Last one until I build it, Promise

OK, the gold scratchplate

- admittedly not looking as gold in t' foto as it does in the confines of real life -

but here it is placed lovingly
on top of the green velvet,
itself placed hap and hazardly
on top of the guitar,
with some other bits
liberally chucked on for
context.

I took hours over this foto, truly.

I think we can start building next week,
which will be fun,
but I fear that a fair old bit of preparation
might be the order of the first week
or two...

La la & la

I'm thinking maybe purple velvet...or
is that a wee bit
OC&D
even for
me?

Golden Slumbers

As a quick follow on to my colourific dilemmas of yesterday..

I've been trying a gold scratchplate idea on for size..

This I see going over the green velvet which would be the main body colour - but how to make one, when you want something like a squier thinline tele thing, but don't want to spend any pennies?

First step is to cut the shape out in cardboard

Second is to glue some of the golden suede stuff on

Thirdly, I shape it as though carving the very thing from pure spun gold..

After that?

Well, it's still drying, so that is it so far.


The P100s arrived today too, which is cool as a cool thing.

That's it, really.



Can you see what it is, yet?

Getting My Bobbins Together

Not a lot to report, other than that I have a few wee boxes I'm putting together at the moment.
Might even finish them if the school hollibobs ever end...

I've decided on a bit of a Rock 'n' Roll tribute theme - The Beatles, The Stones, The Pistols and The Clash, and maybe even The Floyd...we'll just have to see.

Oh, they will be pocket sized amps or maybe some of them will be fuzz boxes even.
Still working it out, to be honest.

Other than that, some of my bits and bobbins showed-up today - some faux suede in a nice gold colour, and then some other parts - a bridge and tailpiece, which I think will prove to be, err, golden. I also got a pickup at the weekend. Not the P90 I thought, instead a genuine 1970s Di Marzio pickup, which should be higher output - to help the sustainer - and yet quiet and hum-free.

Maybe.

Decisions, decisionless

Well, the little Paisley One is pretty much there body-wise now, and it has come down to a couple of decisions before I put it all together. Starting with the trivial, it is a case of whether I go for a cream coloured pickup cover, or a black one. I've got both, just can't make my mind up...

The second little problem, which to be honest will dictate the pickup cover vexedness, is whether to go for a plain black pickguard instead of the paisley one. Again, I guess it doesn't really matter too much, but I can't get my head around whether the one-hundred-per-cent-paisley approach is a bit much, and a little less could be a lot more effective.

On a more interesting level, I'm finally about to sort out the leccyness, and thinking that perhaps the sustainer idea is one for another day, as I'd rather get this working without six months R&D. So, the plan is to utilise the cunning teeny sliding switch I've put onto the scratchplate, and offer a choice of the basic P90 or the mayhem of an octaving fuzz thing. Whether that will be my own variation, or for easiness/laziness I use the Tonepad Green Ringer one, I'm not sure. Mine sounds a bit brighter, but the other sustains a little better, so I'm not clear which I prefer..

One other thing, is the tone knob. I wasn't going to bother with one, but I've cut the hole now so I might as well. I'm thinking this will either be a variatone idea or maybe I'll have it as a blend and include a piezo pickup under the hood... unless I go for a boringly normal tone knob.

Decisions, decisionless.

The fotos are a chuck together, by the way, to see how it looks before I really nail it good and proper-like.

It's In My Brain

Well, managed to do a bit more cutting and pasting, and The Paisley One - to give it it's formal title - is looking a bit more likely to succeed.

Hopefully, you'll be able to see in the fotos that all of the creamy colour has now been paisley-fied, apart from the cavities, and generally it is starting to look the part.

There is still a wee bit of work to be done, as it is a bit untidy here and over there, and we've got to get into the sanding and clear coating cycle for a while, but generally it is rough enough for my tastes yet looking solid enough to survive.

The neck too, mustn't forget that. I've resisted the urge to go Bisto-like, and so it has ended-up nicely honeyed rather than daytime-telly. I also had some gold tuners, which are on in the foto, but as all of the rest of the hardware is chrome, may not be for long.

Going forward, I'm going to wire it basically and fit it together once a few bits show up, and then decide what to do about the electronics for real.

That is the interesting part, of course. I'm kind of torn between using the octaver/fuzz I've been playing with, putting a Sophie's Fuzz in or trying to build a little sustainer, like the Fernandes or Sustainiac ones.

One step at a time though, getting it to play in tune will no doubt be the first step...

Making holes & a Bit More Paisley

Not too much time today for Jooky-stuff, but I did manage a couple of jobs before real life took over..

Firstly, I finally put those there chisels I got from Homebase to good use, and 'routed' out a bit more space so that the P90 pickup will fit in. I also made more room generally at the front as to be honest I am still not entirely sure what sort of electronic gubbins I will be including in there, or more to the point, how much room it will take.

Once the chiselling desisted, it was nice to be able to at least place the pickup and scratchplate onto the guitar. It either looks nice, or horrendous, depending on your view of such things, though more 'real' if nothing else, all would have to agree.

Anyway, it was good to move on that bit.

Next, I got down to the real business of the day, and following the procedure I described yesterday, managed to stick some lovely paisley stuff onto the back of the guitar. This still needs a couple more coats of the Podge, and the usual sanding and clear coating, but man the shape - it looks like a guitar...which feels good after all this time.

If I get the chance later to put the front on, I'll let you know.

As for how easy it was to do, well lets just say the flat and the big curves were fine, but the neck end was a 'mare and I've decided that there will probably be a bit of patchwork going on to make it all nice and neat.

No matter anyway, though If I ever do this again I think I'll either got for a nice flat Tele, or go the Fender route and only apply it on the front, painting the edges and bursting around the design. That would be a load easier, but there we are. I'd worked that out up front to be honest, I was only ever being awkward.