Travellin' Light

Well, it has been odd in a way, as far as The Travellin' Man one goes, and if you don't know the history it may seem strange that I've not actually put any WIP fotos up or even one of the final thing. unless your name is Chris Gorman, I guess.

Anyway, the journey (dontcha love that word) this one on has been on is weirder than normal, even for a guitar named after Willie Nelson and Jack Kerouac's 's love child.

Firstly, I wanted  to make a guitar for a cool geezer over in the Americas called Patrick.
He gave me some fine input and then I spent nigh on two years making a guitar. Now this guitar has had more bodies, necks, trems and pickups than even I can remember. It was paisley, it was rusty it was golden and it even had lots of copper nails in it at one point, but what it never did was feel right. I wanted this to be a special guitar with loads of tones to choose from. To get a WTF reaction whether it was the noise it was making  or sat on a stand.

Anyway, eventually I got there. It has Mojo pickups - A Wide Range Humbucker, a lipstick single coil and a PAF iirc, and I was kinda chuffed with the finish. too. The neck is something special I got made just for this guitar by a rather talented man of my acquaintance, and the hardware is cool as well. Bladerunner tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners etc. Solid as a rock and sounds like seven circles. Beautiful sounding guitar, and that from a chap who doesn't love Strats to put it mildly.

And in a lot of ways this was the prototype for when I changed things around last year, and is only the third of my Jooky Customs (it would have been the first if I'd got my act together of course, but luckily Patrick is a patient chap.  Saintly patient.).

So before Christmas, I packed it snugly in it's Hiscox and gave it to a Fed-Ex driver; it should have been in Pat's mitts before the festivities kicked in.

From there, it totally disappeared. U.S Customs (I'm told) took exception to it, and hung on to it for months for no apparent reason, before finally deporting it.Would have been nice if they'd told somebody I must admit.  It finally arrived back here in Jookyland last week, soaking wet and slightly disheveled.

So anyway, it has been taken to pieces, dried out,  the wiring re-soldered (it worked OK, but just in case) and I finally got it back together today. Oh new tuners as the originals were bumping and grinding, which was annoying to say the least.

And it is an odd feeling. I normally finish a guitar, send it on it's merry way and never see it again. It's why I get excited when I see the odd one pop up on ebay. It's like bumping into an old school friend you'd half forgotten.

But all good things come to an end, and assuming the new case arrives as planned, and after a few days of settling all is well, The Travellin' Man One will be back on the road shortly. Second time lucky doesn't sound quite right, but fingers crossed it will get there this time. And if ever one of the stupid names I gave a guitar was apt...

Oh, and there are still no fotos, as let's face it, I wanted to surprise Patrick and as he still hasn't seen the thing it would be nice to think he got the first glimpse. The U.S Customs Skiffle Band apart.

La la laaaa

Travellin' Very Slooowly

Well, I have deliberately not shown any WIP fotos of this, as it had got quite embarrassing, even for one as slack as I, so I decided that the first foto of The Travellin' Man One would be when it is finally clamped in my friend Patrick's talented mitts over in that America place. Hence there is no foto here today.

But as it happens I actually finished the guitar a leetle while ago and have just been waiting on a few final flourishes, which Monday should bring, Royal Mail permitting.


And finished, as far as this guitar goes, has been a rolling feast as so far it has had:

• 3 bodies
• 4 necks
• 3 sets of tuners
• 4 tremolos
• 6 sets of pickups
• 4 wiring looms
• A paisley finish
• A rust finish
• A well corroded metallic homogeneity of a finish, and...
• I really don't want to think about the strap pins. Man, don't ask about the strap pins.

But until now it has never had a set of strings on it.

And this might seem odd, but from my perspective, it got there in the end as it has a whole host of cool tones and the neck is dee and vine. I can't say who made it for me, but it is a special thing indeed.

In fact despite it being a Strat (and my love of Strats being well documented), I am really enjoying playing it right now.

Hmm, wonder if Patrick fancies a Jazzmaster

La la laaaa

Back On The Chain Gang

Well, with one thing and quite a bit of t'other, there hasn't been a lot to speak of in recent weeks, but next week should see the resurrection of the Jooky Mojo and a tad of added muse, and I'm feeling all excited about it again.

