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Build Your Own Custom Guitar – Course in Progress – Day 1
…We’re here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and we’re all out of bubblegum.
L-R: Phil, Mark, Kevin, Charlie
DAY 1.
Day 1 starts at 2pm- It is all about finalising the designs by making a drawing, and choosing wood, getting parts together etc
Phil is having a laminated thru neck so we also glued up his neck blank and it will be ready to work on tomorrow. His guitar is inspired by the Bailey Exotica so he chose Spalted Maple for the cap.
Mark is also making a thru neck, but his neck will be made from a single piece of Maple. The body will also be maple.
Kevin has been before…this will be his second guitar- a bolt on neck with parallel headstock. After a good rummage through the wood room he chose a piece of Rosewood for the cap.
Charlie is making a mahogany set neck design with a Meranti body and Mango Cap. We have not used Mango before but it looks beautiful – can’t wait to see how it comes up.
Daily Updates!
I will try to make daily blogs showing their progress so keep an eye on the blog to see how we are getting on.
I am also making a time-lapse film of the whole course which should last about 4 or 5 mins and be available to view at the end of it all.
Check prices and availability | more courses
Don’t forget:
Check out our unique range of guitars, all handmade using only renewable energy.
Our DVD – ‘Guitar Magic‘ is a great introduction to guitarmaking and an incredibly useful visual guide.
Bailey Custom Guitar Build – Part 2 – Exotica Left Handed
…Simon’s custom Exotica – done and dusted…
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- LSR Tuners
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- Gold hardware
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- Upside down headstock
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- Black Pearloid rear cover plates
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- Highly figured brown maple
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- Thru Neck construction
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- Locking nut
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- Original Floyd Rose
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- Spalted maple Cap
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- Carved top
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- Satin finish
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- Bailey Exotica Custom Left Handed
Wow…it was hard to take a bad photo of this one. The spalted maple for the cap and ‘Brown’ figured maple for the neck laminates and body wings are truly spectacular.
The Exotica is very popular at the moment – I am just about to start another custom job based on this guitar and another will be built on the course next week.
Exotica review by Hayden Hewit for Playmusic Magazine.
Do you want one yet?
Full spec and design session | Full Spec and build Part 1
Here is what Simon said in an email we received last week:
‘Hi Guys. My guitar arrived in perfect condition. It looks absolutely mesmerising. Better than I ever imagined. I spent the afternoon playing it yesterday and it sounds brilliant and sustains better than anything I own. (Gibson, Fender, PRS etc.) it’s very hard to put it down and I was up early again this morning just to have a tinker. Mark you’re a Genius and I’ll be back for more. I ordered a new Lazy J amp to go with it which hasn’t arrived yet and can’t wait to hear the two together.’
Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar – Moyra – BYOA – 017
…Made in 17 days over 3 years on our ‘Build Your Own‘ course here at the Bailey workshop…
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- Custom headstock inlay
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- Custom inlay closeup
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- custom fretboard inlay
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- Side view
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- Cocobolo is related to rosewood
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- Flamed sycamore binding
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- UV Gloss finish
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- Its a work of art
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- Parlour size body
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- cocobolo back and sides
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- European spruce soundboard
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- Build your own custom acoustic
Forget Me Not
You have to respect Moyra…having done nothing remotely like this before she fearlessly came up with all the ideas and designs for inlays with absolutely no inkling of just how much work it was going to take, or how hard it was going to be! To her credit she went about each task with determination and succeeded my (and I think her own) expectations with what can only be called a masterpeice. Moyra’s guitar rivals anything we have made on the course – the pictures don’t do this one justice.
She really went to town on her parlour size acoustic: She chose Cocobolo for the back and sides with a European spruce soundboard. The body is bound with flamed sycamore and the rosette is abalone. The mahogany neck has an ebony fretboard and headstock veneer which she inlaid with her own designs. The inlays were made by our good friend Mike Reid of Small Wonder Music and inlaid here on the course by Moyra herself. The fretboard inlay came in 10 individual bags, one for each fret, maybe 40-50 separate pieces. This came as a bit of a shock to Moyra, but she put her head down and got on with it. I think she spent about 5 days just on the inlays, but the real reason it took 17 days instead of the normal 12 was because by her own admission she loved coming here so much she didn’t want it to ever finish! The truth is when you finish a guitar it is not an end but a beginning of something new…and there’s always the next one- Any ideas Moyra? Please be gentle…
Moyra’s picture diary of her build | more courses | check course prices
Crikey!…
We don’t just run courses here! We also make our own unique range of Bailey guitars – If we can do this in on a course, just imagine what we could build for you… or to put it another way – if you can imagine it, we can build it.
Contact us with your requirements or have a look at some guitars in our online shop.
