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A lot of early rosettes don't have a fretboard overlapping them so the inlaid rings have to meet with no gap. How is this done - a lot of experience? Laying the ring in and cutting its length against the first end? A lot of ukes have this too

Ed M

I've done it the hard way by taking a lot of time to trim each piece a little at a time. Would love to hear of an easy way.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It seems the Gibson way was to trim it roughly to length and hope for the best. Probably a bit faster

I've always wondered that too! I assume if it was plastic they could always melt it a little bit with acetone...

Pat

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Pat

You could get pretty close by multiplying the diameter of the circle by pi

You can scarph the ends of each purfle at a different place. Since the lines are relatively thin, if you make them reasonably tight your eye won't be drawn to a particular place as it would if they were all butt joined at one spot. In some cases it may be easier to build it up around a form and then inlay the finished rosette in one piece.

That's how I've done it, doing each band as Steve said earlier--a little bit at a time.

Dave

I cut the end at about 25 degrees and then overlap them. This gives some wiggle room rather than trying to get a tight butt join

Yup scarf joint is the way to go for that. I've done it but anyone with good eyes can still see it.

If it's grainy wood for the main ring, scarf joint. Scarf for the purfling too. I don't put them all in one place at 12:00, rather scatter them around. Makes them harder to find, heh heh.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Originally, I was thinking side to side scarf joints. But now I'm thinking you all are talking about top to bottom scarfs?

Pat

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Pat

Top to bottom works best for me. I cut the channel so that the purflings and other parts are a bit proud. That allows a few thou of slop during install. I also stagger the scarfs in different places around the rosette.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

this is a lot easier than one may think.
I use a scarfed joint
if you have a multi martin style cut an angle about 3 times the height. The overlay side you can use a tweezers to locate the length and cut the overlap to match the angle it lays on. Also stagger the rings so the joints are at different places
I use duco cement for all rosettes. allow proper cure time when you are using acetate plastic ( 6 hr ) before sanding

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I used the top to bottom scarfs with when I did this. It was possible to line up the ends as they stack on top of each other.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I was thinking of a jig like this. It would give you a nice scarf joint but unfortunately some math would be involved

Boy this is a great forum. Lots of ideas. I have used a scarf when binding the inside of a soundhole and it makes sense to use it for the rosette too

Thanks all

Ed M

It's difficult to get truly seamless joints in wood. I've tried various methods, scarf, mitre and the wallpaper joint. All of them are capable of being near perfect or somewhat visible. You see them on romantic guitars such as Lacotes and many, many others. A very common rosette during that period. I refer to them as a closed ring rosette.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma0AK0H8eIc&t=5s
here you go this is how I do it

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

+1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXamzTHr8zA&t=3366s

here is a video I hope you enjoy on rosette installation

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Pat, I have to ask...what is the wood that you're using for your purfling/rosette there? It looks great!

I found out in another thread that it's Amboyna Burl. Beautiful!

John, thanks for the video. I’ve always wondered how to go about the offset rosettes. Now I get it and will incorporate one into a future build.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars