Sold: The Frou Frou One

The Frou Frou Fox One is the second ever Jooky Teardrop, and is never to be repeated.

The shape may be based on the Vox Teardrops of old, but we wanted something a little more playable and have gone for a Fender Stratocaster neck, rosewood board over maple. We went for a centre block to cut down on the traditional feedback ‘features’, as let’s face it we all play a little louder these days.

The body is semi-acoustic, and along with the Gibson P90 at the bridge and matching loom – complete with a gorgeous Grey Tiger PIO cap – the tones that can be dredged from one so simple are stunning.

The top is a classic corroded bronze and copper with arty pants painting in acrylic on top and one we’re particularly awed and musted about, and a fabric binding and rear cavity cover give more of a homespun ‘60s vibe.

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To be clear, The Frou Frou Fox 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: Pam's Baywatch Bronze

Electrics: Gibson P90 Dogear, Mojo Junior Wiring loom (CTS pots, PIO Cap)

Guitar Type: Vox Teardrop Style Body

Construction: Semi Acoustic body, Maple/Maple Strat neck

Strings:     Nickel Hybrids 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: JGE#73

RSP: £999

Introducing: The Frou Frou Fox One

Well, it took a while but sugar, it were worthy of the wait.

I'm all rather pleased ce matin that The Frou Frou Fox One is barking at the moon (barking - there may be a theme there...) and generally tip at the  top and Brizzle fashion.

So from the top, let me introduce you to only the second teardrop shaped Jooky to be born of my twisted mind.

The body is semi-acoustic and vaguely based on Vox's original. From there though we've gone for playability and used a nice old Strat neck - maple and rosewood - and generally tortured the sweet thing in a number of directions.

The body was stained, with the top getting a bronze finish and then an acid bath. From there things got corroded, stabilised and then acrylic painted for that eye of the dragon thing I kinda love doing.

I went for an old style tailpiece and a Ricky-esque bridge that works beautifully. The P90 at the bridge is a Gibson Dogear, and an equally old school Mojo handwired loom, all CTS pots and Grey Tiger PIO Caps, works beautifully.

Split Kluson tuners are old looking and rusted to fit in whilst also being brand new and working perfectly and a lovely fabric binding is nailed down with bronze topped tacks. Classy.

Sounds-wise, well it is verily nice. The body has a solid centre block on feedback minimisation duties and it gives you all the spanky cleans thru to scrotum tearingly sexy tones you'd hope for.

And there we are, The Frou Frou Fox One, sexy as Funk.

La la laaaaa

WIP: The Frou Frou Fox One

Well, I guess you are as bored of hearing me whinge about my dodgy shoulder and the impact such things have on screwing guitars together, so I thought laterally and remembered that The Frou Frou Fox One didn't actually need any screwing and I only had to put a bridge on and some strings.

Now bearing in mind the bridge isn't nailed down, it perhaps shouldn't have taken me four hours to get it this far, but there we are. I even dug out a string winder.

Anyway, there is a bit of a way to go - I can't find a second knob to fit, believe it or not, and worse of all one of the tuners is knackered so I need to replace that.

Also, I've just noticed I only seem to have one strap pin which unless you want to play it Shankar style is a bit of a pain.

But anyway, nearly there and I feel like I've got somewhere further along the line, and the P90 sounds raw which is sexy good.


But is is fun and groovy and I can do Joy Division and Julian Cope impressions now, if I breathe in severely, which is all good.

La la laaa

Of Burford's 'The Reefer' Sitar Pedal, Frou-ish Teardrops and Japanese Fenders

Well, this week seems to be starting as well as last week went, and so I'm really not sure how much will get done. However, following on from the joy that is The Seaside One and the still-in-need-of-strings The Mysterio One, I did manage to get The Frou Frou Fox One further along, despite the fact that I'm not happy with the neck and have added that to my growing list of guitars-awaiting-necks. It has now been wired up and has a ruffle to die for and I'm happy that at least I am as far as I can get along the road.

One thing I'm still not entirely sure about is the bridge. As you can't see, I'd planned to go for a floating one, but I'm not sure now - mainly as I think the strings will be 3" above the fretboard with the one I intended using, so I need to consider such things.

So in summary, not a lot happening at the moment until the postie gives up some parts.

Two things that did arrive last week were a nice old 90s Japanese Telecaster, which came from a cool geezer called Andy who will find The Black Russian One going in the opposite direction once the neck puts in an appearance. The Tele has been modded, I think it is fair to say, rather lovely new neck, locking tuners, plain black 'plate, funny coil-tapped rails pickup at the bridge, and I'm really liking it. I may have to swap the rails as I'm a bit old fashioned about these things, but there we are. Something to strum.

