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Ok, so I'm pretty happy with this one.

A couple of things, this is the first spruce top I've worked with (yes, after building 6 guitars all with cedar tops) and I have to say that it is really a joy to work with. What the heck took me so long

This is a AAAA Lutz spruce top from Shane at High Mountain Tone Woods (thanks Shane).

The rosette is made up of Tasmanian Blackwood, black fibre paper purfling and Kevin Ryan's Zipflex blue abalone (which is very cool stuff)

The Tassy Blackwood tiles are from the back for this guitar, so the coloring is going to match great.

Here's the process I used (I'm sure there is a better way, but I don't know it yet).

First I drew out the rosette in cad to make sure it was sized right. (no picture of that)

Than I made a paper template for the tiles (although you don't need it) and I cut out the tiles. I made sure to label them so that they would be bookmatched once I glued them all together. I also made some purfling strips from some black fibre paper I got from BobC at RC tonewoods. These will separate the tiles.



Next I used a piece of tinfoil to glue the tiles together. The tin foil will not permanently hold the pieces when gluing with CA. I worked my way around till the tiles were all together and each has a 0.010" black line between them. I did this by hand, just holding the tiles tight together with one hand and wicking in CA with the other. The tiles will hold tight on the tinfoil enough to glue the next piece on etc...



Finally I had all the tiles together and I took them off the tinfoil and put them on a piece of polycarbonate (similar to UHMW) that I have. This will give me a work board to cut out the abalone channels.



After I tacked the tiles to the workboard, I attached a piece of MDF in the middle, ran that through the thickness sander and marked out the center by connecting the lines. I drilled my center hole and cut the channels for the abalone (the Zip flex has 0.005" black purflings at the edges) and glued them in with CA and ran it through the sander again to get it all level.



After that, I cut out the OD and ID of the rosette and took it off the workboard. Scraped the bottom and it was ready to inlay into the top with the 0.020" black purfling lines.



I routed the channel on the top (I love my wells/karol precision router base for all this), sealed it with shellac and inlaid the ring and the 0.020" black edge purflings. Once the CA was set, I ran it through the sander to get it all level and cut out the soundhole.

Here's the top with the back behind it and a closeup of the rosette.







Thanks for looking

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Real nice Rod!
I like the layout a lot!
Great choice of shell too!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

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

That's lovely, Rod. Good job!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Cool creative work Rod, very nice.

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

Good tips there on how to build a multi piece rosette. I'm going to give those ideas a go. Really nice looking rosette too Rod.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

Wow, that's a goregeous rosette!

Nicely done Rod .... a little different than how I do them, but the same result !!! i glue mine onto a piece of veneer, and then depending ont he rosette tiles and thickness, sometimes touch sand the veneer off the back when its been thicknessed, or just leave it and inlay the whole thing - whats another 15 thou ????

I take it you inlaid the whole ring and outer inner black lines all at once ??? I do the lines separately, just in case the ring isnt perfectly round, after the ring is glued in - oh, and i also put the shell in after the ring is glued in as well .. but like I said, its all the same in the end if it works out. Once more with feeling - nicely done.

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

Rod...fantastic looking rosette and great tutorial. Thanks for posting.

Lance...How does this get into the permanent tutorial collection?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

It's a beauty Roddy my friend and this should go in the toot section of the OLF so others can learn from you.

Is that rosette Black Acacia or Aussie Blackwood?

Very well done!!!!

That looks great! It's going to be a beautiful guitar.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Very very nice.

Good one Rod! I really like the two thin lines of Abalone, and I don't usually like that stuff much.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Great stuff - I love it.

Rod, that is way cool. Great work.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Nice job Rod!!

That's a beauty, Rod.
Usually I prefer the ab to be on the outside of the wood, but your double ring inside the wood is an eye-opener.
Quite a nice look.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

SCHWEET!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Rod,
that was a good use for the ZipFlex! Well done!

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

Thanks for the kudos my friends.

That was a fun rosette to plan and execute, now if they would all go that smoothly eh?

Tony, excellent suggestions as always. The veneer is a good idea



Hesh, I'm pretty sure it's Aussie Acacia...no wait...it's Black Blackwood...er I mean Tasmanian Acacia Blackwood

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

It's True Rod-that's a beauty!!!!!

I like the design allot!!

Mike

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Mike Collins

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Love it Rod, can't wait to see more...

Beautiful design and very nicely executed Rod! My hat is off to you!!

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"

I must agree ! a Very nice rosette Rod ! I like the two thin lines of
shell very much. Nice design and good job.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Nicely done and thanks for sharing your technic.