Hit Me Baby

OK, I know I've got all sorts of things on the go at the moment, but one that is nagging around the edges is The Backporch Voodoo One... If you vaguely remember, this is going to have a unique Wizard Novatron pickup - which is basically a low powered humbucker that is voiced to sound like a resonator - which is a neat trick, lets face it.

I haven't 'done' a single pickup Strat for a while, but I think this is the kiddy, so there we are.

Anywaysup, I have the Strat body and neck, and in terms of the finish I've been playing around with iron paint and basically trying my best to rust it. That part isn't too difficult, unlike finding a way to make sure that it stays looking cool and basically doesn't end-up spread across your Iron Maiden T Shirt when you are playing it.

But, I've got a couple of things to try that I'm hoping will do the job so hopingly I've nearly cracked that one now, so with a bit of luck it should be on the cards in the near future.

What I haven't done yet, of course is get the pickup, but I think the time is about right so I'm planning on ordering it next week (as lets face it, the chance of me finding one second-hand are slightly remote.)

In terms of the look though, I want to take it a bit further than I talked about before. So even more Jooky than normal.

What I'm thinking is that it would be cool to maybe use beer or whiskey bottle tops for the knobs, maybe cut a scratchplate out of something like a road sign or car number plate or, well, whatever.

I'm thinking trailer trash chic, so maybe it should be The Britney One instead. Hmmm...

Is that cruel?
I don't know.

New Year Revolution

Well, another day and still the garage is so frozen I can't last more than five minutes in there, so not a lot useful done. The electric isn't working in there either at the moment, all frozen up, and working by blowtorch light, well, it just isn't me, I'm afraid.

So as I can't do, I thought I'd plot and plan and have a think about what comes next. Specifically, I mean, not my usual navel gazing.

1. First-up of course, is the second of the Katy's Killer Customs, Andy's J-Bird One. The Jag-Firebird hybrid, with oh so many extras on the side.

2. After that, is my little Daisy Jook One. This semi based on a Daisy Rock Retro-H already boasts a quite lovely cowgirl finish, and a couple of twangtastic baby humbuckers. They are a bitch to put in, never doing that again.

3. The Twangy One I've started to paisleyify, a nice black swirly one with touches of gilt to catch the light. This will have the Kent Armstrong 'Kentron' pickups, which should be fun and generally twang for England.

4. The other Jag body I had is destined to end-up with a pinky-purple paisley finish - The Pink Panther One, being as our chap Blake just passed on. I was planning to put a couple PRS P90s in this one, but then came across somebody flogging a pair of Jazzmaster pickups, and grabbed them pronto like. I might have to do a wee bit of work on the scratchplete as it was cut for P90s, but I figure it will be worth it. Doo-dut-do-doooo.

5. Getting slightly into vapourware now, I fancy doing a bit of a shape guitar, a Vee or Explorer, and if I do it will have this quite lovely skull and roses finish that I've had around for ages but never found a home for. Into this will either be a pair of PRS Tremonti pickups, or some Gibson 49x wotsits out of a Les Paul Studio. Bit of a rock machine me thinks, 'cos it's time I started err, hanging with the kids, and all that. Maybe. This will be The Evil Bed One.

6. And then there is the Weathered One. This is my long standing pine bodied Telecaster, with a single Bare Knuckle pickup at the bridge, quite beautiful neck and is destined to be the first full Lulu's Copper Top. I've got to buy the copper for this, which I've not gotten around to ordering, and then I need to decide what to do as a finish. In truth, I'm dithering. On one hand I fancy going for a simple rosewood colored stain to set off the copper, but on the other I picked up the most beautiful golden paisley with gilty bits all over it, that I think would look amazing. The copper of course I am either weathering or enamelling like I did with the Jangly One's scratchplate, though I'm not sure which at the moment. Either way, on this I'm going to leave more of the copper colour exposed,  which will be a bit amazing to look at methinks. This one is a bit of a special, but more about that when it is done.

7. I'm back on the single pickup trail with a Wizard handwound Novatron Pickup thing. I talked about this before and I have a Strat body I'm going to try and do something weird and wunderfilled with, with this as the driver. This will be The Backporch Voodoo One, as I see it as laid back and bluesy with just a tinge of Southern Comfort.

So in summary:

1. The J-Bird One
2. The Daisy Jooky One
3. The Twangy One
4. The Pink Panther One
5. The Evil Bed One
6. The Weathered One
7. The Backporch Voodoo One...

And other than that, I'm thinking of getting serious about making a couple of my own body shapes. I have two in mind which I guess aren't the most original - I'm not going BC Rich or anything, but should be fun to do.

So really this has turned into my New Year Resolution list, hasn't it...be interesting to see how many are completed by 2012, I guess.