The other new arrival is a Burford Electronics "The Reefer" Pedal, which is loads of fun as it makes your guitar sound like a 60s Coral Sitar Guitar (Coral, Reefer, very impressive wordplay.) And this really is a joy to play around with, especially doing single string things and the odd drone. I dug out a scale book and tried it with some vaguely Indian style bobbins and it definitely has that sound, though it does sound like a sitar guitar rather than a sitar, but then there are only six strings so you can't expect miracles.

I'd not tried any of Burford's effects before, but £69 is dead cheap especially as it sounds better than the EHX Ravish Sitar which costs more than twice the price. Build quality is really good too. I might have to try a few more of their pedals soon. This has even stayed in the house and being used for four days now without being Ebay'd which is a new record in itself. This is where you can find Burford's effects, designed by Alan Exley and well worth a punt.

But what to do? I don't really know.

La la laaa

I Do Like 2B

Yellow Stained The Seaside One
Next for the Man With The Golden Leafa
and Fag Tar yellow hands

Well, woke up this morning I was feeling fine, but there's something special on my mind...but no, The Frou Frou Fox One is still drying, so I won't be getting any further with that baby today, though it looks rather nice has to be said.

Well, if you spent part of your formative years sucking on postage stamps, I guess..

Instead then, I've got some sanding and staining to do with The Seaside One in preparation for a good old fashioned gilding. Hopefully the neck will also arrive today for that one and some of the other parts too.

Thinking about it. I'm not actually expecting to finish anything new this week after all, as I ladled on the acrylic on The Frou x 2, but be nice to be set-up for the new year, ready to go.

Jezz sending the fotos of the Mando-bodied The Shonky One the other day set me thinking about how I should finish it and the think I'm thinking is that it would look rather swish with a golden top too, especially as I have snaffled a nice old nickel Gretsch tailpiece and Marc at Mojo Pickups can make me some Harmony inspired pickups to match. All for the new year of course, but nice to dream about..

Other than that, I now seem to be the owner of a U.S Strat for the first time in my life. It is white (as all good Strats are), and after hitting a member of the crowd, and breaking it in the process, a previous owner had a replacement Allparts neck put on which feels rather lovely. Not that you'd know it, whoever did it did it good.

What else, well it's got those funny locking tuners with knobs on the back, which I guess is a good thing, has had Callaham saddles added, has pickups wound by Ash at Oil City Pickups which I'm looking forward to trying as I've never tried his 'wares before, and an odd little switch on the jack plate which apparently gives a passive boost.

So all in all I think you could say it is a players guitar rather than a trophy.

I don't really like Strats much, soundwise, which is why they normally end-up with either a single 'bucker or P90 instead, but I'm going to give it a go and see how it sounds/whether I get used to it. Funny place for a pickup, right where I'm strumming though, most odd.

Anyway, I'm off to stain The Seaside One's body yellow before I ladle some gold onto it.

La la laaaa

Three Springs in My Whacker

Well, The Frou Frou Fox One is well on it's way, the corrosion is all corroded and I've just got busy with some acrylic to add a bit of purr and zazzle before I finish it. It might look a bit odd at the moment, but will sing like a choir of angelic upstarts by the time it is finished.

I have just remembered that I need tuners though, so I'd better sort them out pronto if I am going to have this done this week.

Well, no point in suffering from a lack of ambition, now, is there?

My metal punch arrived yesterday, so The Old No.7 One's pickguard can get punctured, though I'm a little disconcerted by the fact that it is spring loaded. In fact there are three springs in my whacker and I haven't got a clue what they do. The only one I've had before just needed lumping with a hammer, but I guess everything evolves, but me.

Oh, and as I was typing this, my consignment of 23 Karat gold leaf arrived so that I can suitably cover The Seaside One, when the rest of it does.

Cool.

Breaking news, it only happened seconds ago - what a world we live in.

La la laaaa

Teardrops, Teardrops, & Not a Pint to Drink

Pearl, ready for the road

Well, today has been designated 'painting day', though unfortunately it involves skirting boards and radiators and strict instructions not to throw acid at them once I've finished. Which does take the fun out of it somewhat.

So in between such joy, I gave The Pearly Dewdrop One a final twang, changed the old Hofner knobs for some aged Tele ones as they look and work better, packed it snuggle and am waiting for it to go away to it's new home.

