Blog

No News is Good News…

No News is Good News…

... we're still here ! We had hoped to have real good news before now, but we are still trying to buy our wonderful workshop. Thanks to all the Indiegogo campaign supporters helping us smash our target, PLUS the musicians who donated a track to an awesome unique...

Preston Reed’s Summer Guitar Workshop: 10-14 July 17

Preston Reed’s Summer Guitar Workshop: 10-14 July 17

Want to Learn Percussive Style Acoustic guitar ? After a few years break, Preston Reed will once again be hosting and teaching a 4 day workshop in his home town of Girvan, South Ayrshire. Preston is the man who invented the integrated percussive style of playing,  and...

The Grenaways go Pan Celtic

The Grenaways go Pan Celtic

Battle of the Celts Earlier in the year, performers across the celtic world battled to find a song to represent their regions at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland in April 2017 - The Grenaways will be representing Cornwall after winning the honour with their song...

We’re Officially “In Demand” !!

We’re Officially “In Demand” !!

Thanks to you all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNjil87m-A We are now officially considered to be "In Demand" by Indiegogo after reaching 118% of our Goal - that's £25,807 !! As 2016 finally draws to a close, we just want to say another MASSIVE thank you to all of...

Mark Bailey – Documentary by Gordon Doherty

Mark Bailey – Documentary by Gordon Doherty

Mark Bailey from gordon doherty on Vimeo. Mark Bailey - Documentary by Gordon Doherty Just before we started crowdfunding Gordon contacted us and asked if he could make a film about Bailey Guitars. We had never met, and he didn't know anything about what we were...

Save Bailey Guitars -THE ALBUM and press release

Save Bailey Guitars -THE ALBUM and press release

ARTISTS UNITE TO CREATE ALBUM IN SUPPORT OF BAILEY GUITARS "We have been blown away by the generosity of everyone who has contributed to making this AWESOME album- THANK YOU"  Mark & Carol SAVE BAILEY GUITARS - Compilation Album by Sam Winston A group of artists...

Crowdfunding Update – 7 Days Left!

Crowdfunding Update – 7 Days Left!

THANKS FOLKS! Only 1 week to go... The New 2017 Bailey Bandsman for your enjoyment... and as I write this we are 68% towards our goal - fantastic! But now we only have 7 days left... It has been noted that this is probably the worst time of year for crowdfunding...I...

10 Unique Gifts for DIY Guitar Makers from £10

There has never been a better time for building a guitar at home... ... books, DVD's, and Youtube provide a whole range of accessible information. Here at Bailey's we have been running courses since 1999 and enabled nearly 800 people across the world to build their...

10 Unique Gifts for Guitarists and Guitar Lovers from £10

Guitarist Gifts Galore ! Here at Bailey we specialise in great gifts and special surprises - many an unsuspecting guitar player has had a Bailey Guitar surprise...you dont even need to choose for them - from custom design sessions,  to gift vouchers (on offer until...

The Guitar Making Revolution Needs YOU!

The Guitar Making Revolution Needs YOU!

Please Support our Crowdfunding campaign... The Guitar Making Revolution! My name is Mark Bailey - I trained with some of the best guitar makers in the world including Trevor Wilkinson, Patrick Eggle, Gary Levinson and Rob Williams. I did my very best to learn as much...

Ibex Side bending iron

Ibex Side bending iron

The Ibex Side bending iron - designed by Irving Sloane. On-line Courses In 2015 we launched the online Bailey Academy of Guitar Making, in response to the increasing number of people who want to build a guitar at home. We now have students all over the world who have...

Winter is Coming…part 2 … the spice of life..?

Winter is Coming…part 2 … the spice of life..?

You could say that all our work here is a collaboration of one kind or another - bringing ideas, individual needs, and construction constraints together to create each unique instrument But here at Bailey's, we are always up for interesting pairings and projects,...

Winter is coming…part 1… guitars guitars

Winter is coming…part 1… guitars guitars

It's been a colourful dry autum here at the Bailey workshop, and life has slowed us down a little these last few months, but as always there has been some new arrivals Beautiful BYO's here at home... Check these babies out (the guitars, obvs) - you can see videos of...

Over the Moonshiner!

Over the Moonshiner!

Bailey Customer Experience? The story: Way back in October last year award winning Scottish photographer Mark Alexander visited the Bailey workshop to research for an article for Guitar & Bass Magazine - he spent an afternoon here, was genuinely interested in what...

The Last Viking

The Last Viking

There's buried treasure in this video - You'll be surprised what you can dig up in Ayrshire! Totally blown away by the latest Preston Reed video - I think the Bailey supporters out there will enjoy this one...please share and leave a comment! "The Last Viking"...

