Something For The Weekend...

Well, I don't have many guitars myself, as you know, and recently I have had a bit of a Buy-back phase that has seen things I previously moved on, reappear.

This is the end of that. (Unless somebody has the Les Paul Studio or maybe ...etc.)

So I am all rather chuffed that as previously mentioned my Old Gordo has come back to me in all it's battered desk-ness, and that Mr Mojo himself will be making me a couple of his lush PAF style 'buckers (tweaked for that Peter Green in the middle tone) to set it off a treat.

This one will never leave the shores of the little kingdom of Jook again. Really.

Next to it of course is something newer, a sparkly blue Danelectro Wild Thing which thru the reverb laden top boosted channel of my little Vox AC15 is absolutely stunning.

I am deeply in love with this one already and the fact that it looks as though it came direct from the Jetsons in the back of The Mystery Machine only helps lots.




So no jookiness is likely for a few days I wouldn't have thought..

La la laaaa

Worth a Punt ..But Better Be Quicksmart

Well, I noticed the other day that the rather spiffy Strat - The Chi Chi One - is up on the block on Ebay and at the moment is looking likely to go for silly cheap numbers..

Nothing to do with me anymore, but if you are looking for a seriously cool Strat, Mojo PAF and HB sized P90s, beautiful au natrel finish and a BB King scratchplate...well, you might be worth having a shufty.

I hate to think what the parts alone would cost (and I am seriously tempted myself, which would break all manner of rules and I can't - I CAN'T I tell thee..) and I hate to say it, but it would cost you nearer to a grand now if I was making another (which of course I won't).

The original spec is Here

Anyway, it is Here and worth a cheeky punt I would think..

La la laaaa

The Future Sound of Jookyland

Well, I've mentioned a few times that I've spent the summer dreaming-it-all-up-again, and I think I am just about there now. Just the insignificant and boring, trifling even, part where I make it happen, to do.

Hmmm.

As the regular reader will know, over the last few years I've constantly changed the way I do things - initially it was all about 'found art' and recycling, then a mixture of old and new parts and more recently new parts with the quality of these improving all the time. And I'm really happy about that, although I must  admit I still enjoy finding parts and seeing what I can make.

Anyway, going forward I have been trying to find a way where I can co-habit these splintered and diverse needs (psychoses?)  and I think I have finally developed a plot  and a plan. And the plan that I've plotted is that from the Autumn, I'll split Jookyland into three or four provinces, each of which are not at all designed for customer satisfaction or desire, but instead aimed solely at making me a happier person. I am nothing if not utterly self-absorbed and selfish, let's face it. If I was trying to please you and make money I'd spend my waking hours turning out Butterscotch Teles. And I'm not a butterscotch type of chap.

So, Jookyland is devolving, although still under the dictatorial boot of yours truly, which is of course how all good devolution works.

So how will it look?
I'm glad you asked as I was talking meself into a corner. Well, it is pretty exciting as I see it being:

1. Jooky Customs
These are going to be the cream of the gold top, and will be limited to a few 'types' or god forbid, styles.

I will be making these to order from the best possible parts, all of course with stunningly cool Jooky finishes.
This will be the first thing you see appear as I make some examples in September and October and open an order book of all things.

2. Jooky Classics
These will be the old school Jookies and I will make them as and when I feel like it, from whatever parts come to hand. There won't be many but they will be fun, for me if nobody else.

3. Strappado Bodies
I really liked doing these and they went down well, so I'm going to aim to have a few of these available at any one time. I love the idea that people can make their own guitar with a Jookified finish and they are fun to do of course.

4. Jooky Juniors
This is still being planned at the moment, but I  want to do something cheaper and trashy and superbly cool and this will be it. I love the whole lo-fi thing, and Danelectros and Airlines, Mosrites and the rest are all supremely cool, and I think a series of Jookies in that vein would be lovely to be beholden by.

