Teardrops of a Clown

A Chunk of Wood

Well, another day, and another selection of courier types to hang around in wait of.

So I was going to plot the finer details of The Tatty Adonis One, and lay them out before you like pearls (no offence), when a great chunk of wood arrived and I got sidetracked by blinding ambish.

But what to do..

First thought, maybe a Ricky 620 shaped thingy?

But the wood was too small for that. I really should measure these things.

Then I thought - a Vox Teardrop.

And that looked good.

So do I do a Tele pickup/bridge etc. ?

Maybe

Or even a P90 and a humbucker?

Too Small for Ricky - Shame

Hard to say.

Still, I think I'll wait for the neck before I get too carried away, I'd hate to mess up the bridge placement and all that.

(Man I'm on old pro' - slap the warpaint on and off I go).

But the UPS chappy just arrived and took The Foxy Roxy One Dave-wards. Blimey.





That interrupted the flow.


Where was I? Oh yeah...

So that is good.

As for The Tatty Adonis One, the front and back are drying for the day, but look rather swish, although worryingly, there is something-of-the-swirl about them..

Just Right for a Teardrop - Huzzah

As for the rest of the bobbins -

1. Maple/Rosewood Stratish neck

2. Wilkinson Steel Blocked Trem thingy for mucho zinginess and sustain

3. Single humbucker at the bridge. Not quite sure what yet, but there we are. I want something bright and sunny, I think. I may well use the Gretsch one, as the neck one was rather lovely in The BDSM One. Hmmm...

4. Tuners - I've really liked the Wilkinson pre-aged Rotomatic types, so I'm going with them as they are my new favourites.

This week anyway.

5. Scratchplate - I am really tempted to go for a nice torty one, just for a change. It is either that or something to match the body. Mr Mojo is doing me a wiring loom, which is all cool and means the guitar will work, always a bonus.

As for when - well, it is Easter holibobs for a fortnight after tomorrow, so The Tatty Adonis One might have to be my holiday 'treat'. chopping wood will have to wait until I can be alone. By which time hopefully all of the tooly stuff will have arrived...and I might even get the Ronin One bridged up and ready to go.

Got to pack The BDSM One up now though, as it is off to Greece in the morning (well, another day of courierdom to look forward to, I guess.)

La la laaa

Screwy Drivers a Gogo

Well, I got meself all befuddled yesterday, and forgot that I hadn't actually got a case for The Foxy Roxy One, or rather I hadn't actually tried to put it into the case I thought was for it, and when I did, it didn't.

Fit that is.

So anyway, a shiny new case arrived today, Foxy got smothered in various packing bobbins and then entombed in Gaffa tape. My usual 50m. It's turning into a trade mark. And there we be.

So now tomorrow will be spent waiting for the miserable git from UPS to pick it up and then dump it on a roadside somewhere between here and the distant north.

Other than that, I did manage to finish the back of The Tatty Adonis One, and that looks good (to me anyway) so I've started the front.

Still pretty clueless as to what pickups I'll have in there, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I am dithering a bit, and am really tempted to do a single pup one again, mainly because I haven't in ages and well, I like them. And I have half a mind (shock!) to keep it for a while.

I could maybe get a Wide Range pup, I've never tried one before so it could be fun. Though i think they are a funny size? I can't remember.

Oh, and somebody partially bought The BDSM One this morning too, so that is on hold a while again to see what happens.

All in all then, a bit of a juggling kinda day. I did buy a screwdriver, I know you were worried about that. Bloomin' good it is too, lots of attachments and extendable twisty bits to break. Which I will, I expect. It doesn't go around corners, like the old one, but then it never did it when I wanted to, and mostly did when i didn't, so I can live without such latent functionality.

Still no coffee though, might have to pop to Argos, as I can't see me lasting another day without a bit of a plonge.

La la laaa

A Life In A Day

Well, I have to say - in the oft repeated words of my daughter - I've not been having a good day.