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – Review

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – Review

Can an online guitar making course really work? James signed up in February and has just completed his first ever guitar build - physical proof that indeed it can! Here is what James said after finishing the course: Having never before used either a bandsaw or router...

The Fire & The Icicle

The Fire & The Icicle

Sam Winston's Debut Album - Ft. his Bailey Custom Custom Bootlegger Acoustic Guitar! Don't miss this... It is not everyday that someone releases an album with one of my guitars on it, but this one is something altogether on another level. If you don't love it then I...

This is the KING of EVERYTHING!

This is the KING of EVERYTHING!

My Bailey Experience by Sam Winston Sam Winston Sam commissioned an acoustic guitar from me a while back and I asked him to film the unboxing - that became the first part of this video. After witnessing such obvious talent I asked him if he would mind sitting in front...

The REAL View from the Workshop

The REAL View from the Workshop

The REAL View from the Workshop My monthly newsletter is called the View from the Workshop - this month I wanted to show you what it really looks like.

Guitar Making Supplies

Guitar Making Supplies

Guitar Making Supplies Hard to find Goodies! I have recently added some goodies to the supplies section of our GuitarMaking site - while it is not my intention to compete with other guitarmaker suppliers (most of them are my friends) I want to help my students get...

Jon White – I have made a guitar!

Jon White – I have made a guitar!

The GuitarMaking revolution continues Jon White is enrolled on one of my online guitar making courses and has just completed his first build - as you can see from the pictures he has deviated quite a lot from the...

Build Your Own Guitar Update – New Video Lessons

Build Your Own Guitar Update – New Video Lessons

Build Your Own Guitar Update - New Video Lessons Two new videos have been added to the course - I hope you find them useful: Clamping the body blank – alternative methods Levelling the Body Blank Clamping the body...

Kroum – Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar

Kroum – Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar

Imagine if your first guitar build turned out like this... Kroum has pushed the boundaries of our Build Your Own Guitar workshop courses to the limit with this one! Instead of waffling on about how beautiful it is, I will shut up as I think the pictures speak for...

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – Goes GLOBAL!

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – Goes GLOBAL!

Want to learn how to make guitars like a pro? Enrol now for lifetime access at Introductory level price - ending soon - more info GuitarMaking.co.uk - The online Guitar Making Academy Although the site has been active for less than a month already we have students as...

Sam Winston – Custom Bootlegger with Cut-Away

Sam Winston – Custom Bootlegger with Cut-Away

...The first of it's kind... Yes - It's hard to see them go... The guitar is based on the Bailey Bootlegger with the addition of a cut-away for better access to the top frets. Sam also wanted...

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – UPDATE

Build Your Own Guitar ONLINE – UPDATE

GuitarMaking.co.uk - The Academy of Guitar Making by Mark Julian Bailey Hi Folks - Important announcement We have a new website! I have called the new site 'GuitarMaking.co.uk - The Online Guitar Making Academy' As you can probably guess from the name - this will be...

Sam

Sam

...Dude... Sam is a young player from Cambridgeshire, studying music at college in Manchester, and he has been looking for a guitar. At the start of the summer he arranged to come on a workshop tour with his family, and...

Sopranino Ukulele – Cocobolo

Sopranino Ukulele – Cocobolo

When You're smiling...When You're smiling... ....you're probably playing a teeny tiny Bailey Ukulele. A happy song from our most northern-most Bailey player... Thanks Oystein for sending us this video which really made us smile! Our Smallest Uke The sopranino is the...

Little Eye – All I Need

Little Eye – All I Need

Little Eye - All I Need (is my Bailey Bootlegger Acoustic Guitar!) Here is a video of the exceptionally cool Little Eye playing their original song 'All I Need' These guys are going places - and we are really happy that they will be taking a Bailey guitar with them....

Build Your Own First Guitar – BYOG 379 – Andrew Braidwood

Build Your Own First Guitar – BYOG 379 – Andrew Braidwood

Andrew Braidwood made this guitar here in the Bailey Workshop on our Build Your Own First Guitar course   Where to start? I built a Bandsman with maple cap (bookmatched) Swamp Ash body maple neck - she is a real blonde beauty. I loved this course - it was...

Build Your Own Guitar? Not like this!

Build Your Own Guitar? Not like this!

Tip of the day: Not like this... There is more than one way to kill a cat... One of the students on my workshop course sent me this pic recently (Thanks David!) - OK. This is one way to clamp the body - but not the way we do it here! Let us hope he was wearing safety...

Bailey Moonshiner Acoustic Guitar for The Grenaways

Bailey Moonshiner Acoustic Guitar for The Grenaways

Bailey Moonshiner Acoustic Guitar for The Grenaways The Grenaways The Grenaways are a fantastic band from way down south - Cornwall, to be precise - and are "rootsy storytellers, unique in the folk style,...