Highlights from the latest Bailey Custom BYO Course
Here at the Bailey workshop, the summer has flown by in a haze of heat and sawdust.
July and August are our Custom course months, when folk from across the globe descend on us to build their own, personally designed guitar.
This is our longest course, taking place over a week – Sat to Sun (with the Wed off for a rest) but this means that the scope for creativity and customisation is much wider than on a standard BYO course – some awesomely original creations have taken shape on this course.
Four guys…four “from scratch” designs and four very different specs: spectacular bookmatched caps, a two through necks, a set neck and a bolt on, custom inlays… 7.5 workshop days (8.5 for Tom and his fantastical wiring) 88 bowls of soup, a rake of supernoodles (long story) and boxes (and boxes)of choccy biscuits… all on the hottest days of the year here in South Ayrshire…
Steve “what a pair” Duncan, Aberdeen (BYO 314, 341); Mark “noodle” Shoebottom, Frankfurt (BYO 310, 342); Paul “its not hot” Morley UAE (BYO 339) and Tom “Big Rob” Standen, London (BYO 340) devised and built their Custom guitars despite the heat.
Here are the results – and what results they are !
Thanks to all the guys for their patience, and a special thanks to Billy for going the extra 20 miles and working into the wee small hours to make some pretty special paint jobs happen. Apparently the sunrise that day was as spectacular!
Intro and outro music by Stevie P, main tune by Enrico – Thanks guys!
The NEXT CHAPTER
After a 13 year wait, Dave Pullar from Perth will finally be coming to build his dream electric guitar on next week’s course ,and ‘Archtop’ Dave Fletcher Newcastle (BYOJ 02, BYO 298) is coming back to start another epic instrument – this time an acoustic to add to his growing collection. Graham Taylor (BYO 304) will also be here doing another Bailey First..putting the finishing touches on one guitar whilst designing his next project.
If you think the Custom course looks like the one for you – check out the outline on the website – no dates set for next year as yet but they’ll be coming soon.
Jings, Crivens and help ma boab!
We don’t just run courses – we make our range of Bailey acoustic and electric models, Jazz archtops and Ukes. Any of our instruments are available in left hand (no extra charge ) and custom versions (extra charge).