Eat it or play it?

BYO316 Peter Irvine 2/9/12

Peter came on our build your own custom guitar course to make this, his first guitar. He chose some spectacular pieces of wood and decided to have it finished with UV Gloss Lacquer. As there is not enough time for this during the course itself, he fitted the guitar up for a test, before leaving it with us for Billy to spray and polish (first pic). Peter then returned a few weeks later for final assembly and set up.

The main part of the body utilises some of our treasured Flamed Jarrah and if that wasn’t enough he topped it with an extremely highly figured Walnut Cap. The neck was also Walnut with an Ebony Fretboard and inlaid with Mother of Pearl dot markers.

He chose all chrome hardware including his Shroeder Stoptail Bridge and even the pickups had chrome covers – every part of this guitar is shiny and dazzling! The edges of the body were rounded over with a large radius, which makes it look like a boiled sweet to my eyes – I don’t know whether I want to play it or eat it! What would you do?

Like most of our students Peter had little or no experience of making anything let alone a guitar but that is what we are here for. Ninety nine per cent of guitars are made in factories and having worked in one myself in my youth, I know that they are not populated by genius luthiers, but normal people who start at nine and finish at five. What appears to be a very difficult job – making a guitar – is broken down into many small easy steps which anybody can do…trust me I know. That is the basis of all our courses – I guess I was lucky to be there at the time and learn from those guys, so I feel I am giving something back when I pass on some of this hard won knowledge.

Peter returned more recently to build his own Ukulele.

Single Cut Thru Neck – with MIDI

BYO315 Tony Vince 2/9/12

The Story

Tony made his first guitar back with us in July 2007bb (before blog) – He was way ahead of us when it comes to blogging and was the first to keep a daily update – We obviously inspired him as he went straight out and bought a shed and filled it with tools so he could continue to build more guitars at home!

A while later he commissioned me to make him a custom guitar – a double cut faded denim blue guitar with two humbuckers and set neck. His blog followers and friends were so impressed by the guitar he made and the one I made for him that they asked – ‘If these Baileys are so good how come we have never heard of him and there are no fancy pics online?’. That spurred me to have our new website made so you can all thank him for that – now you can get your regular Bailey fix right here on the Bailey Blog – but don’t miss our online shop where you can buy your own or book on a course.

The Guitar

This time Tony booked himself on our Build Your Own Custom Guitar course. He wanted to move to the next level so he made this single cut, through neck style construction, with a cap – probably the most complicated solid body electric style to make. The hardware was all chrome including the pickup covers for the two humbuckers. Tony also fitted a GK2 internal kit and midi pickup giving him access to virtually any sounds he wants. The guitar was sprayed here by our master of paint, Billy, who stained it amber with a matt finish.

The End

I always say at the end of each course that this is not the end but a new beginning, I know it’s a cliche but it is true. We have all made some new friends and four new instruments have been brought into the world from nothing but just a thought in someones head. It really is just the start – when you take your freshly self made work home everyone will ask about it when they see it for the first time. Just remember, when they glaze over it is probably time to stop talking! Then there is the first band practice, first gig, first recording – it goes on.  I love seeing the look in folks eyes when they realise what they achieved – it is priceless. I have seen grown men cry – one guy nearly broke my back because he was so emotional he couldn’t stop hugging me. If you can build a guitar you can do anything! Maybe you will go on to play Wembley Stadium or Pebble Mill at One, or perhaps you will be the next Prime Minister, but you will never forget making your first guitar!

What Steve made

Steve Duncan BYO 314 – 2/9/12

Steve’s first guitar was made on our Custom Build Your Own guitar course. We always start that particular course with a full scale design session where I help get the ideas rolling around in a head, out, onto paper and make sure it will work.

Unlike most people that come on the course, Steve already had some experience making cigar box guitars, but liked the idea of creating an original instrument from scratch.  So with a little bit of guidance from us the SD no 1 was born – a Flame Maple bolt on neck with Ebony Fretboard and Alder custom body shape with Quilted Maple carved Cap.

The custom course is a few days longer to allow for more design features like the full deep carve of the top, and Steve topped his creation with a custom ‘Thistle’ Headstock shape designed by himself.

For the finish Steve chose a UV gloss blue burst on the body, but preferred the feel of satin for the neck,. As it is a bolt on style neck this was no problem for Billy – A UV gloss finish speeds things up but there isn’t enough time to do a full gloss finish for everybody during the course. If someone chooses to have a full gloss the guitar is usually left with us after the final assembly day for a week or so for Billy to Spray it – You can opt to return and re-assemble yourself here or we can do it for you and courier it straight to your door. Any Questions? Please leave a comment below or contact us by email.

What Steve said

Here’s what Steve said….and although he wasn’t the first student to sleep with his guitar when getting it home he was the first to post pictorial evidence!

Absolutely stunning guitar – can’t wait to get it home and enjoy:)

Thanks to Mark and Carol, Billy and Fiona, they really looked after us all and I will definitely be back. Amazing experience++++

Steve Duncan BYO 314

Did he come back ? Yes he did!…Coming soon to a screen near you…

Thru Neck Custom Guitar

Plays like a dream, the neck and action are incredible – better than my Gibson – Deeply grateful for this experience and will definitely be back for more.

