Frustrating Week

Well, it started so brightly - nice little pile of Sophie's ready to be put into tins and things, The Paisley One en-route to pastures new and The Pretty In Pimp One well on it's way to going together.

Then I managed to put my back out a wee bit, abseiling in Snowdonia.
Silly really, but it was that final 300 foot drop for the cameras that did it.

OK, maybe not.
I did rick my back but  it was stretching for something on a high shelf in the pantry.
Not so glam, yet
still bloomin' painfilled,
my days have proved.

Anyway, what it meant was that sitting to solder or drill was out, so no tins of fuzz just yet, so I concentrated on sorting the scratchplate for The Pimpy One...and what a mare that has been.

Basically, this was the first attempt.

It is faux suede, meant to be golden in hue,
and soft of touch
but looked a bit dowdy to me
and apparently like a piece
of cardboard to others.

It was also quite big, and I wanted something smaller.

Next idea then was to get some gold coloured velvet, which I did
as you can see here
but that too doesn't work.

I mean, I like gaudy and that is half the point here -
the fire-burnt-neck
and the seventies gaudiness of the body
I know, I'm
very deep.

But it looks rubbish
even by my standards.

Anyway, I have a Plan C now, so later I'll try and sort that out.



Speaking of the pimpy one, I've decided against the sustainer as it doesn't really fit with what I want to do with this guitar. I'm thinking funk or vague jazziness, and that doesn't feel right.
It is going to be a pair of P100s then
with maybe something a little extra if I have the time.

Nice to improvise a tad
here
and over
there.

So there we are, less than I wanted, but can't be helped.

A-Pimping-We-Will-Go

Yep, finally got off me backside and did a bit more on the £100 guitar thingie...though to be honest I do feel like I'm drifting a wee bit.

What I did today, was change direction a little on the neck as the oiled version just looked a bit neat. Instead of going with the prissy-teen, I've rough sanded it back and have now decided to re-oil it, but this time it is coming out with a dirty, slightly streaked look.

OK, not an obvious thing to do, and it really isn't an attempt at producing a relic. The idea is that I wanted something that looked a bit beaten up and maybe even burned around the edges, as far as the neck goes...hopefully why will become clearer later on.

To follow this through, I've named the headstock, burning that in as well with the old burny-thing I used before on The Paisley One. I've also got a contrast in mind that will tie things together, but there is procurement involved with a teeny budget, so that needs to be juggled.

As for the body, I've half-chiseled things out there and I'll hopefully have that completed before I put this on the web site - if there is a foto, you'll know I did...though actually, as it turns out,I didn't.

What I did do was fit the nice gold tuners at a jaunty angle, although I couldn't find the goldy coloured string trees, so they will follow-on afterwards.

As far as the do-I-or-don't-I-use-a-sustainer dilemma, I'm still not sure on whether I will or whether I'll use the two P100s. I guess it will come down to time really. I'll try and get the rest of the guitar put together as soon as I can, and if there is time to do the Sustainer, I will, if not it'll be the twin pickups.

Though I've got the Octaver I never used on the Paisley One as well, 
Hmmmm....

Decisions, decisions.

Always the slowest part,
for me.

Insight Into The Workings Of My Mind

So, here I am, getting this here tele build bobbins together.

I've sort of got a sustainer working - on a breadboard thing - which is amazing and I can't wait to start to build it properly and put it in a guitar. I mean, for me, this is truly gob-smacking, I've made something that first of all works, and secondly works properly, as far as I can tell anyway.

This is really cool.

Amazing in fact as I didn't copy it off anybody, I just read some posts on a forum about how the Fernandes one works and some people talking on a blog about ones they have made. There used to be tonnes of information about DIY sustainers, but apparently that got deleted due to inter-nicene warfare over who is cleverest or something. Which you have to say is a bit pathetic. If I get it working well I'll do some proper plans and stuff so anybody can have a go at it.

