Sold: The Peace Train One

The Peace Train One moves our Jooky journey forward, away from the Paisley and into a full-on flower powered, love story of an acid fried generation. Peace signs and a hallucinogenic finish beam like the Love, Love, Love generation, and a whiff of incense brings back George playing his Rocky guitar, John and Paul in Pepperdom and Ringo with his Yellow Submarine in the bath at number 48.

The Peace Train One isn’t just a fancy finish though, it has a darker almost Seventies side beneath it’s scratchplate and all manner of switches and knobs above it.

For built in to this pacifistic innocent, is a Lou Reed sleazy dirt beneath, with pulsating auto-wah and filthy distortion just the flick of a switch away, to take you from the neon lights of Carnanby Street direct to the rain sodden time-stained sodium of Berlin's seedy underbelly...

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To be clear, The Peace Train 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 Perfect Day. There will genuinely never be another guitar like this and past experience suggests that it won’t be around for long.

Technical Stuff:

Type: Leona’s Groovy Guitar

Electrics: Teisco Strat pickups

Guitar Type: Fender Stratocaster type, but of unknown vintage. Believed to be based on a 60s or 70s Teisco guitar.

Construction: Cloth over wood.

Strings: Fender Stainless Steel 10s

Output: ¼” Guitar Lead

Controls: Active circuitry:

-    Master volume on/off switch
-    Three volumes, one per pickup
-    Three effect switches turn on/off Auto Wah, Distortion and ‘Normal’
-    Three pickup selector switches
-    This is an active guitar and only work when the batteries are installed.
-    Needs 2 AA batteries, supplied.

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

Serial Number: JGE#18

RSP: £399 SOLD

Chugging along peace-filled, like WIP Fotos

I'm really feeling rather charmed by the Peace Train One, at the moment.

I sorted out the neck earlier, so it isn't so glossy or neat anymore, and I decided to replace the rather shonky tuners with some Wilkinson ones which should make a world of difference. I've also made a rather momentous decision, and am going with a plain black scratchplate for the first time ever.

At least I am at the moment.

The hippified fabric looks stunning, so I might have to relent and cover the scratchplate with it in the end. I just think, for once, a little err; subtlety might be in order...

I also decided to keep the original pickups. I think I said that I have some from a Fender Highway One Strat that I was thinking of using, but these have such a distinct 'voice' especially with the aluminum (or whatever it is) bridge, that it would be criminal to change them. Again, that's the plan as I write this, but who knows really.

Here it is so far anyway... (And yes, I rrealised after I took the snaps that I'd forgotten to put the bridge on - sheesh.) Quite nice to be thinking peacefilled thought on a day like today...

Flying Out They Is

No more Funky Anymore

Well blimey, The Funky One didn't hang around long - that nice Fat Old Man snapped it up within the hour of it being listed, which I think is a new record around here. Hope you enjoy it mate, it is truly a lovely wee thing.

In other news, I've shuffled along quite quickly on the Peace Train One, and I have to say it is really quite a stunning looking guitar as well. It is going to be pretty cool to put it back together and turn it up way loud, methinks.

I've just got hold of some nice Fender pickups which (I think) I'll drop into it, though to be honest, I'm still not really sure as the existing ones have a sound about them that is just 'different', and that is always worth holding onto, innit? Maybe whoever ends-up with it will get the choice between them, just have to see.

In other news, The OCD One has had its final coats of lacquer and will be drying over the next few days. The scratchplates, however, are both done in terms of the finish, and so I can whip out the soldering iron and get them sorted out tomorrow with a bit of luck, so that they are easy to pop on in come the glorious day.

I don't know why it is, but some of these Jooky guitars come together really quickly, and others seem to take forever with no discernable reason. The OCD One has certainly taken longer than I thought - and not for any 'committee decision making' reason, that side has been very easy, it just seems to have been in slo-mo.

I guess me cocking-up the first finish, having to strip it back, paint the body and then do it all again, may have come into it, thinking about it now.
Ho hum...

Jump Starting The Peace Train

Well, Geoff's Custom OCD One is into the lacquer/dry/sand/repeat loop at the moment and will be for a while yet, so I've started thinking a bit more seriously about what-comes-next, and more to the point when.

First of all, I am really intrigued by the one-with-all-the switches - The Peace Train One. Mainly because it is just so odd.

I mentioned the bridge being aluminium (I think) and the fact that it has a zero fret, which lets face it, you don't see too often. But there are other things too.

Obviously, having built-in effects is not exactly mainstream these days (apart from in Gibson-land, for some reason) but it is the little things that catch the eye. For instance, I've taken it to bits this morning and couldn't get over how short the neck 'bolts' are - tiny wee things, but when I took the last one out and removed the neck plate, what do I find but that it is covering three quite solid screws that are really holding the neck together... Again, I don't think I've seen anybody have a cover like that before, most odd.

I really can't make my mind up about it - it is either old, and there was a different approach to crafting even, what I would guess to be, guitars from the cheaper end of the continuum, or it is just a complete oddity. Either way, I think it is lovely, and well worth the effort to take it up a few notches. It sounds like a Dano, so maybe that was the starting point and then things just went a bit...wooooaaahhhh.

I can understand how that can happen.

Anyway, it is in bits now, and I have started on it's finish, which I think will be quite fitting.

As I'm trying to remember to do my bobbins in public these days (since the restraining order lapsed, anyway), this is the back of the wee Peace Train one, with it's very first coat of glue and grainy filler...enjoy.

Love-filled peace, to one and all...

Vapourware - Riding The Peace Train

As I seem to be talking 'Vapourware' at the moment - although I do fully intend to actually build a few guitars soon, so it is more of a case of setting me stall out really - I thought I'd tell you my plans for that wonderfilled guitar-that-I-know-nowt about that does a mean impression of Hawkwind's Silver Machine.

I mentioned it the other day and a couple of people have since told me that it is definitely of a 1960s vintage, and that it hasn't been upgraded, though nobody has produced the pictures, so who knows really.

Where was I?
Oh yes. Anyway, I'm talking about the Strat-a-like with lots of switches and knobs and an auto-wah and fuzzbox built-in.

Well, having a good an' proper look now, I've decided that what I'm going to do is upgrade the tuners and possibly the neck if it is anywhere near a standard size and it doesn't scrub up decent like. I'm then going to give it the ultimate in groovy finishes, as befits it's possible vintage, and depending on what I find under the hood, I might well swap the pickups for something else. It depends though, and I must admit I'm slightly reluctant to swap the pickups as the existing ones sound so bloomin' good, but like I say, I'll see where we're at when I get to that part...)

Other than that, despite my initial misgivings, I've completed fallen in love with the bridge, so that stays and I am scared to death to rewire the effects, as god knows what they will look like, and as they don't crackle or hum, that is fine anyway.

The finish, I think, will be something special (I always say that, but am I wrong?) and I've already got a good idea of what that will be.

All in all then, not too bad and I still can't believe how much fun it is. All it really needs now is a name - 'The Peace Train One' has a nice ring to it.

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Ooh, I do like Natalie Merchant