Sold: the Diamond Shiny One

Well, it has taken a while and many forms, but I am pleased to introduce to you the stripped down noise machine that is The Diamond Shiny One.

In the end I went for a bare bones approach as basically it looked the best and it just suited it somehow.

We have a corroded copper and bronze topped alder body, a rather lush maple/rosewood neck, ye olde Tele Ashtray bridge and two quite incomparable pickups.

At the neck is what is becoming rather trademark-like here in Jookyland, which is unfortunate as it is is somebody else's trademark - a Teisco style Mojo Pickups' Gold Foil. This, as the regular viewer will note, is a stunningly cool sound and at the neck of a Tele is awesome.

At the bridge is one of Marc Ransley's legendary prototypes - this time a Tele pickup, but that has a low output and a blade. Us nerds will of course recognise the recipe and instantly think 'Charlie Christian' and we would be right, as it has all the lush, tear-dragging properties that you would expect. Blues, Jazz are nailed on and the middle position is just, well, something else. Man. However, being more limited myself I can't help but mention that it nails those Clash and Pistols sounds beautifully.



*** SOLD ***

Technical Stuff:
Type: Jooky Classic

Electrics: Mojo Gold Foil Pickup, Mojo Pickups Blade Tele Pickup, Mojo Wiring Loom

Guitar Type: Telecaster

Construction: Maple/Rosewood Neck, Alder Body

Strings:     10s

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
 

In Alcaeus We Trust

Well, today is all about The Diamond Shiny One, with the slight problem that I came to put the neck on and noticed it has split.

Which is a troublesome detail, but there we are.

Other than that it is looking good -- shorter than nature intended, but as a new neck should arrive tomorrow, it isn't the end of this or even the next world.

On the  plus side I noticed before I started fitting the tuners etc. so I'm not doubly miffed.

All of which made me think of obscure Greek poets from six centuries before the little baby Jesus showed up, which naturally made me think about the rather spiffy one-piece swamp ash Jazzmaster body under my stairs and that I would quite like to make another Jazzmaster.

So that is the plan, and after swearing I would never go for a Mother of Jooky finish again after enjoying the process so much with The Whipped One, I am, err, going to do just that.

Basically then it is a homage to a pearly white Jazzmaster, clearly has to have a red tortie scratchplate, a rather dishy big handful of a Warmoth neck, all the usual fixtures and fittings and there we are.

What I can't decide is what sort of pickups to put in it. Don't get me wrong, you can't beat the Mojo Jazzmaster jobbies, but after my dalliances with Mosrite and Gold Foils, I do have the urge to go west young man.

I'm sure I will work it out though...

So that will be The Alcaeus One, sometime, whenever I can be arsed.

La la laaaa

On a Mission from Gord

Well, I'm on a bit of a mish at the moment, to catch-up on the things I haven't done that I should (my Summer off has officially ended) and generally get some groovy guitars together.

Tomorrow's installment will hopefully see The Diamond Shiny One up and a running, though like The Sally James One I've already finished it twice and then changed my mind.

It is a lovely thing though, the Gold Foil at the neck works brilliantly with the Mojo blade/Low output/Tele Bridge/Chas Christian thingy at the other end. Really moody and tonetastic.

Speaking of which, I stole a foto from the rather wonderful Mr Ally Lee's Facebook page of him playing The Hartlepool One.

I rarely get to see my Jookies in action (inaction being more my thing), so that was cool.

And if anybody else can spare a foto to warm an old man's heart, that would be grand.

A foto of you playing your own Jooky would otherwise be nice too.

Oh, and thanks to the rather verily talented peeps at ragphotograhpy.co.uk for the use of the foto - well talented indeed.

La la llama

First World Probz - What To Do...?

Well, for the first time in ages I find myself with time to actually do something useful, but I have a dilemma.

I have two guitar bodies, all the bits 'n' bobs needed for both (though not pictured) and yet, I seem to only have one neck between them.

So do I look behind Door Uno, and finito The Trojan One in all it's rusty Jazzmasterishness and luxuriate in the filthy Mosrite style pickups? or perhaps,

I choose Door Trois (religious grounds stop me peeping behind door Deux, of course) and step into an unknown beyond and sample Mr Mojo's prototypical Blade Tele bridge pickup alongside his gorgeous Metal Mickey of a Gold Foil at the neck of The Diamond Shiny One?

