Seller's Regret

Well, you'd think I would be use to it by now, but giving The Boogaloo One a final once over and a good hour or so of strumming duty, I have to say I am genuinely gutted to see it off to pastures new with Arto in Helsinki.

The neck is absolutely gorgeous, and the 620ish shape feels very natural - and those Mojo Gold Foil pickups, of which these are the only set in the world right now (Toaster-tastically speaking,) I just can't say enough good things about them.

All of which means I am only pacing the floors of Jooky Towers, hoping that the neck for The Sappho One will arrive tootsie and sweetly so I can play myself a Jooky again. It is a hard life of knocks.

So it is a little painfilled and sad, but there we are. I guess if I could sling them out the door without a seconds thought and second thoughts it wouldn't be worth making them in the first place, would it?

At least that is what I'm telling meself.

La laaa laaa

Bedbugs and Boogaloo

Well, The Boogaloo One is off to Helsinki, and my post-holibob surge of enthusiasm and achievement faltered in the first furlong as one of the bratskis got an early sick day in before I had a chance to catch me breath. It's never simplistic around here.

Tomorrow though (unless the other one  has her turn) I'm going to be getting The Sappho One together as far as I can as the super cool neck should be here any day now (meant to be yesterday, but who is counting? Well, me obviously.)

This is going to be a special one in many ways - the cracked nitro Lake Placid Blue finish, the Mosrite and Gold Foil pickups courtesy of Marc at Mojo Pickups, and the U shaped neck, 12" radius, jumbo of fret, ebony of board and flaming  maple of stick - all pretty groovy. Nice heavyweight set of Gotoh tuners too, Fender tremolo and Mustang bridge. Lovely.

Better still as of course this is the Jooky I'm going to keep. No, really. I know I said that about The Boogaloo, Golden Shower, Old Burny, Groovy, Old E and another dozen or so of the Ones, but this time is different. Probably mainly..

Scouts honour.

La la laaaa

If Boogaloo is Cool - the Mojo Gold Foils are Far Out...

Well, I've spent the last few days explaining or at least trying to, what The Boogaloo One sounds like, so I'm going to get my finger out and do some sort of recording. Soon, really soon.

To my mind they are somewhere between a TV Jones and a P90 - gorgeous cleans with special jangly bits, but really at their best with a bit of dirt as they have this amazing sustain to them.

But they sound great, but I figured that maybe it is just me - it's in the fingers, dontchano? - so I was pleased to find these YouTube videos  and I thought I'd share them with the group. They sound fantastic with a slide in hand   (listen to the tres cool Ramon Goose below and see what I mean)  - in summary, they can be awesome.

Just maybe not my hand.

La la laaaa

Sold: The Boogaloo One

The Boogaloo One is a complete one off, with the body shape being homage to a Ricky 600 series, although it is semi-acoustic and steals a slash of a cat’s eye soundhole from elsewhere. The finish is pure Jooky with a time-stained white reminding us of an old picket fence.

The neck on this baby is a total joy. One of Warmoth’s posher offerings, it is made from a gorgeous piece of Anigre with a slab Kingswood 'board. The figuring on both of these has to be seen, pondered and heads a little shaken, to be believed. Medium jumbo frets with a 9” radius make this modern and very playable.

The crowning glory of this guitar are of course the matched pair of Gold Foil Pickups made especially for this guitar by Marc Ransley, uber pickup maker at Mojo Pickups. These have a sound of their own which gives bags of jangle, given their toaster-sized shape you’d hope for that, but equally have enough grunt for some serious rock and blues. Marc also made us a complementary wiring loom, all CTS pots, PIO caps and Switchcraft switches and Jacks..as you’d expect – top quality end-to-end.

The Made in the U.S of A Bigsby B5 completes the tale along with a Ricky-esque bridge as a final flourish.

All in all, this is a stunning looking guitar that plays beautifully and nails all of the classic tones.

*

To be clear, The Boogaloo 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.


*** SOLD ****

Technical Stuff:

Type: Tina’s Time-stained Guitar

Electrics: Mojo Pickups Gold Foils and wiring loom

Guitar Type: Rickenbacker 600 Series Style

Construction: Ash body, Anigre/Kingswood neck

Strings:     11s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Twin Volume, Twin Tone, 3-way switch

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

Serial Number: JGE#76

RSP: £1299

Introducing: The Boogaloo One

Well, it has taken a fair old while, but I'm delighted to be able to introduce to you, the Boogaloo One, and rather lovely cool it is too.

From the top, the body is semi-acoustic, Rickenbacker 600 series influenced, which has been given a time-stained old white finish. This is a lovely ash body and has a solid block in the middle on anti-feeedback duties. it is lovely and beautifully tactile with a hard wax oil finish.

The neck is a total joy. It is a really posh Warmoth one made from a gorgeous piece of Anigre with a slab Kingswood 'board. This is genuinely one of the nicest necks I've  played and I think sets the scene for the future of Jookiidom in many ways.

Pickups are a pair Marc Ransley of Mojo pickups wound specially  for this guitar based on his wonderful Gold Foil pickups. These are sized to match traditional Ricky Toaster Tops, and have all the clean jangle you would hope for - chiming thru my Vox like a Byrd on the telephone wire - yet with a bit of dirt it is to-die-for, sustaining for weeks at a time. I really can't get over how cool these Gold Foils sound, like the best of a TV Jones meets a raunchy P90. Epic.

Marc also did a cool wiring loom - all CTS pots, Switchcraft switch and Jack and PIO caps.

Top quality stuff as we've come to expect.

Finishing it off we have a genuine American Bigsby B5 and a Ricky style bridge,  for tuning friendly wobble and shake.



And playing this is a total joy. It is the only Jooky in the little kingdom of Jook right now, so it isn't going anywhere, and I quite simply can't put it down.

The Boogaloo One, lovely.

La la laaaa

WIP? - More of a slow crawl

Well, I thought I could just about get The Boogaloo One together today, but obviously ballsed-up the planning stage and had ordered the wrong bobbins.

On the plus side, The Bigsby is on , nice and straight thanks to a couple of bits of string, and I've even put the right neck on and quite beautiful it is too. I think I'll be using a lot more of Warmoth's necks in future, as this is peachy.

I also drilled the holes for the pots, switch and jack plus and fitted the scratchplates too, so all is looking pretty groovy.

And I was just about to drill the wee holes for the pickups (the Mojo Gold Foil Toasters are flat bottomed so that is all that is needed), when I thought I'd fit the leccy bobbins - which is where I discovered my mistake. I had ordered the wrong parts and they don't fit thru the top and give me enough room to put a nut on.

Harrowing.

Marc over in Mojo Pickups land is doing me a  replacement loom, and I'll fit the pickups, but it was a tad on the deflating side of bugged, but I had vague hopes of playing the thing and that isn't going to happen.

Though saying that I could put the strings on and play it acousticalified, but it wouldn't feel the same, so I'll wait.

I have to say I am rather pleased with it so far though. Tres bon indeedy.

La la laaaa

A Summery Boo and a Galoo

Well, I've decided to pretty much take the summer holibobs off, and am all a-plotting-and-a-planning, but it does seem a bit silly that The Boogaloo One is sitting here in all it's ready-2-go glory and I am once more Jookiless, so I think I'll squeeze it in along the way somewhere.

And I've had a bit of a re-jig on this one too, so I thought I'd set it in Kwiky-concrete and make myself another list - something to hold onto in the stormy, bratski-infested weeks ahead.

So from the top - it is my lovely Ricky 620 infuenced, yet semi-acoustic ash body, complete with a time stained white finish.

Pickups are a pair of Marc Ransleys, special Toaster sized Gold Foils, and he has done me an equally classy and classic wiring loom to go with itt.

From there  I paid thru the nose for some Rickenbacker scratchplates to complete the look - I did make some out of old records, but it didn't really work visually, you win a few.

As for the neck, this is a bit of a change as I was going to put it on The Sappho One, but instead Boogaloo will boast a quite beautiful Warmoth neck made of exotic woods that I can't remember off the top of my head but may include Granillo. The Sappho Will have something equally gorgeous, but with a big headstock.

What else? Well, I've gone for a proper Bigsby B5 and Ricky bridge some amazingly lovely Gotoh tuners and well, that is about it I think. Oh, and of course the obligatory Gotoh strap pins, my faves. mustn't forget them.

All of which means it is just  the most expensive, parts-wise, guitar I'll have made, but that is what I am thinking at the moment, less is more and Jesus wants me for a Telegram Sam in a Cardie. Should be a nice summer...

