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New Hannes Bridge
Apr 2nd
New Hannes Bridges available now for custom Bailey electric guitars and BYO’ers
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- Hannes bridge nickel
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- Hannes bridge chrome
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- Hannes bridge satin chrome
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- Hannes bridge black chrome
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- Hannes bridge gold
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- Hannes bridge ruthenium
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- Hannes bridge satin pearl
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- Hannes bridge vintage copper
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- Hannes bridge with piezo
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- Flagship preamp
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- john pollock’s BYO guitar
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- John with his bailey BYO guitar
Hannes Bridge
The Hannes bridge is billed as the most comfortable bridge in the world. I was a bit skeptical about that, but ordered a couple. One was requested by John Pollock on one of our Build Your Own Custom Guitar courses and I also wanted to try one for myself. They are a little expensive but you get what you pay for… John also had a nanomag pickup inset into the end of the fretboard for a more ‘acoustic’ tone – This was the best solution at the time as there were few options. John’s guitar was the co-star of the Bailey Promo film made by course mate Mark Screeton. The end result was pretty good, I hope you will agree, and the bridge worked out great.
The Hannes came about by a collaboration between designer Roland Hannes and Graph Tech, whose nuts and saddles we have used for many years, and is distributed by Schaller. The saddles are made from the familiar Graph Tech material that has served us so well in the past providing great tone, sustain, durability and consistancy in abundance. You can read all the blurb about it on the Schaller website but here are my thoughts as a guitar maker:
I love the design. It’s about time someone came up with something different – I wouldn’t say futuristic but it looks right bang up to date. The metal parts are available in the normal chrome, black or gold coating so it will match any normal hardware- tuners, jack socket plate etc. The bridge is very functional – it has a large amount of adjustment for saddle height and intonation and it is indeed very comfortable ‘in use’. When used in combination with a Graphtec nut the sound is maximised – noticibly loader and longer sustian.
On the downside it was a little tricky to fit but I have since made a simple router jig to make it a bit easier. The two bolts that go through the body have to be drilled very precisely as they have to line up exacly with the corresponding holes on the bridge and determine where it sits on the front. Luckily there are downloadable instructions and patterns to help get it in the right place. There is also a slot to route for the string retainer which is not recommended for the faint hearted – Hannes recommends finding a luthier to fit it for you – that’s what were here for!
I doubt it would ‘retro-fit’ on your old guitar but if you were making one yourself, or having one made for you, this bridge would be an excellent choice.
Hannes with Piezo Saddles
Ian is currently on the course building a single cut style guitar with a chambered body. He also chose a Hannes bridge and wanted an acoustic sound as well. Thankfully, the Hannes bridge is now also available with Piezo saddles built in – Graphtec happen to make one of the best piezo systems in the world so I have high hopes for this. The preamp is made by Schaller – they call it the Flagship so we’ll see if it lives up to it’s name. Ian is due to finish his guitar some time in June so I will keep you posted.
You can specify a Hannes bridge on any Bailey electric guitar
The Hannes bridge appears to have been accepted by (known for our fussyness and reluctance to try anything new) players and seems to be becoming quite popular. Overall it is a winner which is why we have added it to the list of options for all Bailey electric guitars. If you would like a custom guitar with (or without) a Hannes bridge contact us with your requirements.
Coming Soon…
I am currently making 3 new guitars all with stunning quilted maple caps. They will be finished soon, so have I decided to put the spare Hannes on one of these.
These guitars will all be brand new colours so watch out for that in a few weeks time…
New ‘Little Eye’ video with Euan Malloch playing his Bailey Acoustic
Mar 21st
Euan is playing his Bailey Bootlegger with his band ‘Little Eye‘.
I love these guys! They make it look easy don’t they…
From a guitarmakers point of view this is what is all about at the end of the day – my guitars are not the finished product, it’s the music.
Watch out for the close up of the headstock at the end – my favourite part:)
It’s a buzz to see one of my guitars in such a brilliant video – Thanks guys!
If you would like a Bailey Guitar of your very own contact us and we’ll build it for you.
Bailey Custom Bandsman Build – Norwegian Wood – Part 3
Mar 14th
Completing the neck and making the body
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- Bareknuckle P90s with Ebony covers
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- The ebony covers fit almost perfectly
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- Ebony headstock veneer
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- The headstock is cleaned up
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- Starting work on the body
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- Routing the pickups
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- Most of the routing is done before cutting out the shape…
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- Control Cavity and Coverplate Recess
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- Bandsawing the body shape
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- Routing the body profile
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- The headstock is ready for inlaying
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- Neck and body almost complete
Kristian’s custom Bailey Bandsman is coming on very well indeed…
Do the Ebony Pickup Covers fit Bareknuckle P90s?
The covers arrived earlier this week and I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t fit so the first thing I did was test that. If anyone wants to know, they do fit (almost) perfectly and look awesome. They are just a tad tight but with a little gentle pressure they popped on without any problems. I will include the original plastic covers just in case the ebony ones ever break…touching wood….
Last time I got as far as gluing the headstock veneer. This was glued on oversized, then filed and sanded down to clean up the excess..
The tuner holes have to be re-made through the new veneer by drilling first with a smaller drill (I used a 7mm) before reaming them to size.
