which will be a bit of a buzz for me, and hopefully for him too.

I had planned to get a 'bunch' - the officially collective term for Jooky things - of cigar box amps done to capitalise on the massive pre-Christmas demand for presents made out of old junk, but soldering is still slightly beyond me at the moment and they are having to wait unfortunately. Similarly delayed are the effects pedals and the Growler project. All most annoying, but the price of being a crip I guess.

So, anyway, don't be surprised if there are a few new guitars popping along over the next few weeks. I can manage them, with a little help from my friends, if nowt else.

Saying that, this final wee crop are likely to be the last ones for a while, as I want to get to grips with a bit of woodwork and copper mining for a while in the new year. As ever then, catch 'em while you can, I guess.

One other guitar I have to have finished pre-Yuletide is for my eldest who in fact started all of this Jooky nonsense when we built a guitar together, for him, a while back. Well, he is struggling with the size of The Dragonocaster, so I managed to get hold of a decent 3/4 sized electric recently, and I'm going to pimp that up with a rather cool Pokemon livery for him...

He already plays better than me, mind you.
Maybe I shouldn't be encouraging him...

Is it a bird? Is it a rather scary cat?

Feline guitars came up with this - cool or what?

I mentioned the other day that there are plans-a-foot for a second of our Katy's Killer Custom guitars, following on from The OCD One, and I thought that perhaps it might be good to talk about it a wee bit more.

As we stand, I have got a rough spec from Andy, the chap it is for, and the mock-up on the right, to illustrate the point and I think we are 97.5% sure what it is going to work out like.

The nice thing, from my point of view, is that already it is going along the same lines as it did with Geoff. Andy had some ideas, I came up with a few more and then we've batted-them-about until we're both happy that it is achievable and gives Andy the guitar he wants.

And what a guitar this is going to be. You may have seen Andy popping up in the comments talking about offset guitars, and that is what we are going for, with a couple of radical twists.

For a start, it is going to have a Jaguar/Jazzmaster type of body.

Bolted into that we're aiming for something that looks a lot like a neck from a Gibson Firebird, complete with the 'right' kind of vertical 'banjo' tuners, though they will be the Steinberger version as they apparently work better than the Gibson originals, and look amazing.

Pickups, we're having a humbucker and a P90 for that Gibson BFG Les Paul type of rock 'n' roll-ness, with kill switches, coil taps and anything else that gives us a few different sounds thrown in on the leccy front that we can muster... This is going to be a working guitar, and is going to need to handle snarling overdrive, creamy fuzz and as well as some cutting cleans. (I read that in a brochure somewhere, but it fits...)

As for the finish, well it will only be the second ever 'Kylie' as it will have a rather cool comic book feel to it, based on Marvel's Punisher series, although done in a quite different way to The Beano One of yore.

Obviously the first thing i did was order some comics, purely for research purposes. That'll account for the first week.

In terms of timings, the aim is to have it finished pre-Xmas, which I think we should manage OK. I've decided that i'll only be doing one 'Custom' at a time, and everything else will have to fit in around it as it's only fair really.

So as far as our Katy goes, that will be it for this year, and sorry if you have been wondering whether to try one or not, but there won't be any more until the new year (though there are a few Leona's on the cards, ahem, if you have an itch that just has to scratched).

Obviously, a couple of days in and we're still finalising everything; it is as yet unnamed, but I think it will prove to be a stunner when we get there - like Geoff's OCD One, a custom in every sense of the word...

Man, I'm all-of-a-buzz

p.s. At the time I wrote this,  I didn't realise that Feline Guitars were doing a combo Jaguar and Firebird and that I'd used their foto. I wish I had as they are super cool British luthiers and they make lovely, lovely guitars. They were very nice about it, but credit where it is due, and if you are into guitars you really should... Check them out HERE

I Dunno

Since I started talking about the OCD One, it's been quite surprising how many people have asked about them.

I guess we guitarists all like the idea of a one-off, built to fit our own ideas of what a guitar should be and I have to admit that the Jooky ones are about as one-off as you can get.

