Here are the pics of the caps

I'm going to use one of these on the next guitar course. But which one?

a. bicoloured maple

b. maple burr


c. quilted maple. This piece is about 10mm thick, so will take quite a lot of carving to shape the top.

d. spalted maple. Very solid (for a spalted piece)

e. or ... walnut ...

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

November will be fun

I've had no time to do any building in my own workshop, but I'm taking a long weekend in November to head off to Walesland to the workshops of Mr Neil Morgan, where he'll guide my attempts at another self-build. I'm hoping to pick up another set of tips, tricks and techniques from Neil, as well as to come away with another guitar.

I'm planning on building a double cutaway, twin pickup guitar, along the lines of the classic Yamaha SG 2000s, similar to my first Bailey build.

The body will be mahogany, the neck will be either mahogany or maple. Fretboard may be ebony or maple.

The pickups arrived from the US. If I'd bought them a couple of months ago (£1 = $2.10) and if they'd managed to sneak into the country under the radar of customs, then they would have been a bargain. As it was, they were still cheaper than I could get them in the UK. For anyone that's not seen/heard the P-Rails before - check out Seymour Duncan's website. They're a combined P90 & single coil in a humbucker sized pickup, with all sorts of clever wiring options.

I'm now left with a choice of caps ... walnut or maple ... but the maple could be quilted, bi-colour, burr or spalted ... I'll get some pics of those posted later

Still no building ...

Still no building progress to report, but I have been busily adding to the stocks of materials and parts, so that when I finish working I'll be able to get building again. My current piece of work was due to end last week, but it's been extended towards the end of the year. Sort of a good news (money) - bad news (no guitar time) situation.

I've just bought a couple of stunning looking tops/caps from my "usual" supplier, and a set of Seymour Duncan P-Rails, which I'll be using next month ... read on!

Having done the Bailey build-your-own course twice, next month I'll be going to a new course, just set up by Neil Morgan. There are no details of his course on his website (http://www.morgancustomguitars.co.uk/) only pics of his stunning guitars, but I'm hoping and expecting to learn some new tips & tricks. Hopefully I'll get time to put them into practice before the year's out. This is only the second time that Neil has run the course, but having spoken to the people who completed course #1, and seen the guitars that they produced, my hopes and expections are high!

As long as I can find internet access whilst I'm on the course, I'll add progress pics here.