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Somebody say rosette?











And just for kicks, a compound oval rosette for a F4C of mine...

Haans, I just love these.

Chris-

Here are a couple of mine.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Ken, aside from their beauty and artistry, I'll tell you something I love about your rosettes. As I was scrolling down and saw them, I knew instantly they were yours. Something difficult to accomplish with a rosette, I think. Great work!

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sweat the small stuff.

Here are two on the bench right now. Though mine are generally pretty simple and use the same woods as the back and sides, I really love some of the more complex ones in this thread.

Here's a recent one.
Ken

Yes Derek - you have me intrigued also! Please explain (if you are willing to see copies). Very original and beautiful.
Mark

Here is one in progress, spalted maple in european spruce.

Haha, my wife thought that someone would ask what they were!
I have tried to develop my own standard rosette and after much trial and error have it pretty much sorted. They are basically little pyramid shapes set proud in ca glue and sanded so they come out slightly random. The pyramids are hollow so when set upside down and the right way round give a 3d effect - hope this makes sense

No, I can't let you get away with that explanation. More detail please. What sort of material for these pyramids (I am imagining plastic)? Any pictures of them, or work in progress? Also, what fills the voids between them (epoxy??), and you have these nice colours in the fill. It is a really original look.
Mark

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

One of Haans' pictures reminded me...

My guitar making is on the back burner right now as I finish making a Baroque bow for the viola da gamba that I just finished. However, I do have this rosette for an 1830's Lacote that I'm working on.

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

Mark, It took me the best part of 6 rosettes to get them they way I wanted. They are set in ca - making sure to seal with shellac and re-seal everytime you sand - The best one I have made has a green stain from the ca, so will be a burst I think
I dont have any in progress pics but the ones pictured are rhinestones!! Also important to fill in stages allowing the ca to cure in layers

Very nice Mike!
Very Larsonesque...

A recent one of mine, inspired by 1800's era Martin styles:



And a homegrown herringbone (the points all match!!):

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

OK, thanks for sharing the ideas Derek. I can see that I will be doing some experimentation with those ideas, and it could be a while before anything ends up on a guitar. My latest trials are with a jig to route elliptical (oval) rosettes and soundholes. Have just about perfected it with a modified Stew-Mac circle cutter and Dremel.

Douglas - that one for the Lacote is very striking, and period appropriate. Nice!

Lovely work in this thread.

My two offerings:

Here is a New Zealand paua rosette in a lovely redwood soundboard:


and one on a parlour guitar, walnut and rosewood squares with ebony outlines on a cedar soundboard:


I'll post a full build thread for the red wood build when I get the time.

Yup. I love your attention to detail. That stuff was a SERIOUS pain to bend. I'd be interested to hear about your approach.

Thanks!

Its been a couple of years since I last made a guitar with a round sound hole, but I simply cannot believe how beautiful and imaginative some of these rosettes are. I almost want to make a flat top guitar just to try to copy some of these ideas!

Rod, I'll say it again, that segmented rosette is just about the slickest thing I've ever seen. I promise I'm going to steal that design one day!

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Pretty easy to bend when you treat it like abalone. I cut the strips on a Proxxon saw and dampen each section. The full strip is cyano'd on both sides before cutting.

Tradiitonal style classical rosette

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Haans, I'm gonna invest in a proxxon. And that CA idea is awesome. Thank you. I assume you bend on a heat pipe. Right? I can see where the CA would secure the edges. Makes taking wonder how them Larson boys did it back in the day!

Mike, I spread cyano over the top and bottom of the sheet cut off the block to hold things together while sawing. After sawing, I dipped the little strips in water for a few seconds and they bent right around. A few would break, but you have a lot of them.
Here's the 3 steps from block to strips. You can see the sheet being cut on the Proxxon above.