Some Think Old, Something New

Well, last week never happened in Jookyland, and that is official, and I won't bore you with plans for the coming week either today as it is far too sunny and despite the brummie influx, it may be a day for the beach at Weston super Mare.

Two nice things did happen though, which managed to be-smile my mush.

Firstly, I had a beautifully miniature teensy valve amp show up in  the deevine shape of a Vox Lil Night Train. I've looked at these for ages as though my Fender Mustang is great, I only use one of the amp sims and none of the effects, so it made sense. (Self Justification Part 4c). I know it is silly, but it feels a lot more real and that is cool. Plus I have an excuse to buy effect pedals again, even though I won't use them and then sell them on at a loss.

Actually, anybody got a fuzz factory? Clones are fine too..but I digress.

So that was the something new.

As for the Old, I finally picked-up The Golden Shower One from my local tech.

Now you may remember back in September 2011, I dropped it off as it had a raised fret that I didn't fancy messing up and then 15 months later heard that he couldn't do anything with it/wasn't worth the effort.

Anyway, I finally picked it up the other day, mainly because I thought the case would be handy for Old Korma. Well, five minutes with a fret file and  all is well with Goldie and man I'd forgotten how muchly fun it is. The Kent Armstrong HB P90s are maybe a tad polite, but still very nice.

The nicest surprise is how well the gold top has aged. This was full monty gold leaf with a nitro lacquer and it looks gorgeous almost like crushed velvet in the right light. (No, not the dark.)

In summary, well pleased with that.

But anyway..

La la laaaaaaaaaaaaa

Coop Flown

Going to be sad to see the back of Betty

Well, it seems I am Jookiless again, with both The Fabulous and Betty Blue Ones off independently to nice new homes in Austria.

The Fabulous One is trailing a blaze immediately, with young Betty following on in a couple of weeks, once she has her affairs in order.

Trying to play the grown-up, they are both in the midst of being suffocated with gaffa tape, so I don't get tempted to dilly and dally, as it were.

And today is the first anniversary proper of when I took The Golden Shower One for a bit of fretwork to my local tech. I shall be making the ceremonial call at 1.35pm which is exactly the time I handed it over, jokingly asking if it would be done by Christmas.

I remember feeling bad as he looked a little hurt at such an outlandish concept..

(I dug out the receipt and checked - you know I have no memory.)

No matter, it will probably be done soon enough.

Or maybe I should just get it back and sort it out meself, always an option.

With the Jookies fleeing the coop, it was nice to add my 10% to the Tickled Pink thingimabob, which means I am now in with a good chance of winning the T Shirt.

Most odd.

Still, early days indeedy though, if you fancy making a wee donation Here.. It would be better if I didn't keep the T Shirt. Stewards enquiries and all.

As for getting on with stuff, I'm hoping the neck for The Resurrected One will arrive today so that I can get that nailed on and twanging. It is truly a verily beautiful looking guitar.

I'm a little perplexed by that and worried that, like The B Movie One before, it will be too pretty to survive.

It is the way of the world sometimes.

We crush the most alluring of blossom.

But there we are, back to my packaging.

La la laaaa

No Particular Place To Go

The Golden Shower One
AWOL For 12 Months Now

Well, The Old E One got a final strum, or forty, before it got packed and ready for the courier. (I've changed brand from UPS to TNT as I don't think they have stomped one of my guitars yet.)

So today involves a little of the usual waiting.

It suddenly struck me earlier, that it is nearly a year since I dropped The Golden Shower One into my local tech for a bit of raised-fret attention.

I was going to sort it out myself, but figured that this would be quicker. Since then I think I have had 78 different guitars. I'm not sure what this says, other than perhaps I should give them another call.

I rang a month or so ago and they said they would be doing it soon, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

As for other stuff...

1. The Fabulous One: Waiting for the trem to arrive. Everything else is done that can be done though.

2. The Betty Blue One: Waiting for a neck and the trem from the US of A

3. The Fallen One: Waiting for me to grow a couple and do the routing. Other than that it needs pickups/wiring, tuners and strap pins, finishing etc. All of which will crowd me and point fingers soon enough.

