Official Luthiers Forum!

im going to start on my 3rd guitar and want to attempt a rosette similar to these. i have an idea how some of it is done but not all of it. does anyone know of any videos or pictures of the prossess. i have the circle cutting jig for a demel from stem mac. id does not plung cut which would be nice. im assuming you chisel the breaks in the circle but i would like so see the right way to go about it.

I've not seen any videos of this type of rosette....The guys who make these deserve A LOT of credit for their artistic presentations IMO. So..... I think it best when people just figure it out.......there's little left on guitar making that hasn't been shared which might just not be a bad thing...

Get a piece of plywood and just practice with scraps...... it might be easier than you think...

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I can imagine a circle cutter for the radius lines and a straight edge for the radial lines. Beyond that I would say it's all design and technique. I suppose that is where the artist emerges. (In other words I don't have a clue)

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Never done one, but if I am also planning one of these on my next round of builds. Here's my plan.
1. cut a whole rosette
2. segment the rosette (and any others of different sizes)
3. Mitre and add all of the purfling
4. Establish the sizes of the inner and outer channels (and any others of different sizes)
5. double check the size with calipers
6. draw out your design as precise as possible (would use AutoCAD or something similar that allows precise plotting
7. Attach drawing to soundboard
8. Route out the major chunks
9. score the remaining corners for each segment with a straight edge/circle cutter with a razor blade
10. repeat until the scores are the required depth
11. remove the remaining material with small, razor sharp chisels.
12. inlay

Easy right? should be able to knock it out in a day or two...or maybe a month after several failures!

Since there aren't any tutorials, maybe you can post some results in this thread so that the rest of us can get our learn on

If you look at this thread it shows how to do some of the chisel work

http://www.acousticsoundboard.co.uk/thr ... /strand-om

_________________
To be someone must be a wonderful thing!

I'd be prone to make the channels, and then fit the pieces to them. You'll want to set up stops for whatever tool you use to outline the curved parts, and work out the process so that you won't have to move the stops to reset the radii for the inside and outside cuts. One possibility would be to temporarily glue the stops to the top with a drop of CA. You'll need to smooth off that surface anyway after you've put in the rosette, so it won't be a problem as long as you don't get carried away with the glue.

Once you have the inner and outer limit cuts for the arcs you can make the radial cuts. Some sort of a rule that pivots on the same pin you used for the arcs would be handy here: I'd make one out of plexi. This could be clamped down to hold it firmly in place while you make the cuts, being careful about the grain direction. Some of the cuts could be best made with a double knife: at it's simplest, just two Ex-Acto blades taped together with a shim in between to make a cut the exact width of the purfling you're using. You'll need a tiny chisel to clean out the groove, such as the ones violin makers use for the purfling channel.

This will be somewhat rime consuming, but fancy work always is. Just take your time and work really carefully, and it should come out fine.

Use a router bit the width of your most narrow purfling. I use a .030 wide router bit, same width as my fiber. Also cut out your parts at the same time with the same router setting and they will drop right in. You will need to make another pivet to cut out your parts.

_________________
Michael F Smith
Goat Rock Ukulele
http://goatrockukulele.com

Regardless of HOW it is done, making it look good is the hard part. Good design is dam hard and critical. Do a LOT of work with pencil and paper first. Pencil is easy to correct or change. Wood in your guitar top is not so easy.

As with a lot of these things, its probably easier than it might appear. Think it through to its base procedure, and make sure that your design cooperates with your ability to execute it.

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I actually tried one similar to this. I used Alan's method, but rigged up a means of using the dremel cutter for the radial cuts. For a radial cut I set up a couple blocks of wood to keep it from drifting side to side then turned the radius adjusting screw with the dremel on.

I attached a pic. Hope it shows up (I'm not sure how to use this forum quite yet)

I've been doing the stopped tile and purfling rosettes for years. It's been an evolution of technique and design.

I now use a combination of CNC and laser that cuts the job down to about 1/2 hour instead of a day or more. However I started out with circle cutter with blade to score the sound board and cut the tiles in my veneer, dremel, scalple and chisels for the other work.

It's going to be a very laborius job and to get clean results needs to be done in stages and is built up in layers so to speak. Starting with the large tiles you inlay them and then let dry. Then come back and add your next element, let it dry and finally the purflings.

I went through my Facebook page and found one that I documented for a client.

_________________
Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

Very nice Uku Allen. Love the rosette

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

When requested to do this style, I cut the inlays first to get the radial dimensions and leave them over-length. With the same shop-made precision circle cutter, I can then creep up on the radial dimensions of the pockets to get a perfect fit, then square the ends of the pockets (chisel) and trim the inlays down to length.




For this type:



I use a pattern routing template that I made and framed the inlaid tiles in-situ.

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Man!! Love this stuff! Great work!!

Trevor, You certainly do beautiful work!!!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I have always wanted to do ones like Mr McFarlen. Thanks Allen for showing the method - and with an oval, just for added degree of difficulty! Can't wait to give it a try - but I can see why you would be drawn to using CNC instead.