Peter Harper

Peter develops new equipment for a large mobile phone company, and came over from Germany to design and make this guitar over 8 days on our build your own custom guitar course. Although the experts among you can probably see where his influences came from, it truly is unique, like all the guitars built here on our course. He drew his own shape for the body and headstock on day 1, during the design your own guitar part of the course. For BYO custom participants this is included in the price but also available separately for those who want to commission me to make it for them, or those who want to build at home but just need a little guidance. There are just so many options that it can be useful to go through the drawing process and make decisions as we go – I am here to answer q’s and help you to understand how it all fits together and make sure the design is correct before we start to cut any wood.

One of the advantages of building your own, or having one made specially for you, is that literally everything can be customised to suit your style – maybe you like really fat necks but can’t get one big enough? or Vice versa? Or maybe you just aren’t sure? Well, here at the workshop I can show you examples, test pieces and finished guitars, with all the various options to help you decide what is best for you.

Peter chose all the hardware and tonewoods for this, his first masterpiece. It is a buzz to know that no-one else on the planet has a guitar exactly like this – another bonus of building your own. One of the fears everyone has is that it might not work properly, but that is where we come in. A lot of people say to me that they were very nervous at first and really thought that they would be the one who stuffs it all up but I am here to make sure that does not happen. Literally hundreds of people; male and female, young and old, have come to our humble little workshop from all over the world and my job is to make sure they all leave with a guitar they can not only be proud of, but functions and sounds as good as any guitar out there – after all it is my reputation on the line here as I have said many times before. Take some time to look at some of the other instruments built here on our course and you will see what I mean – read the comments – we don’t make them up!

Body and neck are both mahogany with an Ebony fretboard and flame maple cap to finish it off. He opted for a through neck construction, floyd rose trem, two humbuckers and natural matt finish. He also inlaid a square block at the twelfth fret made from mother of pearl.

The end result is hopefully very close to what Peter had in his head when he arrived – we really make it our mission to do everything possible to achieve this – don’t just take our word for it.

Check out our online shop for dates and availabilty

Made in 8 days…

…with a little help from us!

Our Build your own guitar courses are not just aimed at total beginners – over the years we have had many experienced and professionals join us to increase their knowledge and gain some useful ‘hands on’ experience. Line6 once sent two of their staff here before they began to import the ‘Variax’ to learn some first hand knowledge of setups. The guys at Bareknuckle Pickups, sent by their beloved leader, once took up a whole course for themselves as a kind of teambuilding/staff training exercise. Many others have come because they are responsible for repairs at their local shop and want to learn a little more about how they are actually put together.

Ian is the proprietor of TheGuitarAndAmpRepairShop in Stranraer and that is exactly why he came – he already knew quite a lot and has repaired many guitars but had never actually built one from scratch – until now.

This is another beautiful guitar born from the Bailey workshop – A particular favourite of mine for its simplicity and elegance. The Birds Eye Maple Cap has an F-hole cut through to reveal the sound chamber. You might not think it makes much difference but it is amazing how it adds ‘air’ to the tone – hard to explain but certainly louder and more acoustic sounding than most electric guitars before it is plugged in.

The Hannes bridge is available with built in piezo option which Ian went for – it has 6 individual pickups – one for each string – and a pre-amp fitted into the control cavity adds even more ‘acoustic-ness’ to the mix. There is only one ‘normal’ pickup and it is located in the neck position.

Like me Ian always struggles to find his tuner just when he needs it most so he built one in! The volume control has a push pull switch and in the out postion becomes a tuner. There is a ring around the control knob containing LED’s to indicate what note and whether it is sharp or flat – how handy is that!

Ian chose a custom decal for the headstock, then Billy sprayed it with Tobacco burst and UV gloss lacquer leaving the sides and back natural for the fake binding effect.

There are two types of guitarists in this world

Those that want to build…and those that don’t…Bailey Guitars are here for you all!

Maybe you don’t have any desire to supplement your income, or make a living through guitar making and repair? That’s fine- most of our BYO’ers are just doing it for themselves – it’s just plain good fun!

If you find yourself in the latter category but have some ideas for your very own custom model – why not let me build it for you. Don’t forget to check out The Bailey Collection and Bailey Guitars available to buy right now!

You don’t have to save someone’s life to come here but it helps!

BYO311 Alex 29/5/12

The serious bit

Alex’s course was a gift from his friend David who already owns two custom Bailey guitars and has also built his own acoustic here in the workshop on a course himself.

Do you think it’s strange to pay for a band mate to come and build his own guitar?

Alex and David form a great double act in the East Ayrshire music scene but that is not why David did it.

The thing is that Alex saved David’s life one day – so to thank him for being a great mate, he sent him to us to build his very own custom guitar.

An incredibly generous gesture but anyone who knows David understands- that’s just how he is. David was one of our first customers when we moved here 10 years ago! He has always been like that as long as we have known him and one of the reasons why we love him! We are very glad Alex was there that day….enough said…

The detailed bit

Alex’s guitar has the best of the best – a mahogany neck and body, a macasser ebony fretboard and headstock veneer. The top is quilted maple , deep carved, doubled stained and finished in high gloss.  A calibrated set of Bareknuckle Abraxas humbuckers provide the tone and the hardware is all gold all topped off with classic Wilkinson trem.

With a spec like that who wouldn’t love this guitar? I think sounds and plays even better than it looks. If you are ever in around the pubs of Darvel, look out for these guys playing their Baileys and making great music together.

Yep…made to be given and played

 The funny bit

If you have a band member who is looking a bit ropey, maybe you could sort something out, know what I mean? A nod is as good as a wink…