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Hi

I know its a personal thing but Just wondering what you guys do with the fretboard/soundhole meeting

Circle the end to match the soundhole/straightend/overlap/short or a pattern end?
Bit short of ideas


Thanks

20 frets right? My usual treatment would be to shorten the board to a point about midway between the last fret (20th ?) and where the next fret (21st?) would be. I like to up a shallow radius on the end, about 10". I like the end of the fretboard to hit right about the edge of the soundhole.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yes Steve 20 fret

I cut it just long enough to cover the seam of the rosette.

This is on the one I'm building now.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Very nice work

I've used different treatments, but I would suggest for what you have there (with that rosette) a shallow radius covering the rosette ends, protruding over the soundhole, with the corners of the fretboard just "touching" the inner dark ring of the rosette.
Or between the 2 rings, on the white line.
I think I use a 12" radius.
I liked the one where I did that.
You can ease the corners a little if necessary to "touch" in the same place at each side without it looking odd.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Jay, that is really nice! I love the rosette and soundhole binding together. How about some pictures of the whole instrument.

Wendy,
I just finished one with a rosette treatment very similar to yours. I shaped the end of the fretboard to compliment my headstock. Here's how it met the soundhole:

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George :-)

Usually fairly simple for the fretboard end for me. Here's a typical one.
Ken

Usually a square end just covering the rosette seem. I have also done a sharpish bevel for a modern look.

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Pat

Thanks very much for the comment, Wendy. I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll post some photos later in another thread.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I really like the fretboard end George!
Your fret ends have a cool look too, almost like they are floating.
Great looking work!
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Gibson did his for a while, Heritage still does, and I am sure other makers have a version. Here is my take:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 562735639/

Ed

I always do variations of these three styles, and it's usually a game time decision once pretty much everything else is done.

Jay, I, too would like to see more. I have been doing a few soundhole bindings recently and really like the look. But you have lined the soundhole with the rosette pattern! That is very nice. Please do put up another thread and explain how you pull that off.

I think this has shown a really nice set of options. Thanks for the question, and the cool answers.

Cheers
Mark

George that looks great is it the same radius as the soundhole

George, that looks really nice, but I think you meant to direct that to someone else, since I have never done anything like that. Nice work though. Wendy

Here's my current scheme. It does require a 360° rosette, though!

Pat

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

Looks really cool Pat..unfortunately got a gap at top of my rosette

Oops, yeah, that was meant for you, cablepuller1. I'm easily confused!

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George :-)

I added a positing with some photos to the tutorials section: http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=46436

It's short because it's pretty simple to do.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I usually do mine extending into the soundhole with some sort of interesting shape on the end like James's first picture. I often taper the bass side away too.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Peter - I always enjoy seeing photos of that guitar.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Thats really cool Peter