Anyway, I'm pleased, kinda proud and itching to do it for real.

And I've got a guitar to put together in March that is waiting for it.

It is perfect timing, for once in my life, and everything is coming together.

I'm so excited at the prospect that I've not even thought about a cool name for the sustainer - they all have to have one, of course.

So here I am and what am I thinking about?

What am I spending my time doing?

Yep, I can't make up my mind on whether the guitar should be covered in gold suede or green velvet fabric.

Really.

I've got a Ferrari to make and I'm picking out the curtains.

Beyond sad.

I'm turning wench, there is no denying it.



So which do you think - green or gold?

Blah blah

Oh, one bit of good news.
I've managed to get a pair of Gibson P100 pickups, which are like soapbar P90s but doubled-up so that they are humbucking. I'm not sure whether they will both go on this guitar or not - if I do the sustainer they probably won't, but we'll have to see. Also I'll have to do a bit of jiggling on the £100 front if I use both of them as at the moment I'd be over budget.

Decisions, decisivenessly am we.

Really though, green or gold?

The Golden & The Green

I have to admit, at times I can be pretty indecisive. Very in fact. Not when it comes to important things, but when it really doesn't matter I can take forever to decide what I want to do.

Sometimes longer,
just depends really.

Anyway, my £100 challenge guitar, The Nouveau Riche One, I mentioned before that it was going to be gold suede covered with a '70s Di Marzio Dual Sound pickup,
but, well,
now it won't 

The suede looked nice, but not as striking as I'd like and the pickup I've sold on to a fella who is going to put it in a Jagstang. No big deal, and no real reason for the change other than it just didn't feel right. I couldn't even begin to think about mentioning that I wouldn't be able to tell you why that is was or may well have been.

So where does that leave me?
The colour now then, I think will still be given by some cloth and I've ordered some British racing green crushed velvet, which should look opulent by anybody's standards.

As to the pickup, well, I don't know. On one side I'm thinking P90 as I love the sound in the Paisley One, but then it is meant to drive a sustainer, so maybe a hot, high powered humbucker would make more sense, ignoring the fact that I've already bought and sold a rather brilliant one of those.

So what to do, who can say.

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.

Loving A Good Plan

Well, my Pink Heffalump is drying at the moment, but hopefully all will be revealed over the weekend. It looks good fun, so with a bit of the lucky stuff it will hit the spot.

Meanwhile, in Distraction City UK, I have been-a-plotting my next thingie, and basically planning how my £100 Challenge guitar will come together.

My basic idea is cunningly simple - I want something that is totally off the wall and slightly barking. I also don't want to do any woodwork or painting right now and so am going for another cloth finish, but something different this time, I feel.

The plan then - which will no doubt have changed twice before I reach the end of this post -

a.  Get a cheap Telecaster
b.  Strip all the parts off and sell them on eBay
c. Strip down the neck and stain it very dark before adding a glittery kind of finish.
d. Add gold coloured tuners - indeed all the parts will be gold coloured for total gaudiness
e. Make some kinds of holes in the body for resonance.
f. Cover the body in cloth - I'm thinking velvet or faux suede right now, not sure which.
g. Add some kind of fancy Gibson Semi type of tailpiece and bridge
h. Add a scratchplate from a Semi - I got one for a fiver off a nice chap on the MusicRadar forums this week.
i. Add a powerfilled P90 at the bridge
j. Make a Sustainer and put that at the neck.

And then I guess try and make everything work.

Now, I know, this all seems a touch on the ambitious side, especially as I haven't tried making a sustainer yet and will only have a month to put everything together, but there you go.

So the hunt for components begins. I have got the Tele and will flog the spare parts, hopefully to fund other bits 'n' bobbins.

I must admit, I might fit some rubbish here and there for the challenge and then replace it with better stuff later, just depends on whether I can sell the original bits, to be honest as I'm brassic...

La la la

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...