Introducing: The 668 One

The 668 One is a rather stunning swamp ash bodied Telecaster Esquire, with plenty of twists to keep the birds singing tra-la-la.

From the top it has the weirdest looking Mother of Jooky finish yet, a gorgeous maple/rosewood neck and a few more tricks to boot.

The pickup is stunning, a Mojo Pickups reading of the Ye Olde Classic Kay Speedbump, which has a tone like nowt else.

Wiring is the usual top quality Mojo fare too, for many a mile of confidence enhancing motoring.

A Wilkinson, zingy steel blocked Strat trem does the biz and the final jiggy-saw piece is that it is an Ersatz baritone, drop tuned A to A. Man it is cool, no loss of string tension, but thumping and grounding like a wild beastie.

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To be clear, The 668 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.


Technical Stuff:

Type: Jooky Classic

Electrics: Mojo Kay Speedbump Pickups Mojo Esquire Wiring Loom

Guitar Type: Telecaster Esquire

Construction: Maple/Rosewood Neck, Alder Body

Strings:     13s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Volume, Tone

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

Serial Number: JL#9
RSP: £1249

Bugged of Portishead

Well, I knew things were going too well.

I'd strung up the lovely yet slightly garish The 668 One with it's set of 13s, tuned it A-A and all was well.

Plugged it in again this morning and silence.

So I take the strings off, unscrewed everything, resoldered the wiring bits I'd done..still nothing.

Then I noticed my lovely Genz Benz Black Pearl amp thing is on standby.

*sigh*

La la laaaa

So, Well, I Hesitate To Say it, But, Like...

Well, the sloth, the innate inactivity that has extended a summer off since last err, summer, has finally come to an end and this week I'm going to get my finger out and do a wee bit.

So despite only having four days, this week I will finally finish..

The 668 One, in all it's pearl and glittery baritonally gorgeousness.

The Velvet Pearl One, the uber purple haze of a walnut La Vabronita

The Bacchylides One, Lake Placid Blue Jaguarness, and

The Liberian One, my beautiful laundrette of a Jazzmaster.

And then my friends I shall smile, feel good and wonder WTF I am going to do with alll these guitars.

Obviously, excuses will come later

La la laaaa

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

I Started Something... WIP Barry Island 668 Stylee

Well, I completely changed my mind as far as The 668 One goes, so it is no longer a black Strat, instead it is a sparkly pearly red Tele with a Strat tremolo. I'm not quite sure how I justify this as a Wilko Johnson tribute, but I'm sure I'll work it out.

So anyway, I've been doing a few layers of paint and glittery stuff and it looks rather like an ice cream has melted on it, which I like if nobody else does.

Of course (apart from the odd bit of paisley) this is the first proper bright red guitar I've done, mainly because they have an unfortunate way of reminding me of Bontempi toy guitars. Red Strats yeurrch.But this is different (you can't see the proper sparkly-ness in the foto, but baby the stars shine bright.

From here it will have a zingy Wilko tremolo, the I-can't-wait-to-hear-it Mojo Kay Speedbump pickup, Mojo Esquire wiring, a quite gorgeous maple/rosewood CBS style Strat neck, cool Esquire 'plate, ye olde Klusons and there we are.

All a bit boring, I guess, but as I have had a switch of decision making and the decision I have decided is that instead of the Jazzmaster Baritone, The 668 One is going to be my Barry Island in the stream.

And so, I think I can safely say that if the legend that is Mr Wilko Johnson had decided that he quite fancied a Jookified Baritone Tele with an old fashioned dirt buster of a pickup, and a wang bar to err, play  in Las Vegas, well, this might just have been it.

Unlikely, I know, but there we are.

La la laaaaa

Bit of a Re-re-re-think

Well, I have this theory that other than odd things happening, if something stays on my 'Coming Soon' list for an age, it means I am not entirely happy about something, and The 668 One is kinds feeling like that.

You probably don't remember, but the idea was to do a Wiko influenced Strat - single Mojo take on the legendary Kay Speedbump, and there we are.

But it hasn't happened, so I've played Michael Finnigan, and changed things around.

It's good.

So instead it will now be a Tele but with a Strat tremolo, still have the red pearl and black combo for a nod in the geezer's direction, and it will of course have the Speedbump in pride of place.

Why? Well, no good reason, just if it don't feel right, it don't happen..

Blah blah, bored now

La la laaa

Putting Out Fire With Gasoline

Well, the finish on The 668 One is done, so I had a little plonk-together (not that I have many parts, you will understand) and my only concern is that it looks a wee bit posh.

I'm really not sure what went wrong.

I'm thinking that a maple neck might help, so I will probably do that, and a trem too, of course. And, well, lots of other bits.

Still, can't be bad, may be done by Xmas, after all.

Really, want to hear this Speedbump pickup though, I got a feeling that it may prove to be a beggar in a prince's finery

La la laaaa

p.s. Just woke up, you'll have to excuse the lack of interestingness

668 State

Well, I know I said I was going to be-bronze The 668 One, but that was before I remembered that I had forgotten that the body was a lovely lump of swamp ash and that I had intended to keep the grain grainy.

So instead I decided to go all Wilko on it, it is meant to be a noisenik rocker of old school dimensions, after all, and whilst not a Tele I figured it could still look mighty pretty with a black stain, shiny hard wax oil finish and a bright red pearl plate.

So that is the plan, today at least.

Attached to that I'm going for a flashy bound neck, with square bits of plastic for fret markers and a big old CBS headstock, obviously the Mojo Speed Bump 'bucker at the bridge and some sort of groovy trem I've yet to decide upon. Maybe a Hipshot as I keep meaning to try them in all their stainless steel-ness..

I may even shave my head (won't take long) and I could even stretch to a pint or three.

It's going to be cool, methinks

La la laaaa

Pondering Something Lumpy Bumpy

Well, while I again have time on my hands I thought I'd ponder what to do with the Mojo take on the Kay Speedbump 'bucker, that washed up on the shores of Jookyland just recently like.

I've decided to stay true to form and go for a single pickup Strat. I know, I am predictable in my psychoses.

It is going to have a lovely swamp ash body which will feature something rustic in the finish dept. a neck and some other bits. It is going to be cool and I can't wait to hear the pickup so I'll probably bump (tee hee) everything else to get it done.

This will be a Jooky Classic, of course, if we are talking new money, so wey and hey, anything goes.

I have some lovely copper nails I've been itching to use so I think they may well make an appearance.

So that will be The 668 One, can't wait...

La la laaa