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Hi guys, my Irish bouzouki is almost finished. Some work still to buffing the finish and stringing it up. But I got a good picture of my faux finished rosette insert, so I thought I'd post that. I wanted to finish this laser cut wood insert so it was nicely compatible with the abalone I was inlaying inside the binding, so I gathered some spray paints of the various colors one sees in abalone and some compatible clearcoat and went to town. If you are interested the way I did this was to spray a boatload of clear, then sweep it with the various colors, barely adding color one at a time over and over again. I sprinkled some bronze powder onto it and then some more clear coat. Then I swiped it with some paper towel and did the process again and again. Repeat until it looks right. Then the very bumpy ugly surface that results is sanded down with 120, 150, 220 sandpaper until reasonably flat. I inserted it into the sound hole and it got finished with the rest of the bouzouki. Before putting on the back I put some painter's tape behind it to keep the finish from getting into the body.

I'm pretty happy with how it looks. I'll post finished pics once it's all done. I needed to do a little touchup of the finish, so it'll be a few weeks still as it's lacquer and needs to cure.

Joe

That looks VERY cool Joe!

NIIIIIICE!!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Very cool
It will be great when we see picts of the competed instrument

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

OK, here's an almost finished piece. Still gotta be buffed out and strung up, but it's close. It's also dark here, so this is a flash shot...not the best, but it'll give you an idea.

Good looking bouzouki Joe; Ill look forward to seeing the finished instrument ;
what scale are you using?
Is rosette insert removable?
jack

Slick! Is that a Rowan tree?
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

That is very creative, I'm very impressed with your soundhole cover!

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Thats just about the coolest thing I've ever seen posted here!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done........ Mikey

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The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

It's a guitar length scale 25.5", so it feels just like a steel string fret and string (similar sized strings too) wise. It's got a movable bridge, so one could string with octave pairs, but probably have to capo to 5th fret to be in tune. It's built to have paired strings.

The rosette is not removable. It's a kit and that's how it was designed. I thought about making it removable, but...it's only my second instrument, I wasn't keen on messing with it too much. Heck I already added purfling, faux finish, head plate, and end graft. so I worried about getting too far off the path.

Lacquer, for those who master it I give you a deep honorable bow. What a beautiful, pain in the *** finish to work with! I think I made every rookie mistake in the book getting the finish on this guy. Dripped, and wiped. AH! Divet in the finish was my biggest headache, otherwise it went OK.

Edit: typed the scale length wrong.

So, now it's finished. Yea! This one took 1/20th the amount of time

Well, nonetheless, it's done. Here are two pics, front and back. Faux finish on the rosette and faux finish to form a center strip on the back. Just felt it needed to be broken up. Anyway, here it is, done. Build #2 for me.