Sold: The Shonky One

The Shonky One is a complete one off, being based on the traditional shape of Gibson’s F type mandolins, but at a size similar to a Les Paul. It feels great on the strap and plays beautifully.

The body is semi-acoustic, though with a feedback busting centre block, and we went for a big headstocked, CBS type of Strat neck, maple/rosewood, with a playable 9.5” radius and a nice C shape.

The body has been stained, aged and generally battered before having a pearl-like finish on the top.

Pickups are a pair specially wound by Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups, with a Humbucker sized P90 at the neck and a PAF type humbucker at the bridge – this nails all of those classic blues and rock tones.

The hardware has a trapeze tailpiece, Gotoh aged strap pins, a Ricky style bridge and Wilkinson Ez-Lock tuners, so all is solid and works well. Mojo additionally custom made a wiring loom using Switchcraft switch, CTS Pot, PIO Cap and ye olde style cloth covered wiring for that true vintage vibe.

All in all, this is a stunning looking guitar that plays beautifully and nails the tone.




*


To be clear, The Shonky 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.

*** GONE TO A FAR, FAR BETTER PLACE ***

Technical Stuff:

Type: Bab’s Pearly Queen

Electrics: Mojo Pickups P90 and PAF, Mojo Wiring loom (CTS pots, PIO Cap)

Guitar Type: Gibson F Style Body

Construction: Semi-acoustic body, Rosewood/Maple neck

Strings:     D’Addario EXP 9s

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#72

RSP: £999

Introducing: The Shonky One

Well, as I'm still waiting for my nuts to drop as far as The Black Russian One goes, I thought I should nail The Shonky One together and see how it looks.

And went it did indeedy, and I'm all-a-flutter-and-a-twitter about it..

From the top, it is a semi-acoustic, shaped like an old Gibson F type mandolin, but most definitely a guitar.

The top has a stunning Mother of Jooky opalescent and fairy dusted finish that is gorgeous, and a fabric binding just to set it all off.

The neck is a big headed maple/rosewood Strat one and is a bit of a dream, and I've gone for a Ricky bridge and trapeze tailpiece which looks cool and works well. Nice.

As for the leccy bits, well it boasts a cool pairing of a HB sized P90 at the neck and a PAF 'bucker at the bridge, especially wound by resident genius, Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups. Marc also did the wiring loom - Switchcraft switch, CTS pot, cloth covered wire and one of his cool PIO caps for good measure.

And it plays and feels divine. The P90 is sexy and the 'bucker hits the spot, and even I can dredge out a whole range of sounds from bluesy bobbins to classic rock. As for feedback, well it is there if you want it, but the body has a centre block which calms things down...

And there we are, I think this maybe a little more one-off than most.

La la laaaa

Like A Liquid Pearl Beluga

Well, despite the RM's best attempts, they finally gave up the post today and I received all manner of loveliness from the winding machines of Mojoland, not to mention some rather tasty wiring looms too...

And though the tailpiece and bridge are still not here (and I need a switch tip as I can't find the bag of them anywhere since I had a tidy) I put the HB sized P90 in at the neck and the PAF 'bucker at the bridge and generally nailed it all together.

And it sounds great - as far as my poor-man's-Ebow goes anyway (a tuning fork held over the pickups is so much more fun than hitting them with a screwdriver to see if they work), and now I am bugged that I am still missing some pieces from my shonky jigsaw.

But anyway, The Black Russian One is nigh on there so hopefully it will have strings by night fall and I can do some fotos of that instead.

It is all go, apart from that it isn't often recently.

La la laaaa

WIP: The Shonky One

Well, I got the finish finitoed for The Shonky One and completely forgot to show anybody, which is silly but there we are.

As it happens, it really is rather stunning in the 3rd dimension, I am most pleased.

What I haven't done is decide on the pickups it will boast, which is a little bit on the silly side as it will prove to be a wee bit quiet otherwise.

In the end it was routed for a couple of  standard 'buckers, so I am tempted to go for the Mojo HB Sized Wide Range Humbuckers, or perhaps one of those and something else of a P90 persuasion.

Ooh, it's like Liquid Pearl

Or maybe a P90 and a PAF as they always sound cool.

Or maybe it will be something entirely different.

In fact I am clueless,
I'll have to think about it a bit more.

What I do know is that it is going to get a Bigsby when that arrives from L'America and a Ricky style bridge, like that which adorns The Frou Frou Fox One as I am verily impressed with it.



