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Electric guitars
Bailey Custom Guitar Build – Part 1 – Exotica Left Handed
Apr 25th
Simon’s custom Exotica – ‘thru neck’ style.
Simon came to visit in March to design his guitar and choose his wood, parts, etc. Since then I have been making very good progress – it is almost starting to look like a guitar. I have taken so many pictures that it was difficult to choose just a few for the blog so I had an idea to make a slideshow- a new format for keeping you updated with my custom builds…why did I not think of that before? Now you can hear one of my guitars being played while you watch another one taking shape – How fantastic is that. (Please feel free to make a comment.)
It took a little longer to put the slideshow together but I hope you will agree it is a better way of showing more of what goes on in the Bailey workshop.
In case you are wondering- it is a left handed guitar but it has a right handed headstock, very cool…next job is to glue the wings on – can’t wait to see it myself!
The music is from ‘Paligap‘ a great Scottish band with an outstanding guitar player who goes by the name of Anderson Council. Recorded ‘live’ on his own Bailey custom, it is their tribute to one of the founding fathers of electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix – enjoy!
If you are interested in having your own custom guitar made especially for you – contact us with your requirements or have a look at some guitars in our online shop.
Build your own Guitar – ‘Secret’ Date – Mon 16 April
Apr 19th
Extra day for local builders…and Kevin
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- Kevin
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- Stevie
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- Ian
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- Moyra
‘Secret’ Dates
Most people on the course have to come and finish in one go – we get them from all over Europe and beyond so it is not possible to ‘pop’ back for workshop days here and there. We do however put on extra days for local builders as they are more flexible. Local builders have the option of coming one day a month and can choose from available ‘secret’ dates to complete their build. Contact us if you are interested whether you are local or not – Carol will be able to tell you which course will suit you, when these days are, or you can check availability of non ‘secret’ dates here.
Moyra
Moyra is making a cocobolo version of the Bailey Sweet P and came for a couple of hours to glue on her neck and bridge. You can see a photo gallery of her guitar being made here. Next time she will finish her guitar with a fret dress and set up – can’t wait! Got the next one planned yet Moyra?
Kevin
This was day four for Kevin who stayed on after the 3 days to get a bit further on his version of the Bailey Bootlegger. He has now finished bracing his soundboard and back plates and now only has to carve the braces and they are finished. Next time he comes he will bend the sides, then start assembling his body. If there is enough time he will also start work on the neck.
Ian
Ian already made his neck last time he came so this time it was to work on his body. The body has chambers and we will eventually cut an f-hole into the birds eye maple top. Apart from the f-hole he managed to get his body routed and cut out so one more day of woodwork and it should be ready for spraying.
Stevie
Stevie carved the heel on his neck and rough sanded the neck and body. His bass is now ready for us to spray. We still have to work out some kind of pickup system soon as he is nearly finished. This may not be straight forward as it is a 5 string archtop and there are few ‘off the shelf’ solutions out there. We will probably go for a custom job made by Kent Armstrong for the neck position but Stevie also would like a piezo bridge so I will see what is available and come up with some options for him.
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BUILD YOUR OWN GUITAR Part 1- continues in June
Apr 18th
Location: Bailey workshop
Fri April 13 2012 - 10:00 AM
Sun April 15 2012 - 5:00 PM
Kevin, Martin, Graham and Jon
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- Jon is making a 4 string thru neck bass
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- Graham is making a bolt on 6 string
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- Martin is making a single cut set neck with chambered body
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- Kevin is making a Bootlegger acoustic
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- End of Day 1
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- Installing the abalone rosette
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- Checking the fretboard shape
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- Carving the neck
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- Marking out the body
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- End of day 3
Build Your Own Guitar/Bass course
This is a split, two weekend course, for people who are unable to come for a whole week and want to make something with more options than the Build your First Guitar Course. It also enables acoustic makers who need more time to pick and mix weekend dates over a longer period. Carol is a logistical genius and somehow manages to keep us all on track – contact her here for available dates.
Kevin
Kevin is starting his fourth guitar on the course – I don’t seem to have a photo of his first one (Send me one if you can Kevin!) but previously he made a single cut with an f-hole, and then this particularly attractive Bass. This time he is making an acoustic based on the original Bailey Bootlegger.
Martin
Martin is making a set neck, single cut, 6 string guitar with chambered body. He chose a Flamed Maple cap with a mahogany back. The neck is also Mahogany with a Rosewood fretboard.
Graham
Graham is building a bolt on style guitar with a drop top and has chosen a beautiful piece of Australian Blackwood for the front which contrasts beautifully with the Ash back. His neck is Birds Eye Maple with an Ebony fretboard.
