Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks to Bob, Michael and Tony for the helpful info and inspiration they provided recent threads about segmented rosettes.

I threw one together yesterday using Tony's technique. It wasn't quite as fancy as the ones Bob and Michael made, but it went together surprisingly fast and well. It's still in its rough state --- sanded to 80 grit, with a quick splash of shellac to show the color. It's cocobolo tiles with black and white fiber for the lines.

Nice look! Love it!

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Great job Kelby, it's got class!

That's really nice Kelby! Great job!

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Beautiful! The black lines between segments, the careful lining up of the grain. Details!

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Kelby - well done! I'll take two please

Looking good!

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Nice job Kelby. Looks great.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Nice job Kelby, that looks great. I really like the contrast between the coco and spruce. Pretty quick turnaround time too. How did you end up making the segments - are they multiple veneers of the same piece?

Bob k

well done .. gotta like the coco. I bought a chunk a ways back, thats really oly god for multi piece headplates, or segments like this, has a nice wave to the black lines ... mmmmmm.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

OK- I need a bit of help here.
Can someone point me to the first discussion that was mentioned, where Tony and Michael talked about making these kinds of rosettes? I searched and looked and can't find it, and I missed it the first time it came around.

Thanks in advance...

_________________
Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Sorry Mark, no can do - you missed the boat !!!

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Really fine job, Kelby! The thoughtful grain orientation is striking.

Gee, looks like I'm on my own! I can figure it out for myself I guess...that's the way I have always learned anyway!

_________________
Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Mark, it must be in the archives somewhere, it wasnt posted that long ago - basically its a table saw sled that cuts the pieces on a given angle, depending on how many segments you are doing, and it has a stop for the length. I need to look again on the PC to see if I still have the pix. The easiest way to figure out the length is simply draw out a rosette and then measure how long is required per piece.

Found them ....





Cut the pieces, glue them up on a piece of veneer or even bristolboard with CA, add in any divider lines you want, then cut out with a circle cutter. Inlay that first, then add the outer/inner lines. Oh yeah, if the pieces dont quite end up perfect, thats OK, it goes under the fretbaord - remember, 10 piece rosette, thats 20 cuts, so you need to be accurate to within 1/10 degree per cut to get it close.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks Tony, very cool and helpful of you to post that. I know what to do now! I have some spalted maple that I'll use.

_________________
Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

These are really nice guys, I'll have to give it try sometime.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks Tony, i bought myself some cocobolo pen blanks at Lee Valley this week end, will know how to operate on the next rosette!

Thanks, everyone!

Bob K, here's how I made the segments. First, I took a cutoff from the back of a cocobolo guitar I made a while back. I cut two strips 1" wide by about ten or twelve inches long, paying careful attenting to getting a nice grain pattern that was fairly parallel to the length of the cut. From that I cut the segments using a jig like Tony's.

This is a perfect use for those cutoff pieces from highly exotic back sets. I made a couple more rosettes last night, and I inlaid one of them today --- spalted maple. I like that one even better. I'll post pics in a new thread.

Good stuff Kelby - dont be afraid to use wavy or salnted grain - by flipping for each cut you can make the grain zigzag around, crazy curl can be made to bookmatch all the way around, whatever .. the possibilites are endless, and it s agreat use for smaller pieces of zoot. You do the same as I - use pieces about 1 inch wide, however long, gives the abillity to makehte ring anywhere from 1/4 to almost 3/4 wide.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"