Latest News
Bailey custom acoustic from 40,000 year old Kauri
Apr 14th
…Amazing honour bestowed upon us!…
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- mahogany and rosewood neck laminates
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- Rosewood back
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- ‘Ancient Kauri’ soundboard
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- spalted maple rosette
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- cutting the rosette
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- gluing the rosette
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- planing the headstock
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- The angled headstock
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- rosewood sides
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- The sound hole is cut
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- routing the truss rod slot
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- scalloped bracing
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- gluing the heel block
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- gluing the sides
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- centre-seam reinforcement diamonds
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- Three piece rosewood back
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- inscription
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- ‘The Southern Cross’
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- ‘closing the box’
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- sealing the body of the guitar by gluing the back on
Sandy turned up about five weeks ago to tell us he was moving to New Zealand and he had some wood he wanted me to make into a guitar for him before he leaves. He has been on the course twice and then went on to build several more very nice guitars at home for friends and family, so I’m pleased that he wants one of mine. It’s always an honour to make someone a guitar but this one even more so, as he supplied some extra special wood he had collected over the years during his guitar making adventures.
The soundboard is 40,000 years old (!) Ancient NZ Kauri- he explained how trees had fallen into peat bogs and been preserved…just….waiting to be dug up turned into a guitar! It is the only piece I have ever seen, so I will need to be extra careful. It is quite soft and light, like cedar or spruce, but I will be able to tell more when I have worked it some more. It is quartersawn, golden in colour with a faint ripple, has a great ‘tap tone’ and should make a great soundboard. It is a rare priviledge to be making it into a guitar.
The rest of the guitar body is rosewood as supplied by Sandy. The back was not quite wide enough for the shape he wanted (bootlegger) so we decided to make a three piece back. Two glue lines means two centre-seam reinforcement strips as you can see in the picture..
As if that wasn’t enough he also gave me a side-bending jig and a pile of wood that he didn’t want to take with him, so BIG THANKS for that as well!
The ‘box’ is complete and ready for binding and I’ve already started the neck so I think I am over half way there with the wood work- hope you enjoy the pics…
Cross The Border come South for the Fastest Repair in the West
Apr 11th
Sunday 11th April - the day after the night before
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- here we sit – Duffy, DJ Buddha, Lew and Stoo
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- Here We Stand – by Cross The Border
Half of the Celtic Roots band “Cross the Border” popped in for a cuppa and a workshop tour this weekend – the summer sun appeared from somewhere and we drank tea in the warmth of a glorious day. Like most visitors it wasn’t the tea or the amazing conversation they came for. It certainly wasn’t the cake (didn’t have any..ooops..sorry) I think they liked the guitars….
Stoo Nichol and Lew Robinson make up the half that arrived, along with the marvellous music man DJ Buddha who has created an inspiring internet radio station. There was much talk of St Anne of Duffy’s curry…. which is the link between Bailey’s and CSB … Mr Duffy himself. All are part of the Artistic Freedom Collective (AFC) which is a collective of musicians who play and organise events all over the place.
We were honoured that they came down for the Acoustic session on the Saturday – “the best open mike around ” said Stoo. They played a great set – both being guitar players, singers and Lew adding percussion (when not playing the guitar ) and sprinkle of Duffy’s Bouzouki was the cherry on an otherwise delicious trifle.
The band in full swing includes fiddle by Yuuka Yamada and percussion from Kris Padbury and they are all off to Germany in June – a Celtic radio station over there – (schottenradio.de ) has been getting so many requests for their tracks they just have to go
Lew qualifies for the Bailey ‘fastest repair of all time’ award – he went in with a guitar case, we all had a gulp of tea, he came out and said it was fixed. Think it took Mark as long to do the repair as zip the case back up. (if only all repairs were made that way )
Great guys and musicians – we wish them well in all they do. Hoping the cat drawing Buddha’s blood will not stop them visiting again ( more apologies)
Their album “Here We Stand” is a lovely thing to behold - the artwork is great and I do like a CD with a cover you can look at like an LP . Full marks for no plastic shells also.
It is available from http://www.crossthebordermusic.co.uk/ or iTunes Amazon etc , and supports the charity CRY, which raises awareness of Sudden Death Syndrome.
Bailey custom one string bass-6/7- making the body
Apr 7th
…and stringing it up for a test…
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- The body is marked out
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- neck-slot
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- Rear cavity and battery box
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- Neck mounting screw holes
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- Recessed neck anchor washers
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- The neck is screwed on for the first time
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- Marking out the output jacks
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- ‘Stitch drilling’ for the midi jack
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- A 22mm hole is drilled for both outputs
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- The rest of the waste is removed with a chisel
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- Tools used to fit the output jacks
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- Test fitting the jack sockets
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- The finished holes for the output jacks
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- A small sanding block was used for cleaning up the square hole
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- Marking out the individual string saddle
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- A slot is made for the piezo wire
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- A hole is drilled through into the control cavity
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- The drill pops out in the control cavity
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- The nut is fitted
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- Strung up and tested
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- Carving the body
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- Sanded and sprayed with sealer
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- The front of the body
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- The neck and body are hanging to dry
The bass will get another coat tomorrow then hang for a while to dry. We are still waiting for the acoustiphonic volume control. It is expected in about 10 days so we will have to wait till then to find out what it really sounds like.
Meanwhile I strung it up ‘in the white’ to check all is OK and it looked great. If you remember: There is no truss rod in this neck- I was pretty sure it would be OK as there is only the one string but I wanted to make sure it didn’t bend too much under string tension. As it turned out it hardly moved at all. Result…
Next time I write about the ‘one string wonder’ it will be finished!..Part 7
Bailey custom one string bass-5/7- making the neck
Apr 1st
One trick pony- April fools! No its not…
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- The neck is ready and frets have been cut
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- Hammering in the frets
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- Snipping the fret ends to length
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- Filing the fret ends flush
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- Filing an angle onto the ends of the frets
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- Close up of the frets
I hammered the frets in and then ran a bead of super glue under the end of each one. This locks the frets in position. If the ends are locked in place the fret cannot move. After nipping to length, the ends of the frets are filed flush to the wood, then an angle is filed onto the ends and finally smoothed over with a sanding block.
Although it will only have one string this certainly will not be a ‘one trick pony’. Its going to be full of them. It will sound like an acoustic bass but also have to capability to control any MIDI instrument or computer and use whatever sounds they contain. Pretty cool. Next week I’ll be working on the body and stringing it up (shouldn’t take long) for a test. Then it will be ready for a finish…Part 6
Preston Reed’s Custom Bailey Baritone- update
Mar 31st
Preston playing his Bailey custom baritone
Preston writes about his new guitar
I’m lost for words…Thanks Preston!
It was a real thrill to make an instrument for such an outstanding player. It was an adventure learning about his style of playing and how that translated into a guitar built to his specific needs. I’ll writing more about this process and how I made the guitar in the coming weeks.
Thanks Preston for such a great write up!
More info on Preston’s new guitar
