Michael Winston Dales Guitars: 3d Printing

Some Time in the Shop

8 Aug 2025 - 3d printing, fretslots, jigs

Getting back to workshop notes, picking up with the neck build we last wrote about.

A wide-angled photo showing the work in progress neck that has been trimmed, now unclamped, and on the floor is a large amount of wood dust.

Workshop diary: trying a new approach to headstock shaping

23 Feb 2025 - 3d printing, jigs

A look at trying a new waj of making jigs for guitar building: 3D-printing them!

A photo of a 3D-printed jig that has a recess for holding the headstock end of a guitar neck, sat on a workbench next to the work-in-progress guitar-neck made from birds-eye-maple.

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 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.

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 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.

A Month in and Out the Shop

17 Jul 2023 - 3d-printing, älgen, amsterdam, carving, hästen, liverpool makefest, spraying

A catch-up on the work leading up to Liverpool Makefest, and how the event itself went, plus I find the largest 3D-print I've ever seen in Amsterdam afterward.

A photo of a set of tables made up to display my Älgen hybrid built guitar (part wood, part 3D-printed), with examples of prototype parts, wood off cuts, and an amplified ready to let people try it out.

A Week in the Shop

15 Apr 2023 - 3D printing, amp, esp32, fret work, motor, pickups, staining

The old amp I built gets a new lease of life, I spend some quality time doing fret-work on a new neck, a bit looking at wood stains, and baby steps are made on my pickup winder.

I'm stood next to the workbench with a blue guitar amp on it, and I have a guitar plugged into the amp for testing purposes. I'm staring at the amp as I play.

A Week in the Shop

2 Apr 2023 - 3D-printing, amp, colour, form 3, formlabs, fusion 360, stain, verkstaden

A grab bag of bits this week: 3D printing a custom control for one guitar, testing out staining options for another, fitting a new transformer to my practice amp, and doing a little bit of electronics on my pickup winder.

A set of four postcard-sized rectangles of maple on a workbench, each with a different stain blend being tested: first is just straight yello, the second is orange over yellow, the third is red over yellow, and then the last is yellow, orange, and red.

A Week in the Shop

6 Mar 2023 - 3D-printing, älgen, birthday, laser-cutting, telecaster, templates

Rushed weeknotes for a rushed week: I make some progress on älgen, meet the real version of what it's named after, and spend far too long nursing a laser-cutter.

The pub sign for The Duke of Cumberland which shows a painting of a 17 or 18th century duke playing a Fender Telecaster with a jazz ensemble behind him.

A Week in the Shop

19 Feb 2023 - 3d printing, älgen, bhm, delfinen, fretwork, memphis minnie

A shorter weeknotes this week, as I've been heads down on slow tasks: fretwork and 3D print iterations. I also learned about the person who wrote one of my favourite Led Zepplin songs back in 1929.

A work in progress guitar neck, shaped and fretted, sat on a workbench. Beside the neck is a black sharpie pen, and closer inspection reveals all the frets have been drawn on with the sharpie ready for fret shaping work.

A Week in the Shop

12 Feb 2023 - 3D printing, älgen, bhm, blues deluxe, delfinen, grant green, neck, orca, sanding

A bit of everything this week: more neck carving, inspirational jazz performers, 3D-printing with carbon-fibre, finding odd imperial sized screws, and having fun with obtuse seeming digital music tools.

An unfinished guitar neck sits fretboard down on a workbench, surrounded with sanding disks.

Tags > 3d Printing