4. The Travellin' Man: Finished the lacquering and need to chase-up the parts.

5. The Lightning Dragon: The back is painted, but we ran out of paint, so I have the do-I-nip-out-and-risk-missing-the-courier / stay-in-and-do-nothing- while-the-courier-does-a-no-show dilemma, we all know and love.

Other than that it is waiting for parts. Oh, I came across an IronGear teSLA SHark pickup yesterday, which will do nicely I think. Clever naming that IronGear crowd. Subliminal, even. Nice.


And that is about it. I've obviously not started the others yet, as they are better left said. Some things are.

La la laaaa

Of Rooney, a Golden Shower and an Old Burny

Well, I have to say The Holy Stain is a lot of fun. Probably a bit 'noisy' if you are into gigging or recording, but at home it sounds beautiful.

As for The Old Burny One, well the good news was that I did the soldering, the bad that it was dodo-dead when I plugged it in.

Looking at the wirey bits alll in depth like, it seems I've managed to knacker the lovely switchcraft switch - two little lugs that connect it to the pickups were both pulled-out and dangling in the breeze.

Which would explain the silence somewhat

Anyway  I've taken it to bits, and put it back together, but still the silence persists. So I dunno. I'll check everything else to make sure it isn't something I've similarly knackered-up, but if not I'll have to get another switch.

I thought I had one,
but I don't,
so there we are.

Click-click shopping again.

The Golden Shower and Old Burny Ones
In that order. Sounds like a night out with a chap called Rooney

It doesn't help me with my dilemma though. As you can see in the fotos, both The Old Burny and Golden Shower Ones are rather lovely. Interesting the difference in colour between 23 karat and 24 karat gold too. Though that might be a lacquer thing, I guess.

Which to keep though...


The eternal question - do you go for the quality of an oldie-but-goodie, or do you go for the cheap thrill of the Golden Shower. Odd to think they are 30-ish and 40-ish years old.


Hmmm...

At times like this I start to wonder to myself, 'What would Rooney do?'

And the truth is, I don't know, never met the bloke. Blah blah blah.

Plan B, if the Burny seems temporarily terminal, is that I may as well have a go at drilling the holes in The Floored Genius One, which is a case of biting the gun and generally loining my gurns, but it needs to be done and heh, casualty on a Friday isn't the end of the world.

But there we are, another day in nirvana beckons

Going Gold Again

The Golden Shower One
A Bit of a Legend

Well, I never got around to soldering yesterday, but instead have had a sort out and got rid of about four black bags of guitar-related junk, I've kept 'just-in-case' but that never quite came-in-useful-one-day after all.

It was quite liberating, and at least I know where I stand in terms of screws and knobs and the other things that make life complicated. (ahem)

I need to buy just about all of them.

Soldering tonight is the plan now - halfway thru the school holibobs but I still can't expect them not to run headlong at me screaming and spraying something flammable if I heat up the iron before that, so we wait, and twiddle my thumbs along to Postman Pat and Transformers between being dragged around the local parks and supermarkets.

The Old Burny One
A Bit of a Myth

I have decided to get my finger out on the Old Burny One though. As I said, I've got everything I need to do that one and I'm going to kick meself if I haven't finished it over the summer. Not least because I quite fancy hearing what it sounds like with the Gibson 'Bill Lawrence' "The Originals" pickups, and Ye Olde Worlde authentically cool Shugz '50s wiring. In the end I decided against doing the cracleur finish over the 23 Karat golden top as to be honest it would be nice if it aged proper like. It wasn't/isn't meant to be a relic as such... Saying that, I have been known to change my mind here and there.

With Les Pauls of a sort in mind, I was playing The Golden Shower One this morning. I've been so enraptured with the Gordo that I hadn't had it out of it's case for a while. God it sounds good thru the Blackheart Killer Ant Amp. I tried it when I first got the amp briefly, but I do love those Kent Armstrong P90s. I am resisting the urge to go the P90 route for The Old Burny One, in truth, as basically I'd be replicating The Golden Shower One, and that would never do, now, would it?

