Truss rod and fretboard. 

Routing the pickup cavities.

Carving the neck. 

Levelling the fretboard and installing frets.

I cut out the body on the bandsaw and used the body pattern to guide the router for the perfect body shape. 

Routed the neck pocket, carved and sanded the body.

Before gluing the neck into the body, I checked the angle to and alignment with the bridge. Once that was done, I took the plunge and set the neck in place with wood glue. The cat wanted me to believe he was helping but he was just pestering for food (he’s greedy). 

Time to install the bridge. I put masking tape on the body in the area where the bridge was to be installed. I then used a long ruler to mark out the exact scale length onto the masking tape. From there I could mark out where the holes for the bridge were to be drilled. I then drilled the holes and installed the posts. 

Fret level, crown and polish. 

I made sure I got the pickups into exactly the right position before drilling the holes for the retaining screws. I used masking tape so they didn’t move during drilling. 

I put a coat of Finishing Oil onto the guitar whilst I made the electronics.

Installed all the hardware.

Here are some pictures of the finished guitar.

After playing the guitar for a while, I realised that the frets I had installed were too small for my liking so I did a complete refret with some much bigger ones. 

Now I am the Master! 

No? Ok, I was only joking! 

Nice build John!

Look at the grain on that, I assume, mahogany!

Nice headstock design too... so hard to come up with something special!

And... brave to do a refret. I'm in the process of that with my latest electric build... 

Thank you very much Herb. 

Yes it is Mahogany and it is a particularly nice piece. When I put the Finishing Oil on, that lovely grain just popped out at me, it really does make you proud of all the sanding involved to get to that stage. 

I am a big fan of reverse headstocks so I just modified Mark’s design to get to what I wanted. Mark’s headstock shape is already a great shape so I didn’t want to change it too much.

I was a little nervous changing the frets but I made myself do it for the experience. I plan on continuing to make guitars so I had to learn how to do it sooner or later, I chose sooner. There was nothing to it really, I didn’t run into any problems but that is not to say I won’t have problems with one in the future, on an older guitar for instance. 

Posted by: John L

The pickups I used in this Bailey Bandsman are Hot Slags from Iron Gear. 

http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_pickups_008.htm

I do like a couple of hot slags  ? 

I bet she sounds great.

They do sound great for inexpensive hotness!