Anyway, the question I've never quite had an adequate answer for is 'How much do they cost', as to be perfectly honest, it depends on so many things.

When I make them for myself, I decide what I'm going to build and then hustle around looking for parts, or as I've said before, I come across parts and that sets me off in a different direction. Cost doesn't really come into it - I make something I like or that interests me and then when I sell it, I try to get enough money for it that I can make something else. Profit and wages don't really come into the equation either. And if that means I happen to have the money to pick-up a Bare Knuckle P90 when I see one - great - and if I don't have enough, I might get a PRS one, or an IronGear, or whatever.

In terms of the Katy's Killer Customs though, it is a rubbish answer, but it really depends what people want as far as parts go, if you are verily specific, it will be a case of what I can turn up and how much they cost, If you want new parts, they cost more than second-hand etc.

With Geoff, and the OCD One, we did it the other way around. We agreed a budget, and I then worked within that, having a base spec but trying to improve on it as we went along with anything better that I could lay my hands on. For example, when I planned things initially, I was expecting to use some nice Wilkinson tuners, for instance, but then came across some (superior) Schaller ones going second-hand, and instead went for them.

Similarly, I was going to use some Mexican Fender Strat pickups, but then had some Kent Armstrong lipstick ones available, so went with those instead, and so on.

And to be honest, that is probably the best approach, with the sticky bit being the setting a budget up front. Which brings me back all around the round thing.

So, much as it bugs me in a way, as I'd much rather be thinking about making guitars than talking about money, I'm thinking that what I should do is set a price for an example Jooky Custom guitar, which can then be adjusted based on specific requirements, as was suggested in our comments section by 17FiftySeven, who obviously is more switched on than I am..

And so that is a plan, the Jooky Guitar Emporium will soon have a price-list of sorts.
How scary is that?

Katy's Killer Customs

Katy plays guitar,
and married a spider from mars,
but has nowt to do with our guitars

Well, Geoff’s OCD One is very nearly ready to hand over to him – I had to get a local tech to do the soldering again, but there we are, and it will really be nice to meet him after all this email activity, putting the guitar together.

Just hope he likes it ‘in the wood’ as it were.

I must admit, I had been thinking about the Customs idea for quite a while, but had held back for a couple of reasons –

1.    I was a bit worried that it wouldn’t work. The person wanting the guitar would really have to ‘buy in’ to the whole Jooky idea, the Rough Finishing and environmentally-sound use of second-hand parts, and all that. Oh and the strange approach to finishing guitars in paper and cloth, of course. I forget that isn’t run-of-the-mill at times.

Also, it isn’t like I am a traditional luthier who is starting with a couple of chunks of wood and a tub of nitro asking what shape you want… Saying that, the guitars are a lot cheaper too, and perhaps even more one-off than the rest of the Jooky guitars.

2.    The second reason of course, is that I’ve gotten very used to following my own path with these guitars, and change my mind – get excited/inspired and generally can be a bit of a nitemare, I’m sure.

Could I stick, more or less, to a specification then?
A big question, but so far at least, as long as it is clear and agreed up front, it seems as though I can. Which is all-good, and has been a lot of fun.

So would I do it again, and I guess more to the point – would anybody else want me to?

Well, from my perspective, I came to conclusion that I would. It was fun, it stuck to the ‘ethos’ and as long as I’m clear upfront about what I do, I can’t see that there should be too many problems…

Least, I hope so anyway.

And as it happens, it seems that somebody else does want one, and so for the last couple or few days I’ve been happily exchanging emails about what will prove to be the yet unnamed, second ever Jooky Custom guitar.

More about that soon, I expect, but it seems as though ‘Katy’s Killer Customs’ – I figured I needed a new name for these – might just have wings after all.

Spirit of '59, or maybe '69 - Pure indecision

I'm struggling a bit at the moment to decide what to do with the Danelectro '59 (or is it '69, I forget) reissue that I had as a part-ex the other week.

Would you cover a Dano in this? What would Jimmy P. think?

