Bacchylides: Directly From The Kitchen Table

Well, I thought and I realised I'd been-a-lacking in the WIP dept. as far as The Bacchylides One  goes, so I figured I'd better do something and generally put the W in that there acronym (abbreviation? too tired to remember or care).

So anyway, I nailed everything together apart from the tuners and pickups and realised that whilst I'd remembered to buy the mute I hadn't in fact got all the parts. The spring for instance, always handy is yer spring, or so I've found.

But anyway, I remembered I was putting the mute on a Jazzmaster anyway and that it therefore didn't matter and so help me god I was there.

Well, apart from fiting the pickups and wire and aforementioned tuners. Oh and the nut, really must remember the nut.

But tomorrow is another day.

I'm quite pleased with the finish. you can't tell but it was super shiny and new this morning and now it isn't either of those things, apart from perhaps the 'super', but I'm too modest to comment on such speculative nonsensical bobbins.

So tomorrow, I will fit the tuners and move on to The Chunky One, my walnut bodied La Cab. That I am Time Staining as it were. I did toy with purple or blue, but in the end I  just want it to look old and knackered, which is quite fitting in lots of ways tomorrow.

La la laaaa

Travellin' Light

Well, it has been odd in a way, as far as The Travellin' Man one goes, and if you don't know the history it may seem strange that I've not actually put any WIP fotos up or even one of the final thing. unless your name is Chris Gorman, I guess.

Anyway, the journey (dontcha love that word) this one on has been on is weirder than normal, even for a guitar named after Willie Nelson and Jack Kerouac's 's love child.

Firstly, I wanted  to make a guitar for a cool geezer over in the Americas called Patrick.
He gave me some fine input and then I spent nigh on two years making a guitar. Now this guitar has had more bodies, necks, trems and pickups than even I can remember. It was paisley, it was rusty it was golden and it even had lots of copper nails in it at one point, but what it never did was feel right. I wanted this to be a special guitar with loads of tones to choose from. To get a WTF reaction whether it was the noise it was making  or sat on a stand.

Anyway, eventually I got there. It has Mojo pickups - A Wide Range Humbucker, a lipstick single coil and a PAF iirc, and I was kinda chuffed with the finish. too. The neck is something special I got made just for this guitar by a rather talented man of my acquaintance, and the hardware is cool as well. Bladerunner tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners etc. Solid as a rock and sounds like seven circles. Beautiful sounding guitar, and that from a chap who doesn't love Strats to put it mildly.

And in a lot of ways this was the prototype for when I changed things around last year, and is only the third of my Jooky Customs (it would have been the first if I'd got my act together of course, but luckily Patrick is a patient chap.  Saintly patient.).

So before Christmas, I packed it snugly in it's Hiscox and gave it to a Fed-Ex driver; it should have been in Pat's mitts before the festivities kicked in.

From there, it totally disappeared. U.S Customs (I'm told) took exception to it, and hung on to it for months for no apparent reason, before finally deporting it.Would have been nice if they'd told somebody I must admit.  It finally arrived back here in Jookyland last week, soaking wet and slightly disheveled.

So anyway, it has been taken to pieces, dried out,  the wiring re-soldered (it worked OK, but just in case) and I finally got it back together today. Oh new tuners as the originals were bumping and grinding, which was annoying to say the least.

And it is an odd feeling. I normally finish a guitar, send it on it's merry way and never see it again. It's why I get excited when I see the odd one pop up on ebay. It's like bumping into an old school friend you'd half forgotten.

But all good things come to an end, and assuming the new case arrives as planned, and after a few days of settling all is well, The Travellin' Man One will be back on the road shortly. Second time lucky doesn't sound quite right, but fingers crossed it will get there this time. And if ever one of the stupid names I gave a guitar was apt...

Oh, and there are still no fotos, as let's face it, I wanted to surprise Patrick and as he still hasn't seen the thing it would be nice to think he got the first glimpse. The U.S Customs Skiffle Band apart.

La la laaaa

The Week That Might Just Be

Well, anyway, I'm on a wee bit of a mission this week - there is going to be a Jaguar stepping blinking from  the mist, there is going to be a La Cabronita crawling from the primal gloom, and after tossing a coin or three I've decided that there is going to be a time stained Jazzmaster sneaking up behind for goodly measurement.

I know it won't happen, but where would we be without easily derided spectacular ambition?

Would we have the Clifton Suspension Bridge?

The M4 Services at Leigh  Delamere?

People going to Dr Who conventions?

