The Queen Is Dead

Well, I know I have mentioned the Music Radar Forums a few times in the past - in fact without them I wouldn't be doing this Jooky bobbins at all, or at least the groovy people on there - so it has been a sad couple of weeks since they went under and disappeared without any real explanation or trace.

However, Motherly Inventions pop up in such situations, and rather than waiting and seeing, some of the brightest of the bright sparks had a life-raft already full of cans of beans and isotonic smoothies, and there has been a mass migration of the membership to a new home, which is pretty darn cool.

It is people who make these things special, not companies holding the server keys.

And this spirit of rebellion is going from strength-to-strongerness, and in triple-quick-smart time, a new and spanky cool home will be built under the moniker of 'The Fretboard'. Wish I'd thought of that name meself.

Anyway, to help launch the site, a number of the members will be writing reviews, how-tos and other thingies - and there won't be none of that everything-gets-4-stars bobbins, these will be proper reviews by people who have bought and used the things themselves - and I'm going to join in the fun with a couple of 'articles' about DIY Jookiness.

The first of these will basically be an instruction guide showing how to paisleyify your own guitar, and given the amount of people who ask me how to do it, I hope it will be vaguely popular.

The second will probably involve acid and mild personal danger (or at least hygiene issues) but should be equally groovy.

These will be popping up next week (I hope) and it would be really cool if you nipped along and joined in with what is already probably maybe the best Guitar forum around...

I'll do all the proper links once the site launches for real, but you can already join the life-boat site Here and if you like your guitars, you really should.

Oh, and while I was looking around earlier I found this issue of Guitar & Bass magazine going begging. You can download it for free if you are into such things

La la laaaa




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I Got To Thinking..and Wondering, What You think

Well, like I say, I've been dreaming up a new Jookyland over the last few months, trying to make it all work in me bonce and generally make everything cool and yet also groovy. Not for the first time, I must admit.

And I think I have got there - I know what guitars I want to make in the future, how it will work and everything else. Just a simple case of doing it now, which is all very excitement laden and I can feel the joy already.


Saying that, there is one thing I haven't quite nailed down though, and if you have tuppence, I'd appreciate you chucking it in. All suggestions gravelly appreciated and all that.

The thing is I want it all to make a little difference somehow. I've given  quite a few Jookies away over the last few years - The Tickled Pink One being the one most people will remember, but it has (like everything) been quite ad-hoc, and it would be better if it was formalised.

So I was thinking, do I do the environmental thing and plant some trees for every guitar that sells?

Or should I give every (for example) fifth guitar away to a young upper-and-a-comer.?

Maybe I should make a donation to Jail Guitar Doors which could be better still - it always seemed a cool idea to me - This Guitar Kills Time, after all.

Or maybe I should just pick a charity each year and give some dosh each time I flog a guitar.

Or even more of a  probably maybe there is something else I'm missing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near minted, don't aim to make a profit as the Jooky economy is generally in the red, but if I plan it in now it can work and so it probably should..

But what to do?

I don't tend to look for suggestions too often, but now would be grand if you have some :o)

La la laaaa

Old Friends

Well, I know they say you should never go back, but a fair old while ago, I picked up a lovely Epiphone Dot with a broken neck, and fixed it with glue and to make the repair invisible, covered it with a Mr Bump Plaster.

Typically, I then passed it on to a nice chap called Simon in a motorway services somewhere, and there we are.

Anyway, after something circuitous in the route dept. I seem to have it back. No Mr Bump, unfortunately, but with the pickups upgraded to a pair of IronGears - a Blues Engine and a Dirty Torque - and rather lovely it is too.

In fact (forgetting the obvious why-did-I-ever-get-rid delusions) it is all good fun and the guitar I'm picking up most at the moment, and the ironGears are doing the trick quite nicely too.

And I do seem to be going thru a semi phase at the moment (I know it could be my age,, and that doctors have tablets for such things), but this and the Artcore Jazzer I got a few weeks back are edging everything else out at the moment. The AC15 might have a little to do with that, of course, as nothing sounds cooler.

As for The Busted Dot, well this time I am going to keep it (ha - I heard the sharpish-in-took-breathing) and I think I will put a Bigsby on it at some point too, and maybe even  find a new Mr Bump plaster. And that will be that. Apart from that I'm going to put some flatwounds on it. Or maybe that was the Jazzer, can't remember.

La la laaaa

A Summery Boo and a Galoo

Well, I've decided to pretty much take the summer holibobs off, and am all a-plotting-and-a-planning, but it does seem a bit silly that The Boogaloo One is sitting here in all it's ready-2-go glory and I am once more Jookiless, so I think I'll squeeze it in along the way somewhere.

