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How thick do you make your rosettes for a steel string guitar. I am planning one that is 0.075" thick. Is that a good thickness?

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EddieLee

I make mine about 3/4 thickness of the soundboard and rout the slot a little shallower so it can be sanded flush.

I usually go for about 3/4 the thickness of the top when I have the option. But I've done veneer thin, and just short of top thickness, and you could even do entirely through the top, if you add a reinforcement patch inside.

The functional role of the rosette is to seal the endgrain of the top from rapid moisture loss, so thicker is generally better for that. But it's not an essential part. A lot of builders these days use segmented rosettes that don't cross all of the grain lines anyway.

I'm not sure I believe the rosettes purpose is to seal end grain. I see it as more of a crack preventer by adding reinforcement structurally, as well as a harder wood preventing pick wear through the spruce. I go about 60% through the board. Then level and clean with the drum sander. As soon as the surface is nice and clean, I flip the board and take to final thickness from the non rosette side.

50 to 60% of top thickness for me.

thinnest i made was a 1 mm veneer.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

rosettes are more for crack prevention around the sound hole 1/2 depth is about right for me

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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

Half the depth of the soundboard (so about 50 to 60 mil). I use a cross-grained backer on the inside of the soundboard for crack prevention, so I see the rosette purely as an artistic element.

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Thanks, That really helps

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EddieLee

I have gotten cheap rosettes that were literally paper thin...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com