Introducing: The Rusting Nail One

Well, typically real life has a habit of taking over, which meant that whilst I just about had managed to get the Rusting Nail One together, I only had a few minutes to grab a couple of fotos and test drive the wee thing before I had to be elsewhere.

As a result of such things, not a lot will be happening for a few days now, not even the collection of a lovely old battered Gordon Smith I should have been receiving or a day in the guitarish flesh pots of Bristol. Sometime soon though, with a bit of luck.

But how did the Wizard Novatron sound after all the build-up?

Well, daft as it sounds, I'm not sure I really had enough time to find out. But from the top, it is a low output humbucker, so I wasn't expecting screaming highs and that in itself takes a moment or three to get used to. In fact the tone is hard to describe, being almost more single-coil sounding, if that makes sense, but it really is quite beautiful. I understand what Andy at Wizard means when he describes it as resonator-like, as it definitely has an acoustic tone to it, and equally there is something going on beneath, which again is an almost Leslie-esque.

All of which is most odd, but verily seductive. With a bit of reverb it just sounds gorgeous and I just found myself smiling. It sounds nothing like one, well maybe a tad, but it was like the first time I tried a chorus effect, I'm no kind of player by any stretch - just sounds beautiful.

So clean it is beautiful, but when you add a bit of gain or fuzz it just sounds - gah. Simple as that, no fancy effects just a different sound, and when you think about it there are precious few of those around.

The Rusting Nail One then, with the Novatron and the P90 at the neck (which is as cool as ever) has a completely different set of sounds to what you'd expect. Blues it has it all, indie - god forbid - it may make you stand out from the crowd, and classic rock, it can handle it too. Where it stretches things is to explore it for a while yet to come... 


From the top then -

Mahogany Body
Maple/Rosewood Neck
Kluson Type Tuners
ToM Tailpiece ABR bridge
Alchemit 90 P90 Neck Pickup
Wizard Novatron Bridge Pickup
2 x Volume, 2 x Tone


In summary, well pleased.

Getting Rusty With It

Well, The Red or Dead One is a thing of beauty, and I really can't stop playing it at the moment. That isn't an advert, btw, I'm quite happy to keep the dear thing local for a while...

The Rusting Nail One
A nut short of a Wizard day out,
or something

But time moves on, and I now have the nut for The Rusting Nail One and so today is dedicated to sorting that one out too. I'm still desperate to hear the Wizard Novatron pickup, I have to admit. I'm not sure such expectation is good for the soul or more likely for one pickups ability to impress, but there we are. It's going to be fun to see anyway.

In other news, I am still dithering about The Beaton One's pickups. I was going to go for a straight single P90 type of thing, but have changed my mind again and am going to pair a P90 with a humbucker. I know P90s are my addiction, but if I'm going to give The Beaton One away, I guess I should make it more likely to be useful for other people too. A single coil and a humbucker are a good mix, and there we are. Anyway, the decision is made and I just need to dig out a humbucker to go with it.

I love Rusting Iron
(That's not palare for a ginger rent boy, btw)

I had got a Bare Knuckle Mule, but it didn't work when it arrived which was a tad annoying, so I need to search a bit more. Though I have got a Catswhisker PAF type of thing, so maybe that is the answer. It probably is, in truth.

Other than that, I am dithering about adding another Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz to it, or maybe a killswitch, but then you can over egg things, so I don't know. Decisions and a few more decisions.

After these are out of the way and I've gotten a long overdue grip on The Blue Moon One, I'm not sure what to do next. I had planned on doing The Moulin Rouge One, the Tele custom with a P90 soapbar and a '72 Gibson mini-humbucker combo, but I think I might  try and do some other things first. Too many guitars in a row gets a bit boring and I start wanting to repeat myself. Instead, I'm going to have a go at making a couple of Sophie Filthy Boots pedals. I'm not sure if my dodgy mitts are upto the soldering, but it is worth a try.



Finishing one would be good anyway as I promised I would do my best to get one sorted out for a Jooky guitar toting mate of mine...

We'll see anyway.

Sold: The Red or Dead One

About The Red or Dead One

The Red or Dead One is a first for the Emporium, featuring both one of our beautiful, variegated ‘Marilyn Golden Tops’ for the body and headstock and our not-yet-quite-patented ‘Cilla’s Rusty Iron’ finishes for the scratchplate. All of which are protected by first coats of acrylic and then nitro lacquers.

The guitar is of course based on the ‘70s MIJ homage to a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster. Tuners and bridge are both takes on traditional parts and work perfectly.

As far as the pickups go, these are re-wound pickups from a Fender Strat and to give it a bit more of a grungy vintage, the tone knob is in fact a Sophie’s Filthy Booots Fuzz effect, based on a NOS Germanium diode.