First of all, my cafetiere broke. OK, I know that sounds knobby, but life is too short for shonky coffee. We all have our own little peccywotsits, lets face it, and half a gallon of super strength, dark and thick isn't just the missus' preference.

Anyway, I picked it up and the bottom fell out and that stuff makes a mess. Worserer even, I had to drink instant. Blend 37 - shocking stuff that is.

Next, I thought I'd give The Foxy Roxy One a final going over before she travels north and gets cold. I'd also suggested to young David of Gorman fame that I could put a P90 in at the neck for more tonal goodliness. I had a nice Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen and I thought it would go well with a bit of Velvet Brickedness.

So strings off, neck oiled, frets polished, it is all going well. But can I find my screwdriver?
Nope.

OK, maybe having more than one would make sense, but you know. I try to be minimal with the tools, one screwdriver, one hammer, one chisel (left) and guitars one-at-a-time. It is turning into a liturgy or maybe a litany, I forget which.

So instead I'm using methods of dubious nefarity, when I realise that I don't know where the P90 is.

Finally found it, spent half an hour looking for my multimeter, then batteries as it has been left on, then one of the probe things that was last used to get a splinter out of my hand, but finally. Sorted..

Test the P90 and it is totally dead. Wired it up anyway, in case it is the multimeter, but nope. Still dead.

I may have cried at this point.

So I put the Velvet Bricks back in, still no screwdriver and I'm back at square one.

Go and find my strings - feeling smug that I had some, having thought ahead, planned. co-ordinated and generally got-my-head-together and bought ten packs just last week. It is good to be organised, apparently.

Typically, the "10" string for the high e was missing in the first pack I opened.

Then the second,

Then the third and, and - and well, all of them.

Worse they were meant to come with a spare, so 20 strings missing from 10 new packs of strings. Man i love Ebay. Back to StringsDirect for me.

Not happy at all.

So I figure, this is meant to be going oop norf tomorrow so I'd better go and buy some.

That is when I locked myself out, keys cheekily smiling at me thru the letterbox.

A worrying three minutes later I'd managed to break back in, setting the alarm off as though anybody would do anything even if they did happen to notice, which they didn't and won't.

Got my keys and back out to the car, which totally refused to open.

Managed to get into my car in six minutes (I'm a one raspberry ripple crimewave today) and finally headed off.

Got stuck on the M5 for half an hour, went to the shop and it was closed.

Drove for twenty minutes to another shop and they only had acoustic strings or 8s.

Can you even play guitars with 8s?

Drove to a third music shop and bought some strings. Huzzah.

Hope he likes flatwounds.

Got home in time to go out and get the brats from school.

So there we are, the strings are about to go on and the sum achievement for the day is that I have oiled the fretboard. Which I'd already done once before and probably was just fine and dandesome as it was

I think I was wise not to play with any power tools today, after all.

So tomorrow, rises in front of me with a day of courier-baiting to look forward to, as no doubt does the day after.

In other news, I dropped my Gordon Smith - I never had quite gotten around to putting the Grolsh washers on it, and now it doesn't work. Should be thankful the headstock didn't fly off, I guess.

Oh, and I changed my mind about The Tatty Adonis One, and instead of going for the Jazzmaster/Gretsch combo, I'm going to do something else. (Making a mockery of my routing, but what the hell.)

The reason for this bank vault mush? Well, it struck me that there was no really good reason to do it. And a mirror image of The BDSM One didn't really do it for world peace, art or sustained interest. I can do better than that, methinks.

As for the butchered body - sorry, carefully crafted body, well I've bronze and copper basted the back and then gone for a two stage acid medley. I want more of a scratched wash corrosion with this, so I'll see what it looks like in the morning. As for the pickups, ah, I'll think of something, I'm sure.

La la laaa

Tis a Family Affair

Bye Bye Foxy Roxy..