There are a couple of things I need to finish, and I won't bore you with those, but the one that has ignited the pash once more is The Travellin' Man One, which has been on the to-do list for far too long, but there we are.

With a hint of Trigger's Broom, I've thrown away the body and neck I was going to use and had been all-of-a-dither about, and am rather pleased and chuffed that a new body in beautiful swamp ash has arrived. This is going to get a bit of a different finish to the previous norms, but more on that later. If I can pull it off it will be lovely, if not it will, err, probably get covered in old copies of The Portishead Times.

As for the neck, that has been made especially for this guitar by a top notch luthier type who contractually must remain known only by the Nom de Guerre, Jermaine. His name is Adam, but I'm trying to be circumspect. OK, his name isn't even Adam, that's how cool he is. His pseudonyms have nom de plumes.

Other than that, I finally decided on the pickups which will be fresh from Mojo-land when I remember to ask Marc to make them. It is a HSH Strat so I'm going for a PAF 'bucker, a warm single coil in the middle and a Wide Range Humbucker in a HB size at the neck. I'll also get the chap to do me a classy and classic wiring loom that give plenty of options.

Other than even that other, I'm going for a Bladerunner trem, locking tuners and err, anything else I can think of that will make it uber coolski von crypt. With the sprinkles on top of the cherry at the pinnacle being a scratchplate lovingly carved from a beaten old record.

At this point a few fotos would have been handy of course, but as I'm a nowhere man, you'll have to settle for something else.

So The Travellin' Man One, hopefully showing that some things are worth the wait....

La la laaa

Michael Finnigan

Well, sometimes you have to step back a bit to see where you were meant to be going in the first place and try and figure out why you ended-up learning to ride under Spaghetti Junction in a thunder storm when really all you wanted to do, was baby, just be with you.


And so it is with The Travellin' Man One - one that has gone on forever with little to show for it, and that I have always known is wrong in some way but couldn't figure out why.

And anyway, finally you have to cut your lossy formats and start again, as it were. To be sure.

So, I've rethought and refangled my plans for The Travellin' Man One and by doing so it has all become clear and Jesus loves me once more.

And so I've ditched the paisley and will be doing something else a bit special, it will have a HSH format (it be a Strat of course) instead of HSS, and generally the world looks cooler.

Some guitars - or at least thir conceptualised idea germs arrive on stony tablets, and others evolve in their merry own time.

Tis all good though.

As for other things, there aren't any really.

La la laaaa

 

WIP: The Travellin' Man One

Well, just about to lacquer The Travellin' Man One, so I thought for once I'd show you how matt and dull these paisley babies look before they get a coat of something shiny.

All a bit rough for now, and that scratchplate may be a tad on the thick side (OK, it's a template I'm going to adapt and use to cut a plate out of an old record) but there we are.

Other than that, I've already lacquered The Old E One and done the undercoat (as in below the veneer) on The Betty Blue One, so not so bad all in all.

I even got an old Jimmy Reed record to make a pickguard for The Raymond One (if you think about it Jimmy Reed is like an anagram of Raymond, but with different letters.)

Anyway...

La la laaa

Rustifying The Old E One - Part Uno

Rustification
For The Err, Nation

Well, in my usual manner I seem able to cock things up without even trying. I came to pack The Fabulous One away in it's shiny new case, and unfortunately they sent me one for a big ol' jazz box, so my thinline baby was just balancing precarious-like on the neck rest like a see-saw.

Ho hum.

Elsewhere, things are simpler... You probably think it looks as though it has snowed, but under the gunk is the front of The Travellin' Man One as the back is pretty much complete (all bar the lacquer). I should have taken a foto of that, of course, but there we are. Too late now.

I've also started on the rust-fest that will be The Old E One, though I've just realised that I forgot to remember to think about starting to rust the scratchplate too. This is going to be a whole mess of corrosion with a Gretsch bucker to break it all up. And maybe strings and a bridge too, but you can't have it all.

But there we are, another rainy day in the land of Jook

La la laaa

After The Storm

Travellin' At Last

Raymund-a-Go-Go

Well, the week has started with a slink, but a little progress is no better than progress at all. As my Granny once said. Drunk, obviously.