All in all, it is a unique looking and sounding guitar. Verily groovy indeed.

*

To be clear, The Red or Dead 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 pleasant night checking your shoes. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Marilyn’s Gold Top, Cilla’s Rusty Iron Scratchplate

Electrics: Rewound Fender Stratocaster Pickups. Sophie’s Filthy Boots Fuzz

Guitar Type: Gibson SG body, Fender Strat Neck

Construction: Variegated Gold Leaf Finish to the body and headstock. Rusted Iron Finish to the scratchplate. Alder body, Maple neck.

Strings: Nickel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Dual Volume, Dual Tone, Three-way Switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#33

RSP: £499 - SOLD, SADLY SOLD

Sophie - Getting Some Satisfaction

Well, not a lot happening today in truth other than that I've gone deep down inside The Red or Dead One and very, very technically diagnosed, studied, analysed, determined, pondered, decided and generally come-up with a diagnosis as far as the mis-firing fuzz goes.

I then turned the germanium diode around so that is facing the right way, and now it works.

It is the little things, after all.

Don't get me wrong, this little Sophie isn't some mad in-yer-face explosion of fuzz, it is more of a thickener - think Keef getting Satisfaction, rather than MBV full-on mayhem.

It sounds great and authentic thru my nice little Blackstar, and it will stay I think - I  had half considered whether I should put the tone pot back in, but the fuzz stays. End-of.

As for The others, it is too hot today to think further, so I've instead been playing guitar a bit - it makes a change.

Introducing The Red or Dead One

Well I'm still waiting for a couple of parts for The Rusting Nail One, which is annoying because I have a deep need to hear them there pickups, but such is life. Hopefully Monday we'll be there and swirling twangy-like.

Among the despair, I turned instead to my beautiful Red or Dead One, and it is 99% there, and sounds, looks and plays rather smashing.

So by way of introduction, here is my Jaguar-esque piece of Jookiness.

Built out of a '70s Japanese 'tribute', The Red or Dead One has a jaw droppingly lush variegated leaf finish over a solid alder body, a look-of-the-week rusted iron scratchplate, three re-wound Strat pickups, and a sneakily incorporated Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz.

The only downside, and why I'm not shouting 'It's finished' like normal, is that trying now, well, lets just say young Sophie is proving to be a quiet one.Not putting out and basically however much I twist the knob, not a peep emerges from the girl.

Bit more work to do there then - probably put the diode in back to front again, I expect...

I'm quite keen to get the Fuzz working, as the history of the Sophie's is a bit frustrating after all, as initially I was planning on making some pedals, but unfortunately my shaky paws mean I can't solder things in that way too much.

The first Jooky guitar - The Paisley One - had a built-in fuzz, but this is a bit of a different design as it uses a Germanium diode, and doesn't need a battery.

There isn't even a switch, you just turn the little tone-knob-replacement and it is there or not, with lots of variety in between. Ultimate simplicity - and I still seem to have managed to mess it up...

Heh ho, shouldn't be too tricky to sort out methinks.

It's been quite a productive week though, two guitars very-nearly-there, and I am well impressed with the rusty iron finish. Amazingly, even my missus likes them (a first), though I am slightly worried that the guitars are starting to look a bit grown-up. Can't be having that now can we...

WIP: The Rusting Nail One

Well, after yesterday's spraying and drying, a fan heater and a bit of solid concentration...The Rusting Nail One is looking decidedly guitar-shaped.

The keen eyed among you will notice a lack of strings and the keaner still, the gap where the nut should be...but I have to say - in 3D it is veritibly beauty-filled.

The Rusty Iron paint has darkened in a big way and looks stunning, it has to be said.

The headstock matches now as well, and I've put some split Klusons on, though these may change, we'll have to see.

For once it is wired-up, which is a miracle - wiring before strings, can you imagine...and the old knock-the-pickups-with-a-screwdriver test shows signs of life - it may even be finished tomorrow, who could ever have imagined that.

WIP: The Rusting Nail and Red or Dead Ones

Red or Dead - From the front
it is hard to know what to think

Well, I must admit I'm rather pleased with the progress yesterday, on The Rusting Nail and The Red or Dead Ones...if not on my Blue Moon One

Starting with the Red, the variegated leaf finish looks quite stunning already and I'm all agog, it has to be said.

Still not sure what to do with the scratchplate yet, but in summary - cor blimey.

I think I'm going to go for the set of Hayman single coils for it as they had a good rep back-in-the-day and are a wee bit different to the norm, after all.

As for The Rusting Nail One, well as you can see from the fotos, the iron paint of yesterday has rapidly turned into a mass of swirling rustiness.

Iron paint - all battleship like

It is quite beautiful up close and very effective from a distance.