So will this happen?
I'm glad you asked that too, but yes, I think it will. There are other things changing too - the mythical web site to support and explain all this is nigh on done - and generally I think it is about time that the whole Jooky doctrine on life and love got a bit easier to understand.

So there we are. That might make no sense at the moment, but it is what has been driving me m-m-m-mad for months and at least now that I've said it, it will force me to get on with it...

La la laaaaa

And in the end..

Well, being as I showed you the nearly there, I thought I should give you a glimpse of the finished article - the body I paisleyified for the fretboard Forum...

You can see how it was done Here if you fancy it.

In fact I was so pleased with it, I've anointed it as a Strappado body and stuck it on the list for posterity.

In other news, I've been playing around with powdered aluminum and copper for the other fretboard body, so will hopefully get that one sorted next week.

As for real Jooky life, school holibobs are nearly over and I should hopefully be on a mish from September. First things first will be the rather lovely The Sappho One when the ebony 'boarded U shaped neck arrives. I seriously can't wait...

La la laaaa

Like Old Time

Well, I've finally got my act together this week and made a start on the How-To-Jooky-Your-Guitar thingy on The Fretboard Forum and I have to say it has been fun. Other than The Tickled Pink One it is an age since I did the paisley thing.

The next step (a job for today) is to gold leaf the top, over the paisley and then use some acid to melt it away so that the inner paisley is revealed.

And in truth, my self-imposed exile of the summer has been good as I am totally bomping the chit to get going again in September, by when hopefully all the bits 'n'  bobs will have arrived that I need.

I think at last I've got my head around what Jooky Mark 2 will be like as well, but more on that another day..

If you want to see how to do the paisley thing, it is on The Fretboard, so why not pop over and relax for a while

La la laaa

So Which Lipstick To Go For...?

Well, I feel the need to have a little trashy sounding guitar around the place - that's the kinda guy I am - and as a chap of slender means, I've got it down to two I can snaffle relatively without pain in the penury department.

OK, I mean I can sneak it in..

But which to go for?

I've lusted after both of them for a while now, and now it is possible, I can't make me simple mind up..

Do I go for the lavishly curved Danelectro Wild Thing?

 Or on the other hand...

Do I go for the criminally underrated Vintage Zip, fulfilling my recent love for all things starkly sparkly?

 

It is a tough call, and I need help - so any tuppences to chuck in?

La la laaaaa

Starting To Jook the Jook on The Fretboard

Well, I said a couple of weeks back that I'd be doing a bit of a How and a To on the exciting new guitar forum that is TheFretboard.co.uk and err, I finally started today.

There are excuses, but they are boring.

If you remember/care/have no life, what I will be doing is  showing you how to put a fabric paisley finish onto a guitar body (a nice chap called John_P supplied that), and then I'm going to gold leafify the top and then corrode it so that you can see the paisley peeping thru.

And today I managed to get the paisley on, remembered to take some fotos, and will be putting them on The Fretboard later on...

So if you have ever wondered how to do it, this is your chance, just pop over to the Fretboard and see for yourself.

That is The Fretboard, that new guitar forum all your friends are talking about, but that you haven't been invited to until now.

La la laaa

The Ever Evolving Plan

Well, I mentioned the other week that The Nascent One is destined to be Telemasterish, but I've been having a plot and a ponder and I've changed my mind somewhat, as I think what I  really wanted to make was a little different.

So in it's latest iteration of vapor-ness, I've decided that instead it will be offset of shape, but rather than going the Tele-ish route, instead it will be a nice slab of alder, with a Gibson-ish stopbar and Tune-o-matic  bridge and feature a nice soapbar P90 in the noise making department.

To go with this will be a nice Strat neck,  which I am yet to source, and a new baroque kinda finish that I've been itching to try out. Well, if I don't do it...

Basically I want a nice, light, rock machine with plenty of tone that I can sling around my neck and shout loudly at people in the road with, maybe chase the odd parked car, and it doesn't get any newer than that.