So The Raymund One has had it's finish finished and very bright and sunny it is too. Tomorrow will see me chopping some innocent vinyl into a pickguard with a bit of luck, and then it will be mothballed until I get my act together and all the parts are here.

I also started to finish The Travellin' Man One - start at the back of course, but I don't think this wet weather agrees with my gubbins as it is taking forever to try even the first coat. Hopefully I'll get another one in before nite-nites, and I can do the front tomorrow.

All in all it feels like crawling uphill in molasses at the moment.

Tomorrow is another day though, so there we are. Waiting for multiple couriers, I just remembered. Gord, my specialised subject.

Anyway..

La la laa

Travellin' in the right direction at last

Filling that grain like it's 1999

Like a Butterfly Under A Tricycle

Well, The Raymond One now has a full dose of paisleyness and is lovely and bright. Almost seems a shame to cover the top up, but then, tis a hard knock life. I'll do some fotos later on.

I am feeling rather horrible now though, it has to be said, as when I'd left Raymondo drying, it seems a butterfly decided to err, flutter by, and somehow ended-up upside-down in a dollop of glue. And well, basically snuffed it.

Departed.

Tis now an ex-butterfly and all that Python stuff people quote without realising it wasn't funny in the first place and that it only makes them look like right plums.

But the dead butterfly. It made me a bit sad.

What a waste.

(Actually, it may be a moth, but "flutter by little butterfly" sounds better than "th mo little moth".)

But anyway, it isn't good and I only hope the wee thing was glued-up in more ways than one and didn't suffer. I do wonder if I should bury him, maybe under the walnut burr veneer, so he is part of The Raymond One forever, or is that just too weird?

I don't know.

I guess I've never gotten over Jurassic Park and all those mozzies in amber.

Anyway, I'm starting on the paisleyness of The Travellin' Man One while Raymondo dries over the weekend, and I can lacquer then burr, as it were, next week.

Young Mojo Marc sent me some more fotos of the pups for The B Movie One, so they will no doubt arrive next week sometime too and then I'll have something else to stress over.

But back to The Raymond and Travellin' Man Ones, I think I've sorted everything in my head apart from pickups and wire for these two now, so I need to think about them I guess and start to do some shopping when I have pennies to rub together.

The Raymond One is HH so I'm going to go for a Mojo Wide Range Humbucker and probably some sort of PAF type, as between them they should give some nice tones to play with.

The Travellin' Man One is HSS and is going to have a couple of single coils and a splittable 'bucker at the bridge. This will be a bit of a hot PAF, I think. I'm really tempted by a couple of lipstick pickups for a bit of bluesy bite, but we'll have to see.

Obviously, a bit more fun to be had there, methinks, so who knows where we'll wash-up in truth.

Both will have Strat trems, so I'm thinking of the Gotoh/Wilkinson ones with the solid steel block to make them all zingy like new toothpaste, and tuners I haven't really decided about yet, but probably Grovers or Gotohs, I can't decide such things yet.

I seem to be fast approaching the guitars-coming-out-of-my-ears scenario once more, worse if the new bridge for the Marauder - The Ronin One - ever arrives, but there we are. Though The Fabulous One is jangling into a new pasturally sunset, so that's one of my kids less to worry about, just got to teach it to cook for itself before it goes.

But I am a little haunted at the moment, by the butterfly crushed beneath the Jooky tricycle, it has to be said.

La la laaaa

Double Paisley With A Touch of Burr

The Raymund and Travellin' Man Ones
Await Paisleyification With
Rust and Burr On-the-side

Well, I must admit I never expected to get The JoBo One fettled at the first attempt, but I guess monkeys can throw  shaky spears if they have enough goes, so a Jooky miracle might happen once-upon-a-time-a-long-time-ago-today.

Must admit I'm rather chuffed with it and it seems that maybe Marc at Mojo's wiring works better than my attempts, as far as the Esquireness goes. (ahem)

In other news, I had the paisley arrive for The Raymund One, so the foto shows that along with the walnut burr laminate which will go on top of the top as well.

I'm going to have a day of paisleyification tomorrow, doing that and The Travellin' Man One side-by-side, assuming I've got enough finishing bobbins to go around. Which I might have, or probably possibly not.

I decided to put The B Movie One away in it's case until I have the pickups and all that, in case you are wondering how come I'm not getting twitchy about having so many guitars around all of a sudden.

