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!

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.

A photo of a guitar body being held over a workbench, caught in the sunlight coming through an unseen window. The face of the body is yellow stained birds-eye maple, and the top 5mm of the side is natural unfinished birds-eye maple, and then the back of the guitar is painted gloss black.

A Week in the Shop

22 Oct 2023 - delfinen, finishing, fretwork, hästen, oiling, painting, staining, verkstaden

Lots going on in the workshop this week as I push three guitars, body and neck, through the finishing process.

An orange-stained guitar body sits mounted on a jig in a spray booth.

A Week in the Shop

15 Oct 2023 - correcting, delfinen, glue, hästen, staining, verkstaden

Last week we had a failed attempt to stain a guitar body, and this week we get to work saving the instrument from the rework pile.

A photo of me holding my Älgen wood and 3D-printed guitar in a cluster of onlookers. I look like I've escaped from a 70s edition of the open university programs.

A Week in and Out the Shop

8 Oct 2023 - delfinen, makespace, staining, talks, westfield

Troubles with staining guitar bodies, sperlunking an old guitar's electronics, and I give a talk to on guitar design and 3D-printing to a local CAD user group.

A close-up of three headstocks, with my signature and guitar's name laser etched into the headstock.

A Couple of Weeks in the Shop

1 Oct 2023 - Delfinen, Hästen, Laser-etching, Logo, Painting, Verkstaden, Westfield

A lot going on in the workshop as I try to push the three ongoing guitar builds towards finishing, and I get re-united with the instrument that is somewhat responsible for all this.

A photo of me talking in front of an audience. I'm stood wearing a guitar on a strap in front of a slide showing a CAD model of the same guitar, and I'm doing the devil's horns gesture with my hands for some reason.

A Few Weeks in and Out the Shop

17 Sep 2023 - Älgen, Delfinen, Hästen, Wuthering Bytes

A catch of events both out of (attending Wuthering Bytes, talking at OSHCamp) and back in the workshop (a lot of carving and sanding).

A shot of a guitar body still in a clamp in a spray-booth, showing a yellow stained birds-eye maple front, and then about 5mm of natural wood colour as you go down the side, and the rest of the side is black paint.

A Brief Week in the Shop

20 Aug 2023 - delfinen, hästen, painting, spray-booth, verkstaden

Making some scary holes in one guitar body, getting two more further along the spray-painting process, and getting very excited about how one of them in particular looks.