Other than that, I managed to crock myself for the third time in a week, which is damned careless and silly in extremis, so not a lot else happening I guess.

La la laaaa

Pearling The Shonky

Well, a few minor injuries here in Jookyland mean mucho work is missing, but I wasn't verily happy with the way the corrosion of The Shonky One turned out, so I went back to basics and did something else.

See, even one-handed there is no stopping the slug-like progress around here.

But The Shonky One - this is a finish I've been meaning to try for a while, and it is basically a mix of prismatic and opalescent paints, to give a battered shell kinda vibe, which I think worked out quite nicely.

Still a bit more work to do on that but under the light it is verily groovy looking, even if the fotos don't really catch it.

The nice thing is that it looks more mother of pearl than momma de plastic, which can only be a goodly thing.

But that is it for now and I expect for a few days more.

La la laaaa

WIP: The Shonky One

Acid Part Deux

Well, all over the place at the moment, but I managed to sneak on forward to the other side, with the front of The Shonky One and thought I'd share with the group.

Firstly, the wee thing got a dose of bronze paint.

Once that was dry it had another, and then a spindrifting touch of fairy dust, or maybe a swirl of copper, who can say?

After that I went for a two stage acid spray to start with the corrosion, and will carry on tomorrow as I want it to look a bit layered and morose.

I'm still not sure what pickups will end-up in this 'un, but I am coming around to a Bigsby or big tailpiece after thinking I'd go simpler...we'll see though.

OK, not that much of a burst really but you can see what I meant, hopefully.

Anywaysup...cold innit?

La la laaaaaaaaaaa

First Coat

Fairy Dust Coat

Acid Part One

Scrolling Back The Tears

Staining Guitars is Tricky Business
So Brandy and Smarties help

Well, another week in paradise delayed, and I thought I'd get a shift on as far as The Shonky One goes, as it is too lovely for words.

First things to do were to drill a few holes for the wiring - I'm making a special effort here, I normally forget until I've started the finish and then get worried.

That was easy enough, and I've put three holes in the top too for good measure as I'm thinking a three-way-switch, a volume pot and a jack socket. I know it is minimal but there we are. Maybe a tone pot too, I didn't thing about that earlier. I could always put the jack socket on the edge instead.

There, simple, decision decided.

After that there was a bit of sanding to soften the edges and flatten the top and bottom and all that, which is fun. I find sanding quite therapeutic these days, and I almost feel like I know something after using a handarulic dril and sanding block. Like I'm a grown-up.

From there I decided to stain the back and sides with a nice dark oak. I've used this stain a few times now and really like it for some reason. Not as warm as your mahogany or rosewood, which is a plus at times, but I think it looks classy and I have to hang on to such driftwood when I'm struggling to keep a metaphor afloat..

That I brush on, rub back and then apply again with wire wool which gives a nice finish.

Rather than hard wax oil this time, I'm going for an ageing varnish as I want a slightly more classical look to the back, and it works well when I distress it a bit later on. When I say distress I don't mean relic, that isn't my thing really, but I like the worn look and a few dints and scrapes go with that.

That will take a couple of days of coats and drying anyway, so not a lot else to report really there.

When I do get to the front, I probably said that I'm going to have a go at doing an acid burst, which should be fun as it will involve spraying acid around rather than paint and all the laughs and fun that offers.

The top is going to be bronzed to start with, and then the acid sprayed to corrode it in a bursty manner around the edges, with less in the middle. It should work and I am vaguely confident, but until you try these things, who really knows.

Oh, if anybody from Customs is reading this - can I have my three necks, please?

La la laaaa

The Shonkiness Starts Here...Finally

Well, snow stopped play yesterday, of course, but somehow a sherpa got thru this morning with a couple of bodies to play with, which always puts a smile on the mush.

So I've been thinking proper-like about The Shonky One, and I think I have a leetle plan.

In case you don't remember, and why would you, I've always loved the look of the old Gibson scroll topped mandolin, and so after he did me such a lovely Teardrop or two for me, I asked Jezz at Woodroffe to do me a guitar-sized body based on the mandolin shape, and he has only gorn and done it, I'm really chuffed.

It's really nice to see your madder ideas turned into 3D and off-the-wall it may well be, but I think it should make a quite stunning guitar..