The Golden Shower One has a bit of an annoying fret buzz at the moment, which I was assuming was a raised fret - the frets are good but the binding on the neck is chewed, it has to be said, but looking closer this morning, I think I need to do a bit more work on the nut. I think I cut it for 9s but then went with 10s and the string seems a tad high in the slot, as it were. One for later maybe, but a result if that is the cause.

Blah blah blah...bored, bored and a bit more bored.

A Day For A Black Heart & The Golden Shower

Well, typically, the courier did the no-show thing with aplomb yesterday, so today is going to be a bit more boring than expected.

However, in my defence, I have laid out all the underground parts for The Blue Moon One, and all it needs is a bit of steadified soldering. How hard can it be?

(The simple answer is that if it proves easy, you'll hear all about it today, otherwise you won't, I guess.)

Other things that may or may not happen today, are that my Blackheart Killer Ant could well turn-up (in which case I hope you'll realise that everything else goes out the window), and also I should be getting a bag of parts to finito The Beaton One.

Oh, and a battered old Strat that leapt at me from Ebay the other night. The body looked awful, but the neck was, well, sensual. I really shouldn't drink alone then hit the 'net. Gets me into all kinds of trouble.

I do seem to be collecting Strat parts at the moment. I haven't done one for a while, my move towards different shapes has worked and I think it has been three SGs, a couple of Jaguar/Jazzmaster sorts and an Explorer, oh and a Telecaster (Lulu, my Lulu) not forgetting of course, my Golden Shower Les Paul.

It was good to do, and I'll keep on doing the do, but maybe a couple or three Strats wouldn't be the end of anything round and sparkly.

I'm also dithering about the Charvette. It is in one piece again, I think I said, and plays amazingly well, even if I don't, and I was just going to shove it on Ebay...but I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe I should do something else with it. I am sorely tempted to try laminating it with some ridiculously OTT birds eye maple - not that I've ever done such a thing before, but it sounds fun, but then, I can't but help think that it would be a great one to do some sort of comic book thing. Marvel rather than  a Beano or Dandy, maybe Spiderman or Hulk, the Xmen or my fave of all time Captain America - with a healthy film tie-in. La la la.

Well, we'll see. I still have the problem about the pickups, but I guess I could replace them. Or is that all getting a bit predictably obvious. Maybe it is.

¬¬¬¬ Not Very Musical Interlude ¬¬¬¬¬

Well, the scratty Strat showed up, so the neck is off and I think I have got blood poisoning removing the rusted strings, but there we are. The neck is indeed beautiful under the silt. The body looks as though it has been attacked by a 6-month-old with a box of Crayola.

More importantly though, my little Blackheart Killer Ant just arrived too and it is already plumbed in and earning it's corn.

And I have to say I am very impressed. Only 1W but 1W thru the little speaker in the Blackstar is a helluva a lot quieter than 1W thru the Blackheart's Cab.

Ask the neighbour's three-week-old son.

Still it is very nice indeedy, and I have to say The Golden Shower One's P90s sound immense.

No reverb though, so I might just have to find a pedal, that's a shame...

So in summary, not a lot will get done today again I expect...

And Then There Were Two

Well, The Twangy One was sold earlier on, so we're back to the more common situation where this Emporium of ours has a measly two guitars being available to buy...

They are of course...

1. The Golden Shower One:

With it's 23 Karat Gold Leaf top, P90 pickups and everything else...

You can find out more HERE, of course...

And....



2. The Pink Panther One:

With it's equally 23 Karat Gold Leaf Scratchplate and perfect pinky purple paisley

(I'm impressed I can say that on a Saturday night too.)

 All the info about this baby is HERE of course too.


As ever, I'm open to part-exs, trades and brown envelopes full of filthy lucre. PayPal is OK too...

Other than that, not a lot has happened, though a rather bizarre Telecaster Body arrived earlier on that has been covered with what looks like Parquet flooring...

Not quite sure what will happen with it yet, but there we go...I'm sure I'll think of something...

Oh and West Brom beat Aston Villa for the first time since the Royal Wedding (actually the first time since Chas & Di got spliced, but there we are).