And I've had a bit of a re-jig on this one too, so I thought I'd set it in Kwiky-concrete and make myself another list - something to hold onto in the stormy, bratski-infested weeks ahead.

So from the top - it is my lovely Ricky 620 infuenced, yet semi-acoustic ash body, complete with a time stained white finish.

Pickups are a pair of Marc Ransleys, special Toaster sized Gold Foils, and he has done me an equally classy and classic wiring loom to go with itt.

From there  I paid thru the nose for some Rickenbacker scratchplates to complete the look - I did make some out of old records, but it didn't really work visually, you win a few.

As for the neck, this is a bit of a change as I was going to put it on The Sappho One, but instead Boogaloo will boast a quite beautiful Warmoth neck made of exotic woods that I can't remember off the top of my head but may include Granillo. The Sappho Will have something equally gorgeous, but with a big headstock.

What else? Well, I've gone for a proper Bigsby B5 and Ricky bridge some amazingly lovely Gotoh tuners and well, that is about it I think. Oh, and of course the obligatory Gotoh strap pins, my faves. mustn't forget them.

All of which means it is just  the most expensive, parts-wise, guitar I'll have made, but that is what I am thinking at the moment, less is more and Jesus wants me for a Telegram Sam in a Cardie. Should be a nice summer...

La la laaaaaa

Summer Time Blues

Well, as is trad in Jookyland, the summer holibobs are a bit of a slack time, so over the next few things, even compared to the diminishing lack of progress of the previous months, life will hurry along at a much slllloooowwwweeeerrrr crawl.

But don't be saddened, it hardly matters.

I am going to use the time wisely though, as I am going thru one of my think-it-all-up-again moments, and am already formulating plans for the Autumn that will meekly drive me forward toward world domination and universal dominion, or whatever it was The Sisters of Mercy were on about.

But anyway..

La la laaa

Sold: The Vegas One

The Vegas One is a complete one off, based on a Tom Delonge Strat – it has a crazy cool gold leaf finish with cantina tacks.

The pickup is a special handwound by Marc Ransley of Mojo Pickups and is based on the greasy goodness that is the Gold Foil pickups of days gone long. This has a stunning tone – somewhere between a P90 and a TV Jones, with real grit. Have a listen to Ry Cooder, you’ll see what we mean.

The neck is a bit special in it’s own right. A Jazzmaster neck, it is unusually maple boarded with black inlays and binding and plays like a dream of a dream. Final touches are the hardtail, thru-body-strung bridge and a single volume control, topped with a genuine Die from the Sands Casino in Vegas. Nice.

 All in all, this is a stunning looking guitar that plays beautifully and nails all of the classic tones.

*

To be clear, The Vegas 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 slo-mo run across the pebbled beach at Portishead. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

** SOLD **

Technical Stuff:

Type: Marilyn’s Gold Guitar

Electrics: Mojo Gold Foil Pickup, Wiring Loom

Guitar Type: Tom Delonge Strat

Construction: Alder body, Rosewood/Maple neck

Strings:     10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume, Tone

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

Serial Number: JGE#81

RSP: £999

Introducing: The Vegas One

Well, I literally just put the strings on and took a  couple of snaps, but man The Vegas One sounds so cool thru my recently acquired AC15, that I just couldn't help myself and splurge to the group..

A formal intro will no doubt come tomorrow, but for the record:

1. Body and neck plate from a Squier Tom Delonge Strat

2. A beautifully crazy Jazzmaster neck, maple/maple with black block inlays and binding

3. A Humbucker sized Gold Foil pickup from Marc at Mojo Pickups, along with one of his cool looms to save me burning meself with the soldering iron.

4. A gorgeously battered gold leaf finish with Western Stitching around the edges

And there we are.

As for sounds, well it nails the Gold Foil tone I loved on The Hartlepool One, so the size has not made any real difference - somewhere twixt and tween a P90 and a TV Jones - raw sex, end of tale.

Oh and the knob is made from a genuine craps die from the Sands Casino in Vegas itself. hope they didn't want it back.

So there we are...I'm busy playing Southern Boogie for the next hour or three

La la laaaa

Calling Vegas

Well, four days until holibob hell, and my plans for a stunning finale went west when #1 bratski got sick and rested for 3 of them.

Still, the body for The Vegas One is done now - beautifully battered and lumpy, looking like liquid gold has been dripped on it. Still waiting for the red tortie 'plate, but once that arrives I am in clover honey and I shall be in Gold Foil heaven. just probably not this week.

As for The Boogaloo One, I'm going to have to sneak that in during child taming summer camp...

La la laaaaa

WIP: The Sappho One

Well, I got a lovely box off the miserable UPS chap this morning, opened it with casual abandon, and peeping from the wrapping was the body of The Sappho One.

And to say I was slightly impressed, agag and agog, ecstatic, pleased and ever so slightly awed, would be a lot of vowels. So instead I think I'll just say I am rather happy with what Rich has done to it.

If you remember, I've always wanted a Lake Placid Blue Jazzmaster, and that is what Rich has done. Taken my rather lovely swamp ash body, given it all manner of layers of silver, blue and tinted clear nitro, and then delicately crazed it... And it truly is amazing work. I came to conclusion that I didn't want it relickified, so no dinks scratches or belt sanders were harmed, but it does look old - like it was bought a long time ago and then just left to do it's own thing. And of course it will continue to age, which comes to most of us too.

As for the rest, well I'm waiting for the proper neck - a nice Ebony boarded Jazzmaster jobby with a U shaped neck and flamed maple stick - so in the meantime I'm going to use a Warmoth Strat one which is equally beautiful - Anigre and a slab Kingswood 'board - well posh.

Other than that Marc at Mojo Pickups is making me a pair of Jazzmaster sized pups based on a Gold Foil and a  Mosrite jobby, as well as the usual loom, which means it should sound just about as cool as it looks.

La laaa and indeedy laaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Electric Boogaloo - A plonk together

Well, I finally got happy with the whitewashed and slightly battered fence finish for The Boogaloo One, so before I put it together proper-like, I thought I'd do the traditional plonk together and see how it looks.

As you can see it is 620 ish, though a center-blocked semi ash body is perhaps non-traditional.

Nailed to that will be the rather nice CBS and big-of-head Strat neck, all maple and rosewood.

A lovely Mojo loom is going to pull things together (though as I didn't want the little blend pot, that is AWOL and the jack socket will take it's place up front.)

Of course there will be a Ricky bridge to go with the rather lovely Bigsby, and best of all are the pair of Mojo Pickups' Toaster-shaped Gold Foil pickups, which after The Hartlepool I am generally salivating about playing.

And there we are. I won't actually get it together today - no surprise there - but next week is the last of freedom so it really must happen.

La la laaaa

Blingy Like A Thingie

Well, I might need to do a bit of patching (the white is the size failing to go sticky due to the summerness) but I think the Vegas One is going to look pretty cool. I even arranged a nice red tortie pickguard, which should be fun...

Well, I like them.

Other than that I'm failing dismally on getting The Boogaloo One together, but you knew I would, let's face it,

In alternative news rounds, Marcy Mojo is tempting me with a new range of shiny things - these are Gold Foil pickups, humbucker sized that I really must have at some point, with added glitter and glitz.

Must have.

Soon.

Very soon.



La la laaa

Trigger's Broom Vegas Stylee

 

Well, so I thought I'd strip down the Tom Delonge Strat, sort out all the parts and then get on with the gold leafification (for the nation).

And so I thought I should think about what I need to change.

Firstly, the neck. I have the Jazzmaster neck, maple, bound black square markers. Now that is pretty funky, that is Vegas. That would be perfect.

Secondly, I need tuners. Don't particularly like the original Squiers so I'll get something else. Easy McPeasie

Thirdly, the bridge is nice enough, but I think I'll replace it with something nickel rather than chrome.

Fourthly, obviously, I will bin the Duncan Designed pickup and wiring as I have the Mojo Pickups 'bucker-sized Gold Foil and matching loom.

Fifthly, The jackplate - again, I'll get a nickel one.

Sixthly, I'm going to go for a red tortoise shell scratchplate - it is the perfect combo with the gold leaf. So I don't need the original custard coloured one.

Seventhly, the strap pins I'll replace with Old nickel Gotoh ones.

Eighthly, I have a dice knob around here somewhere made from a craps dice from the Sands in Vegas. That is a no-brainer, which is me all over.

And that is about it.

So in summary, I am keeping the original body and the neck plate. Hope Tom doesn't mind too much.

~~~~~~~~ Musical Interlude ~~~~~~~~~~~

Bizarrely, I just saw a lovely ash body, routed for a bucker at the bridge.

That might be nice too...


Hmmmm.....I might  not be very good at this pimping old guitars anymore.

La la laaaa

And Finally..Boogaloo Is ready to Pop

Well, I got a lovely loom thru from Marc at Mojo Pickups, have had a quick change of plan on the neck, and have finally finished the finish, so I have promised myself that I will actually finito The Boogaloo One this week.

And what a job it will be.

Ricky 620 inspired body, but semi hollow with a nice slash hole and a centre block for comfort.

A lovely rosewood/maple neck, big of headstock and cool as funk.

A pair of Mojo's Gold Foil pickups, deftly reshaped into Ricky toaster sized goodliness.

A rather lovely Bigsby and a Ricky-esque bridge.

It is going to be crazy good methinks.

Just got to put it together and decide whether to leave the scratchplates shiny white or soak them in a cup of Co-op 99...

La la laaaa

Identity Crisis Part 72

Well, I think four guitars have done an Elvis this week, and two have arrived here in Jookyland, and I am liking them both a lot.

The first is the Tom Delonge Strat that I talked about before, while the second is a rather lovely Ibanez Artcore Jazztastic semi that popped up this morning, and it is very pretty and grown up.

It does confuse me that two completely different things can both be so loveable.

Other than that, time is the herbal essence again and I won't get anywhere on anything else this week, but the body for The Boogaloo One is nearly done and Marc has sent the loom that I'd forgotten to ask for, so with a good breeze I should get that together next week in all it's glory..

But anyway

La la laaa

Vegas Calling

Somebody else's guitar

Well, things have changed around here over the last few years. When I first started on my Jooky odyssey, it was all about making guitars out of second hand parts and generally seeing what could work together that maybe wasn't normal. I got to play with fancy finishes too, which was always a bonus.

Gradually, I've moved toward using new and dare I say better parts. The guitars have got dearer, but all the components are good quality now. I still get to play with trendy finishes though.

Is this a good thing - well, yes, I think/hope/know so, and for what the guitars are they are still crazy cheap, but there we are.

I do though miss the chaotic feeling I got when something would pop up on ebay or the classifieds on Music Radar, I'd grab it and not really know what would happen next.

So basically, this happened yesterday and I'd thought I'd take a holiday from being a mature, grown-up and generally thoughtfilled guitar maker and get back to my roots.

So when I saw a Squier Tom Delonge Strat turn up, I grabbed it. It is a single 'bucker Strat - I haven't done one for ages - and I couldn't resist it.

Obviously, I have no clue who Tom is or was, but I'm guessing by the fact it has a high output pickup he is/was loud. So I imagined he had gone Vegas and that will change for a start.

So the plan is to take Tom's Strat, replace the noisy bucker with a Gold Foil one courtesy of Marc at Mojo Pickups, and then I am going to gold leaf the whole thing. OK, maybe not the fretboard, but probably everything else.

And I think it will be fun. I will also try my best to replace any shonky parts with oldies-but-goodies (apart from Bill Oddie, never liked him) and generally come up with something groovy.

So there we be - The Vegas One, coming maybe one day in the dim and distant.

La la laaaa

WIP: The Sappho One

Well, I feel a bit of a fraud being as I haven't actually done it, but I got a WIP foto from Rich who is giving The Sappho One an aged and distraughtified Lake Placid Blue nitro finish on my lovely ash Jazzmaster body, and I thought I would share with the group.

It has a way to go yet - it will end-up looking that beautiful aged green with some lacquer cracking to taste, but it looks pretty darn groovy already.

The Sappho One is going to be a bit different as I'm planning a Wide Range Humbucker at the bridge and a Gold Foil at the neck courtesy of Marc at Mojo pickups, and I already have a rather lovely neck and just about everyhing else.

I must says I am a tad excited.

La la laaaa

Sold: The Chimera One

The Chimera One is a complete one off, being based on Fender’s classic single pickup Esquire, with a stunning walnut body and a dark rosewood stain that gives the look and feel of old wood.

The pickup at the bridge is one of our exclusive Gimps, wound for us by hand by Marc Ransley of Mojo Pickups, this is a cross between a classic Telecaster and a P90 and gives a stunning thick single coil sound while holding all those Tele tones we love close to it’s imaginary busom. To go with this Marc also hand crafted one of his classic Esquire looms so that we get three variations of tone from our little Gimp. The loom of course is top quality and uses the best components – top quality CTS pots, Oak Grigsby Switch, cloth covered wire, PIO caps and Switchcraft socket.

Hardware is solid, with a Fender classic Telecaster ashtray bridge and cover, thru-body stringing and aged Wilkinson tuners along with our favourite Gotoh strap pins. The neck is a modern take with a beautiful satin finish, rosewood ‘board, 9.5” radius and medium frets.

 All in all, this is a stunning looking guitar that plays beautifully and nails all of the classic tones.


*


To be clear, The Chimera 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 slo-mo run across the pebbled beach at Portishead. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

*** SOLD ***

Technical Stuff:

Type: Norma’s Natural Guitar

Electrics: Gimp Pickup, Three Way Esquire Wiring

Guitar Type: Telecaster Esquire

Construction: Alder body, Rosewood/Maple neck

Strings:     10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume, Tone

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

Serial Number: JGE#79

RSP: £999