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 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!

A photo of a work-in-progress solid-body electric guitar laid on a workbench in a workshop. The guitar has a body painted light blue with just a bridge installed and no electronics or pick-guard yet, showing the internal cavities lined with copper tape. The neck is made from birds-eye maple. Most importantly the guitar has strings on it.

A Month in and Out the Shop: Hästen

10 Jun 2024 - hästen, pick-guard

This time we catch up with Hästen, the last of the old mustang-style builds, which finally hits its "strings on" milestone!

A photo of me stood in the workshop playing a solid-bodied electric guitar that has a bright yellow wood stained body, a rosewood fretboard and a maple neck. I appear to be playing an A barre chord.

A month in and out the shop: Verkstaden

8 Jun 2024 - 3D-printing, electronics, verkstaden

Another guitar finally makes it over the line! This week it's Verkstaden's go, and we take a look at what it took to get it over the finishing line, including some last minute custom 3D-printed parts.

A photo of a yellow and black finished guitar body on a workbench, on top of which is a palm-router and everything is covered in wood-dust from some cutting.

A Week in the Shop

10 May 2024 - cleaning, hästen, nut carving, verkstaden

An exciting week in the shop as a new guitar gets strings for the first time, I tidy up a neck on another build, and I find out how dirty old rosewood fretboards can really get.

A photo of a blue-painted mustang-style guitar body is sat on the workbench showing a string-ferrule block in place on the rear.

A Week in the Shop

2 May 2024 - hästen, measure, measure, cut, routing, verkstaden

A week of highs and lows in the workshop, as I try to push forward again with two stalled builds.

A photo of a pickguard from a stratocaster style guitar on a workbench surrounded by electronics parts and a notebook with a wiring diagram hand draw in it.

A Week in the Shop

26 Apr 2024 -

After a few hectic weeks, a quiet one this time with getting one guitar properly set up, and another a bit of a fix up.