The One One: An Anniversary Waltz

Well, I keep mentioning The One One, so it is about time I got my act together and spilled the beans.

The first Jooky guitar - was it only a year ago?
Well, err, no actually.

For those of you that missed it, I had the idea that it was about time that The Jooky Guitar Emporium moved into the realms of signature guitars. You know, where companies get famous endorsees to work closely with the guitar maker, maybe even pick their favourite colour, and then coin it large as all the suckers fans queue up to play 'exactly' the same guitar as their idol.

The flaw in the thinking is that of course it is unlikely that the 'idol' was playing the signature guitar before they became famous enough to warrant one and were in fact playing something more 'stock - were no doubt playing a guitar which you could buy a lot cheaper with the added benefit of not looking like some saddo fanboy, but we can gloss over that train of thought.

So anyway, I thought we should do one too, despite the fact that we only ever make one-off guitars, and we would never actually want to/be in a position to sell lots of chinese fake copies of it, but there we are, who really cares. It's the thought that counts.

So I had a think about  it and was planning to run a competition to find the person who would get the signature guitar - The One One. But then I thought, well, there are actually quite a few people who have followed what we are doing in Jookyland and generally laughed with me instead of at me, and I figured that I'd much rather it was somebody like that who got the guitar. Somebody that would actually get the point, rather than just hope for a freebie that they could bang on Ebay.

Now there are more candidates than you'd imagine - I get lots of people chatting on Facebook and by email, but really I wanted somebody who is likely to 'gig' the guitar and basically flash it around a bit. More because I like the idea of the guitars being used than because I'm looking for the publicity and all that.

So, I'm really pleased to say that I've got a willing victim, and in a way it is nice as it is Andy the chap who was meant to be having the ill-fated Jazzmaster/Firebird hybrid at the end of last year, before it all went to pot and we gave up on the idea of doing 'Customs'. That feels good in lots of ways, but there we are. He's a good geezer too, which makes life simpler.

As for the guitar, well for a start it isn't going to be a re-run of the previous project, that would be pointless. Instead it is going to be something 'from scratch', which I think is the right way to go.

Thinking about the guitar then, I want it to really show where Jooky is now and in a way the 'one' in the middle of the name is as much about this being somewhere near the anniversary of our first guitar (and yes that probably means there will be 'The Two One' appearing in 2012. Actually can I say 2012 these days or has it been trademarked by the Olympic bods?).

But the guitar - I want it to be about what we are doing in the here and now, and so I'm thinking that it will be a combined fabric and leaf, of some kind, finish. I want it to have a good choice of sounds - maybe mix P90s and humbuckers, and generally I want it to be sharp. The neck, I know Andy likes maple and 22 frets so that is what we'll look for, and generally that is that.

In terms of the parts, I'm a-hunter-gathering as usual, but the Tele Custom body I mentioned the other day is ideal (not least as I hope it won't need routing) and I'm expecting a neck that was meant for a different project that seems to fit the bill. Assuming they all fit together proper-like, which isn't always the case.

So there we are...should be fun, and I'll no doubt keep you in the loop, track our progress and generally talk you thru it, as we go.

And yes, I know the first anniversary of one of our guitars being built was in February, but down here in Somerset, well things can take a bit of time...