It might not look a lot, but...

Well, today was of course Fabulous day in the little kingdom of Jook, and I have to say it started quite well.

First-up,  I got into a bit of reaming and fitted the lovely new Grover tuners.

I've recently fallen in love with Grovers for some reason, maybe because they just feel solid and kinda tunersome. Though today's obsession is not likely to be indicative of future performance, I am indeed a tuner tart.

Anyway, after that I gave the frets a polish, the board an oil and generally spoodled and branded it, Jookily.

I don't know why, but it always feels like a real guitar when I put the name on the headstock and that I am obliged to finish it. It also stops me dithering over which neck to use, of course, which is a victory of sorts.

From there I thought I'd be clever and try and put the pot thru the F hole on the body, just to make sure I can. And well, basically I can't.

It is just too big or maybe the hole is too small.

A first for me, apparently.

So a choice - I could use a smaller pot, but am rather attached to the CTS ones as they are goodly, or I could sand out the F hole so that the girth of the pot no longer snaggles on the sides.

And as the F holes needed a bit of sanding anyway, that is what I did. In fact it only took a second or three to get it in once the sanding was done.

Cool I thought, and then promptly spent half 'n' hour getting the thing back out with a knitting needle and a piece of Blu-tac.

Hmm, not so good.

It was quite helpful having the Busted Riviera handy for comparative purposes, as the fact that the F holes on that baby are enormous, convinced me that maybe it wasn't (just) that I was as handy as three left feet stopping me from getting it in, as it were.

So that was good news anyway.

I know it is sad, but the bridge cover
arrived and I really like it...

As for the rest, well there is still no courier on the horizon, so drilling-in-the-garage would seem to be out for the rest of the day, so I carried on with sanding the rest of the body and generally removed the splinters and everything else from my fingers. Very nicely smooth it is now too. The guitar I mean, my fingers are like sandy beaches.

As for drilling, well one for the 'morrow, I guess, and in truth there shouldn't be too much.





My little Things To Make And Do list for the morning:

1. Neck plate holes. Four, always handy for putting screws thru and connecting necks to bodies. Might as well do the ones in The JoBo One while I'm at it. Actually, I might have already, must check.

2. Jack socket. I had decided I wanted this on the front rather than in the side. Can't quite remember why, but looking at how much fun I'm going to have getting the socket in place on the Riviera, I'm reconsidering. Fender put them on the side and who am I to argue with Uncle Leo after all.

3. Volume Knob Pot Holing. There is only going to be a volume control, so that makes life simplerer, as it means I have to only drill one hole. I remember why I like single pup guitars now. Simplistic for one with so little of the grey stuff.

4. Mojo Radiator From Space Pickup. Again there is only one of these which makes my life simpler. This will sit on the surface of the body, with the exception of six magnet pole pieces that extend below. So it will need six holes for them and then two teeny ones to screw the pickup down. If I'm brave I might rout a little ditch instead of drilling the holes, I'll see how my Weetabix goes down tomorrow.

5. Strap pins, tailpiece, anything else I've forgotten. I can put all these on after it is painted so no worries for now. Mainly as I can't find any of them anyway.

So that is it. Today was half a washout and tomorrow will no doubt be angst-ridden and generally painfilled.

On the plus side I now know exactly what I'm doing with the finish, so that is good.

Now, where the f%^k is this courier then.

La la laaaa