Jezz must agree as you can now buy your own from him too, as well as the Teardrops, I feel all flattered.

As for the Shonky's finish, I want something Jookily classic and so am going to stain back and sides a dark oak or perhaps mahogany, and then try something new on the top. It will be based on bronze/acid corrosion, but I'm going to try and do a burst the old fashioned way, which should be fun and look rather crazy cool in a restrained and subtle way, as I always try to achieve in everything I do.

As for the rest, it will have a Strat neck and I think a hardtail bridge, just to be awkward, while pickup-wise, I'm planning on some of the Harmony inspired 'buckers Marc at Mojo Pickups was tempting me with recently, but I need to check the measurements and all that and there is a bit of woodworking to do before I get started anyway, so there is no panic.

The other body was the semi-acousticalified Jazzmasterish body, and that is going to have something quite different I feel. The Hartlepool One is going to sparkle somewhat, it is a while since I made Hartlepool sparkle. Monkey magic indeed.

La la laaa

Getting Shonky On It

Well, not too much happening today, other than waiting for paint to dry and couriers to come and go, but it ended well.

And what was the glimmer in the corner of my eye-line that put a smile upon my mush?

Well, Jezz at Woodroffe guitars has been in touch and sent me a couple of fotos of the rather cool body that will one day be The Shonky One.

Better still, the semi-acoustic Jazzmaster body for The Hartlepool One is also nearly done, so the new year should be fun, I can't help but think.

All good stuff, can't wait to get a crack on with those.

Speaking of which, a nice Jazzmaster body came today along with some yellow stain and gold leaf, so I may even get going on The Seaside One this week.

It is all coming together somehow,  funny that.

La la laaa

Cool People Doing Cool Things

Well, I mentioned the mandolin-inspired loveliness that will one day be The Shonky One, and that it would have a couple of buckers - probably P90 & PAF Mojos in truth, and all was well with the world.

Until that is Marc at Mojo Pickups chucked me another curve ball and sent me a foto of a rather cool mini-'bucker he has started making - his 3x3 - which are based on an old Harmony model and are just begging to be used in a dose of pure Shonkiness.

I love the fact that Marc comes up with off the wall stuff - I know it is probably for very good commercial reasons, but so many pickup winders seem to concentrate on 47 variations of the PAF - mellow, hot, hotter, silly, nutterdom etc. - so when I get an email saying 'You might like these' from Sunny Halifax, it always brings a smile.

And so it will again I'm sure, There aren't many things I'll buy blind and not be disappointed, but I don't think twice in his case.

So The Shonky One will be a mandolin influenced guitar with pickups based on an old Harmony Semi-acoustic. It don't get no more Jooky than that... As for the finish, well, we'll just have to see.

La la laaaa

Getting Shonky On It

Well, this is perhaps the most left of field yet, in fact it is so far to the left it is practically fascistic, but never let it be boring, and never indeed will it be.

What am I wittering about?

Well, I've for many long years fancied playing the mandolin. In fact I have a mandolin, I even had some lessons and I can play it to some extent, but even by my lowly standards, it is a very poor second to my very poor guitar playing. So that is low-in-excelsis indeedy-do.

And if I'm honest, half of the charm is the way mandolins look - they are just too cool to be ignored.

And in fact, my teardrop fetish can probably be traced back to Ye Olde round back mandolins and there we be.

However, the one that I've always coveted but never been able to vaguely justify, is the old Gibson F-12, which is absolutely gorgeous, from the scroll at the top to the crazy barking shape at the bottom and the trapeze tailpiece..

And so I had my little storm d'brain and asked Jezz of Woodroffe Guitars whether he could make me a guitar body based on the F-12, Les Paul kinda sized with routs for a couple of 'buckers, and lowly beholden, he came back with this lovely 3D model thingy.

And now it is happening.

How cool is that?

It will have a nice pair of pups on it - a dreamteam of a Mojo P90 and PAF combo (as the Mojo Pickups in The Chi Chi One were a total winner), and it will get a rustic finish in a big way, a nice Strat neck and I haven't quite decided on the rest, but it will be cool, of that I'm sure.

In fact it will be better than that - it will be tasteful and charming and generally uber mucho grande chilly like never before.

It will also be a few weeks down the line, but I really can't wait.

Unsurprisingly.

So there we are, The Shonky One, coming one day, but who knows which day that may happen to be, some happy day...

La la laaaa