Sold: The Golden Shower One

About The Golden Shower One

Picture the scene, the trapdoor to a dusty loft creaks open, thin beams of yellowing light creep into the room, avoiding the shadow threatened corners. Cases of long forgotten newspaper are moved to reveal a longer neglected tweedy case. Key turns, case opens and unleashes cascading moonbeams, glittering shards of light as the faint light is captured and catapulted by the real gold top of a long neglected guitar.

You carry it down, pulse raised, pupils dilated, wipe away the dust with sweaty drenched hands. You take it out of the case, breath short and fast as you sit it on your lap. The gold is immaculate, the body a relic in the truest sense. You feel the age weighing down on you. You plug it in; the faint hum of an old valve amp softens. You look around before you hit a chord, catch sight of yourself bathed in the glister, warmed by the beauty of the guitar you hold. You hit a biting, hard, snarling chord and are transported.

*

The Golden Shower One is a genuine relic from the 1970s, rescued from a loft and built from the ground up with a Jookified take on the original Gibson Les Paul it aped. The Stopbar tailpiece is replaced with a trapeze type, the pickups are Kent Armstrong P90s, one reverse wound to give a ‘hum-free’ mid-position. The tuners are Wilkinson ‘Kluson Style’ for that traditional snotty green look, and the finish – man – the finish is real, 23 carat gold leaf, hand gilded and sealed with a lacquer that will preserve the looks for all time. The Golden Shower one is a genuine one-off tribute to Les Paul himself and the guitar that carries his name.

To be clear, The Golden Shower 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 British Dylan. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Marilyn's Gold Top Guitar

Pickups: Kent Armstrong P90

Guitar Type: Gibson Les Paul Inspired

Construction: 23 carat gold leaf over wood.
Dean Markley Jimi Hendrix Pure Nickel Strings 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: 2 x Volume, 2 x Tone

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

Case: Tweed hardcase

Serial Number: JGE#9

RSP: £399

On the block

Well, I decided that The Golden Shower One needed a better home, and so that is on the block complete with it's switch tip and trendily gorgeous tweedy case over at our 'Ebay Store' - I am sooo American - along with the lovely Cherry Vintage SG I got, err, just the other day. I also put the Daisy Jook One up for auction as well.

All over, I'm having a bit of a spring clean in Jookyville, and have flogged on loads of parts and pickups and god knows what else in recent times. It's with the aim of a more focused one-at-a-time approach I'm adopting, in the faint hope that I might finish something once in a while..

Anyway, there we are...

The Golden Shower One - Pimped to Bejesus

Well, I was only going to tinker, but ended-up replacing all of the wiring, putting a new bone nut, new green-ended-authentic-looking tuners, new pots, changing the knobs to reflector/top hat ones, oiling the fretboard and buffing my baby to within an inch of her life.

I also got the girl a new place to lay her head in the shape of a most comely tweedy hardcase...

After all that, she sounds divine, plays beautifully and looks a million bucks.

So I'll no doubt flog her now that I am entirely happy...


Here she is anyway (and yes, I'd forgotten to put the switch tip back on, it is in the case... *sigh*)

Distractions, I've Had a Few...

There have been a few ins and outs around here recently. I guess it is a bit of a spring cleaning kind of vibe, or maybe I just got fed up of things looking at me and asking when it is their turn to bask in the radiance of my gaze...but the bottom line is, I've had more guitars, pickups, effects and cases coming in and out of this place over the last couple of months than I have, well, something that I've had lots of.

But where does that leave me? Well, half the guitars I was planning on building won't happen as I've got shot of the parts, but the ones that are left will be.

So it is a yes to The Twangy One, The Pine Tele and the Old 80s Burny Les Paul. Oh and the Explorer thing with skulls on, though. But a big no to all the others. For now anyway.

Ropey Camerafone Picture - Sorry

See I got a bit bored, and that was never the point. So I've given it the Michael Finnigan all over.