La la laaa

Monday, Monday Doo-bi-doo

Well, here we go again in the little kingdom of Jook and in the coming week, with no footballish distractions to tear my guts out, I see in the eye of my mind that we may well expect the finish of The JoBo One.

That is my one target, and as I'm expecting the pickup and groovy wiring loom to turn up today or tomorrow from Planet Mojo, it should be achievable even for me.

After that, I'm planning on starting to finish The Travellin' Man One, as in finish the body, the rest of the bobbins are in the postal ether.

This is going to be a bit of a combo type of thingy so should be pretty nice, methinks.

Other than that, I have a nice HH Tele body on it's way from distant shores that will prove to be the basis of The Raymund One with it's paisley, rust and walnut burr finish, Strat trem and other things I forget.

Not sure when that will arrive by duck though, so not really a this-week-kinda-thing, so I don't know why I bring it up.

As for the rest, I'm still a router short of a tenon joint, so unless I find a chisel nowt will happen for a while. Though I have got an odd hankering for another single pupped Strat, we'll have to see.

So come-on-mister-postie, I'm booooorrrreeeedddd.

La la laaaa

Getting Started On The Travellin' Man

Well, as I am officially waiting-for-parts, and in-need-of-a-router-not-designed-to-maim-me, I am a little jobless on the Jooky front, so I am tempted to start on the body of The Travellin' Man One come Monday as you wouldn't believe how long ago this one was meant to be getting of going.

OK, you might.

This, I'm sure I mentioned before, is one of those rarities where I'm making it for somebody, which is nice as I won't be tripping over it afterwards, but a bit different in that I want Patrick - said geezer - to like it. Not 'want' enough to stop me doing whatever I feel like doing with it at any given moment, but you know what I mean.

From the top it is a bit of a HSS superstrat kinda deal using one of the Fusion bodies I got from Simon before he put himself into Cryogenic mothballs. I've managed to find a nice neck which is already overdue, but I'm sure will arrive one day, and it is going to have a couple of Stratty pickups and a hot humbucker that can be split in all those familiar places.

Actually, I'm sure I've explained this before, so excuse the repetition, and the fact that I can't be arsed to check.

After that it is the usual good quality bits n bobs to nail on and it will be lovely.

Of course there is the small matter of the finish, which could be fun, and I'm thinking it might be nice to mix it up a wee bit, so I'm thinking paisley with gold leaf, rusted iron, corroded copper and bronze with a nice burnt wood veneer on top. Oh, and sprinkles. Never forget the sprinkles.

Saying that though, as he will maybe want to play it - I include somewhere dark in that - maybe that is a tad much and I should simplify.

We'll see though. Come the glory-filled day.

La la laaaa

Trundling Along Like Dean Moriarty

Well, brats-stop-play, as expected around here, but I've been plotting and planning future projects after having a proper look thru my recently acquired Stash. I've already mentioned the Telemaster body I got from young Simon which will become with all aplomb The JoBo One, but there was also a Strattish kinda body too, which I've been thinking about.

I'm guessing this is Alder (though I'll ask him to find out for sure - I'm hopeless at spotting wood that isn't mahogany, maple or ash - they all look the same to me) and it is more curvy and slightly thinner than the Fender template. Something kinda Super, I guess, or maybe Showmastery.

I am sooo verily expertish indeedy.

Anyway, I've been looking for the right body for a guitar I have wanted to make for a friend of mine for a long time now, and I think this could just be perfect for it. It is routed for HSS which I think is bang-on with lots of scope for multi-tonal-goodness and the boy likes a trem so that fits too.

As for the finish, I'll have to have a think about that, but I reckon it should be something special after all this time and maybe I'll mix it up a wee bit and see what happens..

Pickup-wise, I'm thinking a hotter PAF type at the bridge and a good couple of Strat pickups in the middle and at the neck. Coil-tapping the 'bucker giving us all the classic tones with a bit of oomph when needed.

Which probably means two lipsticks and something that sounds like a sitar by the time I get that far, but there we go. I don't suppose it would come as a surprise to anybody if I happened to change my mind once-or-thrice.

So that's The Travellin' Man One, coming sometime in the future, somewhere near you.

La la laaa