I will have another neck next week, but this is about today, now, right now and I can't decide.

(I've just realised I only have one neck plate too, which would have stymied me further even if two necks were here and available and would have been more of a bug in my snug rug, it has to be said.)

I know in the grander scheme of love, life and poetry this is meaninngless, but this is guitars we're talking about. Guitars I could plug in and make loud screechy noises with, so that has to count for something, surely?

La la laaa

Some Diamonds Take Forever

Screwdrivers and Biscuits - Jooky Inaction

Well, so I put together a lovely list of what I was going to do this week, the interweb died a death for a couple of days, and so I trot off and start to finish something completely different. I tell people that this blog is my surrogate memory, and it be the truth I tell you.

Anyway, so I started to finish The Diamond Shiny One as I haven't got a Tele to play and this one should be rather swish. And it was top of the  pile.

I gave up on the Bigsby (mainly because I had put it on The Jamais Vu One by mistake and couldn't be arsed to wait for another to show up, I must confess) and instead have gone all tred with a Kluson three barreled thingy type of thing.

But trad ends just about there, as we have a Mojo low powered blade pickup at the bridge, a Mojo Gold Foil at the neck, a lovely Kluson Bakelite pickguard and one of a handful of divine Stratty/Jazzmaster style necks I seem to have acquired, all bound rosewood and maple with blocky marker things). What else, Sperzel locking tuners and a hot sex finish you don't get out of a can.

So there we are, sidetracked once more, but in a good cause. Hopefully this will be together tomorrow, if I remember that is.

La laa laaaaa

I Love It When Nothing Fits.

Well, I forgot I'd taken this foto of The Diamond Shiny One being as plonked together as it gets when you are neckless of Portishead, which is a sham e as it perfectly captures the moment when you slash your hands opening lots of ingeniously secured little boxes of parts and realise that none of them are going to drop into place without a murmur and that you'll be filing and cutting, snipping and generally tweaking like a good 'un for a fair while yet.

Still, it is all part of the joy and it isn't as though I have much else to do, when I get to do anything much at all.


La la laaaaa 

I Know I'm A Wrong 'Un

Well, I know it is wrong, but after my change of heart over the knotted body for The Diamond Shiny One (and why will be revealed as well as reviled soonishly), I couldn't resist instead using one of my recently finitoed Strappado bodies. That one over there, and lovely it be.

I'll never be a millionaire, it is official.

And with that and some other shenanigans, I've finally finalised the spec of this lovely guitar-to-be.

So from the top, it is:

1. Alder bodied Tele witth groovy multi-metalled paint and added corrosion,

2. U Shaped Big Headed Strat neck, all flame of maple and ebony of 'board,

3. Sperzel Tuners,

4.  Bigsby B5 for wobbleness,

5. Mojo prototypically cool blade low-output Tele pickup at the Bridge,

6. Mojo uber cool Gold Foil Pickup at the neck

7. Mojo Telecastic wiring loom

8. Super 70s-tastic knobs,

9. A Pickguard I haven't made yet (oops) and

10. Err, strings. It will definitely have some strings.

And as the Bigsby and neck should be here in the next week or so, I'm hoping to have it dusted and done quick smartishly.

Which along with The Sappho One means I will actually have two Jookies in the house, and more to the point two lovely guitars to use as example type things of what I will be doing (and something to foto for the moth-eaten web site that really needs some fotos as it looks a bit silly right now.) I might even get to keep them, which would be nice.

La la laaaa

And So..

Well, my earlier pondering went around in a few circles and the end result was that I spent some time putting the lovely Mojo PAFs and loom into The Old Gordo. Typically though, all that is left to do is connect the wires and do you think I can find a working soldering iron? Nope.

Four soldering irons and none of them work. It is a disgrace. So that too, is a job for another day. *

As for The Sappho One, my dithering has ended and I am going with the excessively gorgeous Warmoth neck for that, I've given it a good polish, sorted the fret ends and generally fettled it and basically I can't resist temptation. Fingers crossed it will be finalised this week then.

