NGD: Jookified Jr

JookyChap

I never seem to have a Jooky of my own - I have this silly rule that I have to sell them all, apart from one, but I even gave that away.. So, anyway, I decided to make myself one, and had fancied trying one of the Faber/Tokai Les Paul Jr kits, so this is that.

The spec is really good - one piece hog body, one piece hog big hanful of a neck, long tenon joint, nice rosewood 'board, and MIJ. And when it showed up the wood was beautiful, really impressive.

I should probably have gone traditional of course, but that isn't really my thing, so I decided to go for a complete opposite - a bit of Art Deco in with the dust.

The top then has been finished with some heavily laden bronze paint, with a bit of copper in there for good measure. This I gave a strong dose of acid so that it corroded to a deep green, and then it was stabilised and finished with a hard wax oil. Back and sides were stained walnut and again hard wax oiled.

The back of the neck I stained walnut as well, but finished with tr-oil and wax for a nice matte finish.

Pickup-wise, I skipped the P90 and went for one of Mojo's Teisco-esque Gold foils. These are a crazy cool pickup - and look pretty amazing too - and in a Jr make perfect sense. Beautiful tones, and Marc also did me one of his historically pukka looms so that should last many a decade.

For the bridge, I prefer wraparounds to ABR/Stopbars, and as I saw @DDlooping used a Hipshot Baby Grand on the first of his Ghost mock-ups, I thought I'd tip my bonce in his direction and use one of those. It is heavy and the sustain is excellent..

Also in the too-fancy-for-a-Jr department, I went for a set of the Deco-ish Grover 109C tuners which look good and work fine.

As for the finishing touch, since the verily clever @Basher did me a logo for my Jookies, I got a new company Custom Cooletch to make me a slightly OTT pickguard that incorporates it in the design. This they've aged beautifully, though the fotos don't really capture the magic.

So as Jrs go, no doubt Marmitey in extreme, but I'm loving it right now and for once I'm going to keep it.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RJuwo4mZeds/Us8I9WxwxgI/AAAAAAAAGwA/sAnLiXEVtfY/s1600/IMG_5140.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m227c6lA_pI/Us8JAdU_7uI/AAAAAAAAGwI/E-5Y3o39eJM/s1600/IMG_5145.JPG

Lixarto

Lovely

TTony

JookyChap said:

and for once I'm going to keep it.

Ladeeese and Gentlemenns .. place your bets now

It's up there with all of your others Mr Jooky!

stonevibe

Looking sweet fella.

Got to love a Junior!

EdGrip

Could you do us a bit of a demo to show us that gold foil pickup? Marc seems to be making little else at the moment!

JookyChap

I could, but it wouldn't impress you Ally Lee did one on Youtube though - This is it

usedtobe

I like it! 

ThePrettyDamned

WOW

blueskunk

Looks lovely dude

Wow Ally's a great player and shows what cool pickups these are.

JookyChap

Cheers man - I know what you mean about Ally, makes me sick

impmann

I like that a lot, Mark. Very cool.

Dave_Mc

Nice

ChrisMusic

Great colour, and I just love the etched copper guard.

Good NGD me-thinks  

JookyChap

Cheers fellas

@ChrisMusic - I  wanted something a bit OTT and (oddly) Ally who did the video had just recorded the Cooletch guy's band, and mentioned it. Must admit all the metal plates I'd seen before had been heavy metal tattoo kinda things, but the lady who did the work - Jane -  is coming from a different direction and is a lot classier imho. It made the guitar anyway, nobody notices the rest

ThePrettyDamned

I really like that etched stuff. What are the contact details? I might see what they can do...

JookyChap

ThePrettyDamned said:

I really like that etched stuff. What are the contact details? I might see what they can do...

They haven't got a web site, I don't think, but are on facebook Here and I'll PM you Chris' email address - he's a good geezer

paulk

Bloody gorgeous mate!

A_T_W

So what exactly are those Gold Foils like, cos every time you mention them I get more and more tempted ...

JookyChap

They are pretty raw. They are a lot like a P90 in that they are a thicker single coil sound, but the sustain on them is really long, and there is more separation even when you use a lot of distortion. Ry Cooder's slide is probably the one everybody references most, but clean they are quite twangy. They remind me of a Filtertron as well, but generally they just have a different sound, which is quite refreshing.

I am vaguely in love with them at the moment, them and some Mosrite-ish ones Mojo do as well.

kelvinburn

WOW!

Rox

JookyChap said:

So as Jrs go, no doubt Marmitey in extreme, but I'm loving it right now and for once I'm going to keep it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hand-Built-Jooky-Les-Paul-Jr-Junior-Gibson-Strings-/171218501098?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27dd6afdea

:P

There isn't really a smilie that sums up 'inevitable'... 

@TTony wasn't wrong!!