Rohan Custom Build – completed pictures
…Set neck, single cut, with chambered body…
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- Inlaid truss rod cover
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- Custom headstock shape
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- Rear of headstock
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- serial-number-CPAV-01
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- Close up of neck joint
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- Meranti body and mahogany neck
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- String thru body
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- Set neck Style Construction
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- Native Sycamore cap
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- Custom pickups and black hardware
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- Rohan drew his own shape
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- Rohan’s Bailey Custom
This guitar was a pleasure to make and Rohan was a great bloke to work for. You can watch the design session video, see build pics and read more about here:
Full Spec and Design Session | Rohan Custom Build Part 1 | Rohan Custom Build Part 2 | Rohan Custom Build Part 3
Instead of ranting on about it I will let Rohan tell you in his own words from a thankyou letter I recieved today:
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To Mark and Carol, Just wanted to say a huge thankyou for all you’ve done for me over the last six months. The whole thing has been absolutely amazing, and the end result is simply stunning – even better than I could have dreamt. I have christened her ‘Julie’ after the folk singer Julie Fowlis as, much like the guitar, she’s beautiful, Scottish and she SINGS! Seriously I cannot believe how resonant this guitar is. You really can “go have a bite”. Anyways, thankyou once again for everything, will definately keep in touch (already saving for the next one haha!). All the best, Rohan. —THANKs Rohan – That makes it all worthwhile!
If you would like to commission your own custom guitar, Contact us with your ideas, or have a look in our online shop for guitars ready to ship | The Bailey Collection
Custom Guitar – Rohan – Build Part 3
…Rohan’s guitar is finished…
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- Finished pictures – coming soon!
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- Almost there
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- Cutting out the inlay
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- Inlay design for the truss rod cover
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- The neck is glued in
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- Gluing the Binding
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- Bending the binding
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- Binding channel
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- ready for binding
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- Sanded smooth
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- Belly Carve
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- Marking out the belly carve
Rohan comissioned this guitar about three months ago and visited the workshop for a design session. He returned to watch me when I carved his neck as he wanted to be there when I did that, and we also finalised a few of the details. Now after a long wait for him and a lot of work from me the guitar is finally done…pics to follow…
Full Spec and Design Session | Rohan Custom Build Part 1 | Rohan Custom Build Part 2 | Rohan Custom Build Parts 3 | Rohan Custom Build Completed Pictures
Contact us if you would like to commission your own custom guitar or have a look in our online shop for guitars ready to ship | The Bailey Collection
Bailey Custom Bandsman Build – Norwegian Wood – Part 6
…This bird has flown…
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- Just in case…
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- Gold MOP Bailey Logo
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- Set neck style construction
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- One piece mahogany back
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- Mahogany body and neck
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- Recessed jack socket
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- Gotoh 510 bridge
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- Ebony pickup covers
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- Tobacco burst – satin finsh
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- Custom Bailey Bandsman
Kristian’s guitar winged its way to Norway and after a short stay in customs it has finally landed at its new home. He lowered the action a little to suit his style and then played it for a couple of weeks….here’s the verdict from an email we just received:
“Love it in every way, it’s just like I imagined. And the sound is superb. Simple and elegant, and the headstock is just beautiful! This will be my number one guitar now
Thanks for the shirt and the DVD and extra strings and everything else. Very happy with your service! Maybe you will get more orders from Norway in the future. My guitar gets some attention :)” – Kristian
THANKS Kristian!
Fancy a little bird of your own? Kristian ordered his standard Bandsman from the shop, but as it was out of stock we made him one to order, including his custom spec ideas. This is less expensive than a totally custom design, and a great way to put your own custom stamp on a Bailey model.
Build Your Own Guitar – BYO-306 – Jon
Made in six days on our Build Your Own Guitar course
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- Rear of headstock
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- Front of headstock
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- Custom inlay
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- Fretless ebony fingerboard
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- individual bass bridge saddles
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- Thru neck heel carve
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- Thru neck construction
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- BYO-306
This is the final guitar made on our split weekend course, which started with 3 days in May, and finished with another 3 days last week.
Jon’s four string, fretless bass was made using thru neck style construction, laminated with flamed maple and walnut. The body wings are basswood and the cap is maple. Jon also used a black veneer to create a ‘pinstripe’ around the edge of the body. He specified individual bridge/saddles for each string and two Kent Armstrong Soapbar pickups. Jon commissioned the inlay from Mike Reid (no, not that one) of Small Wonder Music. We often employ his extraordinary talents for inlay work as it saves us time on the course and he is the top guy in the UK for this.
more courses | check course prices
Ahem!…
We don’t just run courses here! We also make our own unique range of Bailey guitars – If we can do this in six days on a course, just imagine what we could build for you… or to put it another way – if you can imagine it, we can build it.
Contact us with your requirements or have a look at some guitars in our online shop.
Jon Gibbons – Bailey Makes Guitars
‘Bailey Makes Guitars’
Written and performed by Jon Gibbons on his own Bailey custom acoustic guitar.
All Bailey Guitars are handmade in the UK using only renewable energy.
As Jon was visiting and playing a few gigs around the local area, I asked him to bring his Bailey guitars around, so I could film him with my new camera…but I didn’t expect this! He made up the words and music pretty much on the spot and somehow managed to capture the essence of Bailey Guitars in a song.
I built two custom Bailey acoustics for Jon. The one he is playing here I made first. It has had some seriously heavy use – and quite a serious soundboard injury which we repaired… Nice to see it is still going strong despite the abuse it has recieved!
Jon’s playing style covers the whole spectrum from light fingerpicking, to all out thrashing the living sh~t out of it, if you see him play a live set you will understand what I mean. Anyhow, I guess he liked it as he commissioned a 12 string version pretty soon after receiving this one.
We met Jon Gibbons through our good friend John Duffy – Together they are ‘The Fabulous Duffy Gibbons‘.
I video’d him playing several tunes including a set with Duffy on his Bouzouki – I will add these to my channel when I can.