Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I finished my first rosette this afternoon for my #1 build. It turned out better than I thought it would. I did the whole thing by hand - took a while. But, I was cheaper and a little less intimidating than acquiring and using a router. I did have some trouble getting it in before the glue began to gel up a little and made it hard to fit the last bit in.

Here are some pics of the process. I used a BWB BWB IRW BWB BWB scheme that my wife suggested. The IRW was hard to bend b/c it is about .115" thick. The circle cutter is a design from a classical guitar building book I flipped through at Barnes and Nobles. Not sure who wrote it... I chiseled out the channel to .050" deep with a 3mm chisel. Cleaned up with my block plane and a scraper.

Let me know what I could have improved on, or things to keep in mind for the next one. Thanks all.

Hey Justin! (I'm the other Justin on the list...) That looks great and I like the tool! I have a similiar type of tool that I bought from LMII..... Yours looks much cooler! I only use mine for cutting out the soundhole though.

Justin

Looks like good, tight work.
And a nice, pleasing design.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

excelent job. it looks great and im generally a subscriber to "less is more" so that rosette fits nicely for me. it appears as though you got a pretty tight fit so good on you for going the hand tool route. congrats.

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sweat the small stuff.

Congrats !! Look great, !!! I am workin on my first right now !!

Lars

Justin my friend your rosette looks great!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Real nice work on the rossette as well as the tool.Has a nice clean look to it.

Nice rosette Justin. But isn't it annoying that the forum displays the photos in the reverse order to that in which you loaded them

Yes, Dave. That is anoying. Oh well

Thanks all for you encouragement. I was very pleased with how it turned out. I think it definitely takes more time, but I love the fact that I could do it all with a chisel and a tool that I made. I am beginning to think that the more time you invest, the happier you are when things work out well.

Thanks again all. I don't suppose I'll have much more to show before Christmas, but who knows.

Very clean Justin. Looks nice.

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

I think it looks really nice. I probably wouldn't have tried to bend the IRW but would have cut a circle out of a larger piece. There are problems with that though too. If you must bend, one trick you can do is make it out of multiple strips that are easier to bend. After a problem with my circle cut out of a solid piece, I did that with a walnut rosette element and it's very hard to tell it's two strips.

By the way, at first glance, the BWBBWB struck me as odd but the more I look at it the more I like the different thicknesses. I may have to try something that on my next one.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Justin,
Very nicely done for a first or at tenth! Great job, and your back bracing looks very clean too. Look forward to seeing the final product!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Here is one similar, home made,

http://mysite.verizon.net/nostberg/chapter7/step20.htm

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I