Cairnes guitar

Jim Cairnes last guitar finished in the Bailey workshop

Jim Cairnes passing was a sad loss to the world of guitar making but he leaves behind a legacy of work that will outlast us all. I was asked recently to finish this guitar which he was working on when he became ill.

We sprayed the guitar here and set it up. It went together with no problems at all which shows he did a very good and thorough job and while I as working on it I had the feeling he was looking over my shoulder making sure I did it right. Who knows? I made sure I did my best just in case.

Marvin Cairnes his son came on Thursday to collect the guitar and take it to its new owner. He arrived about two hours early so I hadn’t had time to plug it in and when we did it didn’t work! A quick check turned up the problem- Jim had used a stereo jack socket for the output: Even though the guitar is mono a stereo jack socket can be used- it grips the jack more securely- but it also gave me a 50/50 chance of connecting the output to the wrong tang…(note to self: wear your glasses!)…I quickly moved the offending wire and breathed a sigh of relief. Someone up there was probably laughing…

The guitar played fine just how Jim had left it. I just had to polish the frets, set the truss rod and the action. It sounded great when plugged in which is a testament to his skill as a guitar maker as he also made his own pick ups.

While Marvin was here we talked about him coming on our course to finish the very last ‘Colt’ guitar which Jim had left kicking around in his workshop, and he’d brought it along so I could get a look at it. All the parts are there including a brass trigger and other metal parts- It really is a work of art and would be great to see completed. I have never seen anything like it. Marvin told me his dad made several, one is in the American Guitar Museum, but the locations are unknown for the rest so it would be great to see one restored to the family.