Jon
Jon is making a thru neck 4 string fretless bass. The five piece neck is made from three Flamed Maple and two Walnut laminates glued together. His body wings are Basswood and he chose some Maple for the cap.
Three days later…
After three days a lot of progress has been made. Martin, Graham and Jon have all but completed their necks and have all made a start on the bodies.
Kevin was booked onto one of our extra ‘secret’ dates, normally reserved for our local builders, so he stayed an extra day – see next post…
This course will continue in June.
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Bailey Custom Bandsman Build – Norwegian Wood – Part 5
Apr 10th
Tobacco Burst Custom Bandsman Spray Job
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- Ready for spraying
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- Applying the first colour
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- Sealing the colour coat
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- Spraying the ‘burst’
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- Full Frontal
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- The back
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- Full length at an angle
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- A close up of the body
This guitar has taken slightly longer than expected- The ebony pickup covers held us up for a week or so, and Kristian also specified an Electro Socket Jack which was out of stock at all our suppliers. I didn’t want to go ahead and spray the guitar just in case there was a problem so it was delayed another week. We finally tracked one down and it has arrived so work can now continue.
Kristian specified Tobaco Burst like the original bandsman his guitar is based on- but with a couple of subtle changes. That is the beauty of having a custom guitar made especially for you…
How we spray Tobacco Burst
After sanding, the guitar was stained all over with the first colour. The amber stain was mixed with water and applied with a rag.
After it had dried thoroughly this was then sealed in by spraying it with a coat of sanding sealer.
Next the burst was applied using the spray gun. We used tobacco brown stain mixed with thinners to make the burst by spraying around the edges. Kristian has aksed for a ‘softer transition’ so that is what we are aiming for here – we will widen the spray pattern on the gun slightly to achieve this. He didn’t want the burst on the back of the neck so we left that.
The burst was then sealed with a coat of sanding sealer.
Finally the top coats were applied, in this case two coats of cellulose matt finish.
The guitar will be left to hang for a while…it will be ready for assembly end of next week!
The Bailey Collection | How to order your custom Bailey | Bailey Shop
Left Handed Custom Bailey Exotica – Part 1
Mar 30th
Design session and wood selection
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- Simon works on his drawing
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- Laminates for custom exotica
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- ‘Brown’ Maple for the body wings
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- Spalted Maple Cap
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- Body Laminates
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- Neck Laminates
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- neck laminates assembled dry
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- Body laminates assembled dry
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- So good I photographed it twice
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- You want to touch it don’t you
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- Neck and body wood
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- The piece for the Body wings
Simon found us by trawling the internet and fell in love with the Exotica in our online shop.
The only problem was he plays left handed so we arranged a visit to the workshop for a design session and we drew out the guitar to confirm all the details.
It turned out that he really did like the Exotica- his spec was virtually identical apart from a few extra custom options.
Simon chose some Spalted Maple for the Cap while he was here but I have some more on order so I will post pictures when it arrives and he can choose which one he likes.
It will be a while before I am ready to glue on the Cap so there is no rush just yet, I will start by gluing up the neck laminates anyway…
The rest of the wood for the neck laminates and the body wings came from our friends at David Dyke.
We got lucky with the body wings (Thanks David) – we specified ‘Brown’ Maple, as used on the original.
Brown Maple is just plain maple with dark marks in the wood- it works great with a Spalted Maple Cap.
The only Brown Maple David had also has some really nice flame in it so that is a bonus (As long as Simon likes it of course).
Personally I think it is going to look amazing – no colour just a natural satin finish to bring out the figure in the wood.
There are quite a few extra laminations which will make gluing up the blanks a little tricky but the effect of the additional Black pinstripes will be spectacular.
Simon’s choice of custom hardware includes an original Floyd Rose bridge with a tungsten sustain block.
Contact us with your own custom guitar requirements.
Custom Left Hand Exotica Spec
Scale Length - 25 1/2″
Number of Frets – 24 correction – 22
Neck Style – Thru
Body wood – Brown Maple body wings
Cap – Laminated: Black pinstripe 3mm (1/8″) |Mahogany, Back pinstripe, 12mm (1/2″) Spalted Maple
Neck Wood – Laminated: 32mm (1.25″) Flame maple,black pinstripe, 3mm (1/8″) mahogany, black pinstripe, 9mm (3/8″) plain maple, black pinstripe, 3mm (1/8″) mahogany, black pinstripe, 32mm (1.25″)flame maple
Fretboard – Ebony
Hardware Colour – Gold
Bridge – Floyd Rose Original with L3 Locking Nut and Tungsten Block
Pickups – Bareknuckle PG Blues humbuckers with gold covers
Tuners – LSR tuners
Bailey Logo – Black
