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Bailey Guitars – Exotica Review
Bailey Exotica guitar reviewed by Hayden Hewitt for Playmusic Magazine
Acoustic Guitar made from Kew Walnut
Sweet P- Small and sweet
This guitar has back and sides made from Walnut that was grown in Kew gardens– a great little guitar with a big sound. You can see it at the London Acoustic Guitar Show this weekend! Come and visit the Bailey Guitar Stand No C9.
London Acoustic Guitar Show 2011
london acoustic guitar show
10 – 11th September at London Olympia Conference Centre – Doors Open 10am Till 6pm
Visit Bailey Guitars stand no.C9
(next to our friends D’addario strings)
This will be a very busy week as we prepare for the London Acoustic Guitar Show. Visit their website to get your ticket for your chance to try and buy a Bailey guitar and meet the maker!
We will be taking our full range of acoustic guitars, all handmade in the UK using a variety of spectacular tonewoods, including a guitar made from Ancient Kauri and one made from Walnut grown at Kew Gardens. Don’t miss the ‘Myrtlewood Sopranino Bailey Ukulele’ with a name that is longer than the instrument!
Preston Reed Signature Series
Preston Reed will be playing his Signature Bailey Baritone on the main stage and the new Signature Jumbo will be on display to the public for the first time. We will be taking orders for a limited number of instruments.
See you there?
Finally if any of our players or build your owners are planning on visiting let us know, we could use some help! We still have a few passes left for anyone who wants to offer their services – contact Carol on 07958 27806.
Companion acoustic guitar with open headstock
Bailey Guitars – Stand No: C9 at the London Acoustic Guitar Show
Our new Companion guitar with an open headstock will be exhibited at the London Acoustic Guitar show. Come and visit us and you can give it a try!
Build Your Own Custom Guitar – 27 Aug to 4 Sept – Part 2
Four students, eight days, two basses, two guitars.
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- Jan – just finished
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- Marcel – just finished
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- Kevin – just finished
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- Peter – just finished
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- Jan carves his top
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- Marcel carves his neck
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- Kevin carves the neck heel
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- Peter routes his control cavity
Another great bunch of lads this lot. The course went really well with no major hitches. The worst thing that happened was when Peter snapped off two of the pick up mount screws while assembling his bass. Luckily I have a clever fix for retrieving the broken end from the wood but I will have to save that for another post. More pictures of the finished instruments to follow….But there is no rest for the wicked as it is the London Acoustic Guitar Show this coming weekend and I have to make sure all the guitars are ready and in tip top shape!
Build Your Own Custom Guitar – 27 Aug to 4 Sept – Part 1
Half way through – still a lot to do….
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- Marcel’s bass
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- Marcel
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- Jan’s guitar
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- Jan
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- Kevin
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- Kevin’s guitar
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- Peter’s bass
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- Peter
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- End of day 1- prep day
Peter, Jan and Marcel have come from Holland, joining Kevin from the UK on our build your own custom guitar course.
Marcel is a veteran at this having been many times before- I think this is the fourth bass he has made here in the Bailey workshop as well as an electric six string guitar. This one will be a bolt on neck with a scarfed headstock.
Peter is also making a Bass but his will be a neck thru construction. His neck is laminated maple and walnut with black pinstripes. This will be a lined fretless fingerboard so we glued maple veneer in the fretslots. The body wings are paduak.
Kevin’s guitar is also neck thru but it will also have a maple cap thick enough to carve. This adds a few extra jobs and he also has some inlays planned making his the most complicated build.
Jan is making a set neck guitar with a spectacular spalted beech cap. The back of the body is alder and the neck is from mahogany with an ebony fretboard.
This course differs from the last one, as no-one has chosen a gloss finish, all four will be completing their builds in one visit. This adds a little pressure to get them all finished especially as three of them have a plane to catch the next day after the course!…But this is what keeps it interesting for me- every course is a challenge in a variety of ways even after so many years.
Bailey Custom Electric – Manuel – P2
Making the body
Manuel’s custom guitar is now hanging in the drying room waiting to be coloured and glossed – I will post more pics when I can. Read Part 3
Bailey Custom Electric – Manuel – P1
My old wife, she is very sick…I need new wife!
Manuel’s first wife is a guitar. She is a little battered after an amp fell on her in the van on the way back from a gig. So Manuel needs a new wife, a younger, sexier, more playable version with a heel modification to improve access to the high frets. Okay, the metaphor breaks down somewhat there but you get the idea.
The neck profile for the new guitar is copied from the original so she will feel identical to the hand (slightly pervy now- I’ll stop there) but Manuel decided to customise the headstock shape just to try something a little different.
I will of course be treating the ‘old girl’ well while she is here. She’s suffered from several dodgy modifications over the years and had a hard life on the road so Manuel has asked me to give her a well earned make-over. Read Part 2