Oh, but this little one did show up this morning: a trip down memory lane in the shape of a Vintage VS6 SG type of thing. My first 'proper' guitar was an Epiphone SG which I flogged to buy a Jazzmaster, and always wished I'd kept. I've recently tried a few Epiphone ones again, but this felt more like the 'original' so, there we are. Probably last a week, but it felt good. Nice wide neck as well.

I've also decided that I really should let the Golden Shower One go as well. I've pimped it with better parts and am a lot happier with it now, and it has a shiny tweedy case to keep it warm at night too. Maybe I should keep it. Dunno. Time will tell.

Other than that...well, I might start doing something soon, one of these days.

The Future Sound of Jooky

Well, I wasn't entirely happy with The Golden Shower One in the end, so I decided to change a couple of things. Firstly the brass nut. It sounded great, but was quite high and I really couldn't face sanding it down to reduce the action to more normal levels. I quite like a high action, but when you are struggling to hold down an Em and can see a 78 degree angle for the string from the nut to the fretboard, I guess you know that you are pushing things a wee bit.

Also of course, it gave me a chance to have a go at cutting a bone nut. I've tried it before using a folded piece of emery paper to cut the slots for the strings and it was OK, but I'd got some teeny weeny files at a car boot and I figured they would work better. And I have to say, it turned out lovely - I can't see me buying nuts again in future, I'll be the chap fighting the local mutts for their shanks.

There is quite a difference in tone as well, between bone and brass - and come to that, the original piece of well chewed plastic that the guitar arrived with. The bone makes the guitar sound a little more mellow when strummed unplugged, and I think perhaps that there is a tad more sustain. Not something I'd considered and maybe it is placebo like, but I'm happier now. It also means that the action is lower and I've been able to raise the bridge slightly which has gotten rid of an annoying buzz at the 14th fret on the A string. Not that I get that adventurous normally, but there we are.

Apart from the nut, I've picked up a set of Wilkinson Kluson-a-like tuners, complete with snotty green blobs on the end. The chrome PRS ones were fine, very stable, but as I did want the guitar to look vaguely older than it was, they look more 'authentic', not that Gibson ever made anything quite like this. Of course I don't know how old the donor guitar was, 70s or 80s being as close as I can tell.

Once they are on then, it will be well and truly finished. The gold leaf top is awesome, I keep finding myself looking at it, It truly is beautiful. The Kent Armstrong P90s have a beautiful tone to them. I've been playing thru my little 1W Blackstar with the reverb on 'full' as well as the volume and it is totally creamy.

My original thought was that this was a good little guitar to practise some new stuff on, but it has ended-up a lot better than I could have hoped and certainly the gilding is something I'll be trying again before long. I'm really quite proud of it, and image apart it has turned into quite a players guitar. Alchemy indeed.

As for what comes next, well, The Twangy One is pretty much there now. It needs stringing and setting-up and it should be well groovy. The pickups I'm curious about, which is always the fun part. It gets boring when you know the answers before you start.

After that, I'm tempted to do my Tele/Esquire project as I finally know what I want to do with it. I'm thinking a variegated gold leaf top - rather than the copper sheet I'd originally planned - with the rest of the body having a subtle paisley finish. I've got some of the leaf - it is basically faux gold that has been aged/treated to give different colours, but I might get a different shade, depending on the paisley I use when it comes to the crunch. The varigated leaf looks very pretty on the little squares, but how it will go overall, I'm really not sure.

Once that is sorted, I'm going to be having another go at a Gold Top Les Paul as I grabbed myself a well bashed and ludicrously sanded old 1980s Burny a while back. This has a solid mahogany body - no maple cap - which is right for a gold top imho, and should make for quite a dark sound. The neck is excellent, rosewood on mahogany and set with a good 'tenon' and whilst I'd leave it generally in tatters I think a gold leaf top with a nitro finished top could prove to be perfect for me.

I'd probably go for some Catswhisker PG PAF pickups for that Peter Green twosted sound and generally do it as a bit of a relic. Crazed and cracked nitro top and all of that bobbins.