La la laaaaaa

Electric Boogaloo - A plonk together

Well, I finally got happy with the whitewashed and slightly battered fence finish for The Boogaloo One, so before I put it together proper-like, I thought I'd do the traditional plonk together and see how it looks.

As you can see it is 620 ish, though a center-blocked semi ash body is perhaps non-traditional.

Nailed to that will be the rather nice CBS and big-of-head Strat neck, all maple and rosewood.

A lovely Mojo loom is going to pull things together (though as I didn't want the little blend pot, that is AWOL and the jack socket will take it's place up front.)

Of course there will be a Ricky bridge to go with the rather lovely Bigsby, and best of all are the pair of Mojo Pickups' Toaster-shaped Gold Foil pickups, which after The Hartlepool I am generally salivating about playing.

And there we are. I won't actually get it together today - no surprise there - but next week is the last of freedom so it really must happen.

La la laaaa

And Finally..Boogaloo Is ready to Pop

Well, I got a lovely loom thru from Marc at Mojo Pickups, have had a quick change of plan on the neck, and have finally finished the finish, so I have promised myself that I will actually finito The Boogaloo One this week.

And what a job it will be.

Ricky 620 inspired body, but semi hollow with a nice slash hole and a centre block for comfort.

A lovely rosewood/maple neck, big of headstock and cool as funk.

A pair of Mojo's Gold Foil pickups, deftly reshaped into Ricky toaster sized goodliness.

A rather lovely Bigsby and a Ricky-esque bridge.

It is going to be crazy good methinks.

Just got to put it together and decide whether to leave the scratchplates shiny white or soak them in a cup of Co-op 99...

La la laaaa

And Then of Course...

Well, still a bit slo-mo-a-go-go at the mo-mo, but I  did get a chance the other day to sand back the top of The Boogaloo One, and stain it a proper white, and it looks more the part now.

It still needs some work in the sanding and re-staining dept. before I give it a sheen of hard wax oil, but it is more what I was hoping for and that feels nicer.

From here it is of course going to have that lovely bound Jazzmaster neck nailed on, a pair of Mojo Pickups Gold Foil Toaster Specials (I'm sure he will make up a better name if he ever makes any more), and I am thinking  that a nice Bigsby will be a good way to hold the strings on.

When this will be occurring, who can say, but I am planned-up and that is always nice amid the chaos of real life..

La la laaaa

Hmm, Ballsed That Up Then..

Too Patchy By 'Alf

Well, the old liming of The Boogaloo One didn't exactly work as planned and as I'm off again for a few days it'll have to wait until it is sanded and I start-all-over-again.

Tis one of those things, you don't know until you try and as long as you are happy to rip it up and start again, all is OJ in the morning. It isn't how many you make, it is how many you throw away that counts. Probably.

In other news Rich tells me that the finish he is doing for The Sappho One is coming along a treat - can't wait to see it for myself. I'm a little bit nervous about it - not because of Rich, I should add - but because it will be the first time I haven't done the finish on a Jooky, so it is a little odd feeling deep and down inside. Still, it is for me to keep for once, so I guess it doesn't matter and I can't wait to see how it turns out. A collaboration then sweetie - I'll have a salon before you know it.

Anyway, miles to be eaten, sick brats to tend.

Mustn't confuse the two.

La la laaaa

In the Lime Light

Well, I've trickled and trundled a little further with The Boogaloo One and decided I would go for a lime type of finish - think Tom Sawyer - so I gave the back a go and it seems rather nice so far.

I've changed the stuff I'm using as the stench of the previous ones were killing me and so far this is breathable and yet cool to work with too. I'm quietly chuffed.

Many plenty more coats and bits of sanding but there we are.

Must be a Friday

La la laaaa

Doing The Boogaloo Doo

Well, I still haven't decided what colour to go with as far as The Boogaloo One goes, but what I do know is that it will be translucent as I want the lovely grain from the ash to show thru...

So anywaysup, I stained the body and have been sanding it back off and on for the last week or so when I can grab some time, and it really is getting to be decision time.

I had originally planned to give it a blue Nitro finish, but The Sappho One is getting one instead and The Babylon Blue has one too under the white (assuming it ever dries enough to sand back) and after all, I do so hate to be repetitive, after all.

