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 selfie of me in the spray booth, wearing all my PPE (respirator, eye-protectors, goggles), and behind is the over-exposed 3D-printed body of a guitar ready for spraying with lacquer.

A Week in the Shop

10 Jun 2023 - älgen, blues deluxe, electronics, fretwork, hästen, inlays, lacquer, noel gallagher, spraying

A busy week in the shop: getting ready to spray a 3D-printed guitar body; learning to use metal rods for dot-inlays on a neck; and when copper insulation goes rogue inside a guitar.

A guitar body sits on the workbench. It has a maple cap, and is stained a deep yellow colour.

A Week in the Shop

4 Jun 2023 - finishing, hästen, makefest, neck, staining, vertstaden, yellow

More progress, setbacks, and progress this week as I push on with the neck I'm building, and I make the most wonderful yellow guitar top.

A work-in-progress guitar neck sits on the workbench, surrounded by sawdust on the floor.

A Week in the Shop

27 May 2023 - andy powers, grain filler, hästen, joe cocker, mistakes, neck, verkstaden

A long write-up this week, as I make progress, make a significant mistake, make a recovery from my mistake, and make more progress.

The open chassis of the valve amplifier sits on a workbench, next to which sits a multimeter and a fresh cup of tea.

Two Weeks Out the Shop

21 May 2023 - älgen, amp, ef1, esp32, holiday, jazz, liverpool makefest, pickup winder

A brief holiday break interrupts our normal schedule, and I have some success with analog electronics and failure with digital electronics.

Three work in progress guitars sit on a workbench, each a body with a neck beside it. All are raw wood and unfinished. The left body has pickup cavities and a neck pocket cut, and the neck is just roughly shaped with a template on top. The middle one is the most complete, with the neck fretted and all the body holes cut. The right body has only a neck pocket but no other holes init, but the neck is fretted and otherwise complete.

A Week in the Shop

5 May 2023 - delfinen, emily hopkins, harp, hästen, jigs, routing, templates, verkstaden

A quick review of all the in-progress guitar builds, a bunch of progress on the offset build, putting an excessively complicated jig to use, and finally some fun facts about harps.

A close up of älgen guitar being held by me, showing the chrome pickups and rosewood fretboard.

A Week Out the Shop

30 Apr 2023 - älgen, mighty beast, plectrums

A quiet week workshop wise is an excuse to have a loud week at home turning the amp up and trying out älgen properly for the first time.

A rack of guitars sits next to an amp and pedalboard. The most obvious guitar on the rack is Älgen, which is part 3D-printed, making it stand out from all the other guitars.

A Week in the Shop

22 Apr 2023 - fretwork, necks, paintstik, plectrums

The Älgen guitar is now something I get to live with for a little, two necks get some work done, I worry about how to promote myself at shows, and I explore some guitar music outside my usual listening.

I'm stood next to the workbench with a blue guitar amp on it, and I have a guitar plugged into the amp for testing purposes. I'm staring at the amp as I play.

A Week in the Shop

15 Apr 2023 - 3D printing, amp, esp32, fret work, motor, pickups, staining

The old amp I built gets a new lease of life, I spend some quality time doing fret-work on a new neck, a bit looking at wood stains, and baby steps are made on my pickup winder.

Me standing holding a guitar in the Snowdia landscape, with a hill to my left and a lake to my right.

A Week in the Shop

9 Apr 2023 - älgen, harley benton, staining, verkstaden

A trip to Wales, where I get to play guitars in some amazing scenery, more practicing with wood stains, and some frustrating string breakages.

A set of four postcard-sized rectangles of maple on a workbench, each with a different stain blend being tested: first is just straight yello, the second is orange over yellow, the third is red over yellow, and then the last is yellow, orange, and red.

A Week in the Shop

2 Apr 2023 - 3D-printing, amp, colour, form 3, formlabs, fusion 360, stain, verkstaden

A grab bag of bits this week: 3D printing a custom control for one guitar, testing out staining options for another, fitting a new transformer to my practice amp, and doing a little bit of electronics on my pickup winder.