I'd originally set it up with 11s and a medium action, but Ed who is having it prefers 10s and something lower, which is fair enough.

Frou Frou Feeling The Bronze

All of which set me off on The Frou Frou Fox One, and as you can hopefully see, I've stained back and sides a nice warm mahogany tone, given them a nice hard waxing, and have now moved on to the front which has been coated liberally with bronze enriched paint.

From there, there will be another coat of that, some blue-inspiring acid work, other chemical bobbins to make it stable and safe, some hard wax, some acrylic paint to taste and more hardwax oil to finish it off.

Once that is done, it may well be Wednesday, but I'll be happy and we all need a little something tucked away to look forward to on a Wednesday.

In other news, I've gathered (or they are coming anyway) all the bits for my golden Jazzmaster, The Seaside One, which I'm hoping will help me avoid Xmas TV over the next week or so. Well, a boy can dream.

Anyway...back to the skirting.

La la laaaa

Getting Foxy (Slight Reprieve)

Well, I seem to have confused myself slightly and thought that the bratskis were already on their holibobs, when in reality there is another week to go - so I might get something else done this week after all. Blimey and a lummy.

So here I am scurrying around trying to work out just what that might be, and the fave would seem to be The Frou Frou Fox One, mainly because I just about have all the parts, or will within  a couple of days anyway.

But what to do? Well, firstly, I'm going to stain the back and sides. That is easy enough.

After that the top is going to also be stained, and then I think another bronze/copper jobby but with different acid so it is more of a blue hue to it all. There will also be a little bit of acrylic colourfilledness  creeping in there too, just to keep things real.

I've gone around in circles about the bridge and tailpiece and have ended-up with a real trash sixties looking one which I think will work quite nicely. Pickup-wise, I've got a Gibson P90 Dogear and then a Mojo Pickups loom to make it sound it's best. Another Strat neck will finish the deal quite sweetly methinks.

Other than that, Marc at Mojo Pickups is aiming to do me something special in the pickup dept. for The Mysterio One, which I can't wait to hear, though that will probably be January's child and fair of face. If by fair we mean multi-coloured and acid fried.

Oh, and despite not liking Strats, I seem to have one coming this week, but more on that when it arrives. I'll be running the usual spread bet for anybody who wants to take a punt on it's stayinghereness, with the most likely timings being by-the-end-of-the-year.

An extra week though, cool. It almost feels like Christmas.

La la laaa

Teardrops, In My Eyes

Well, a bit of a red letter day here in Jookyland, as my lovely two Teardrop bodies arrived this morning, fresh from Jezz at Woodroffe Guitars, who are making these and hopefully a couple of other fancy pant thingies exclusively for us purveyors of Jookiness, and rather lovely they are too.

I'll dig out all the parts and start on the wood working stuff later on this week, but I have a bit of a spring in my step and can't wait to get The Pearly Dewdrop and Frou Frou Fox Ones fettled and strummable.

I know I've said, mentioned and reiterated once or thrice before, but I've wanted a teardrop for decades, but never found one that I liked to play, but these will both have big headed Strat necks, P90 Dogears and Mojo Pickups' looms, so they are going to be proper pukka.

Glory me, and colour me beatified.

Other than that, well, there is no other than that, I can't be caring less today, to be quite honest.

La la laaaa

Feeling Frou Frou Like A Fox

More your Frou Frou Frocks
But you get what I mean, I'm sure

Well, as it happens when I was getting misty of eye about The Pearly Dewdrop One, I failed to mention that I had in fact snaffled two teardrop bodies, rather than just the one.

Now tempted though I am to come up with some multi-body behemoth of a guitar, instead I think I am going to keep my life simple and instead make two guitars with the traditional single body each.

I've talked long and hard about The Pearlster, with it's Mojo P90, Strattish hardtail bridge and corroded bronze top, but what to do with this other blighter?

Well, it too will have a single P90 - I have a nice Gibson one around here somewhere that is worth a pop -  but I'm going to go for more of a Jr style and use a Gibson wraparound bridge I also acquired somewhere down the line.

As for the neck, well big-headed Strat seems the goose to be plucked there again, and I'll no doubt get Mr Mojo to make me yet another of his uber cool looms to make it work. Lovely.

As for the finish, well I am thinking that rust would be cool on this one, so that is the plan. At least on the top. Although I am tempted to do something ethereal in acrylic for old time's sake, so maybe that instead.

So one more for the coming one day never list, The Frou Frou Fox One, cool as cherry blossom, spindrifting over Yardley Wood.

Why does it feel like things are getting interesting around here?

La la laaaa