Introducing: The Lulu One

Well, I'm pleased to be finally able to introduce you to The Lulu One, finished, playing like strawberries and clotted cream and sounding awesome.

For those of you that have followed the saga, this has being going to have many forms since I picked up the Pine Tele body all that time ago, but it really was worth the wait, even if there was a last minute twist, just to keep it interesting.

From the top it is a Tele, Pine bodied, maple necked. Wilkinson split Kluson tuners - which I love. A proper old school Tele Ash tray bridge complete with a proper Ash tray cover.

Speaking of hanging around  at the bridge, there is a quite exceptionally cool sounding Bare Knuckle Brown Sugar pickup nestling beneath the chrome.

Oh, and it was always going to be an Esquire so it has an Esquire plain black scratchplate.


As for the finish, well I've talked about it plenty, but the body was covered in a lush gold and green paisley. This is on the sides and back and really is one of the nicest I've used so far. As for the top, well the paisley there has been covered with copper leaf, which in turn has been attacked with various acids and the copper has been eaten away in parts and generally tortured so that the paisley is exposed and is coquettishly peeking thru. There are also some lovely blue traces of copper sulphate (I believe, and if my recollections of chemistry sets in the late '70s is any way a guide) which set the damage off proper-like.

This mixture of fabric and corroded metal leaf is a first for me in so many ways, and it is something I'll be revisiting in the near future as it is very effective.

As for the sounds - I was really looking forward to having a play with the different variations of the Esquire wiring - over the years there have been many kinds of 'mods' to get more from a single pickup - but in the end was a bit frustrated by it as basically it didn't seem to add a great deal to get excited about.

I know, you wait for ever and then your Xmas pressies are shonky. But instead of moping I decided to get stealthy and hide a lovely P90 soapbar, out of a PRS SE One beneath the scratchplate.

Now, I didn't really know what this would sound like - I'd asked around and the general feeling was that it would be too far from the strings to work proper-like, so in truth I was expecting to be trying a variety of higher powered 'buckers and the like until something cut thru nicely, but lowly and beholden, I'm really rather chuffed to say that it sounds great.

Better still the middle position gives a phasey/half-cocked-wah type of sound which is just gah. (Which was the only Esquire 'mod' that had impressed me, as it happens.)

So there we are. I need to get it set-up proper-like as the action is a touch low, but it plays great, sounds brilliant and just looks the pooch's peanuts.

Lulu, we love you, and like the best of divas, you were well worth the wait.

For the record then:

Pine Body
Maple Neck
Wilkinson 'Split Kluson' tuners
Wilkinson "Ash Tray" Tele Bridge with Compensated Brass Saddles
Bare Knuckle  'Brown Sugar' Bridge Pickup
PRS SE One P90 Soapbar, Stealthily Hidden Neck Pickup
Esquire Pickguard
Paisley Finish
Corroded Copper Leaf Top