If Aikea made Guitars...

Well, I was having a look at the rather lovely, sixty-year-old pine body I have for what will be The Mielnik One, and generally deciding what I'm going to do with it.

Initially I thought I would just go for an old school Tele, and for once I'm sticking to the plan, although I think it will have a Strat neck - I have a lovely Allparts one I've been saving for a spesh occaze - and when I get around to it, a pair of Gimps.

As for the finish, I don't want to cover up the woody pine-ness so it is destined for oil and wax I think and a simple bakelite 'plate. It will also feature some big bloomin' copper nails, but there is no point having a fetish if you aren't willing to share it with the group.

There may be another twist or two along the way, but it only adds to the groove thang, dontachaknow.

La la laaa

Durex machina

Well, I was really rather pleased (understatedly  so) to receive the first ever Tele Gimp pickup from Marc at Mojo Pickups. These are thee Part Deux of my little plan to take over the world with guitar pickups. You may scoff now.

Anyway, this is destined for the Esquire that will be The Chimera One, and as you can see it has a nice braiding around so that it looks cool. Braid is cool. More importantly, it is based on a P90 pickup Marc made for me a while back with a little tweak or three, and I really can't be awaiting getting this together. Though unfortunately I'll have to for at least a few days.

Instead then, today I am soldering wires, burning fingers and generally causing hot liquid metal mayhem in a flawed attempt at making The La Cucaracha one strummable.

But there we are, nobody said it was going to be easy and peasie.

La la laaaa

Gimping My Tele Baby

Well, I got a lovely walnut telecaster body a while ago, and the subtle little plan has being to make myself a nice Esquire to have around the place, as the one time I used a walnut body before I was rather impressed.

Anyway, I've started staining that as I want it pretty and simple, and I snapped up a Ye Olde Bakelite pickguard, so that is cool too.

I was also really impressed by the neck I put on The Black Russian One - with the ebony board, so I am going to grab another of those for this and there we are.

As for pickups, well I've been thinking about a Gimp pickup for a Tele and have decided to go for one that I really loved when Marc at Mojo Pickups made me one before, which was basically a hot P90 in a Tele Bridge sized form...

And so that is what the second Gimp will be - a Tele P90 for the perfect Esquire...That will debut here too.

I feel so un-manic about this, I'm really not sure why, but it will be uber cool methinks.

A Tele P90 Gimp, can't really beat that.

Apart from maybe if I put a Bigsby on it..

That'll be The Chimera One then, it has to happen sooner or later.

La la laaaa

We Are The Gimps

Well, not quite time for a formal introduction, but The Spindrifting One is almost there (minus a string tree or two and some proper Gretsch knobs), but I couldn't resist stringing it up and giving the first ever set of Gimps a run for their moolah.

And cool though they may look, sounds-wise they really are superb.

The bridge pickup has a definite Tele sound to it that is just lovely - nothing like the anemic Strat bridge pickups you usually have to suffer, while the middle and neck pickups are more hot Strat territory, though as clear as a bell even when I dug out a Big Muff (old Soviet one) and a Fuzz Face (modern re-issue). I really love the fact that there is something more in there that is hard to describe, maybe a bit more in the middle than your average Strat.

The best part for me is the in-between tones which are glorious here, especially the bridge/middle one where you get a kinda other-worldly-Tele sound that is a total joy. The tone controls really come into their own too and you can do a real Tele to Strat change with barely a twiddle.

Other than that, I'm loving The Spindrifting One. I wanted to make the body look proper lived in old, and it has plenty of dinks and dents, but it is the worn patches at the top I'm really most pleased about. Playing wise, I like a hardtail Strat and this is solid, so that is cool, and the neck is bang on. I went for a flatter board (9.5" with a C shape) and it feels great bending strings.

A good day's work then, methinks. And the bits I'm waiting for should be here next week so I'll do the formal intro then.

But Gimps, a grand idea, and now a reality. I may have to break a habit of a lifetime and record these babies.

La la laaaa

A Glimpse of the Gimps

Well, I'm feeling rather chipper today. The Black Russian One is awesome, in a box and awaiting a courier, and I've fettled and plonked my first set of Gimps in The Spindrifiting One.

For those of you that were tripping and missed it, the Gimps are my very own, uniquely specced pickups that Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups has wound for me and then I have Jookified for goodly measurement.

These will only be available from the Jooky web site and will no doubt feature prominently in my guitars in the coming months.

Right, I am such an ad break.

The idea behind them is that I don't really love normal Strat pickups, and so we've come up with something that is subtly different having more of a Tele or P90 voice, which should be interesting, especially with a five way switch.

As for the look, well you can't see too well in the shonky fotos, but they don't have covers, instead are bound and definitely have an air of Jookiness about them.

The pickups are numbered and signed as with everything else, and they will be few and far between, I'm sure. These are the Strat ones, though I think there will be a Tele one soon...

Anyway, these are the first ever set and I wanted them in The Spindrifting One as that is pretty groovy too.

Now if I can just find some solder, I'll see how they sound

La la laaaa

The March of the Gimps

Well, as it seems to be a day for futures, I was pleased and becalmed to see this foto pop along from Marc at Mojoland, as it is the first of the Jooky exclusive pickups that I'm going to be using on some of my guitars in the coming days and maybe even punting on the vapour-web-site I keep imagining might one day happen.

This is one of a set of pickups that will be going into The Spindrifting One, that will be unlike your usual Stratiness, and will in fact be voiced more along the lines of a P90/Tele with a more tone-filled and fatter sound for real noisy goodness.

This is something we've been collaborating on for months, and after long discussions deep into the night we've finally managed to define something I think will be pretty special.

OK,in truth the discussion went more like:

Me: Can you make something that doesn't sound like a Strat? I don't like Strats, like.
Marc: Yes. How about  like a Tele?
Me: OK, that sounds good.
Marc: Shall I make them then?
Me: Yes please.

And then I left Marc to sort out all of the messy detail stuff, like magnets and wires and things, but there we are.

Which oddly is how the Manhattan project got started.

Once they arrive, I'll be giving them a special Jooky finish, and there we are...

And as all good revolutions need a T Shirt, and every dog needs a name, I came to the conclusion that they would be known as GIMPS.

And we all need a bit of a Gimp in our lives, let's face.

Jookified Gimps, err, coming soon.

La la laaaaa