Sold: The Whipped One

The Whipped One is a complete one-off, even in the world of the unique eunuch. It boasts a beautiful walnut body and that has been given a gorgeous wax and stain finish to the back and sides, with the top getting the glory that is a Mother of Jooky Moondance finish.

As for the hardware, the bridge is classic hardtail which is zingy yet twangy and of course works perfectly. The tuners are Sperzel’s Trim Loks, for many miles of tuning-issue-free running and as for the pickup – well, wow.

The Whipped One is a bit special, so we have gone for a complete one-off, overwound and high of output, Mojo Pickups Mojotron. This boasts a couple of blades and despite being wowzer hot, still has a beautiful tone to it. I don’t know how the boy Ransley does it, but he does. Consistently.

To keep it all on the narrow and straight, Mojo have also done their usual top notch wiring loom, for ceaseless worry-free motoring.

As for the neck, well, this really is a bit special. For a start it is a Warmoth pro model, featuring a beautiful maple stick and side accessible truss rod. Which is handy as getting this baby flat is a bit of a must as the fretboard is more of a ‘board’ in truth as this is a fretless.

The ‘board is a lovely dark ebony, which has been helpfully scored to show where the frets would have been, which when you come to play it you will no doubt appreciate it as much as I have, although they are too shallow to be noticeable feel-wise.

And if you have never played a fretless you are in for a world of discovery. For a start you play on the ‘fret’ lines rather than between them, and bends are a bit of a no-no. The high output pickup comes into it’s own as without the metal bits, sustain is lower than normal, but there is a quite beautiful buzz about the whole thing, which as you get used to sliding into notes sounds stunning.

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To be clear, The Whipped 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.

*** SOLD ***

Technical Stuff:

Type: Jooky Classic

Electrics: Mojo High Output Mojotron, Mojo Wiring loom

Guitar Type: Telecaster La Cabronita Fretless

Construction: Maple/Ebony Neck, Walnut Body

Strings:     11s Flatwound

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: JL#7
RSP: £1249

Whip Me baaby

Well, I'll do a proper introduction in the morning light where fotos are brighter, more energetic and so much more lovely, but I'm pleased to say I finally finished the fettle of The Whipped One this evening and rather cool it is indeed.

For those who's memory is similar to my own, I'll remind you that it be:

1. A La Cabronita style Tele

2. Has a quite beautiful walnut body

3. The back has been stained, err, walnut and then hard waxed and has some reet pretty flame going on.

4. The top is an exceptionally groovy Mother of Jooky Opalescent finish

5. There may be gold in them there hills

6. The neck is a Warmoth maple/ebony fretless one, a nice soft V in shape and 12" flat in flatness

7. A single Mojotron pickup wound especially for this guitar a lot hotter than normal adorns the bridge position.

8. Wood is all that is to show for the neck pickup spot

9. An excellent Mojo wiring loom brings it all together

10. A hard tail bridge

11. Sperzel trim-lok tuners keep it all stable

And there we are.

As for how it plays, well the action is low, you fret it where the frets should be, and it has a gorgeous, almost, synth sound as you play, and the Mojo pickup was well worth doing as it adds the sustain you would normally expect to lose with a  defrettled guitar.

And to be honest, I can't leave the little mucker alone, well good fun.

But like I say, more anon...

La la laaaa

Mr Whippy - I Want to Ru-u-un

Well, don't ask me how, as it has been a voyage of discoveryness, but I seem to have gotten the fretless wonder that is The Whipped One all fettled and groovy and I can even play it a bit now too.

It is total fun and like learning to play a new instrument in a lot of ways, but that is all cool.

I never realised how many scales I could play (intentionally) along a single string, but it is a useful thing to know.

All that is left to do is to nail on a pickguard, and I have in fact asked those groovy people at Custom CoolEtch to fashion me one of their visual delights, so that will no doubt look funky cool.

However, earlier I had forgotten that and instead chopped myself one out of a copy of U2's The Joshua Tree.

Which itself looks rather spiffy too.

So I'm not sure which one I will eventually use, but maybe both or even I could force myself to make a fretted La Cab too.

That would be fun.

In fact, as you have probably surmised, I genuinely haven't a clue as to what I'm doing right now.

La la laaaa

Let Me See You Whipped

Well, no fotos I'm afraid, but I forgot to mention the other day that I had got The Whipped One fettled and playing like a sitar on acid. Quite lovely.

I still need to sort out the pickguard, I'm thinking something golden would best suit, but in terms of playability, it is rather neat now.

The cool thing with a fretless is that you want it to buzz in the vicinity of the strings, and this it does epically. I've even got to grips with playing the thing and I must say it is rather refreshing. I could take the strings lower, but there is no real need...

Anyway, that was all, as you were.

La la laaa

Learning Curved

Well, I have strings on The Whipped One, not the proper strings as I fear I may get thru a few sets before the set-up is pukka right,  but strings there are.