At this point I decided to make a start on the body. I glued up the body blanks last time so I was able to get straight on with it.
I usually start by routing the pickups, then I drill the control holes right through the body and use those to position the pattern on the back.
The body is now almost complete apart from shaping the belly carve, drilling for hardware, and sanding, but first I will cut the neck slot and set the neck angle. That is a pretty major job best done with a fresh head so I finished with an easier job, cutting the nutslot and truss rod access.
Bailey Custom Bandsman Build – Norwegian Wood – Part 2
Mar 9th
Kristian’s Custom Bandsman
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- Preparing the neck for the fretboard
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- Gluing the fretboard
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- Gluing the cap onto the body
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- Compound fretboard radius 1
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- Compound fretboard radius 2
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- Carving the neck facets
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- Blending in the facets
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- The frets are pressed in
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- Side dots installed
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- Gluing the headstock veneer
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- The body is marked out
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- Kristian’s pickups have arrived
I installed the truss rod last time so the next big job was to glue the fretboard and while the glue was drying on that I decided to also glue the cap to the body.
The compound radius of the fretboard was done by hand with a flat sanding block, a straightedge and the two radius gauges. Kristian has asked me for a 10″ (1st fret) to 14″ (last fret) compound radius which is strange as Rohan also wants the same. I guess compound radiuses must be like buses.
There will be no inlays on the front of this fretboard so when I was happy with the shape of the fretboard it was time to put the frets in.
Kristian has specified stainless steel frets which take a bit longer. Stainless steel is three times as hard as the tradition material used for fret wire, it takes about three times as long to do anything with it, wears out my files three times faster and should last three times as long. It is also three time as expensive to buy. I sense a pattern forming here but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Actually installing the frets is no problem with stainless steel, I use by fret press to push them in as normal, but cutting and filing them is a different matter. Also when the time comes to level and dress the frets it will be hard work but my diamond files will do the trick.
The side dots are 2mm mother of pearl. I simply drill a 2mm hole for each dot and fix them in with superglue. The dots are left sticking up slightly and sanded flat later when the glue has dried.
The last thing I did on Kristian’s guitar today was to glue on the Ebony headstock veneer.
The Bareknuckle P90′s arrived yesterday, a ‘Nantucket 90‘ in the neck position and ‘Supermassive 90‘ in the bridge, but we are still waiting for the Ebony pickup covers as requested.
Nantucket’s are hotter, thicker, sounding, but still vintage, pickup – The ever helpful guys from Bareknuckle advised us they are a very versatile pickup as they offer lovely clean tones as well as being quite powerful and the Supermassive P90 should be a good match as it shares the same alnico v magnets.
The body is marked out but I will not do any work on it until the Ebony Pickup Covers arrive- there is a chance that they may not fit so I’ll hold fire until I can sure…
As all our guitars are individually hand made any of them can be ordered customised to your own spec.
The SpaceShip – First Docking Procedure
Mar 5th
Fitting the neck to the body with a dovetail joint
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- Archtop guitar dovetail jig
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- The dovetail slot in the body
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- Archtop guitar dovetail front view
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- Neck dovetail ‘test piece’
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- The neck dovetail jig
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- The ‘neck test piece’ is dovetailed
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- The actual neck is machined
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- A perfect fit
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- Gluing the neck extension
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- Close up of neck extension
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- Ready to fit the truss rod
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- Installing the truss rod
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- Aligning the fretboard
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- Rear view
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- Ready to glue the fretboard
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- Clamping the archtop guitar fretboard
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- Gluing the ‘wings’ on the side of the headstock
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- Custom headstock designed by Steve
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- Rough carving the neck
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- The neck is now roughly carved
Captains Log
Stardate : 05312.5
Today we passed a milestone in our continuing journey to go where no Jazz Archtop has gone before. It was my duty as captain to single handedly complete the first docking procedure with the new jazz class spaceship. It is necessary to ensure this runs smoothly as we do not want any issues to arise when the time comes to permanently attach the neck to the body.
The neck cannot be glued on until the guitar is just about finished during the final ‘docking procedure’, but the dovetail must be made before the fretboard is glued on or the neck would not fit into the jig.
Completing the neck joint is one of the major jobs when making an Archtop style guitar. It has to be a dovetail as there is no way to get hands inside the body to tighten any bolts.
This is also how the neck angle is set so that the strings will arrive at the right height for the bridge, and also the alignment- the centre of the neck must align with the centreline on the body.
The body mortice is cut first then the fitted neck to it, using a piece of ‘scrap’ to practice on until the angle and alignment is correct, then swapping it for the real neck to complete the dovetail joint.
After this I can glue the neck extension, install the truss rod and glue on the fretboard.
This headstock is going to be quite large so I added some ‘wings’ to each side to increase the width so the shape will fit on.
Steve designed his own headstock which I traced and marked out onto the wood before drilling the tuner holes and cutting out the shape.
Finally I rough carved the neck. I left it slightly oversized for now and will refine it after the frets are fitted. I may have to work on the fretboard first so it is good to leave a little leeway for this. Now I will let it settle for a while…
Contact us if you would like to commission your own epic custom build, or visit our online shop to see some ready made examples.
