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!