La la laaa

A Wandering Eye

Well, you know what it is like..nothing doing here in Jookyland on the building front as I wait the eternal wait for parts and tools, and so my eye goes all-a-wander and I start looking at other guitars.

I'm not proud of meself, I have to admit.

It isn't enough that the Old Gordo will be coming home next week, or that I have the gorgeous wangability of the Bigsby equipped The Boogaloo One to amuse me, no instead I start looking at the wares of Mr Wilkinson in his Italia guise and specifically the 12 stringed loveliness of the Rimini.

And I know it is silly, I had the real deal a Rickenbacker 360/12 and never played it, and this looks a little toy-like next to it, but still I *sigh*

Roll on September I say, August could be getting expensivo at this rate

La la laaaa

Dublin TV Dinner

Well, it was really nice to hear from one of the Dublin Jookies - Kevin Rowe - this week, to say that a year on he is still loving The TV Dinner One, as basically I always wonder what becomes of the wee things when they leave the Jookyland borders and rarely do I find out..

This is what he had to say, so I asked if he could send me a few fotos, to show the world, which hopefully appear here too.

"Hi, I bought your "TV Dinner One" about a year or so ago and I just wanted to say that since then its been an absolute workhorse of a guitar. I've gigged it relentlessly all over the country in all sorts of circumstances and it sounds consistently killer! Btw I've also had the back of the headstock signed by Steve Vai, so its now even more unique! Thanks again, its been fun spreading the Jooky name! 

Kevin Rowe "

Not sure who this Vai geezer is, but anyway, if Kevin wants some random stranger to scribble on his guitar, who am I to complain.

La la laaa

If Boogaloo is Cool - the Mojo Gold Foils are Far Out...

Well, I've spent the last few days explaining or at least trying to, what The Boogaloo One sounds like, so I'm going to get my finger out and do some sort of recording. Soon, really soon.

To my mind they are somewhere between a TV Jones and a P90 - gorgeous cleans with special jangly bits, but really at their best with a bit of dirt as they have this amazing sustain to them.

But they sound great, but I figured that maybe it is just me - it's in the fingers, dontchano? - so I was pleased to find these YouTube videos  and I thought I'd share them with the group. They sound fantastic with a slide in hand   (listen to the tres cool Ramon Goose below and see what I mean)  - in summary, they can be awesome.

Just maybe not my hand.

La la laaaa

Three Steps Back

Well, I seem to be on a memory avenue road trip retread recently, as not only did the Bosted Dot make it's merry way home again, but I seem to be retrieving another old friend back to the Jooky Bosom.

And this time it is a double-bubble of a joy as I really shouldn't have let it go in the first place.

But what is it?

Well, aeons ago I got a rather bedraggle and battered Gordon Smith GS1, which I gave the full gun oil finish, fixed various cracks and fitted a PAF and a P90...and I genuinely loved it.

And then sold it, obviously.

But it is coming back, and I couldn't be more chuffed.

Of course, I'll probably put a Bigsby on it, but whatever.

La la laaaaa

And Then There Is honey

Well, being as I'm looking forwardish, I should probably mention the other wee thing I'm looking forward to playing with...

As you may have noticed, I've always loved single pickup guitars, and Les Paul or SG Jrs are up there looking Cool McFool.

So not surprisingly I am going to make one. A single cut LP Jr, long tenon neck, solid mahogany neck and body - single P90, you know the deal.

I think it will be copper covered but for once I'm going to not chuck the acid around and let nature take it's merry course. I will wax it to stop unsightly stains on my beer belly, but there we go.

It will no doubt have a Bigsby too, I just can't resist them at the moment...

That will be The Lingering Honey One, sometime in the Autumn I expect

La la laaa

Something to look forward 2

Another Man's porn

Well, it has been all about the plotting recently, but I have also done the life-laundrette thing and got rid of just about everything. I now live in a second-hand box under a leaky bridge, but it is home.

However, man's needs met, I like to think about something nice in the future, and whilst it is a short list I can't resist this.

I was going to do a Tele, but there have been too many in recent times, so I thought I'd go back to Telemaster-land for a visit and see how I would do one now. The Porn Shop One was delish, but I'm much more grown up these days (ahem).

And with my best-of-every-wee-thing head on, I'm thinking a lovely roasted copper one would looks rather nifty.

It should have a stunningly cool neck, though a Strat one I think.

I want to put a Bigsby on with one of the conversion plates for a Tele, but I might go the ABR Bridge route instead, we'll have to wait and see.

As for the pickups, I snaffled one of Marc Ransley's prototypes a while back which is a Tele bridge pickup with a blade, though not because it is uber hot, instead it is cooler and tone-ridden. I've been looking for a home for it and this fits the mark.

To go with it, I'm thinking I would like a proper Mojo Gold Foil pickup at the neck. Along with the Bigsby it should all be rather stunning and set off metal detectors nationwide.

This will be The Nascent One, coming one day somewhere probably maybe.

La la laaaa

Sold: The Boogaloo One

The Boogaloo One is a complete one off, with the body shape being homage to a Ricky 600 series, although it is semi-acoustic and steals a slash of a cat’s eye soundhole from elsewhere. The finish is pure Jooky with a time-stained white reminding us of an old picket fence.

The neck on this baby is a total joy. One of Warmoth’s posher offerings, it is made from a gorgeous piece of Anigre with a slab Kingswood 'board. The figuring on both of these has to be seen, pondered and heads a little shaken, to be believed. Medium jumbo frets with a 9” radius make this modern and very playable.

The crowning glory of this guitar are of course the matched pair of Gold Foil Pickups made especially for this guitar by Marc Ransley, uber pickup maker at Mojo Pickups. These have a sound of their own which gives bags of jangle, given their toaster-sized shape you’d hope for that, but equally have enough grunt for some serious rock and blues. Marc also made us a complementary wiring loom, all CTS pots, PIO caps and Switchcraft switches and Jacks..as you’d expect – top quality end-to-end.

The Made in the U.S of A Bigsby B5 completes the tale along with a Ricky-esque bridge as a final flourish.

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

*

To be clear, The Boogaloo 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: Tina’s Time-stained Guitar

Electrics: Mojo Pickups Gold Foils and wiring loom

Guitar Type: Rickenbacker 600 Series Style

Construction: Ash body, Anigre/Kingswood neck

Strings:     11s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Twin Volume, Twin Tone, 3-way switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#76

RSP: £1299

How To Paisleyify Your Own Guitar

Well, I mentioned the other day that a great new forum, made-up of a lot of the members of the ill-fated and lightly mourned Music Radar one was about to launch, and I'm pleased to say that it hit the boards in it's new shiny suit at the weekend and is already buzzing.

If you are into guitars in any way, you owe it to yourself to pop along and sign up (tis free as a free thing) at www.thefretboard.co.uk.

You won't regret it, unless you don't. then you might of course, but nobody will hear you scream.

I had also mentioned that to give it a good start, a number of the members are writing some articles/threads about different things, including how to give a guitar a cool oil finish by the genius that is Wes Venebles, Pickup winding by the GuitarWeasel and some great build threads - watch out for TTony's they are stunningly cool pieces of wood.

Obviously this is all good, but can only look more professional and betterer if something lower of tech, style and taste is aligned along and side, and so I too am chucking my tuppence in and doing a couple of threads on Jookiness.

The first will take you through the stages needed to be-paisley a guitar body, with the nice twist that it will also have a gold leaf top, corroded to let the paisley flood out (have a look at The Lulu One and you'll see what I mean).

Anyway, the body for this was donated by another forum member John_P and it arrived today (I'm still calming my heart after seeing 'Exercise Books' written on the box).

This will be the very, very, last and final time I paisley a guitar with fabric, so it is cool that you can Singalonga Jooky if you fancy it.

