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I have built several guitars using wood in the rosettes. I'm getting ready to do another, but I want to use narrower 1/8" wide strips. Do you folks cut circles out of square stock for from something this size or do you bend straight strips? I don't have a pipe to bend, so I guess the question is more for grins.

Thanks,

Ken

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The economical way of course would be to bend a piece 1/8" wide, but you'll have a hard time ensureing it's perfectly round.

The simpler way would be to cut it out from flat stock material using some sort of circle cutter. Do the OD first then the ID. Actually, don't cut all the way through the flat stock with your router, but leave 0.005-0.010" to hold it all together, then run it through the sander to remove the ring from the parent plate. This would waist the most material.

Another way would be to make 1/4 round (or even 1/8 round) sections and inlay them into your channel.

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Thanks Rod and Todd. I used a circle cutter to cut my wider, 1/4"+ wood rosettes. I was trying to avoid a bunch of waste, which got me wondering how others do it. I easily used a single .025" koa string in my last guitar. It bent without breaking. However, I couldn't get the 1/8" into a tight enough radius without it breaking. I hadn't thought of breaking or splicing the wood. Wouldn't the seams be visible? The wood I am using is EIR. I cut a few strips from the back panels and was hoping to use those.

Ken

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Bending glued up purfling sandwiches happens pretty easily at 1/8 and even wider. I bent one at over 3/16 on the pipe for a rosette. I am sure a 1/8 could be bent, especially from EIR. It would be easiest on a pipe with the same measurement as the finished size, just slowly pull it to the pipe shape. It may be a little harder to heat up something that big though.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I do that on all my rosettes, it's easy, but I have a 3"x12" pipe I got for four bucks at a metal place. I heat it with a blowtorch. You don't need to get it perfectly round, somewhere in the neighborhood will do.