The Jellocaster

Year: Who cares?
Finish: Translucent purple lucite
Origin: China by way of California
Price Paid: $200
Mods: Guitar Fetish Lil’ Killer pickups, Schaller straplocks, generic chrome knobs
Acquired: 2005
Still owned: No

The Story:
I saw a bunch of Plexiglas guitars on eBay under the name Galveston (Made in China, natch). I love the weird ones; how could I resist? But when I brought them up at the forums over at Rock & Roll Confidential, serial guitinkerer jackassrock said, “I have half of one, please take it.” He sent me the body, pickguard, and neckplate for free, just to get them out of his house. I took them over to Greg at Orbiter Guitars and said, “Can we make this work? It would be funny.” He happened to have a battered 70’s Fender neck that someone had given him to practice refrets and whatnot, so he painted the headstock purple, drilled the holes, threw in some spare Schaller tuners, installed some Lil’ Killer railed humbuckers I’d gotten from Guitar Fetish, and wired the pickups to a mini-toggle for reasons I don’t remember — I think he just wanted to try it as an experiment. I took care of the requisite knobs. So for about $200 tops, I had a see-through mongrel oddball. Greg called it the Grape Ape, but I always felt it was the Jellocaster.

It looked great but sounded as tinny as you’d expect and it weighed a ton – heavier than the Les Paul. I played it at a fraternity party in inclement weather because I figured it was indestructible. Ultimately I returned the tuners to Greg, scavenged the pickups for a future unnamed project, and sold it to a friend who thought it would look cool on her wall. Better there than in my collection.

The Jellocaster