My initial thought was that I would give it a totally outlandish finish - that one over there - you can't try and be subtle with a Dano, lets face it - and maybe change the tuners (which aren't great) and perhaps the pickups too. Bridge and nut are awesome of course, but I wasn't too sure about the bridge pickup especially.

Where I'm stuck though, is what I do with the sticky tape binding around the edges. I mean, I could take it off and glue it back on once I've 'finished' it, and if I knacker it up Danelectro even sell it as a part, but I really don't know whether I want it at all, or more to the point, if I leave it off does that kill the guitar's original design.

I mean, whatever I do, I love the scratchplate, so that will stay in some form - I wonder if I could make a copper one and whether you can get glittery enamel, hmmm... - but that tape. Sheesh, bit of a tricky one.

As for the pickups, I like the Kent Armstrong ones, but I wonder what else is out there?

I'd love a P90 sound, but would it work?
Would it still be a Dano that I'd love etc.

Yours, in dilemma.

Chugging along peace-filled, like WIP Fotos

I'm really feeling rather charmed by the Peace Train One, at the moment.

I sorted out the neck earlier, so it isn't so glossy or neat anymore, and I decided to replace the rather shonky tuners with some Wilkinson ones which should make a world of difference. I've also made a rather momentous decision, and am going with a plain black scratchplate for the first time ever.

At least I am at the moment.

The hippified fabric looks stunning, so I might have to relent and cover the scratchplate with it in the end. I just think, for once, a little err; subtlety might be in order...

I also decided to keep the original pickups. I think I said that I have some from a Fender Highway One Strat that I was thinking of using, but these have such a distinct 'voice' especially with the aluminum (or whatever it is) bridge, that it would be criminal to change them. Again, that's the plan as I write this, but who knows really.

Here it is so far anyway... (And yes, I rrealised after I took the snaps that I'd forgotten to put the bridge on - sheesh.) Quite nice to be thinking peacefilled thought on a day like today...

A Bit More OCD - WIP Fotos

Well, the OCD one is all dry, and so I've partially fitted and partially plonked it together so that Geoff can see whether he likes it or not.
And being the sharing kind of chap I am, I thought I'd put my triumph/shame (delete as you see fit) for all to see in public.

I know, I am such a muppet.

Here are a couple of fotos of it looking somewhere near close to being done, like...

I Will Survive

Well, R&D day was fun, and somehow I survived. I have to say that the enamel was the biggest success, but then I'm not sure how long I'm meant to leave the weathering approach, so that might get better soon I guess.

I have come across a company (where I bought the copper) who will actually cut the pieces to size and shape, and even more impressive - they sell pre-weathered copper, both of which are tempting.

But I think that would be a little boring, and a cop out if I don't actually try it myself first.

If I prove too hopeless, maybe I would go that route - I buy 'normal' scratchplates after all - but you have to find your level, don't you? Plus they are bleeding expensive.

While I'm in R&D mode I've also decided that the time might well be upon us where I have to get meself a router and have a go at making my own guitar bodies. I said before that I'd got a couple of cool shapes I fancy using, and like the copper I have somebody who will make them for me if I want to, but I really need to know whether I can do it myself.

I don't mind buying all the parts for the Jooky guitars I've done so far, but if I'm moving on a stage, it seems wrong somehow to have someone else do the work. 'I'd never use a 'Designed by Duncan' pickup on principle, and I can't say I find 'designed by Jooky' much of a turn-on either.

But there we are, time will tell.

R&D Day

Well, all the recent usual suspects are trundling along as before like a Jooky little production line, and so, again, I'm thinking of where I go next - and the future is enamel. Or maybe copper. I don't know.

Today I thought I'd have a bit of an R&D moment, and see whether my ideas for a copper-topped-tele are actually achievable, or more to the point,  whether they are achievable with me as a big part of the fabrication equation.

What the plan is then, is to top the pine-bodied Tele I was talking about with a sheet of copper. I even bought some copper (though I think the bit I've got to practice on is maybe a bit thick to be cut-up-able, but we'll  see.