I didn't try it in between, but I'm thinking that the middle distance will be pretty impressive too.

Can't quite believe my luck how well it went, in truth.



Anyway, today will be the real test as I'm going to lacquer both of them. I know the leaf will survive easily enough, but will I lose the rust? I'm really not sure - I hope not though.

One problem with it of course is that I forgot that I needed to drill a couple of holes in the guitar before I started rusting it, but I'll do that by hand once it is lacquered.

The Rusty Back

In other news, you may have noticed that I put a 'Coming Soon' link at the top of the page.

As time goes on I'll keep this updated as and when I start/finish different guitars.

Nowt flash but it'll help me keep my head straight if nothing else.

In even more otherish news, I've decided on what is happening with The Beaton One.

It will have a single Irongear Alchemist P90, which I think I mentioned before (or maybe didn't) and then a built-in Sophie's Filthy Boots Fuzz.

I got a good selection of Germanium diodes to try, and so basically it will have a volume and a fuzz. Simple as that.

And The Rusty Front
(though still drying at this point)

As for giving it away, basically I have decided to offer it as a swap or trade, where whoever offers me something they have made in exchange that is totally unique and catches my fancy gets the guitar.

I'm not too interested in value, so cakes, pedals, woolly hats are all good and humour is an advantage. Bodily fluids I'm less interested in.

So there we are, I'll work it out proper like once I've done the guitar, whenever that may be.

That rust really, truly is beautiful though.

Rambling Rose...

Well, I was really chuffed yesterday. Firstly, the Novatron (resonator meets Leslie pickup) arrived from the excellent Wizard Pickups in record time. I raved about the service from Catswhisker a while back, and Wizard have proved to be equally good.

The Rusting Nail One - Before it rusted.
So that would be The Nail One, then.

I ordered the pup on Thursday night, got a fone call Friday with the news it wouldn't really work well with a Strat. Instantly changed my mind and decided to put it into a SG instead...and then it was wound, wrapped lovingly and delivered first thing on Monday morning. In fact the post arrived three hours earlier than normal too. Which is more miraculous than magnifique. If it sounds half as good as the service, I'm going to be mighty pleased indeedy.

Anyway, that gave me a kick as far as The Rusting Nail One goes, and it received a liberal coating of iron paint today. The paint is basically a lacquer I think but with fine iron powder in it that is still 'active' and will rust. I believe it is because the iron bits stick out of the top somehow and are exposed to the elements, which is how Gold Tops are done but with bronze powder. I may have that wrong.

Once that is dry I've got some gubbins that speeds up the rustiness, which I'm going to apply over the top. In practise it worked well, though not as quickly as advertised, but there we are. Some things are worthy of a decent wait, after all. The foto shows it after the first coat. I've decided to use a brush for the paint as I wanted a bit of an uneven surface when I come to the rusting - bit more texture. Whether that is a good move or not we'll see I guess.

The Red or Dead One from behind

Once we're looking rusty, I'm going to nitro lacquer it thinly and then go for a bit of a craqueluer  finish on top for a bit of craziness. I've ordered a different type of crazing bobbins as the other wasn't as good as I hoped, so this will be the place to try it.

After that it will be a P90 and Novatron combo for the pickups, a bit of work on the neck and then hopefully it will all come together simply.

Unlike the Blue Moon One which I still haven't started again today, but am trying not to think about that right now as I'm in a good mood.


The other fotos show me starting to gild The old 70s Jaguar copy I got. It is in fact (I'm told) a bit of a rarity and was made by Conrad between '68 and '78 in Japan at the same factory that was making Tokai guitars. Whether that is true, I don't know, but it is a very nice guitar body/neck so that'll do me whether it was made in a sweatshop in Tipton last week.

Either way it is getting a variegated red/gold finish with a matching headstock just for the hell of it like. For the pickups I've been offered a set of olde worlde single coils from a Hayman guitar (which has a similar lineage to my Shergold), which I am being tempted by. Though maybe I should think about putting them in the Shergold - Hmmm. Why didn't I think about that earlier

The Red or Dead One - Matching Headstock Folly?

In other news, I had a couple of peeps asking about the Beaton One, and mainly about the 'giving it away part'. I do intend to, but I think there will be a twist there somewhere, just haven't decided what.

Still as far as that baby goes, the change of spec means more parts shopping, so it will be a few weeks before I think about that anyway.

The Futuristic One is still available though, and rather lovely it is too... Not that I need to sell it to buy more weird and wonderful parts or anything...

La la la

Futuristic Porn

Don't get too excited (though as half the hits for this site seem to come from Africa with a Google string of "Fat Pussy" I maybe shouldn't complain if you do...)

Anyway, I took a few more fotos of The Futuristic One, so I thought I'd share...