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Bailey custom acoustic from 40,000 year old Kauri-p3
May 11th
Working on the neck
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- The body with its ancient kauri soundboard is pretty much finished, now its time to concentrate on the neck
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- The headstock is clamped to the bench while the neck is hand carved
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- I carve the main part of the neck first, the heel and blend into the headstock will be tidied up later
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- A wider shot of the work bench with neck carving tools laid out
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- Carving the heel with a chisel
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- The neck is rough carved, it will be sanded later
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- The neck is mounted onto the body
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- Rear view of the neck mounted to the body
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- The guitar is strapped into the string tension simulator for levelling the fretboard
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- The offset position marker dots are marked out and 3mm holes are drilled for the inlays
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- Mother of pearl 3mm dots glued in then sanded flush. The neck is then removed for fretting
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- The frets are pre-bent and cut slightly longer than needed
After the neck was carved, I strapped it into the string tension simulator. This simply holds the guitar firm while pushing up on the back of the headstock and pulling down over the nut area. The amount of pressure is adjustable, which enables me to ‘dial in’ the stresses on the neck as if the strings were on and tuned to pitch. This greatly improves accuracy and removes any guess work from the equation. With the fretboard level the neck was removed for fretting to avoid damaging the ancient kauri soundboard.
Well it is starting to look like a guitar…I still need to put the frets and the side dots. I will also glue on a rosewood heel cap, made using an off-cut from the back. It needs the obligatory Bailey logo, then the neck can be sanded and the guitar will be ready for a finish.
Bailey custom one string bass-3/7- making the neck-2
Mar 17th
…Work continues on the one string wonder…
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- Planing a rough radius onto the fretboard
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- Perfecting the shape with a 12″ radius block
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- Checking the shape with a 12″ radius gauge
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- Carving the neck
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- The neck is now ready for inlays and frets
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- Individual string saddle with piezo pickup, acoustic preamp, and midi circuit
The neck is almost finished after completing the headstock, radiusing the board and carving the neck- It feels great and its a lot of fun to make. I’m starting to really like this.
Although there is only one string right down the middle, the tuner is not located centrally to the neck as you might expect. To work out the position it is offset by half the width of the tuner post plus half the thickness off the string. This way the string will go straight through the nut to the tuner. This is sometimes called ‘straight string pull’
I drilled the tuner hole and checked that it fits ok. At this point all I have left to do is put the inlays and frets in and make and fit the nut. Then I can put a string on it and check how it reacts. I have not put a truss rod in this neck as there will be a lot less tension than the usual four, five, or six stringers. It is a very high quality piece of quartersawn maple and very stiff so i’m not worried but I’ll test it out anyway…Part 4
Custom Bailey for Skerryvore…Design Session
Mar 16th
…Choosing the wood and making the blanks…
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- Alec drawing his headstock design
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- The finished drawing
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- Checking over the wood
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- Alec taking a picture of the wood for his custom guitar
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- The fretboard and neck blank for Alec’s guitar
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- The fretboard is being glued on to the neck and the ‘drop top’ is glued to the body
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- After removing the clamps
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- The body with it’s ‘drop top’ maple cap
Alec is the front man (guitars and voice) for West coast band Skerryvore. He visited at the weekend to finalise the drawing and spec for his new Bailey Custom. He drew his own headstock shape it will be a unique one off custom and requested that the guitar have a ‘sustainer unit’ built in and probably EMG pickups (still to confirm).
After seeing Steve’s guitar made on our build your own guitar course, he has decided to have it sprayed with the same red wine burst so it will be a stunner.
Alec brought his favourite old guitar for me to copy the neck, so I took all the dimensions.
While he was here I got out the wood I had selected for him to check over. It will have a maple neck with a birds eye fretboard. The body is ash with a 4mm highly flamed maple ‘drop top’ cap. This means that the ‘elbow carve’ is cut into the ash body blank before the cap is bent and glued on top.
I took him back to the train station with some homework. He is going to work on an inlay design for the 12th fret and decide for sure which pickups he wants.
When I got back from dropping him off I got started straight away gluing up the body blank. I also made the fretboard, roughed out the neck, and glued the fretboard on before calling it a day. Next job is to put the truss rod in.
Bailey Custom Carved Top – Faded denim – 1/4
Dec 16th
…Tony’s Custom Bailey Xmas Special….
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- Routing the truss rod slot
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- Cutting out the neck
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- The fretboard is ready to fit
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- The truss rod is ready to be fitted
This is a custom job for Tony – he came on the course a couple of times and saw one of my guitars which is now sold. Now he wants me to make him one just like the one he saw and tried last time he was here.
I started this a while ago but I have been so busy that I haven’t had much time for blogging – now trying to catch up!
It is going to be a double cut with a carved top, two humbuckers and a wrapover bridge. The colour will be faded blue denim with a matt finish.
At this stage the truss rod was ready to install and the fretboard ready to be glued on…..It was then left for a few weeks to relax but I was not so lucky…..
The guitar has to be finished next week so it can be sent in time for xmas!
No pressure……
Custom Build – Set neck, Single cut, Flamed Cap- P10
Oct 20th
…Fitting the controls and gluing in the neck (or the fiddly bits)
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- A pattern is clamped in place over the control hole
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- The bearing above the cutter will follow the pattern…
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- …to make the dishes for the controls….
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- The controls can then be fitted from the back
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- Extra material is removed with the router a little at a time
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- …so that the control fits through with 3-4 threads showing for the nut and washer
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- The holes are drilled for the pickup wires
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- ….the jack socket
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- …and strap studs…
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- Pecil,ruler and punch for marking out. 22mm jack socket, 2.5mm strap studs and a long 10mm for pickup wires..
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- The neck is clamped in place to check its position…Lay a ruler down the side of the neck and make a mark where it crosses the pickup
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- Repeat on the other side then check against the centreline – each mark should be the same distance away
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- Glue is applied to the neck socket
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- The neck is clamped in place – glue ‘squeeze out’ must be cleaned off now
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- The neck position is checked again
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- The guitar is then left overnight to dry
The woodwork for the guitar is nearly done now, just a few finishing touches before the neck is glued in, then it is ready for spraying….
First the pots and switches were fitted….
A ‘pot’ is a volume or tone control – short for potentiometer – pots is quicker to say….guitar makers are not lazy (always) – we just don’t like wasting time….or showing off with big words (lie).
Because the guitar has a carved top this is slightly more tricky as each control must be fitted individually. A flat top is much easier – just route the control cavity for one and they will all fit. This doesn’t work on carved tops because of the curve – the nut and washer need a flat spot to tighten against so the control sits straight.
There are several ways around this – some makers angle the control cavity the same as the front so the nut and washer will sit flat. I prefer to make small dishes for each one – I have a round bottom router cutter with a bearing which follows a pattern to make them.The pattern is just a piece of scrap plywood with a large hole (28mm in this case or as big as you want them) which is lined up and clamped so that the control hole is in the centre. Then the round shape is copied into the guitar with the router. I cut just deep enough to leave a large enough flat spot for the nut and washer. It leaves lovely little round dishes which I think looks a lot more classy. It takes a bit more time to sand them but I think its worth it.
Then the holes are drilled…
A very long 10mm drill is used to make the link holes for the pickup wires – mine is a auger bit. This screws itself through as it drills (also the cheapest way to get a very long drill bit). The pickup link holes must be drilled before the neck is glued or it may be (nearly) impossible.
A 22m Auger is used for the jack socket and a standard 2.5mm is used for the strap studs.
This done, it is time to glue the neck in…..
I always dry clamp it first (no glue) so I can check its position. The neck must sit centrally or the strings might not line up with the pickups.
To check this I lay a long (1m) ruler along one side of the neck, mark where it crosses the back of the bridge pickup, and then repeat on the other side. These marks should be an equal distance from the centreline – in most cases this is the glue line down the middle.
This checked out OK so I went ahead and glued it in. The glue is applied to the body and the neck is pressed in and clamped in place. It is worth checking that the neck is still aligned correctly – you can lay a ruler down one side of the neck and check it still lines up with the marks made earlier. The other side is blocked by clamps, but if it lines up on one side you can be sure it will still be the same on the other, so you don’t have to worry.
The guitar was then left overnight to dry……