In a way this is my solution to my long term pangs for a 'real' Les Paul. I've been mithering about one for ages and never quite been able to justify the cost in truth, certainly not for the one I want (if it exists) so like the Tele and all of the other Jooky guitars it is about making something that I'd love to own and play but can't afford, using a bit of imagination rather than buying one off the shelf.

I could of course save my pennies and buy a real Telecaster and Les Paul, but for the first time I guess in my head when I think about one, I get a much warmer feeling about having one that is truly mine in every sense.

There, belly button gazing done for one week. Think I'm finally getting my head around this Jooky stuff, and it feels cooler every step.

Music Radar £100 Challenge 2011 - And So There Were Three

Well, I said I'd show you the final entries, and I guess as was always going to be the way of things, a few people fell at the last and it ended-up with only three chaps completing the course. The best thing of course with this kind of thing is that you see how people's minds work, and pick-up a few innovative tips from others doing something similar to yourself. But like a lot of good things - it is the finishing that counts, however Heath Robinson it has to be to cross the line.

Well, I know what I mean.

Anyway, pretty pictures:

First up is a lovely looking Bass put together by StickyFiddle, a diamond geezer, who always seems to be selling guitars I want when I can't afford them... I like him anyway.

Things to note include

- the rather groovy placement of the knobs,

- the wicked bridge - Gotoh I think, and

- the wonderfilled bubble of goodness that is the logo on the headstock.

- The neck and headstock are all nitro finished and all.

The second, and it has to be said quite sneaky last minute entry, coming down the rails like a bat out of hades was Casperh7 (it's a family name) with his quite beautifully green Ibanez/Little Stevie Vai  inspired chunk of slick necked superstadiumstarduststardum.

This has been a serious bit of work, check out

- The shaped headstock and design features in that neck o' the woods

- The green nitro finished body - quite beautifully done

- The array of pickups and covers. Wonderfully eclectic, and

- The rather pinkish knobs - hence the Vai mention of course.


Thirdly of course, was my own wee effort - The Golden Shower One, which I've mentioned before.
Since then though, I've changed the knobs, as you can see and will probably tweak it a bit more (tuners/nut that sort of thing) in that eternal search for tone. Or maybe to minimise the buzzing and reduce the 1/4" action a bit..

But anyway, it sounds far better than it has any right to and the gold...

*sigh*

I'm in lust, it has to be said and admitted.

And so there we are, the second year I've made the grade. And they are all winners, as it is truly the taking part that counts.

OK, I'm only playing the right-on card as if there had been a judge I realise mine would probably have come 3rd out of the three, but

do I care?

Will it make me try harder next time?

Nahhhh...


StickyFiddle, Casperh7 - I salute thee...

Introducing The Golden Shower One

Well, February may be the shortest month and full of distractions, but somehow I managed to put together the Golden Shower One, just about within the timescale of the Music Radar Forum's £100 challenge.

For the record it is a Gold Topped Les Paul-a-like, with twin P90s, a trapeze tailpiece and a good dose of Jookiness...

The gold is actually 23 Karat 'Russian' Gold Leaf - which is the real deal and a true 'pleasure' to work with.

The golden top has been heavily lacquered.

The pickups are two humbucker sized Kent Armstrong P90s, one of which is reverse wired so that the middle position is hum-free, apparently.

The tailpiece is a nod to the original Golden Les Pauls, before they started using Tune-o-Matics and the rest.

I've left the ToM holes in place unfilled, as well, I liked the idea of them still being there and visible.

The gold leaf, I should mention has over 'run' across the sides of the guitar and on the headstock. This is the nod to the 'shower' part of the name, over-spill as it were - one for all you glass coffee table warriors.

Other than that, it has a brass nut, PRS tuners - though I might upgrade them to be totally honest - and that is about that.

Sound-wise, it is great, the P90s are excellent and considering it is a bolt-on neck with god knows what sort of body, it has a quite amazing sustain to it.

Best of all, parts-wise it was well under the £100 (although that is mainly down to flogging parts off two donor guitars, but there we are..) and in fact came in at a stunning £49.

I should say, this is one I'm keeping :) It's about time I had my own Jooky guitar...

Here are loads more fotos and I'll link to some of the other people's entries later on...