Then I thought red, but that's quite close to a red Ricky and not the point of this after all. Black I'm not keen on, yellow looks like faggy knuckles, Green is possible as is creamy white - that's a thought. Hmmm.

And well, what can I say?

Bleurgh.

Decisions am we, but not today.

In other news, absolutely nothing happened. Anywhere. It's that sort of lifetime

La la laaaa

Golden Years Da Da Da

Well, still a bit AWOL at the mo', but before I configured the life raft, I did receive a double dose of Vitamin Gold Foil from Marc at Mojo Pickups, and bloomin' gorgeous they are too.

It'll be a while before I get on with them, but I couldn't help a quick plonk together of The Hartlepool and Boogaloo Ones with their gilt racked, as it were.

The Hartlepool One is obviously a lot closer as it has been, err, finished, and in a way it makes sense as I should get to play with the real deal as far as the Gold Foils go before moving on to toasters and toppings.

I'd forgotten how pretty Hartlepool was though, all verra nice indeed.

As for The Boogaloo One, I'm really pleased with the neck. It is a Jazzmaster one, maple, black blocks and it is bound too, which is very lux. The body is going to be Lake Placid Blue, unless I go darker and I'm dithering whether to put the proper Ricky 660 pickguards on - or the ones I cut from an LP - forgot about those, wonder where they are... - or maybe even to stay au natrel. No panic though, plenty of time..

Just when I'll get to be doing them really...

La la laaaa

Gold Foil a Go Gooooo

Well, planning-and-a-plotting as I am, I was somewhat delighted to see that Mr Marc Ransley of the Mojo Pickups parish has finished me some of the coolest looking pups this side of the Stirchley Bowl...

First up, are the authentic and uber classic Gold Foils that are destined for The Hartlepool One (that slice of offset semi-acoustalification that has been waiting under the stairs for such an occasion). These are a long held dream and I really can't wait to get them fitted and fettled...

The other, if at all possible are even more special. As you no doubt know, The Boogaloo One is going to be a funky little momma, based on a Rickenbacker 620 with a groovy maple blocked neck, I'd initially thought that I'd get Marc to make a couple of his Toaster pickups, but in one of those weirdly cool moments, we have ended-up with Toaster-sized Gold Foils which look quite frankly, stunningly cool. I don't even know where to plug in the hyperbole for these babies...or indeed how the hell he has managed to put them together at all, but the boy is a genius. End of.

So, in summary - all is golden, all is glistery.

La la laaaa

Zoomba Zoombababa

Well, I still need to do the soldering, but just about everything else is ready as far as The La Cucaracha One goes, and it is looking jolly striking I must say.

(OK, maybe strings and a setup will help a wee bit too. And a few screws, looking at the scratchplate.)

As for other stuff, The Old No.7 One got collected at the second attempt and is now stuck in a layby on the M5 somewhere, but will hopefully put a smile on Paul's face tomorrow sometime. It took a while, but hopefully it will have been worth it.

The only other news is that I was so impressed with the neck for Old#7, that I'm acquiring a traditionally cool one piece maple one for The Chimera One instead of the originally planned ebony boarded wonder. I know, decisive am we. It is another Monster Relic one from Mr Mojo himself's stock of all things cool and relicked so at least I know it will arrive.

But anyway, there we be...

La la laaaaa

Mr Boogaloo

Well, as ever things get in the way, so The Old No.7 One will have to wait until tomorrow for it's formal introduction, as I've been AWOL and now face a court martial.


I did however get a couple of pretty pictures of a nice ash body in the shape of a Ricky 620 that is coming soon to Jookyland as I quite fancied one for myself after starting on the finishing of The Babylon Blue One. Speaking of which I really must find the camera as that moved on a bit unnoticed.

Note to self: Get a grip.

Anyway, this Ricky inclined one will be a bit different as it will have a big headed Strat neck with an ebony board, and when I get that far a couple of the stupendously cool Toaster pickups Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups made for me before. I'm putting a Bigsby on The Babylon Blue One, but I think again this might just have a trapeze tailpiece, though then again...

As for the finish, I've missed my Mapleglo 360/12 for many a long year and will never have the dosh again to replace it I expect, so this will be something more natural I think. Maybe a bit of stain and a shiny nitro finish. Or maybe not, who knows.

Either way, that'll be The Boogaloo One, methinks

La la laaaa