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The newest Luthier Tips du Jour instructional video is on Youtube. The topic is rosettes. Subtitles are available in both English and Portuguese and you can translate them into any other language by using the CC option on Youtube.
As always, comments and discussion are welcome.
Enjoy!

Another fine job. You're becoming quite the pro at video production Robbie!

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Good job, Robbie. I always look forward to your tips videos. Always informative, interesting and nicely produced.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thank you so much for all these wonderful videos! I've been perusing them with great interest as I start my first build. This one couldn't have come at a better time as I'm in the midst of doing my first rosette. You touched upon routing out a little too much for the rosette but didn't go into great detail though? Do you have any more suggestions to adjust for such an issue - or worse yet if there's tear out, be it a clean break along the grain or just a slip in the circle cutter's radius?

If you happen to get the circle too big or have tear out then it is possible to enlarge it even more and add a purfling line to fill up the gap. If you do one on the outside diamter it is best to make the inside diameter match by doing one there as well. The lesson here though is to not let that happen. If you are getting tearout then you need to find out why and remedy that.
I am glad you are finding the videos useful.

I did a double take about 2/3 through, one of the rosettes looked an awful lot like one of mine! But, alas, upon closer examination I found that it was just very similar. Very.

Good video.

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

Doug,

Were you one of the folks that sent me pics of their rosettes? I have been known to unintentionally leave out a name before in the credits.

Another fine addition to the video instruction collection available online. I love to look at rosettes so the photos at the end are a great addition to the video.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Hey Robbie,

Nice job on the video. Lots of cool stuff....

Thanks - Luc

Very nice! Lot's of OLF folk there - Waddy's a star! (I think the first one of Waddy's shown was the best, though.) That was a really nice travelog through rosette country. Now, if you'll explain how the channels were cut for the really elaborate Maccaferri D one in there ...

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

No, I wasn't. Were you taking submissions? If so, I missed it.

There is a rosette about 2/3 in which looks an awful lot like the this one. You can see the similarity. Same theme, but I ran reverse herringbone around the central motif of Lacewood, the other is diamond shapes around a different kind of wood.

It wasn't that you missed me, its just eerily similar. I did mine about 4 years ago. OI have no idea whose the other is.

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

Hi Doug,

The top rosette shown is one that I made for a recently completed guitars #4.
Here are some close ups. It's a fairly easy rosette to build for a beginner like myself.

Cheers - Luc

http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc24 ... t5FnRh.jpg
http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/cc24 ... =LR4-9.jpg

I'm so proud of having mine in there. Thanks, Robbie!

beautiful. Makes me feel like a hack on my latest, where I tried using some spalted oak from recycled pallet material of all things. The pattern reminded me of hawk wings and is pretty unique, but getting it round was impossible, and my circle cutter woefully inadequate. It didn't help that I waited until after bracing my top to install it. No worries.

Notice the out of alignment center strip too. Doah!

....Since repaired.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Luc,

Pretty nice guitar for only #4! And your rosette isn't all THAT easy to do. Nice job.

Anyone can easily see why I did a double take when yours went by in the video. At lower resolutions and short viewing times, they have a similar look.

And for the record, lest anyone read my posts the wrong way, my responses are all based upon the surprise of seeing something so similar at an unexpected time. The photos presented are merely the evidence.

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

Great job as usual, Robbie. Do so few builders use the drill press cutter from LMI that it wasn't worth mentioning? Just curious.

Thanks and keep these videos coming. They are a great help to us all.
Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Chuck,

I have never used this tool but I am sure it would work as designed and is a viable alternative to the methods I present in the video.

Good video Robbie.
As an addendum I would add that I use both the LMI cutter and the StewMac/Dremel in combination in order to get cleaner inner and outer cuts as well as quick and accurate removal of the material between them.
One note about the LMI cutter is to make sure that the bevels are ground and the blade set so that you don't "plow" the spruce with the edge where the bevel meets the side of the blade. Also four 90 degree cuts should be made each from the mid-line out with the grain.

[quote="Jim Kirby" Now, if you'll explain how the channels were cut for the really elaborate Maccaferri D one in there ... [/quote]

Cut with a Dremel, 1/16th downcut bit & some Acrylic patterns Jim (the LMI cutting jig wouldn't cut that...no matter how hard I tried! ). I had a tutorial showing how I did it up on ANZLF but alas it was lost during the recent hack!

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Cut with a Dremel, 1/16th downcut bit & some Acrylic patterns Jim (the LMI cutting jig wouldn't cut that...no matter how hard I tried! ). I had a tutorial showing how I did it up on ANZLF but alas it was lost during the recent hack![/quote]

Thanks Nick. I was wondering if there was a template involved. I gather that you can pattern rout with a dremel following the edge of an acrylic pattern? I'll have to try that, I'd have guessed that you'd melt the pattern.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim,

A half template that is flipped assures a symmetrical route. A full template would need to be sturdy enough to keep the center stable. Use two fasteners to keep it from shifting.

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

Hi Jim, Doug's picture is the usual way that it is done for the strips of purfling that are laid in in multiples to create the standard Maccaferri line pattern.
The method I employed on that particular guitar was a bit different, I cut the D hole centre out first then made a wooden "hub" that dropped in & then successive patterns (there were a total of 3 for this one & 6 used on the 'Fern' rosette that immediately follows the Macca in Robbies video) were attached to the hub via a screw & two dowels to get every pattern exactly lined up with the previous one so that the purflings were all symetrical & evenly spaced (as long as my patterns were accurate!). For the Maccaferri, which was my first that I used this technique on, I just put a strip of masking tape along the edge of the pattern & ran the blank part of the cutter directly against the pattern, the masking tape acted as a 'lubricator' & stopped any heating of the fast spinning cutter against the plastic. I refined this technique somewhat on the 'Fern' rosette by aquiring a Foredom & made a router guide to fit it so that then followed the pattern.
Here's a few pictures I found that may better illustrate my method.


Then remove that pattern & replace with the next 'inner line' one.


Purfs sitting in their grooves


And quick shot with the purfs in & the veneer "blocks" also in (pockets were cut using a final pattern that also located on the hub)

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Nick Oliver

http://www.oliver-guitars.com

Nick,

Cool! Thanks, that's really inspiring.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Hey Nick,

Very nice !

Luc

Very nice indeed, Nick!! Robbie, another winner of a vid. Thanks.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck