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I’ve been suffering from serious rosette envy after seeing the beautiful wood rosettes posted over the last several months by Tony Karol, Mike Collins and others so I decided to have a go at it this weekend with a block of Afzelia burl I had. I was flying by the seat of my pants most of the way but other than some slight tear out at 3:00 and 9:00 (of course) I think it came out ok. The rosette segment joints were slightly rotated so I aligned the bottom segment joint with the sound plate joint and will rely on the fingerboard extension to hide the upper rosette zone. I decided to use the same material for a matching end graph.

By the way, I cut the channels using a Cocharan router base from Allied Lutherie. I know there was a thread recently regarding making you own similar base but if you do not have the time or the inclination, this is a precision piece of gear that was a joy to use.



dmills39012.9568981482

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

Doug,
That is so nice. Great job. That is about the nicest end graft I have ever seen.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Doug, looks great, I have also been on a rossette building adventure myself of late also inspired by these here on the OLF. Again, both look great. I will post some photos of my latest tommorrow here on your thread.

Thanks for sharing

Mike

Nicely done. This wood has a wonderful figure. The guitar is going to be beautiful under a finish.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

That is some gorgeous burl and very good looking work Doug! What are you planning on using for binding?

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Doug, that looks great down here in Texas.
You've got me wondering what the side wood is?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks for the comments guys.
Dave - I have some walnut bindings I'm going to use that should pick up the midrange browns in the burl and hopefully tie the various elements together.
Steve - the back and sides are a striking spalted Myrtle set from Bob. I'll post some more pics once I get the box closed.

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

Looks Good Doug!!!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Very nice job, is that your first guitar?

Sure like the wood choices!

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

Great work, Doug! I'll have to try some burl one of these days!mm

Great job! I love the rosette and also the end graft, that burl is awesome!

Same here. It looks awesome.

Doug !!
That is beautiful!!
The workmanship and woods are top notch!

Nothing personal -that;s the nicest looking butt I've seen in awhile!
Mike

www.collinsguitars.com

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Mike Collins

Goodness gracious me. That wood...it's CRAZY!!!!

Doug,
That is an awesome rosette. I love the lines bewteen the pieces. Great and inspiring job!!

Homeboy

Excellent, Doug! That burl wood is just top notch! You put it together very nicely.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Very nice Doug!

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

Afzelia Burl...I think I knew her in high school.

Nice effort, Doug!

Fantastico!

Being a first-time builder I feel odd saying good job.
I usually prefer to lurk here as I feel my opinion is moot.

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Christopher C. Cordle
North Muskegon, MI

http://www.yardsaleunderwear.com
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.cordle

[QUOTE=uncleshish] Being a first-time builder I feel odd saying good job.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with your eyes, and if it looks good, it IS good. Besides, you've got lots of experience with guitars from a player's viewpoint, so don't be shy!

Thanks for the nice comments guys. A few tips for any other first time wood rosette makers.

1.     I first tried making an 18 degree jig for my band saw. It worked ok but the circle didn’t close tight enough for my liking. I glued together a quick little 18 degree MDF miter box and it worked quite well with my gent saw. No need for power assisted cuts with slabs this thin (about 75 thousands after leveling) unless you are in mass production mode and the miter box method is quite accurate.
2.     I did not have any wood veneer on hand to glue the segments to so picked up a 3/32” x 6” x 36” balsa slab at the local hobby shop for about $3. Glued 2 sections together for a 12” square working board and it worked fine – stiff enough for the cutting and sanded off like butter when the rosette was glued up.

cheers

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois