We Made It!

Man, talk about cutting it close. Don was working on the SS V guitar during the show! My hat's off to D for making it happen. We were able to show three new SS models. Two "E" shapes and one "V". The left handed "V" didn't make it as we were waiting on the left-handed tuners to show and they did not.

Reaction to the new line was good, but we noticed something about the folks who glance at the guitar. They don't see the wood. It seems that unless they had the guitar in their hands inspecting it, they didn't notice the wood. As if the acrylic were painted or something. The beauty of these guitars is that the tone comes from the wood and the low end flub and high end harshness are filtered out by the density of the acrylic. The difference is not just in the materials, but also in the tone. My buddy and key man Maui and I were talking and had the thought that the Bells had piano-like qualities in that regard. Just ask Rocky Athas, Ed Roland or Jamey Ice.

Thanks to everyone who came by and chatted with us and thanks for blowing up our Facebook friend requests!

Now back at the shop it's time to clean, clean, clean, do some repairs, get busy on our first truly original shape, finish my eb0 re-furb, build some cloud clones, and get that Tele model into Brett's hands before Christmas!

Monday' progress and set backs

Don was working extra hard at the shop last night preparing the SSe and SSv guitars for the show. It seemed that every time he went to use a tool (sander, CNC machine, you name it), there was an issue. So instead of just diligently working on creating guitars, he was adapting tools, cleaning screw threads and overcoming machining roadblocks for the entire 4 hours I was present. I mostly stayed out of the way and cleaned.

So, if all goes well, we'll be painting tomorrow and building on Thursday. Fingers are not crossed, they are working.

Also, don't eat the shop yogurt.

Cutting it Close...

The Arlington Guitar Show is this weekend and it looks like the original thought of having five new models to show would be too much to ask. Time, repairs and custom builds tend to suck up a lot of Don's time. But we should at least have two new models ready for viewing at the show. The "SS-V" and the "SS-E".

Above: The CNC machine does Don's bidding and routs out the control panel section for the SS-V.

Ed Roland Jazz Blaster is Complete...

Front-man Ed Roland of Collective Soul will soon be the proud owner of this Bell Custom Guitars JazzBlaster. Notice the stripe that surrounds the body. This was Ed's idea. It provides a more traditional cue without being traditional at all. Hopefully we will see the Bell on stage with Collective Soul soon!

Working Away...

Don's hard at work getting 5 or 6 of the new stock of Bell guitars ready for the Arlington Show in October. We are hoping to have two Vs, two Explorer shapes, and a Jazzblaster. If we have time, the Tele will make it into the mix. All of the parts for 40 guitars are just a few more steps away from being ready for assembly.


The new apparatus for connecting the plexi and wood. With Don's advent of the new body/plex joint, this method is necessary and should provide a seamless joint that's unseen from the outside.


Here's my tiny contribution to all 40 guitars. Machining the light poles that house the LEDs...

Funny GRO video...

Here's a pretty funny look at GRO opening for David Cook in West Virginia. You almost don't notice the Double Bell guitars! Enjoy...

Guitar Show and Collective Soul Collecting...

The big Arlington guitar show is coming up in October and we've got parts sitting around that will make up like 40 guitars, but none complete. So, the focus shifts from refurbs and repairs to the new batch of guitars. As I mentioned before, there will be JazzBlasters, Teles, Explorers and Vs. Each of them sporting some design improvements over the previous batch.

Brett, this means your tele will be in your hands sooner than later! Maybe before Christmas!

About 5 of these are already spoken for, two of which are going to Ed Rolan, the front man of Collective Soul. Ed had his people call Don's people (Don) and arrange a meeting so he could play some Bells and talk to Don about what he wants in a guitar. By the end of the night, Ed chose a JazzBlaster like Jamie Ice's (Green River Ordinance) and a flying V, too.

My Ebo has a thin layer of shop dust on it.

P