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I rented some time on an industrial 50W laser and used it to burn out the areas in a German spruce top to be inlayed and to cut the Amboyna burl to fit in the spaces for a classical guitar rosette. Kind of a different approach - maybe too different? Let me know what you think.

I think that's very cool! Interesting diversion from the norm.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I like the design. It looks a little flat but maybe that will change with the finish. Some engraving might help. I don't know what classical guitarists will think.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Jim Olson has been doing that for a while, and commercially you can get laser cut parts from Michael Gurian.

Did you have a problem with alignment? Looks about 1/2" off center.

The inlay pattern is slightly rotated off-center to the joint, about 2mm. If you look closely at the joint at the bottom of the rosette you can see that, but the center hole and the veneer lines are exactly symmetrical to the top joint. The design was hand-drawn and I did not notice that it was slightly canted off the x-y axis until I started the laser. The hole in the board under the top is just a hole I use for a router pivot and has nothing to do with this top.

did you ask if that was too different?....

To quote some of the younger crowd; "man...you got mad skills!"

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Mark,

Nice - will look even better when sanded and finished. This is the sort of thing I've been experimenting with (I have my own laser engraver). I'll take some pictures and post em soon. The laser enables all sorts of cool new artsy things....

Can I ask how much (by PM maybe?) you had to pay for laser time?

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"