And if you do want a peek, you'll need to join us on The Fretboard as that is the only place it will appear.

Anyway...

La la la laaaaa

Introducing: The Boogaloo One

Well, it has taken a fair old while, but I'm delighted to be able to introduce to you, the Boogaloo One, and rather lovely cool it is too.

From the top, the body is semi-acoustic, Rickenbacker 600 series influenced, which has been given a time-stained old white finish. This is a lovely ash body and has a solid block in the middle on anti-feeedback duties. it is lovely and beautifully tactile with a hard wax oil finish.

The neck is a total joy. It is a really posh Warmoth one made from a gorgeous piece of Anigre with a slab Kingswood 'board. This is genuinely one of the nicest necks I've  played and I think sets the scene for the future of Jookiidom in many ways.

Pickups are a pair Marc Ransley of Mojo pickups wound specially  for this guitar based on his wonderful Gold Foil pickups. These are sized to match traditional Ricky Toaster Tops, and have all the clean jangle you would hope for - chiming thru my Vox like a Byrd on the telephone wire - yet with a bit of dirt it is to-die-for, sustaining for weeks at a time. I really can't get over how cool these Gold Foils sound, like the best of a TV Jones meets a raunchy P90. Epic.

Marc also did a cool wiring loom - all CTS pots, Switchcraft switch and Jack and PIO caps.

Top quality stuff as we've come to expect.

Finishing it off we have a genuine American Bigsby B5 and a Ricky style bridge,  for tuning friendly wobble and shake.



And playing this is a total joy. It is the only Jooky in the little kingdom of Jook right now, so it isn't going anywhere, and I quite simply can't put it down.

The Boogaloo One, lovely.

La la laaaa

WIP? - More of a slow crawl

Well, I thought I could just about get The Boogaloo One together today, but obviously ballsed-up the planning stage and had ordered the wrong bobbins.

On the plus side, The Bigsby is on , nice and straight thanks to a couple of bits of string, and I've even put the right neck on and quite beautiful it is too. I think I'll be using a lot more of Warmoth's necks in future, as this is peachy.

I also drilled the holes for the pots, switch and jack plus and fitted the scratchplates too, so all is looking pretty groovy.

And I was just about to drill the wee holes for the pickups (the Mojo Gold Foil Toasters are flat bottomed so that is all that is needed), when I thought I'd fit the leccy bobbins - which is where I discovered my mistake. I had ordered the wrong parts and they don't fit thru the top and give me enough room to put a nut on.

Harrowing.

Marc over in Mojo Pickups land is doing me a  replacement loom, and I'll fit the pickups, but it was a tad on the deflating side of bugged, but I had vague hopes of playing the thing and that isn't going to happen.

Though saying that I could put the strings on and play it acousticalified, but it wouldn't feel the same, so I'll wait.

I have to say I am rather pleased with it so far though. Tres bon indeedy.

La la laaaa

Now That's Mojo

Well, I got woken up this morning by a neighbour, knocking on the door and doing an air guitar solo in the middle of the road. Simultaneously, which is a good trick if you  can do it.

Most odd. but the reason for this was that the thievin'bastard-postie had delivered a parcel to his house instead of mine, presumably to save himself a three yard walk and rather than give it me when I saw him last night, he thought he would wait until I was asleep.


Anyway, I opened the box and was rather pleased to find the pickups and loom for The Sappho One nestled in their cool wrappings - the latest delivery from Mojo Pickups, this job is always a joy.

Now I realise, my regular reader, that you see me as a quiet planner, considered and never, ever prone to rashness. But as I am only now just a neck short of a Jooky, I am sorely tempted to use another neck and get to play it.

The pickups, of course, are a little different. Marc has made a Jazzmaster sized pickup to the spec of one of those lush old Mosrites for the bridge, repeating the trick but making a Gold Foil Pickup for the neck spot.

I have expectations of this guitar, I can safely say that.

But do I or don't I?

I am struggling to do the right thing here.

Decisions...

La la laaa