As for what I do with the copper, assuming I actually manage to cut it into something that looks like the shapes I want when you squint a bit in the dark, well, that is where the R&D comes in, as basically I have a couple of things I want to try.

First up - I quite fancy trying to 'weather' it. I don't mean stick it in the garden for six months; I mean use some sort of chemical bobbins to force the issue.

Roofers do this, apparently, when they put copper roofs on stone cottages so that they look old and green - a patina, I've discovered this is called - and also gardeners do it to copper pots for the same reason.

Anyway, I read somewhere that copper sulphate might work, and somewhere else that vinegar, or lemon juice, or urine or, well, shed loads of ideas to try.

And so that is the plan.

How you 'fix' it so that the guitar's player doesn't get covered in green manginess, I don't know, but I guess I’ll have to find out.

The second idea I want to explore, is enameling. You know like you see in hippy shops and on the jewelry teachers wear.

Enamel is apparently not something Airfix came up with, and instead is powdered glass that you put onto copper (in this case) and heat up in a kiln so it melts.

I haven't got a kiln, but I know a chap with a blowtorch, so I figured that might be fun, so I'm going to try using one of those instead. I also read that simply heating copper with a blowtorch can induce a patina of sorts, but that is option three and I'm not sure that it is worth separating out as that will happen anyway as I'm not exactly likely to be competent with a blowtorch, lets face it. Dangerous probably.

So there we are, an R&D day, and if I don't breath in the powdered glass, catch something off the cat-piss drenched copper or set fire to myself, I'll tell you how I get on.

Flying Out They Is

No more Funky Anymore

Well blimey, The Funky One didn't hang around long - that nice Fat Old Man snapped it up within the hour of it being listed, which I think is a new record around here. Hope you enjoy it mate, it is truly a lovely wee thing.

In other news, I've shuffled along quite quickly on the Peace Train One, and I have to say it is really quite a stunning looking guitar as well. It is going to be pretty cool to put it back together and turn it up way loud, methinks.

I've just got hold of some nice Fender pickups which (I think) I'll drop into it, though to be honest, I'm still not really sure as the existing ones have a sound about them that is just 'different', and that is always worth holding onto, innit? Maybe whoever ends-up with it will get the choice between them, just have to see.

In other news, The OCD One has had its final coats of lacquer and will be drying over the next few days. The scratchplates, however, are both done in terms of the finish, and so I can whip out the soldering iron and get them sorted out tomorrow with a bit of luck, so that they are easy to pop on in come the glorious day.

I don't know why it is, but some of these Jooky guitars come together really quickly, and others seem to take forever with no discernable reason. The OCD One has certainly taken longer than I thought - and not for any 'committee decision making' reason, that side has been very easy, it just seems to have been in slo-mo.

I guess me cocking-up the first finish, having to strip it back, paint the body and then do it all again, may have come into it, thinking about it now.
Ho hum...

Sold: The Funky One

The Funky One is James Burton meeting James Brown on top of a mountain and exchanging little bits of paper to see what happens. It is what Bootsy would play if he learned how to deal with a couple more strings. It is pure lysergic funk mixed with something a lot older, dirtier and hot, hot and a bit more hotter.

But it has a secret under the hood. The pickups are scorching. I mean burning. I mean sheesh.

At the bridge is an IronGear ‘Hot Slag’ which is awesome sounding.

At the neck is a DiMarzio 'Evolution', which is frankly crazy.

But it isn’t all hot and heavy, The Funky One has knobs as well as balls, and the more you take the time to twiddle them, the more you’ll get out of this little cherub.

To be clear, The Funky One is an utterly unique guitar, and there will never, ever, be another made. It is signed and numbered, entirely hand built and finished cooler than a British funkster. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar

Pickups: Di Marzio ‘Evolution’, IronGear ‘Hot Slag’

Guitar Type: Fender ’72 Custom Telecaster Inspired

Construction: Cloth over wood.

Strings: Fender 350L Stainless Steel

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: 2 x Tone, 2 x Volume, Three-way Selector

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

Serial Number: JGE#14

RSP: £399 SOLD