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Well Paul, I’m with everyone else, that is a beautiful rosette!

I too, really like the way you bind the sound hole. Simple, yet innovative! Shows you have a real
talent for building.

And, as Hesh has said, about that being a specific feature, Thanks for sharing that with us!

A question if I may. What do find appealing about the extra sound hole in the side?

Robert

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Everything has beauty, But, not everyone see's it!

As Hesh said, it is indeed one of the design elements that make my guitars mine. Though I in no way invented it (think old Harmony guitars) and I am in no way the only person using it. I would caution however that unless you have an overall design theme in mind that something like this fits into, you might want to shy away from it. As James eluded to, I studied design in college and I see the guitar as a whole. For a person to have a "regular" guitar with lots of harringbone trim and the like and put a bound soundhole in, would just look wrong. Trust me, I know how tempting it is to see something you like and say, "I want to do that on my guitars". I've got a whole binder filled with that type of stuff. But unless there's a reason that the element, and I mean any element, is present, it will either a) look wrong, b)look ripped off or c)all of the above.
A little side note on the whole design thing: I once, several years ago, got an email from a guy asking if he could use my end graft design. I had to ask him "why?" He said it looked cool and he really liked it. Ok, that's all well and good but it didn't match a single element on his guitar. Square headstock, dreadnot curves, squared off fb extension. I told him that I didn't have any sort of copyright on it but it would just be wrong, design wise, to use it on his guitars. But if the effect was to have people say (and I don't mean to be egotistical about this) "oh, you ripped that off from Paul Woolson", he was going to acheive that nicely.
Bottom line on all of this: if you see things you like, make a mental note. Store it away somewhere (think of my binder that is oozing at the seams). In time maybe pull elements from it. But do so consiously with the whole guitar in mind. Come up with your own design ideas and you'll be more respected as a builder.
That said, I'm not holding any secrets. But this isn't anything worthy of a tutorial. It really is THAT simple. Cut a hole in your top that is slightly larger than the soundhole would be, bend a peice of binding over a hot pipe, and glue it on. There are many ways to handle it. As I said above and you can see a pic there, I reinforce my soundhole area so when I cut the soundhole, it is double thickness in that area. This gives me more wall to glue to.
Robert: what DON"T I find appealing about soundports? There are lots of discussions about them in the archives. But it's a whole different topic. If you can't find the information you are looking for, let me know and we can start a different topic.

NICE !!!!!
Mike

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Mike Collins

Hey Paul
Glad you were able to make use of that mun ebony piece. Your rosette looks fantastic.

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Paul, that is a great looking rosette. Actually you have a lucky customer as he got what he wanted and you were still able to include your unique design element. I've said it before but your guitars just have a natural flow and organic quality. Kudos.    

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

[QUOTE=Pwoolson]either a)
Bottom line on all of this: if you see things you like, make a mental note. Store it away somewhere (think of my binder that is oozing at the seams). In time maybe pull elements from it. But do so consiously with the whole guitar in mind. Come up with your own design ideas and you'll be more respected as a builder.
[/QUOTE]

You can bet that this is EXACTLY what I have been doing since I found this forum. Some of the innovative ideas I have seen on here have opened up a whole new train of thought on how to build guitars. While I have some ideas that I will try over the next few builds, they are similar but definitely different than what some of you have already done. I want to be unique.

Beautiful rosettes !

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Reguards,

Ken H

Paul is dead on with his comments about incorporating design ideas into your own. The instrument has to be viewed as a whole. I think you need to view things that you like in their entirety, and get a feel for the entire instrument, not specific items. Then take that feel and use it to modify your own design.

Noone really starts from scratch. There are standards which become a foundation, and good designers observe the whole community, ingest the designs they like then coming up with something unique that reflects what others have done in a new way.

This is much the way that new styles of music develop as well.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

[QUOTE=hblair]i tend to agree on the rosettes thing, i kinda think they are over done a bit, but wowzer! man, i really really like that rosette! excellent job![/QUOTE]       ok, i dont know if anyone even noticed or cares, but after i said this i was like, "oh man, i hope that doesnt sound like im puting anyone down." then i read in another post that someone felt self conscious about their rosette design after reading this thread. so... i didnt mean to sound self important or make little of anyone elses work.

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sweat the small stuff.

Very nice, Paul.

I think your original suggestion to your customer to try a segmented rosette would have been very interesting --- this wood really would have been spectacular for that. But you did an outstanding job with what he wanted.

Thanks Kelby, but as I was in the planning stages of this I couldn't decide whether to try to disguise the segmented joints or highlight them (more shell). In hindsight, I'm kind of glad he pushed me in this direction.