£100 Challenge - Day One

Well, nobody else seems to be doing anything yet, but I think today marks the start of the Music Radar Forum, £100 Challenge thing, and as I'll no doubt be going on about it for the next month, I figured marking the event would be good.

Saying that, it is more of a non-event as I probably won't do anything today.

But before the 4th of April, I plan to have built a guitar with parts costing less than a ton.

It is as simple as that,
truly.

If you look over there, you will see all of the parts, and they have cost me less than a hundred quid, so as long as I get it built,
lovely.

I'm in the quid seats.

For the record then, I've bought a cheap telecaster clone, flogged all the bits off it and plan to pimp it up - with the emphasis being on the pimping, using velvet, gold, gold and more gold.

I have Gibson P100 pickups, and am aiming to put a DIY sustainer on it too, assuming I have the time and can turn my Heath & Robinson, Jookified R&D into something that will last longer than the battery once it is stuck to a guitar.


Other than that, I was going to call it "Nouveau Riche One", but I think "The Pretty In Pimp One", is more fitting.

There are also lots of other people building guitars too, so I'll put links to them and their work as we go along.

Lovely.

Last one until I build it, Promise

OK, the gold scratchplate

- admittedly not looking as gold in t' foto as it does in the confines of real life -

but here it is placed lovingly
on top of the green velvet,
itself placed hap and hazardly
on top of the guitar,
with some other bits
liberally chucked on for
context.

I took hours over this foto, truly.

I think we can start building next week,
which will be fun,
but I fear that a fair old bit of preparation
might be the order of the first week
or two...

La la & la

I'm thinking maybe purple velvet...or
is that a wee bit
OC&D
even for
me?

Golden Slumbers

As a quick follow on to my colourific dilemmas of yesterday..

I've been trying a gold scratchplate idea on for size..

This I see going over the green velvet which would be the main body colour - but how to make one, when you want something like a squier thinline tele thing, but don't want to spend any pennies?

First step is to cut the shape out in cardboard

Second is to glue some of the golden suede stuff on

Thirdly, I shape it as though carving the very thing from pure spun gold..

After that?

Well, it's still drying, so that is it so far.


The P100s arrived today too, which is cool as a cool thing.

That's it, really.



Can you see what it is, yet?

Insight Into The Workings Of My Mind

So, here I am, getting this here tele build bobbins together.

I've sort of got a sustainer working - on a breadboard thing - which is amazing and I can't wait to start to build it properly and put it in a guitar. I mean, for me, this is truly gob-smacking, I've made something that first of all works, and secondly works properly, as far as I can tell anyway.

This is really cool.

Amazing in fact as I didn't copy it off anybody, I just read some posts on a forum about how the Fernandes one works and some people talking on a blog about ones they have made. There used to be tonnes of information about DIY sustainers, but apparently that got deleted due to inter-nicene warfare over who is cleverest or something. Which you have to say is a bit pathetic. If I get it working well I'll do some proper plans and stuff so anybody can have a go at it.

Anyway, I'm pleased, kinda proud and itching to do it for real.

And I've got a guitar to put together in March that is waiting for it.

It is perfect timing, for once in my life, and everything is coming together.

I'm so excited at the prospect that I've not even thought about a cool name for the sustainer - they all have to have one, of course.

So here I am and what am I thinking about?

What am I spending my time doing?

Yep, I can't make up my mind on whether the guitar should be covered in gold suede or green velvet fabric.

Really.

I've got a Ferrari to make and I'm picking out the curtains.

Beyond sad.

I'm turning wench, there is no denying it.



So which do you think - green or gold?

Blah blah

Oh, one bit of good news.
I've managed to get a pair of Gibson P100 pickups, which are like soapbar P90s but doubled-up so that they are humbucking. I'm not sure whether they will both go on this guitar or not - if I do the sustainer they probably won't, but we'll have to see. Also I'll have to do a bit of jiggling on the £100 front if I use both of them as at the moment I'd be over budget.

Decisions, decisivenessly am we.

Really though, green or gold?

The Golden & The Green

I have to admit, at times I can be pretty indecisive. Very in fact. Not when it comes to important things, but when it really doesn't matter I can take forever to decide what I want to do.

Sometimes longer,
just depends really.

Anyway, my £100 challenge guitar, The Nouveau Riche One, I mentioned before that it was going to be gold suede covered with a '70s Di Marzio Dual Sound pickup,
but, well,
now it won't 

The suede looked nice, but not as striking as I'd like and the pickup I've sold on to a fella who is going to put it in a Jagstang. No big deal, and no real reason for the change other than it just didn't feel right. I couldn't even begin to think about mentioning that I wouldn't be able to tell you why that is was or may well have been.

So where does that leave me?
The colour now then, I think will still be given by some cloth and I've ordered some British racing green crushed velvet, which should look opulent by anybody's standards.

As to the pickup, well, I don't know. On one side I'm thinking P90 as I love the sound in the Paisley One, but then it is meant to drive a sustainer, so maybe a hot, high powered humbucker would make more sense, ignoring the fact that I've already bought and sold a rather brilliant one of those.

So what to do, who can say.

The Paisley One - On The Bay

Well, I've done something I never do, over the last week or two, and got rid of a few guitars and related bobbins.

It's funny how you collect these things, but I realised that there are only so many I can actually play, and so...better to make a bit of room.

I think generally, I'm getting into the whole Jooky thing a bit more seriously now. Lots of people are visiting the 'For Sale' part of the site, and finding nothing, and more are asking when they can buy various stuff. So it would be nice to get a bit on top, I reckon. If I'm being honest, I like it too, which is the main thing.

Anyway, as the final plank of my decluttering tendency, I've put The Paisley One up on eBay, and am open to offers. That is the hard one, as it is the first Jooky guitar I've made and I have to say I love it loads, but there we are.

Half making space, and half a justification to make more guitars.
And my Tele is so ready to be made now.
The Nouveau Riche One as it is soon to be known.

If you fancy The Paisley One with it's lovely fuzz and good looks, you can buy it or make an offer HERE.