Well, rather amazingly I managed to rout out the body for The Tatty Adonis One without going all the way thru and out of the back. I had a couple of slight issues, but finding that turning the power up makes it work faster, was a big bonus. As was putting the cutty bit (technical talk) at the right height so that it took everything away rather than hollowing the guitar out and leaving the top untouched. Couldn't do that again if I tried, mind.

Less goodly so to learn was that going faster makes small errors into big mistakes, but such is life. The router bit I have doesn't seem to want to go into the corners so I'll need to either wait for reinforcements or sort out the edges with a file or something before the pickup will fit, but all in all not so bad.

Obviously, I will also need a scratchplate, and I've got a nice HH one coming which will be the routers next job. That should be here tomorrow I think.

I must admit I am thinking that it may be a tad safer to have a router with an on/off switch that works, but then it is all part of the charm of the thing.

Assuming the scratchplate arrives, next step is to tidy up the holes in the body and then rout the Jazzmaster pup hole in the scratchplate. Once they fit together it is probably time to break out the bronze paint again.

As for my templates, I'm going to have a play with the pickup and neck ones on some scrap wood today, as being able to do them might come in handy one day.

I am also be-saddened to see The Foxy Roxy One is off to the Scottish Home For Retired Jookies, and joining The Lulu, Porn Shop, Iceblink, Beaton and Bye Bye Buy Ones in the fair hands of the rather nifty and popular combo that is Gorman. Though in the Australian branch I guess in a few weeks time. Hopefully, it will hold it's own in such aloof company.

All of which means that my whining about not having guitars to play is getting worse, so I should get my finger out and make some more I think.

L a la    laaaa

That Was The Week That Sorta Happened

Well, that were quite a productive week, that was.

I'm really rather chuffed with The Dust My Broom One, and glad that I didn't go the EMG route in the end. I don't think I'm cut out for such blatant modernity and despite sounding like a Mojo fanboi recently, the pickups are truly awesome, so no apologies for the religious zeal.. Or to the neighbours and their colicky baby. It keeps me away all night, so I'm just returning the favour in the daily-lit hours

*sniff*

The BDSM One too is a rather stunning guitar to play - I don't think I've ever played a Strat that lets you glide around the neck quite so easily. I could get used to this low action bobbins, I never thought it would catch on.

I must be getting old.

I am totally loving the pickups on this one also, The Gretsch 'bucker is excellent. Nice and twangy clean as you'd expect, but a great hot tone too I've got a matching bridge pickup which I'll have to find a home for sometime soon.

The Mojo Jazzmaster pickup, in this guitar at least, has a lot of the P90 to it, which is very cool indeed, as well as *that* darkness I've always loved.. It came as a bit of a surprise, but there is such a rich range of tones I have to say I can't really believe my luck.

I spoke to Marc about it and we're coming down to different environmental factors - the wood of the guitar, the wiring/capacitor, the fact it is raining, American primaries are on and England don't have a manager and people are still talking about Roy Hodgson - to explain the difference in sound between this and what is pretty much the same pickup in my Jazzmaster.

Don't get me wrong it sounds brilliant, just different, which is no bad thing, of course.

Whatever the cause, it has a great separation of the notes even when you get fuzzy with it that I'm loving.

Almost seems a shame to give it away, but there we are.

I did promise that whoever buys the truly lush The Foxy Roxy One will also find this in their stocking. (I think I might need to put my prices up or at least work on my far-too-visual imagery) so that is the way it has to be.

As for what is next. Well, I've given up on America and have ordered a boxy 70s bridge from Fake58 for The Ronin One. I'm a tad concerned that it won't fit, but given my lack of options I'll just have to get clever about it if my luck runs out. There must be a 'For Dummies' book that covers plugging holes and then putting new ones in in the right place.

The good news from the US of A is that the Gibson pickup is likely to come, which is rather nice. It just seems to make sense to go for the proper pups if i can.

That is for next week though, and at least I know Fake58 will deliver, which is more than I can say for some peeps.

Looking further forward onwards, I've grabbed some wood to practise my slashing and routing on and I'm hopeful of an old mahogany mantle piece to use 4Real, as we used to say in the olden daze.

I just figured I might as well get on with it as the worst that can happen is death and amputation or maybe a nice splinter to show the grand children. My plan is to go for a Teardrop outline with a couple of tasty pickups, Strat bridge and neck. But then it may be more amorphous blob with sharp bits that is more likely an outcome. I'm going to have a praccy freehand, but I'm guessing that there may be templates in my future.

If I can manage that I'll try and get adventurous later. I think that is the right direction to take though if I'm going to keep things interesting for myself, if nobody else.

Today though, not a lot to be done, so I think I'm going to try and record something embarrassing again.... No animals will be hurt in the process, however much it sounds like it.

La la laaaa

Getting Foxy...Slightly Returned

Well, it's Day One of the MR £100 thingy, so obviously I spent it doing something else.

No point getting over-excited about it, now is there?

As you may have noticed I snuck in a bit of soldering over-night and finished off The Foxy Roxy One, and man it sounds crazy-good.

I really didn't know what to expect from the pickups/oak body, but the neck pickup has a really bright and biting tone, loads of 'definition' and I just find myself wanting to play Wire songs.

Really should learn some.

Not what I'd expected but a nice surprise. The bridge is clear and defined too, but a lot heavier - more Les Paul like and notes sustain for a minor ice age..

As I said, the 'Velvet Brick' pickups came from an old '80s Les Paul Custom and they really are excellent. Well chuffed with them and it am we.

The other thing is the neck - it's feels long like a Jazzmaster feels long (I probably should have guessed - Firebirds being extensive-of-length and all) and it is lovely to play. I've got the action quite low (for me)  but it still feels right.

And there we are, tis all good.

As for the others, well The Ronin One is still awaiting a pickup and a bridge from Stateside, and I haven't sorted pickups for The Dust My Broom One yet, though I am going to try Mr Mojo himself's Tele pickups out, just haven't quite decided which ones yet. Must email the chap...

As for The BDSM One, well I start on that tomorrow sick kids/meteor showers permitting.

A tootle and a kip

La la laaa

p.s. I had a bit of a lofi strum on The Foxy Roxy One, which probably tells you nothing, but it is Here if you are bored...

Sold: The Foxy Roxy One

Even by Jooky standards this is an unusual and unique guitar. Seemingly based on a Gibson Firebird, the body is made of oak, with the neck being mahogany and featuring a lovely rosewood board.

The top has been treated to a “Pam’s Baywatch Bronze” finish, which in turn has been attacked with our favourite ‘Home Brew Acid’ to force a gorgeous bluey-green corrosion. This dribbles over the edges and pools on the edges of the back as well as in the control routing and looks quite stunning.

Pickups are a pair of Gibson ‘Velvet Brick’ humbuckers, taken from a 1980s Les Paul Custom, and they are really amazing tone-wise. The neck pickup is bright and clear while the bridge is hot and heavy. These give a fantastic range of tones.

This has a lighter more defined sound than a Les Paul and would be great for indie-ness as well as classic rock or blues.

*


To be clear, The Foxy Roxy 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.


To treat yourself to this rather crazy guitar, with a case and delivered to your door for a crazy £299.23
** SOLD **

Technical Stuff:

Type: Pam’s Baywatch Bronze finish

Electrics: Gibson ‘Velvet Brick’ Humbuckers

Guitar Type: Gibson Firebird

Construction: Oak body, Mahogany neck, Rosewood fretboard, corroded metallic paint.

Strings: Nickel 10s

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#48

RSP: £799

Always a Day Away

Well, as unlikely as it sounds, I thought I'd have a little practice with my new router thing, on something less than critical - before I start to destroy The BDSM One tomorrow.

We never use the kitchen table anyway.

I know, it's almost a grown-up approach. Must be the slightly more warmerish weather.

And I have to say that it is ridiculously impossible. I mean I know I'm big in the nerdy-wimp-raspberry-ripple department, but I felt like some kinda toon flying around, hanging-on for something grimly life-like.

