Official Luthiers Forum!

Do any of you have experience with this supplier:

http://www.dukeluthier.com/main.sc

He appears to be offering nice rosettes at about a third of the prices I normally see.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Well, I've been procrastinating to report some of my problems to help others, but now is a good time.

Years ago, I bought some high quality rosettes and did this test. Cut off about 1/4" of the rosette that would be under the fingerboard. Put a few drops of water on it and leave it on a scrap of wood. It swelled up about 2mm and stayed wide after drying. No discoloration. To install these, I made the channel wide enought so that I did not have to worry about an exact fit. Put in white glue, then the rosette, these sponged the surface of the rosette liberally with water. Then I put on Saran wrap or waxed paper, a piece of wood and a weight, leaving it to dry a day. The result was perfect.

Recently I tried some cheap rosesttes that I located on ebay. Some of these look like some of the ones at the web site that you linked, but I am not really sure--they all can look alike, and the factories copy popular patterns. I had this experience. First, many of the rosettes had defects that were hard to see at first. Many had significant errors in the pattern. A few had holes of missing. Even after I discarded all of the problems, including some patterns that I just don't like, I thought I had enough good ones to justify the purchase. However, I then started my tests. I found that the rosettes would swell when wet, but the next day, they shrunk back. After some testing, I found that I could put down the white glue, then the rosette, wet the surface, cover it to dry, and it would dry expanded, because the glue grabbed before the wood cold shrink back. But the colors seemed a bit faded. Well, I had some experimental guitars to make, so I figured I would use these, and the color wasn't that bad. I glued up two rosettes into tops, and found this problem after all dried. The rosettes expanded the width of the channel and stayed (good). But they also expanded the long way, which was to be expected, and when they shrank back the long way, they left irregular gaps, like spokes on a wheel.


So if I were to use these rosettes, I would need to make a perfect fit and use minimal moisture in gluing. Then, if a "water base" finish were used, I would still have fading problems.

Had problems with the window, so I am continuing the message.

So, you could purchase samples of the ones you want, and test pieces of them to see if they expand when wet and stay expanded when dry, and if they discolor. I suggest that you might want to do that even with expensive ones from other sites.


I have a lot of cheap rosettes that I probably will not use.

1/32" is a little thin for rosettes or purf lines IMHO, but doable. I like mine to be .080".

WBergman, sorry to read about your woes.
The easy way is to cut the channel exactly to the dimension of the rosette, seal it with shellac, install the rosette and flood with thin CA. No swelling by water absorption, nice and tight. Assuming, of course, that the rosettes are of a consistent width.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Pat I bought a few rosettes and other things from Darrin back in earyl 2000's. Never had a problem from his stuff. He is of Hippner guitars and is a classical builder mostly. I don't buy rosettes any more or not often anyway. He used his name on ebay back then as Hippner Guitars. Like several guys doing other things in luthery on the side for the extra income it can bring. I only can suggest trying them and go from there. Pesonally, I would not have a problem buying from Darren.

Stan (and others) are the rosettes from Darrin, or an associate of his? The "Dukeluthier" is in South Carolina, and I believe Darrin is on the West coast.

I haven't used any of the rosettes, I normally make my own. I'm just noticed the 2 websites are linked, but appear to be on opposite ends of the US.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

I don't know answer if Darren does or working with someone. It was 7 years ago and when bought some wood from him, got a couple of rosettes. I can only suggest might contact Darren and try a one or two and see how they work for you. Only pre mades I buy now are the fine herringbone. If make a classical or use a rosette that big, I personally would try them out for the price I have found many times what seems a chance thing, turns into a good source.

I don't know if this helps, but Hippner Guitars does business on Ebay under the name of luthierwoodsupply and they do not have rosettes listed.

Well I ordered a few. I'll let you know how it goes.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Darren is on the west coast, and is great to deal with. I have bought a few sets of wood from him, via ebay, and a couple directly. I'm trying to remember the name of the guy in Atlanta, but it's not coming to me.

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Waddy

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