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I put a simple shell rosette (no purfling) on my soundboard but I didn't route the channel deep enough so when I sanded the shell flush w/ the top I ended up sanding through some of the colorful portion of the abalone down to the white-ish yellow color. At first I thought it was good enough so I went ahead and braced the top but now as I'm ready to glue the top to the ribs I've realized that the rosette isn't up to par and I should do something about it.

Any recommendations? I glued it in w/ LMI white glue. I thought about heating it but am concerned that the heat may pop the braces off. Also if I could get the shell out of the channel, what would be the best way to deepen the channel? I have a circle cutter similar to Mario's which uses a 1/4" hole in the middle of the soundhole area to align itself but since the soundhole is there now I'm not sure how accurately I could get the rosette channel lined up again. Lastly, if I could get a good lineup for the circle cutter, could I use that to clean out the channel?

TIA.

Roy

Hi Roy
Use your jig to route out a circle out of some srape the same dia. as your soundhole. Set your soundboard over it and tape down the edges so it doesn't move. That should give you a good center to route out the old rosette. Shallow cuts a little at a time with a carbide bit. Hope this helps.Bobc38761.4748726852

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Roy..."As luck would have it", I did this very thing last week. I had to rout out the existing pearl and replace it with new stuff. The thickness sander flipped out 2 pieces where the channel wasn't deep enough. I tried to replace only the affected area but it got messy and I ended up re-doing the entire rosette. In my case, I hadn't routed out the soundhole, nor braced, so I had a reference centerpoint for my demel base and B&D dremel equivalent. I was able to get back to the borders on the spruce but had to also replace the purfling. Lesson learned at the cost of $20 in pearl and lots of stress.

In your case, you might have to do this freehand since you no longer have a flat surface nor a center reference point. I used 1/16" and 1/32" bits and went real slow to remove the 1/8" pearl strip. Might also need to do some delicate chiseling as well.

I know this doesn't help your specific situation but I take some comfort in my empathy. Let us know how you resolve it.

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

Hi Roy,
I don't think I'd want to route out all that shell. Because shell is so hard,
I'd like to be a little less agressive. How about taking a dremel tool with a
base and route out a small "starter hole" somewhere in the center of a
section of shell. Then I'd work some warm water into the hole and soften
the white glue along with just a little heat, not enough to bother the
braces. Once you get one piece up it will be easier to get the others up.
Let the wood dry completely. Once you have all the old shell out, you can
do as BobC recommends -- cut a circle out of scrap that fits your sound
hole and now you can cut the channel deeper with a circle jig like the
one's sold for Dremel tools (Stew-Mac). Just my thoughts.
Craig

OOps I overlooked the part about being braced.

_________________
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

Bob, I think your suggestion will still work if I use a block that fits inside the soundhole bracing.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I'll give it a go this week and let you know how it turns out.

Hi Roy,
You must feel peed off enough to want to remove the rosette with TNT

If it were me, I would work along Craig's suggestion. Remove a small piece first with a dremel and then use a dental pick or the like and localised heat from a soldering tip picking pieces out.

I would avoid water unless absolutely necessary cause of the end grain exposed in the rosette rebate.

Once done, then you could clean up and deepen the channel as Bob suggest and you should be right to go.

JM2CW Cheers

Kim