Sheesh.

I might have to get my 5-year-old to do it instead.

Needless to say I will Percy McVeer and then dig out the only chisel I never broke last time around.

Despite all of this, I do have a good feeling about it all. The Gretsch pickup will hopefully be hot, yet twangy, while the Jazzmaster has that darkly P90 type of thing going on I know and lurve.

Which is all cool. I'm kinda hoping that now I have been able to flog the spares that the budget will stretch enough for me to get a Mojo JM pup wound, but for the challenge the MIJ might have to do.

In fact despite effectively getting the neck and body for a grand total of £2.50 (I flogged all the parts and the gigbag it came in) I'm still going to be pushed.

I can always upgrade it later ;)

Last year I think I replaced mostly all of the parts within a week or two, but there we are.

Wonder if I will ever see The Golden Shower One again...?

As for other things, well the parts for The Foxy Roxy One showed up, so that is all done apart from the usual soldering escapades. I'm going to do those later today. Honest.

I'm pretty pleased with the bronze top dripping over the sides...nice.

La la laaa.

Of Foxy Roxy and the BDSM One

Well, I thought I'd get my parts together for The BDSM One, the Strat I'm going to build for the Music Radar £100 Challenge during March, mainly to see what I'm missing.

Despite not finding all of them among the part explosion, it seems like I am not so far off.

From the top:

1. Squier Strat Body and Neck.

2. Nice roll of sparkly, yet tastefilled, paisley fabric.

3. A small but perfectly formed collection of walnut veneer wood stuff thingy.

4. '70s Strat bridge - solid brass and well zingy. Claws and springs etc. Not sure where they are, but they will turn up somewhere.

5. One Jazzmaster bridge pickup (MIJ)

6. One Gretsch Humbucking neck pickup

7. Electrical bobbins - pots, switch, jack - thanking Simon at Fusion.

8. One funky capacitor - similarly thanking Mojo Pickups,

9. Strap Pins

Things I need to get that I haven't yet:

a. Scratchplate - though I might make this out of something. In fact I am tempted to paisleyificate the body and walnut veneer the scratchplate, but we'll have to see.

b. Tuners - I have a set of barely-OK-ones, which if the budget is tight I might use, but I'm hoping I can sell some of the parts from the Strat I don't need to fund something decent.

c. Knobs - I want to use a couple of Gretsch knobs, but it depends on the budget. If not it will be a couple of whatever-I-have-lay-around ones.

So not so bad.

Before that though, I intend to finito The Foxy Roxy One as the remaining parts should be here tomorrow. This is my little bronze corroded, oaken of body Firebird sort of thing. It has kinda jumped ahead of The Dust My Broom One as I still haven't sorted out the pickups for that baby, but such is life.

I must admit (as per) I can't wait to play the Foxy Roxy One, there is something that is just wrong about the shape in a very cool way, and I'm loving the look of it.

And that be about that.

La la laaa

Reality Nibbles

The Ronin, Foxy Roxy, Dust My Broom and BDSM Ones
Talking to the Taxman About his bloody awful poetry

Well, I'm starting to think that perhaps my newly totally vaunted one-guitar-at-a-time approach isn't exactly going to plan, and I'm kinda not verily getting close to finishing anything at all at the moment.

Before me I have sitting a string of unfinished bobbins, and I'm starting to lose track, so excuse the memorandum-esque lists while I try to remember/plot/plan/regain my life:

1. The Dust My Broom One

This is all done apart from the EMG pickups still needing to be soldered together again.

I have to sort this, though I'm a bit back-on-my-heels this morning as I played a Tele last night with exactly these pickups, and I wasn't best impressed. Not quite what I was expecting, which kills the confidence somewhat.

Still, I have got to try them and see how it goes.

2. The Ronin One:

This is waiting for a pickup from the States, some wiring and a Bridge.

So "waiting-on-parts", I can live with that.

