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I thought I remembered someone here, though it may have been on another forum, coming up with a clever solution for doing this but I cannot remember what it was.

Has anyone ever done this before? Even better has anyone who has done this created a tutorial? I'm runnign around some ideas in my head but I don't want to reinvent the wheel and it's not an easy task.

I've done it 3 or 4 times. Trick is to make a disk the same size as the sound hole with a hole in the center sized for your rosette router setup. I use 3/4" birch ply for the disk, just draw the circle with a compass, cut it on the bandsaw, clean up on the disc sander, and use some masking tape around the edge if the fit is a bit loose. The trick is to get the disk tight and perfectly flush with or a few thousandths below the top. I stack up scrap blocks of wood spacers in the body (and tape them down) so that the top of the disk is flush with the top; I usually have to sand one of the spacers to fit so that the disk fits flush with the top. Then just rout the rosette as you would normally.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ha! ok that was one of the ideas I had in my head. I was wondering about gluing up the assembly though but I guess if it's pressure fit just right to the ID of the soundhole it should remain stable? Ok cool, thanks for the tip.

I have it in my head that Joey Halliday (fingerstyle1978) does the rosette after the box is closed as a normal process. I might be totally making that up though. Could be worth it to PM him.

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I posted it here

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=49664

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Boom! That's it. That's the one I was talking about. Thanks. I forgot I was even part of that thread before too.

One question though: How did you get the disk back out? Or did you just rout that off as well?

Maybe a few off center (obviously) finger holes in the plug would aid in removal. That, and not using too much glue on the support squares around the inside of the soundhole. I would worry that, without a support structure underneath the center pin (which we normally have underneath a top during this operation), the end of the routing job would get very exciting. And not in a good way.

I would HHG and just remove it with a bridge plate removal chisel. But I did notice that the tutorial Bri posted the grain of his squares was going crosswise like in a back reinforcement strip if you know what I mean. Might be better to use long grain pieces but perhaps Bri actually intended that for a reason.

Light on the glue, a bit of heat from the tip of an iron, no problem.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Somewhere or other I posted how I do it...

Cut a disc with your circle cutter/router the same size as the sound hole. Sometimes you can start with the sound hole cutout of a larger guitar or otherwise use a 3mm thick piece of MDF or similar. Creep up on the diameter until you get the exact size. Double tape that to the bottom of the circle cutter and that disc is now your pivot.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

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Ah! YEs I see what you are doing there. That does seem like a simple solution.

And that's what I will do next time. Even quicker and easier than what I've been doing.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"