The Cadbury's Star Bar (the original one with 70s spangled pop stars on thee front that was a rip-off of a Mars bar, not the one filled with peanut butter or even the coconut one, and man they were good?)

Speaking of which who remembers Hanky Panky with it's toffee covered popcorn and a sprinkling of raw peanuts?

But anyway, there is going to be a Jazzmaster-a-coming...life is good.

La la laaaa

And Then Again

Well, god knows I love to start another little something before I just about get around to finishing something else that has dragged on a while, but with The 668 One, just needing a fettle, I got myself another project.

Sanity, thy name is Jooky.

And in a way it is one that is more for me than even usual, as I quite fancy a nice La Cabronita style Tele, despite saying many times that I wouldn't make another one, no neigh and never no more. But then when has consistency being my mantra? Never, never ever ever.

So I snuck myself a beautiful two part solid walnut body in, and Mr Mojo hisself is making me a lovely pickup and loom, and I do have that rather nice handmade maple Strat neck I've never known what to do with, and a set of Sperzels, and I even have a rather trendy cool Hipshot hardtail bridge and well, that is it really. I even have some strap pins, knobs, neck plate and strings. So no excuses, it will be finished this week, definitely. Err, well, maybe.

As for the finish, I loved the way the walnut looked on the back of The Whipped one, so I am tempted to go au natrel and time-stained, but we'll see. I think walnut is my fave body material at the moment, I mean I know it  is always a weighty beast, but it has a lovely sound to it and looks simply dee & vine.

So that will be The Chunky One, someday one day probably maybe-ish.

La la laaaaa

p.s. And yes, I know I put the wrong neck on for the fotos

Plonking Together The Bacchylides One

Well, The Travellin' Man One made it back to dear old Blighty in one piece, though I think it needs a few days to settle down, so I thought I'd plonk together the first ever Jooky Jaguar, The Bacchylides One, and see what I'm standing.

So nice alder body, nitro Lake Placid Blue finish (needs some more ageification methinks), rather pretty neck, Mojo pickups and wiring on the way (pickups hotter than vintage, but otherwise pretty trad),  tremolo, Staytrem bridge (if I can find where I put-them-safe) and there we are. Think it is going to be a bit of a stunner indeed.

As for other things, The 668 One is all done with the slight exception of a missing jack plate and a set-up, so maybe that will surface tomorrow.

OK, it's the school holibobs again, I have to hot-wire my brain to do anything that doesn't involve Lego.

La la laaaaaaaa

Something Old Yet Something New

Well, I said just the other day that whilst I couldn't afford the '50s Gibson Les Paul Jr (shhhaaammmeee) I had taken a punt on an old Rosetti guitar.

And it was fun as I bought it totally blind, deliberately didn't go for fotos or ask any questions and really didn't know what I was going to be getting. So when it arrived, I was really rather pleased.

And now that I have scraped the grime off it, tweaked the leccy bits and put the wrong knobs on (until I can find some old creamy plastic ones), here it be.

Doing a bit of research I was quite pleased to find on the rather superb Guitar Blog that it is a re-badged Egmond, and even more surprised that the groovy finish was original Here and Here will show you what I mean) as I must admit I was assuming somebody had used Fablon in the '80s. Most of my school books looked like this guitar.

As for sounds, well they have proven to be surprisingly rich - the variotone also acts as a pickup selector and I haven't really worked out what the mini switch does - it does something, but exactly what....who can say.

So in summary, it is definitely fun, the neck is very playable and other than the tuners, which need replacing/some love, it is a little treasure.

And all for £50, can't be bad. Next time we'll be moving on to Pierre Cardin Trackies from the rag market.

La la laaa

Old Cherry Blossom

Well, I'm a bit bored at the mo' with one thing and t'other, but hopefully things will be  back to normal next week and I can get something sorted.

Top of the list is the weirdo that The 668 One has turned into, with all thought of Wilko tributes flying out the window of sanity, as instead it will be:

1. A Tele body with a gloriously mad silly red sparkly finish

2. A Wilkinson Strat tremolo with zingy metal block

3. A single Mojo take on the classic Kay Speedbump pickup

4. An Esquire wiring loom

5. A black esquire 'plate

6. A beautifully flamed maple/rosewood neck

7. Split Kluson tuners

OK, I'm trying to remind myself here, so bear with me.

And to finish it off, I'm going for the ersatz baritone stringing of 13-65 strings, tuned down to A-A.

Which after my dabble with the Bronco, I'm really looking forward to checking out. I'm not much of a guitar player, but love playing 'Riffs' and they sound brilliant at such depths.

