Official Luthiers Forum!

There are plenty of things that one does in making a guitar to add an aesthetic touch which does not necessarily improve or affect the sound of the guitar, but these add a real personal and unique look that can set a custom made instrument apart from the off the wall guitar. I'm staying pretty basic with my embellishments since that is where my skill set is at, but I was wondering if anyone would like to share something they are currently or have recently worked on that is done primarily to add to the aesthetic of their instrument. As for me, I've been trying to get a classical but somewhat personal look to the rosettes on my guitars. The camera is pretty good at showing the flaws (the further away you are the better they look), but in the attached examples I used the same two types of tiles and arranged them differently on each rosette to get a slightly different look. Anyway, if you're willing to share, maybe some of us will become inspired and branch out into something a little different. Recent aesthetics that I readily recall are: detailed carving of the head piece, mustache and other unique bridges, interesting inlays, sound hole placement, new hardware for an electric, laminated braces, etc. I guess I just appreciate how creative some of these touches can be and was wondering what some of you are up to. Plus I've been playing with Chladni patterns and frequency plots too much the last couple of days and would like to think about something that doesn't hurt so much. Thanks.

Fit and finish. To me, nothing is more elegant than a simple plan well executed.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Torres style rosettes. I've made 5 of these recently. Same dentil 'pattern' but every one slightly different.

i just got a perm
Cheers
charliewood

I've been focusing on my binding, purfling, miters, etc. T

Stunning rosette, Michael. And wow, Timo, some gorgeous binding work! Oh, and, charliewood, don't wash it till it has set!

Slightly different: I've been testing, preparing to dye a spruce top purple! Without dying the maple binding!

Had customers pick up their guitars today. One is a 12 string conversion from an old Martin D28 , New top ( red spruce ) and the other is a build BRW Red spec 1937 Martin D 28. The 12 string is a 42 style with snakewood binding and buttons.

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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

Here are a couple of unfinished rosettes I've been working on... The cutout circle in the middle of one of them isn't where the soundhole will be... I'm using a semi-segmented style, which I don't think I've seen used before. These guitars have elevated necks too, so the rosette has to be continuous all the way to the top.

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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

Awesome stuff, Peter! Do you know of any tutorials for that sort of rosette? Not sure what to call it. Looks great!
And do you rout the bulk of those separate rosette sections and chisel the corners? Or...

you guys are killing me....

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

That is some beautiful stuff guys...

I'm working on making some radial Purfling of zebra wood...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I hope this thread is still active when my current aesthetic touch is photo-worthy. You guys set the bar pretty darned high! And I am inspired by the work that all of you keep doing.
Patrick

Tim, lookin goood. Lookin reeaal good!

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Pat

Some great work going on everyone and lovely conversion to a 12str John.

Steve

Some great work going on everyone and lovely conversion to a 12str John.

Steve

Thanks! Yeah I rout it as usual and just lift it up slightly for the in between bits, then use a scalpel for the corners. I don't know about any tutorials - I just made it up as I went along! For the first one, I just cut out a load of random triangles and things, then tried fitting them together as best I could, refining the fit with a sanding block. I then pushed them all tight together on double sided tape and dripped superglue over all the joints. The other one I used tightbond one piece at a time with go bars, and that works fine too. The most time consuming part is doing the mitres in the purfling...

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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

Several years ago I bought some rosettes for a buck apiece. Most were pretty nice but one of them never appealed to me. The central motif reminded me of space invaders. The rest of the rosette was o.k. so I thought I would replace the center with some abalone "blocks" I snapped off with my fret nippers. It went pretty quickly, about a leisurely hour , start to finish.

Nice clay!!!!

I hear that!

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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.

Fabulous Clay!
Each piece of shell is a little picture.
Very eye-catching.
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I've also done a few of those mosaic rosettes lately, here's the most recent one

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Been re-topping a BRW/red spruce GC-6 with X bracing to a new top with ladder bracing.



Half the purfling on...the green fibre strips in the middle really "pop" the green abalone






I tried a superglue nozzle on the Weldon tube and it works well...



Installing the green abalone strips. I prefer the old time way of tapping it in. Makes for easy install and the strips are broken as they go in. Looks original.



Roughed out pickguard cut like the Larsons did, and Larson style African Blackwood bridge.

Very nice work here. Well done as always Haans.

Some like a decorated guitar and some like them on the austere side.

I like them well appointed but short of 'fancy', whatever that means!

Well appointed like the examples on this thread. Good work all!!!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Beautiful work everyone! I'm with Joe B. in that I usually prefer understated, but the work here is outstanding and making me want to try something a little fancier than I was previously considering.


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