Fun With Rosettes

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saltytri

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While the heel and tail blocks on #006 were being glued in place, my mind wandered to making a rosette for #007, a tenor with back and sides of Bolivian Rosewood and ebony bindings. A rosette of the same woods ought to look nice against a spruce top. So, back to the mill and rotary table.

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First, a scrap of the RW was retrieved....

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....and cut up into smaller pieces.

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Plywood scrap was centered on the rotary table to serve as a pattern and sacrificial base.

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Small wedges of RW were glued to the base with CA in a somewhat random pattern.

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The ring was then routed to width and the rough surface was taken down to clean wood.

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Strips of ebony were bent on the pipe and glued to the inside and outside.

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After routing the ebony to even width all around, the base was flipped and routed from the back to free the ring from the base.

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The ring was then moved under the router bit freehand to get it to the final thickness.

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The final product. Now back to #006.

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My admittedly contrarian point of view is that the least invasive rosette requiring the least or no support/reinforcement on the underside of the top is likely to be best for tone...

Just saying...
 
Hmmm....hence the decals on the Compass Rose, my favorite tenor. I see your point. Every little bit of care counts.

The less elaborate rosette on the all-Honduras tenor I'm working on now is about .010" thick after fine sanding the top so, while it isn't as thin as a decal, it might not have a significant effect upon tone....I hope. There's no reason that this rosette can't be made as thin.

Thanks for the thought-provoking observation.
 
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Pete Howlett said:
Nifty - Ken would appreciate this approach :)
Click to expand...

Thats the same way I've always done my rosette channels and some rosettes too.....the throat depth of the milling machine is important tho', co's you have to rotate the soundboard 360 degree's and the machine column can get in the way if the the throat is too small for the workpiece to rotate and you have to stop cutting, un-clamp and re-set....luckily i can just manage a tenor uke on my machine without a re-set and also I can get the spindle speed required...It's nice to see some one else doing it this way, and making a first class job of it as well.:cool:
I also agree with Rick about the reinforcement at the back of the soundhole you don't need it with a rosette...thats what the rosette is really for..it's not just decoration :)
 
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Ken:

I didn't know that you also do it this way but I'm proud to have copied you! ;)

Since the Proxxon rotary tool is tacked to the front of the head, it is farther from the mill's own spindle and there is plenty of room to turn a soundboard all the way around. Really, the mill and the DRO are just big accessories to hold the little Proxxon and move it around accurately.

As I've said before, few people are going to buy a mill to make rosettes but if you have one already, it is a great convenience.

David
 
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Aha! You are indeed the originator. Where do I send the royalty payment?
 
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