After that comes my lovely Lake Placid Blue Jaguar. I'm kind of dithering between going for trad Jaguar pickups (it is my first  Jooky Jag so it feels like I should in some ways) or maybe instead go for a pair of the Mojo Vintage Danelectro style lipstick pickups. Which would be pretty darn cool too, of course.

Decisions, not my thing really.

In other news I can't remember if I mentioned that in a non-Jooky way, I picked up an old battered Gretsch Electromatic Jet style thing from the good Doctor Robert. It is genuinely battered and abused and missing pickups and a lot of love. Anyway, I've got the missing bits to fix up the Bigsby (it was armless tee & hee) and will have to sort out some pickups for that too.

I'm in a Neil Young mood recently, so despite not being a Les Paul, having the wrong Bigsby and well, generally being nothing like, I quite like having an impression of Old Black to bash around. So Old Cherry Blossom will also pop up in the near future.

OK, I'm bored, I admit it.

La la laaa

Of Rilke And Things

Well, not much-a-going-on at the moment, but I am a tad excitable  in the coming-soon department, as I have a little trifle coming in the shape of Olde Vox Teardropness.

Now I've done the odd teardrop before, and have always loved them so, but this is more trad and comes in the shape of the real deal and best of all has been made in the UK by a top notch luthier chap called Graham.

Serious quality, say no more.

So I'm thinking lipstick pickups, super cool finish and there we are.

So that will be The Rilkean One, coming one day soonish probably maybe.

La la laaa

Dropping An E One The 'Bay

Well, it doesn't happen too often, oddly, but I noticed that one of the old Jookies is up for grabs on ebay earlier, and it is definitely one that brings a smile to me mush.

I don't know if you remember The Old E One, but it was one of my favourite single 'bucker Strats, with a nice Gretsch filter'ron being the bucker in question.

I thought at the time that this was one of the nicest rusted iron finishes I'd done, and I haven't change my mind looking again.

Have a look for yourself HERE, it has a silly daft starting price of £150, which let's face it is a bit of a barg...

The original spec is there

La la laaaa

Imagine a '56/'58 Les Paul Jr For a Grand

Well, it is nowt to do with me, but I have to say Les Paul Jrs are cool. I'd love a replica by a top luthier - JXG I've mentioned before - but the thought of owning a real, genuine old 'un is frankly beyond me.

I mean, there is something special about those guitars.

And then when you see one for £1000 and you haven't got the snaffle, it is slightly heartbreaking.

OK, it is one of the 3/4 scale ones they made between '56 and '58 - but like that matters - but a grand. Painful.

So as I have seen such a mythical beast, I thought I'd point it out in case it is of interest to the group. It is for sale at the moment on The Fretboard by a nice guy called Dave (I'm buying his '50s Rosetti which is more in my price range of, err, £50) Here or if you want to email me I can pass you on to him.

Here is his description anyway, excuse me while I gently weep.

Gibson Les Paul Junior 56/58. Now here's an interesting one. Firstly it's short scale. Don't let that put you off too much. I'm over six foot and am quite at home on a sixties Precision. It had a refinish in the seventies, which has aged nicely and a new logo (traces of the old one can be seen underneath). It had a refret late last year as there was not much left of the originals. The pickup is really amazing. Very hot, about the same as a TVJones Powertron. Obviously the scale length will put a lot of you off, but then you'd be missing out on a very light weight resonant vintage guitar that you can actually take to gigs. Come and give it a try. My tea is shite, but I make a hell of a coffee. £1000 uberfirm!

La la laaa

My Hun, My Bun

Well, I finally got to play with the body of The Liberian One, and am jolly pleased with how it turned out. As I said (ahem) I wanted the lovely one-piece swamp ash body to look natural and 'time stained', and for once I remembered and did just that.

When I do the time stained thing, the idea is to make the bodies look like old wood, and as I have no imagination I tend to find such a piece of aged timber and basically try to recreate it. I suppose I should go the relic route and try and make them look like road-worn-guitars (TM), but then there are plenty of people who already do that with mystical ability so nobody needs me.

So in the case of The Liberian One, I wanted a natural wood look, that has been dinged and scraped over time and generally mellowed and yellowed. (We know a song about that don't we kiddies?). This is based on a kitchen I saw once in an old house, that oddly was made of ash. The kitchen, not the whole house, that would have been silly, mainly as it was in Coventry and it would never have survived the Blitz.

But anyway, such is life.

La la laaaa