As for The Diamond Shiny One, I may in fact be using a different body for that, for highly technical details that I don't think I'll go into here as you will laugh at me, but basically because the knotted body has a new porpoise in life, methinks, that will be quite fun and involve copper nails.

More on that another day methinks

La la laaaa

* Edit: Just realised I had the power switched off at the wall... *sigh*

Decisions..

Well, the rather lovely neck I'd ordered for The Sappho One arrived a few minutes ago. A lovely posh wood Warmoth one, reverse of headstock, Goncalo Alves woody bits with a poshly Pau Ferro 'board.

And naturally I quickly mock it up with my beautiful LPB body, and then I get indecisive.

And I'm thinking, should I wait for the ebony boat oar I'd originally planned to use and instead put this on the knotted Tele that is The Diamond Shiny One instead (as it will clearly fit it to a tee and a hee) or should I go with the plan.

So instead of thinking that I could be playing Sappho like a honey fiddle before the day is out, I'm buying myself another few weeks of thumb twirling instead.

So I'm not sure what to do really.

It does look good in the foto, I like that a lot. But then,...gah.

I think I'll go and start drilling and sanding the Diamond instead and put it off until tomorrow.

La la laaa

Diamonds Take Forever

Well, I had another box of glittering delight arrive this morning, from the land of Mojo Pickups, and couldn't wait to put the Gold Foil at the neck of The Diamond One, matching it up with Marc's prototypical blade Tele pickup with-no-name.

To be fair though, it has a way to go (holes to drill, sanding to endure, finish to apply) and I am missing one or two bits...

1. Neck, quite fundamental
2. Tuners - equally so
3. Bigsby B5 and Tele conversion thingy
4. Saddles
5. The usual knobs, strap pins, switch tips, control plate, neck plate and selection of screws (though I have some copper nails which may make an appearance sometime soon.)

So with that in mind, no I don't know why I got excited at all, apart from that all of those things are on-their-way.

Also in the box was a loom for this of course, and a pair of Marc's lovely PAF flavoured humbuckers, and another loom to go into the Old Gordo. This will probably happen tomorrow alongside the fettling of The Diamond Shiny One, body-wise.

I asked Marc to do the flippy-floppy-Peter-Green Magnet thing (as I'm lazy), so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm genuinely keeping the Old Gordo this time.

Forever.

Stop smirking,

I mean it.

Really.

La laa laaa

A Chap's Bezzie Mate

Well, I just picked up the body I am going to use on The  Diamond Shiny One, and it is lovely..

As you can see, it is a well knotted bit of alder, which should look groovy by the time I've finished with it, and I feel is destined for greatness.

As for the finish, this is going to have a nice walnut/oil/wax finish back and sides, to show off the devastation, with the very first copper/aluminium finish on top. In 8 out of 10 tests, this has ended-up with a shiny blue finish once it has been corroded, so should be a peach. The other two, well, I don't want to talk about for fear of self-incrimination.

What else? Marc at Mojo Pickups has done me a Gold Foil for the neck and I have his prototypical blade thingy for the bridge, so that is definitely in the something-new department.

As for the neck, it will be a stupendously groovy Strat one, I just err, haven't got it yet. Still, such is life.

This coming week I can actually start doing something again, it is going to be soooo much fun.

La la laaaa

Diamonds are forever

Well, I mentioned it yesterday, so I should get official about it all and tell you a bit more about the other Jooky Custom that will hopefully make the list, The Diamond Shiny One.

And as I said, this little baby will have an excess of the chrome stuff, will be a lovely Telecaster with a Gimp at the bridge and a Mojo Gold Foil at the neck. To take  it one step further it will have a stunningly cool Bigsby B5 on wobble and shimmer duty.

As for the the other end, I'm going for a big headed Strat neck of super groovy quality.

And as with all of the Customs, I'm looking at using top quality necks and other bits too, and really quite looking forward to it all.


In other news, I have pretty much got my web site sorted, just need some fotos of the new guitars to set it off, so that is pretty sweet too.

And bestest of all, I've been 'working' - rather he has been doing the working - with a nice chap called Brendan who is designing a logo which will set things off a treat.

And all this is good, mainly because having had the summer holibobs off I am desperate to get going, inspired and generally gagging ferrit.

La la laaa