Michael Winston Dales Guitars: Blog

I've learned a lot from other guitar builders over the years, and so this blog is a way for me to share my own build experiences and hopefully let others learn from my success and mistakes!

A photo of a telecaster-style electric guitar, disassembled into parts on the workbench: the neck to one side, the body to the other, the pick-guard in the middle and screws and screwdrivers around it.

Workshop notes

15 Aug 2025 - carving, tuners

Continuing on from last week's progress update on the new neck for an old guitar.

A wide-angled photo showing the work in progress neck that has been trimmed, now unclamped, and on the floor is a large amount of wood dust.

Some Time in the Shop

8 Aug 2025 - 3d printing, fretslots, jigs

Getting back to workshop notes, picking up with the neck build we last wrote about.

A photo of a busy library of people, with various other makers and their tables in the background, and my table with 5 guitars stood on it in the foreground. I'm stood chatting to a lady who is gesturing to one of the instruments.

Liverpool Makefest 2025

20 Jul 2025 - liverpool, makefest

A look back at this year's Liverpool Makefest, which celebrated its tenth birthday, in which I presented a retrospective look over a similar amount of time building guitars.

A photo of a 3D-printed jig that has a recess for holding the headstock end of a guitar neck, sat on a workbench next to the work-in-progress guitar-neck made from birds-eye-maple.

Workshop diary: trying a new approach to headstock shaping

23 Feb 2025 - 3d printing, jigs

A look at trying a new waj of making jigs for guitar building: 3D-printing them!

A selfie photo of me in the workshop waving to the camera. I'm wearing a respirator, ear-defenders, eye-protectors, and overalls.

Workshop catchup: Bass edition

3 Jan 2025 - bass, CAD, laser-cutting

An update on the progress on my first bass guitar build: CAD refinements, creating templates, and making first dust!

A 3D render of a short-scale electric bass-guitar. The body is an offset, slightly angular solid-body, shown in wood stained a crimson red. It has two white-covered pickups, and two dials and a selector switch on it. The neck has a rosewood fretboard is otherwise maple. The guitar is laid down on a solid blue background.

Designing a Bass Guitar

27 Oct 2024 - bass, cad

After a hiatus from the shop, I've been getting back into the swing of things by designing my first bass-guitar.

A photo of a black start-clone electric guitar with an off-white pick-guard with stickers on it, and a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The guitar is sat on a carpet tile on a workbench in a workshop, with tools to either side of it.

Workshop catch-up: Maintenance and Repair Edition

11 Aug 2024 -

I finish repairing the guitar from my childhood, ready for it to go on to others, and I decide to give my daily-player a bit of an upgrade.

A look at how I've been trying to take some "proper" photos of the guitars for marketing purposes, and some tips on how to do this on a budget with limited talent (or why you might also want to pay someone to do it).

A photo of an electric guitar sat in a case on a workbench in a workshop. The guitar is an offset design, with a pale blue painted body, a black pickguard, with two chrome humbucker pickups on it. The neck is a birds-eye maple.

A Week in the Shop

30 Jul 2024 - electronics, hästen, laser-cutting, laser-etching, pick-guard

This week Hästen gets close to complete! We take a look at the evolution of a pick-guard design and a look at what makes the electronic circuit in this guitar unusual.

A photo of me stood in a library behind a table with several guitars, including one where the body is 3D printed.

A Month Out the Shop

21 Jul 2024 - älgen, delfinen, emf, liverpool, makefest, sweden, verkstaden

A summer summary: I've presented at two major events where I showed off the guitars, I went on holiday and bumped into some interesting guitars, and I went to a non-guitar event where I made some design observations I can apply to guitars!