Posts tagged mahogany

bailey custom guitar design session

Left Handed Custom Bailey Exotica – Part 1

Mar 30th

Posted by Mark in Custom guitars

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Design session and wood selection

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


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fretboard and neck blanks

Bailey Custom Bandsman Build – Norwegian Wood – Part 1

Feb 24th

Posted by Mark in Custom inlays

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Making the Neck – Stage 1

This guitar is based on the Bailey Bandsman with a few extra custom options.

I usually start by making the fretboard, as it is very handy to have for marking out the neck. Instead of using a drawing and transferring measurements, I can use the real thing, so it is quicker and more accurate.

The trussrod slot is much easier to do while the neck is still a square block of wood, using a simple fence guide on the router. Then the headstock angle is rough cut on the bandsaw, before routing it perfectly flat using my jig.

Then the rest of the neck can be cut out. This is a two stage process:

1 – Roughly bandsaw the neck leaving 2-3mm outside the line.

2 – ‘Profile’ the neck using the router to copy a pattern into the wood.

After this, I route the back surface of the headstock until it is the correct thickness for the tuners, usually about 15-15.5mm.

Now the back of the headstock is nice and flat I am able to drill the tuner holes on the pedestal drill.

Having done all that it is time to install the truss rod. A small fillet of wood is glued over the rod to hold it in place. This avoids any problems caused by a loose fitting rod which may otherwise rattle or buzz while playing.

Next job is to glue the fretboard on. I also have to glue the cap to the body blank pretty soon so I can start work on the body…keep an eye on the blog to see how work is progressing

As you can see, all my guitars are individually handmade. I do not have a pile of necks and bodies to go through like in the old days at the factory, so I have the luxury of totally dedicating myself to each one. People often ask me which guitar I enjoy making the most – the truth is, it is always the one I am making right now!

Imagine watching your custom guitar take shape with regular updates and pics? If you are interested, have a look at some more of our guitars. Any of these can be customised to your own preferences, or if you have an idea for your own shape we can build it for you, Contact Us with your required spec for a quote.


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Mahogany Body Blank

Bailey Custom Bandsman- Norwegian Wood

Feb 20th

Posted by Mark in Custom guitars

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I once had some wood, or should I say, it once had me…

Kristian ordered his custom Bandsman through our online shop from the comfort of his home in Norway. We have many guitars all over the world but this will be a one of a kind in the country where it is going. A search through the wood room turned up these particularly stunning pieces. You can watch this guitar being made as I will make regular progress updates here on the blog. I can’t wait to see it myself!

Body wood

The back of the body is a single piece of mahogany and will be capped with Flame Maple.

Neck wood

The neck is a perfectly quartersawn single piece of Mahogany with an Ebony fretboard, headstock veneer and truss rod cover.

Inlays

No front dots- Mother of Pearl side dots only

Mother of Pearl Bailey Logo on headstock

Hardware

Tuners and bridge will be Gotoh 510′s chrome finish.

Pickups

Bareknuckle P90′s – A ‘Blue Note’ in the neck position and a ‘Nantucket’ for the bridge pickup, with Ebony pick up covers.

Finish

Tobacco burst all over with satin lacquer


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3 a side headstock

Bailey baritone custom acoustic

Mar 20th

Posted by Mark in Acoustic guitars

2 comments

Preston Reed gets a new Bailey Guitar

Way Down Deep

Preston Reed called and asked me to make a new guitar to replace his old one that he’d used for about the last 13 years. With the environment in mind, he wanted to support a local builder and liked the idea of a guitar made with renewable energy.

He pretty much knew exactly what he wanted which is always a big help and visited the workshop to go through the spec and do a drawing.

All I knew before hand was that it was long scale. Preston had sent me the dimensions of his old neck to copy… The Bailey Baritone was built using traditional methods and reclaimed wood wherever possible.

The guitar is now being used in his one man show travelling with him around the world – Big THANKS to Preston for choosing us to make it for him.

Preston has pioneered his own unique musical style, and if you haven’t seen him play yet, you are missing an extraordinary experience.Preston’s tour dates

And if you can’t get to see him live soon, you can get hold of his music direct from his website.

UPDATE: 31st March 2011

Preston wrote a blog about his guitar!

Email this article Email this article

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The body is ready to have the neck fitted

Custom Build – Set neck, Single cut, Flamed Cap- P4

Oct 2nd

Posted by Mark in Custom guitars

…..The end of another week at the Bailey workshop……

That is about as far as I’m going to get this week. The body is routed and ready for the neck to be fitted to it – I won’t do any more work on the body until the neck is nearly finished. The neck is carved, and I’m ready to glue on the headstock veneer.

Next week I will install the mother of pearl crown inlays first, and then put the frets into the neck. After that I can finish off the body – so by the end of next week it should look pretty much like a guitar……I’ll have to start thinking about colour tests…….


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