And first thing I must say, is the overwound Uber nutski Mojotron (for want of a better name) nearly took my head off. Man it is loud.

Still, that was clanging it with a tuning fork, with the strings it is more of a normal level, which is pretty cool.

And I had  forgotten how much a bit of power helps with these fretless guitars - who'd have known, eh?

Sustain is distinctly lacking of course, and thankfully the  recently arrived Line 6 amp #1 bratski loves. has a variety of high gain settings so I haven't had to wind my AC15 up to 11, which thhe neighbours no doubt approve of..

And playing this is a total voyage of intrigue and discoveryness.. I actually got vaguely competent with The Iceblink One, but that is long forgotten, and I've found treating it as though you are playing slide works the best (you press over where the frets should be of course, instead of the more usual between them.)

The weird thing is that the action can be incredibly low. At the moment it is too high (mainly because I can't find my nut files), but even so we are talking a mm at most. Still, find them I will and I'll  get that down.

The neck  is gorgeous - Warmoth definitely know their onions. Funny colour, but lovely all the same.

Still to do, other than the set-up, are to fashion a pickguard out of something and a string bar thingy instead of the string tree as once the nut is down, deep down low, I remember needing one or the strings spend more time out of the groove than I do.

I have to say it is dead good fun to play, really pleased I did it ..

La la laaa

WIP: The Whipped One

Well, things are a movin' if not quite a groovin' here in the Kingdom of the Fat White Jook,and yesterday saw my little The Whipped One take several giant steps in the right direction.

As you can see from the pix, the Mother of Jooky inside-of-a-shell top is finito'ed, and I went subtle (ha - me, subtle) for the back to show off the Flamey Walnut body nicely. (Came as a shock, I didn't realise you could get flamed walnut at room temperature)

Other than that the blingy gold bridge matches the blingy Gold Sperzels and Blingy Gold Gretsch knobs, and the super and dooper looking Mojotron, whilst not gold, adds to the visual wow-ness.

I spent a lot of time checking on the flatness of the fretless ebony 'board, so fingers crossed it works as planned...

As for what is left - well, I need to sort out a pickguard and I didn't have any bling gold neckplates or strap pins, so they are on the way annd will be swapped for th ones I put on yesterday. I am also still waiting for the flatwound strings, but hopefully they will be here today or tomorrow. If I get the nut on I might try some normal strings just to get the string height right, or I may not. it's that sort of day, really.

La la laaaa

Flagellation (For The Nation)

Well, time it scoots on, but I got around to putting a few coats of pearly and silver Mother of Jooky onto The Whipped One, and rather nice it is coming along too if I say so myself which I clearly do.

I even got a start on with the headstock, which suprised me, and I even more even bought the rest of the bits.

This  could be fun..

As for other things, well, I need to get my act together, so I will. Or might at least  soon enough

La la la laaaaa

Whipped Pick-Me-Up

Well, just saw a flashy foto of the rather cool blade pickup that will end-up on The Whipped One, my Fretless La Cab-a-like, and rather stunning it is too, methinks.

I know you probably think of me as the chief Mojo Pickups fanboi, but it is this type of lateralness I just love, the guy is a genius, end-of.

Just don't tell him I said so, you know, he might put his prices up.

As for the rest, well ignoring the pile of other things I haven't finished, I should have the paint this week and will get a move on methinks.

La la laaaa

Whip Crack Away

Well, while I've been a-plotting-and-a-planning, one of the things I thought I'd do was make myself a la Cabronita. Oh, I know they are tuppence a pound, now that Fender/Squier have finally recognised they'd Dun Good, but it really doesn't matter as I prefer my own.

From the top, I snagged a rather nice walnut body, routed for a single TV Jones sized pickup, which OK doesn't give you as many options, but I think look better. Call me King Shallow, but it matters. I'm going for something pretty and cool in the finish dept. too, which is nice.

As for the all important pickup, I've (surprisingly, for the regular reader with a poor memory) ordered something special from Marc at Mojo Pickups, along with the loomy wire thing to go with it. This is going to be hot, as I need the extra oomph for what I am planning...

As for the rest, I'm going for a hard tail of some sort, which I clearly haven't decided yet, tuners are going to be Sperzels and Strap Pins and knobs, well two of each, don't need to say any more than that.

All of which doesn't quite nail the 'Something Different' angle, but I think the fact that the neck is a beautiful maple with an ebony fretboard will help, and the fact that it is fretless definitely does.

I did once make a fretless guitar, quite a while ago, which I think International Jet Set Rock Star Mr Chris Gorman still has, and that was crazy fun and rather weird to play, and I've always been keen to do another, and so well, here it will be. (The fret positions on this one have been scored into the 'board, which I think will help somewhat, I have to admit.)

So that will be The Whipped One, whenever it is I get around to it.

La la laaaa