Official Luthiers Forum!

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Many thanks, but let's all clap the Zootman on the back, eh?
SK[/QUOTE]
Ahhh shucks Steve.
Can't wait to see the finished product.

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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

Here is a pic of the jig I made to cut the segments for rosettes. It rides on two slats that fit the table saw mitre slots to keep it aligned. The two big 2x4 pieces top and bottom hold hte two parts of the table together once you cut the slot on your table saw. The blocks with the nuts and bolts on the left are to fine tune the angle of the fence. The hold down clamp holds the angle piece being cut and saves your fingers !!! The slotted stop block allows for different sized pieces to be cut, depending on the diameter of the soundhole you are rosetting (is that a word ??). So, to start, you need to do a little math and figure out how long a piece you need to cut, depending on the width of your stock, and how big the diameter is. Using a ten piece rosette, the angle needs to be 18 degrees. For a std 4 inch hole, and using 1 inch wide stock, you need about 49-50mm measured along the top of the piece from the stop fence to the blade slot. A little less depending how many color lines you use to separate the segments - you will have to play with it a little anyway to get the angle right, or at least very close. You can see a couple pieces cut, one is the wave bubinga, the other braz.

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

Here are a couple rings cut, and one that is only glued up pre routing a ring. Once you have your ten pieces cut, you can decide what if any colour line you want to use to separate them. Here we have blk/orange/blk, one that is blk/maple/blk, the other just black. In order to make the ring, I grab a backing piece of veneer and some CA. Holding the first two pieces tight with whatever colour line in there, run CA over the joint and a couple drops at the sides of the pieces. Continue around until you have the rough ring. Now I glue a centre piece in to accept a 1/4 inch hole, on which my circle cutter rotates - cut the outside first, measuring to see how wide a ring you are after. Then cut the inside diameter, being sure to hold the RING as you get close and finally route it free - otherwise it may move on you and leave a nasty nick. I always start to route from the piece of the ring that will be under the fretboard - if you mess up a bit, get some tearout there or whatever, its hidden.

TonyKarol38852.761712963

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

Once the ring is installed into the top, I then route for the purf lines. I always take a bit of the ring away, making a clean cut there and in the top wood for the purf lines - it keeps the look tight and clean if your initial route for the ring is a bit loose. As well, these are installed thicker than the top - you can always sand it back, way easier than trying to put some back in !!! I also usually sand off the veneer backing (post making the ring) after giving the whole rough ring a good CA soak. Route the depth to about 70 thou and titebond it in, puttingt some weight on to keep it flat.

give'er a go .. good way to use small bits of interesting wood to make cool rosettes.

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

[QUOTE=Shane Neifer] You're absolutely right Terry, Mike is a GREAT Guy. He found me on the web and he and I have since exchanged a huge amount of e-mail. He is actually walking me through a flamenco I am about to build. He has been at guitarmaking a long time but his enthusiasm for the craft is like that of someone just newly discovering it!

Shane[/QUOTE]

Yep. He went to Vermont to learn from Charles Fox when he had the school there for a short time, IIRC. If not, oops.

can someone tell me why I have to scroll to the right about an extra page to read the thread?

I love spalted maple. Here are a couple of my rosettes.





Spalted maple not just for rostttes!

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Those sure are some gnarly looking sound holes

Steve,

Is that a spalted back strip? Do you do anything special to beef up the joint?

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53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

Wayne,
That is not a back strip.
It is the bottom wedge (I'm not sure what to call it.) where the end pin goes.
That's walnut with koa lining the spalted maple.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Here's another one. I inlaid a black pearl ring into the maple and bound the soundhole with a ring of dyed maple and flamed maple binding.

Not the greatest photo, but you get the idea.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

[QUOTE=SteveS]
Spalted maple not just for rostttes!

[/QUOTE]

Doh!! Now I see it! That's a nice detail, I might have to steal that one.

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53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/