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 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.

A screenshot of the SVTplay website, showing a program called 'Den Engelska Älggitarren', with a thumbnail of me holding my hybrid 3d-printed guitar and a moose stood in a forest.

Älgen Catchup

18 Apr 2024 - 3d-printing, älgen, markforged, svt

Catching up with Älgen: I end up on Swedish Public Broadcasting with the story of Älgen, and I go one level further into custom parts enabled by 3D-printing.

A still from a video showing Michael sat in front of the camera holding a guitar, showing the headstock of it to the camera. On the headstock it says "MWDales" in script and "Delfinen" under that.

A month in the shop: wrapping up Delfinen

8 Apr 2024 - action, delfinen, electronics, fretwork, nut, setup

Going through the final stages of wrapping up Delfinen: getting the setup just right, and soldering up the electronics.

A mostly assembled guitar sits on the workbench! It is missing all the electronics, but otherwise looks like a guitar. Importantly it has strings on it! It has a vivid orange-stained wood body with white binding and white pickup mounts, and a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard.

Workshop weeknotes: Delfinen becomes an instrument at last.

1 Mar 2024 - binding, delfinen, finishing, laser-cutting

Is this a guitar I see before me? Another weeknotes catching up with all that's happened to Delfinen since we last saw it, including it getting strung up for the first time.

A photo of a work-in-progress guitar on the workbench, surrounded by tools and sanding pads. The guitar has a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and 21 frets, and the body is a bright yellow stain on birds-eye maple on the front, with black and natural wood sides. There are holes in the body for components, but all are missing.

Workshop Catch-up: Verkstaden

15 Feb 2024 - painting, spraying, verkstaden

Continuing the catch-up series: Verkstaden goes through the process of getting a gloss finish, and I end up making some costly mistakes along the way.

On the workbench sits a work-in-progress guitar, with just the painted-body and neck in position. The body is in the style of a Fender Mustang offset guitar and is painted a pale blue, and the neck is made from birds-eye maple and finished in oil.

Workshop Catch-Up: Hästen

9 Feb 2024 - hästen, painting, spraying

Continuing the catch-up series: this week a look at the trials and progress in the first guitar I've painted rather than stained, and how it's all finally starting to come together.

A work in progress guitar sits on the workbench: it has a orange stained swamp-ash body with pockets cut for humbucker sized pickups, it has a maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard and 22 frets. The body shape is a slightly pointy offset style.

Workshop Catch-Up: Delfinen

1 Feb 2024 - binding, delfinen, drills

Catching up with the last couple of months in the workshop, we're going to look at each build in turn. This week, it's the splash of orange that is Delfinen!

A photo of the light-blue offset body mounted up in the spray-booth ready to get another coat of paint.

A Couple of Weeks in the Shop

14 Nov 2023 - action, älgen, delfinen, hästen, painting, staining, truss-rod, verkstaden

Another couple of frustrating weeks in the shop as my current trio of builds seek to put me in my place.

A photo of two guitar necks hung up on rack in room otherwise filled with wood on shelves. Both necks are made from maple: one is hung so you can see the back, showing the birds-eye figuring, and the other is hung so you can see the fretbaord is covered in masking tape.

A Week in the Shop

31 Oct 2023 - delfinen, finishing, fretwork, hästen, verkstaden

Putting in the time: nothing new this week, just a week of getting on with the jobs I started previously in the workshop, with more staining, more oiling, and more fret-dressing and polishing.