3. The Foxy Roxy One:

This too is "waiting for parts" - pickup rings, tuners and wiring loom.
So not a lot I can do right now either.

Hmmm. So basically, the only thing I can do is sort out the EMGs on The Dust My Broom One and see what I think of them.

They start out pink, fluffy and innocent...
And then they end up into BDSM.
It saddens me.

Of course there is my Jazzmaster too, which follows on and needs a bit of tender loving Mojo-ing and the slight matter of the MR Strat I picked up yesterday. Yes, the pink one.

This is better than I hoped, and amazingly it sounds quite good with the stock pickups it came with.

Weird.

I'll think about that later though.





Can't start it until March anyway, so no panic this week about The BDSM One.

La la la - going around in circles again.

WIP: The Foxy Roxy One

Well, OK, so I didn't get the soldering done yesterday - the third law of Jookiness determined that no-longer-holidaying bratskis are instantly replaced by sick kiddies and put paid to that, but I'm rather pleased at the progress I made on The Foxy Roxy One.

As you can see in the fotos, the headstock and top have been 'finished' whilst the back needs a bit of TLC.

The only nasty surprise was that the shiny chromy pickup rings I was going to use don't fit - or rather they have three holes a la Gretsch, rather than the two your Gibson thingies require. Still, at least they should fit the Gretsch puppies when I get around to using them.

So a bit more shopping there - pickup rings and tuners (which I had forgotten) and strap pins. It's always the strap pins.

As soldering is again unlikely today, I'll be tidying up The Foxy Roxy One and then getting a bit more coppery with The Ronin One. Which is fine I guess.

In other news The Iceblink One is off up a motorway somewhere, heading to the frozen Nord. I had a final play before it went and I have to say it is really cool. Only regretting I didn't record something - divvy. To warm my cockles, I should get a nice old Squier Strat body and neck this week to play with, which will make a change as I haven't done one in what feels ages..

This is going to be a bit of an ensemble piece, and I think will be fun. I'm going for a Gretsch pickup at the bridge, with hints of paisley and walnut. This is for the Music Radar £100 Challenge so I'll need to get my creative accounting cap on again, but that be half the fun. I might go for a second pickup at the neck, but it will depend on what is hidden under the scratchplate when it shows up, or maybe not. I don't know.

I'm sort of fretting about the Challenge this year for some reason. I think it is because I haven't got a clear idea of what I want to do. Or rather I keep having ideas then blowing the budget when I start to do anything about them. Which is daft, I guess, though I've kinda spoiled myself over the last year or so - spending a lot more on the guitars when I build them, so whereas £100 was tricky before it feels kinda impossible now.

Anyway....

La la laaaa

The First Coat Don't Hurt At All...

Well, the holibobs are over again, bratskis back at school and it is time to move on.

First up, I really must solder the solderless EMG pickups into The Dust My Broom One. I am sort of desperately curious to find out how that little beaut sounds. It looks mad with the black pickups and, well, I need to do it.

Obviously, while the solder is hotly dripping I may have to tart up my Jazzmaster with some Vitamin Mojo. It'd be rude not to, after all.

Assuming that they don't take the whole week, it will be on with The Ronin and Foxy Roxy Ones with some bronze and coppery mayhem.

Still waiting for a hand-to-be-filled-with-parts, but I can get the finishes, err, started, I guess.


(OK, in a moment of weakness, I put the first coats of Copper and Bronze on. I never said I was a patient chap, but in my defence the soldering iron is warming up. Just one more coffee and I'll be on it, honest.)

Other than that, not a lot to be done really.

As for the MR £100 Challenge, my ideas have all got too expensivo, so I'm going back to the future and doing just-one-more-after-all...single bucker'd Strat. I haven't done one in ages and I have all these old '70s Strat parts - the solid brass block rings like a bell - and Gretsch pickups, and, and, and....well, there we go.

I've got some walnut burr veneer, which might go nice with - dare I say it - a touch of paisley.

We'll see anyway, plenty of fish to fry-up before then, methinks...

La la laaaa

New Pickup Daze

Ooah, top excitement in Jookyland today as I got a little package from the postman.

(They are far more obliging since privatisation).

And rather pleased I was to find a pair of Mojo-in-excelelsis-ified Jazzmaster pickups, handwound by Marc at Mojo Pickups.

Man they look cool.

Don't they look the dog's?

I have to say that I love the presentation of them too - very nicely done.

As you can see from the fotos there were also three pretty looking Paper In Oil capacitors, which will add a bit more to the mix. (I only need two for the Jazzmaster of course, but as soldering isn't my strongest suit, three is clearly wiser.)

Anyway, with a bit of luck the new pickguard and pickup covers might arrive sometime soon and I can get my baby re-fettled right and good and proper.

Cheers to Marc, by the way, great and knowledgeable service and a real pro.

He is well worth chatting to over at his web site, and has something interesting in the humbucker dept. coming soon, which I'm kinda hoping will be available by the time I come to do The Foxy Roxy One.

Can't wait to try these,
the attention to detail is spot on
and I get the feeling they
will be good,
don't you?

Strategic-am-we

A Piece of Wood
Earlier Today
That I Don't Have

Well, school holibobs for a week or so now, so I'm back into thinking mode, and the thinking I've been ponderously thoughting is what to do with my lack-of-work-in-progress thingies, and this is the current state of play:

1. The Dust My Broom One

This is all together, has some EMG pickups in place and just needs wiring. That should be easy.
Well, confusing, but not a lot to worry about.
Unless I cock it up, which is always possible,
unless I don't in which case it'd be a shoo-in.

2. The Foxy Roxy One

This is my delight-filled Oak bodied Firebird-ish one. It will be copper and acid clad and grunged up, some lovely '50s wiring, and I think a P90 plus a PAF-ish humbucker in the pickup department.

3. The Ronin One 

This will be bronze and acid drizzled, blend potted, Marauder Single Coil plus a Marauder Humbucker after a bit of ker-jiggling. The blend pot is instead of a switch, which is something I keep meaning to use, but haven't until now. So all-in-all, it should be lovely.

I'm thinking it might be nice to have a paisley scratchplate, just for old times sake, though it will probably be a plain black one in truth. as it will work better with the corroded copper.

How much of that I get to do in the near future, I'm not entirely sure, but painting and buying things I can manage, even if the solder and hot wiring has to be done when freedom beckons once more 'tween the hours of 9am and 3pm.

Blah blah blah

Other than that, I'm a bit stuck what to do for the £100 Challenge as I have already blown the budget in a big way for the Marauder, and will only take moments to do so for the Firebird as well.

Oops, just blown that one too.

It seems a bit of a cop out to simply get a cheap Strat body and neck and do something with that, though it is an option. I have got some walnut burr laminate, which I could use, but what to put it on? Tis a tough call.

What I'd really like to do is make a body out of some wood (that I haven't got) as that will be something I haven't tried before.

Hmmm....I think I need to get the router out of the car and plug it in, see if I can work it or not.

Maybe that is what I should do for the challenge though - it is a great place and time to try something different, and you never know where it will lead. Have to think this one thru. I've been mithering for ages now about building my own guitar body from scratch, and there we are.

Why not just get on with it...?

La la laaa

Sticking Twisted Mouse Tails

The Firebird and The Marauder
Like a Heavy Parable

Well, despite looking all forlorn, I've still not braved The Dust My Broom One's EMG wiring, maybe tomorrow.

However, I did remove the gleam from The Foxy Roxy One, which now looks kinda like the old Tokai violin finish, and rather nice.

I've been dithering, but am definitely going to finish the top with tortured copper as I think the blueyness will bring out the green in my eyes, and it is as simple as that around here.  End of.

In other news, the Marauder also arrived. This is one solid piece of maple, man it is lovely, and it has some serious heft to it. Or I am getting weaker, or have been playing my feather-of-weight Gordo too much recently.

Tick as you feel able to deem appropriate.

Either way it is a quite beautiful looking guitar, and I can see me being in trouble once it is done, as I can't imagine letting it go.

I also tracked down an original NOS pickup for the Marauder, the single coil one - a proper old fashioned Gibson jobbie - which should be cool. Be nice to get close-ish to the original spec and then trample all over it. I'm thinking that a similarly aged humbucker would be nice too, though the original Gibbo ones weren't meant to be all that.

The Ronin One - 3 Tonnes of Maple And Some Tinny Bits

 My only real concern over it is finding a bridge as it would have come with one of those boxy '70s Gibson ones you see on old SGs. The only place I've seen them in living memory is at Fake58 and they are about £60, and I'm poor. Might have to bite that bullet though if I can't scavenge one elsewhere, I guess. Though would a normal ABR be the end of anything greeny-blue-planet-like? Dunno.

I was kinda wondering whether I could do the Marauder as part of the MR $100 Challenge, but no chance now as my parts bill is mounting far and widely. So back to the drawing board on that one.

I haven't taken the router out of the back of my car yet either, which might be an alternative, but such is life.

Other than that, Marc at Mojo Pickups has been hard at work and has sent me a couple or three shots of the Jazzmaster pickups at different stages of the winding process, and they are now complete. Which I thought I'd share with you, so here they be.

The daft thing is he'll probably get the pickups made and to me before the scratchplate or other bits show their mugs.

Such is my life of Internet shopping, it never used to be like this down Denmark Street.

La la laaaa

Step 1: Get Your Bobbins Together

Step 2: Wind Your Wire Around and Around and
Around and Around and Around and Around etc.

Step 3: Hang Twisted Mouse Tails Out The Back For
Mucho Mojo Pickup Delightedness

Ooo-ah, Foxy

Well, I've still not managed to do any wiring of The Dust My Broom One, so not a lot to talk about there - and the kids are off school again from Friday, so i really need to get me finger out if I want it finished without jammy finger-splodges appearing all over the corroded copper.

But I have to admit that I got a bit distracted thinking about my Jazzmaster....and I may have spent too much time doing Kevin Shields impressions in front of the mirror.


Marc at Mojo didn't help of course, with questions like

'Do you want the magnets aged, if so I'll dip them in yellowed/old nitro'.

I like that kind of attention to detail...he's my kinda geezer.

Saying that, it wasn't entirely my fault that the day disappeared, as I also received the Firebird-esque body and neck combo I mentioned the other day and that is a whole other thingy in the thinking-about-it dept.

I'm sure I mentioned that it is (clearly) hand made and has an oak body and maple/rosewood neck. And very nice it looks too. At least at first sight.

Getting closer, you can see that the body is a little rougher than it looks in the fotos, which in a way is a relief as if it had been perfect I may have struggled to bring myself to refinish it.

It is just surface bobbins though, nothing drastic and the important thing is that it is beautifully made, and I love the weight of it. It feels like a 'proper' guitar, if that makes sense. And verily long in the body dept.

Finish-wise, I fancy a heavily corroded copper to give it a real bluey look, which should work nicely. Maybe just do the top and overrun, as the wood is pretty to look at, of course and wouldn't take much work to make the back pukka, like. I think losing the gloss might be a good move though as it is verily heavy and thick of gleamy lustreness.

As for the rest, it is set for for two volume, two tone, three-way-switch - classic Gibson wiring, so I might go for a Fake58 wiring loom with the bees and all - it is always nice to do it right and Julian the '58 Fakir is golden.

Otherwise, It is set-up to be strung thru the body, so no tailpiece but it'll be an ABR bridge in between, which is cool.

Pickups, I'm thinking I should probably have some, to avoid unsightly holes.

What sort, I really don't know but Hot PAF is calling me, with the usual order of filthy McP90-ness on the side.

It's that sort of thing, hot and dirty,

The Foxy Roxy One.