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 guitar body sat on the workshop, with a couple of parts laid on top of it to give the impression of how it might look when finished. The top is a nice birds-eye maple, and on one side it is nicely rounded, and on the other side it has a pointy horn to it.

A Week in the Shop

22 Jan 2023 - delfinen, fretting, kerf, laser-cutting, neck, palm router, verkstaden

Getting back into the swing of things with making dust in the workshop: a neck gets prepped and fretted, and I try out my new ferrule block technique to learn that it needs improving.

The rear body of the guitar on a carpet mat on a workbench, showing the copper covered inside of the electronics cavity. To the side you can see a scalpel and bits of tape, and on the body to one side you can see the translucent orange acrylic cover for the cavity that will let the shiny copper inside be visible once the cover is on.

Getting back to the Shop

16 Jan 2023 - älgen, delfinen, jigs, laser-cutting

Getting back into the workshop after a brief hiatus, and starting out with finding a great new way to radius my fretboards.

A Week in the Shop

1 Oct 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, delfinen, sanding, templates

Lots of sanding and tidying on my Älgen guitar build as it gets ready for finishing, some last minute template redesigns, and I learn how to use a new 3D printed.

A Week in and out the Shop

19 Sep 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, delfinen, ferrules, fusion 360, jigs, laser-cutting, patching, templates

A week of having more questions than answers as try to push the Delfin build forward.

A Week in the Shop

12 Sep 2022 - älgen, delfinen, drilling, filling, sanding, templates

The Delfin guitar becomes one, as the body and neck are joined, and Älgen gets close to being ready for finishing.

A Week in the Shop

3 Sep 2022 - älgen, michael abrash, sanding

A lot of sanding, shaping, and tweaking as I knuckle down to the second 90% of that Älgen build.

My älgen guitar sitting on the workbench, weith strings on, and 3D-printed sides mounted. It is still missing electronics.

A Unit of Time in the Shop

25 Aug 2022 - älgen, delfinen, scale length, strings, website

I finally get to the bottom of what's been causing issues with stringing up my Älgen guitar build, and Delfin gets marked up ready for the next stage of work.

A Week in the Shop

8 Aug 2022 - älgen, delfinen, ef1, inlays, setup and repair

A mixed set of activities in the workshop this week, as I worked on three guitars: trying to move one through the last stages of a build, getting another through the early stages, and a final one that's in for some setup TLC.

A Week in the Shop

1 Aug 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, bridge, headless, strings, website

This week was all about getting to that all important milestone on our new guitar design: getting the strings on and finding out if we have an instrument or not.

A week in the shop

18 Jul 2022 - älgen, fretwork

Pondering about what it is I do, pushing towards the finishing straight with Älgen build, and learning a new process for my fretwork.