Stewmac premium tenor rosette/sunburst question

blodzoom

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I'm about to try my first build. I got the premium mostly because I like the ebony bits. But I also want to attempt a sunburst finish. If I'm going to apply stain, how do I handle the rosette? I'm starting to wish I got the base kit for simplicity sake.
 
Two options I can think of:

  1. Mask it off before staining. This is probably the easiest and most standard way to do so. I think StewMac has tape that's thin an flexible enough for the curve, or you can get pinstriping tape from an auto shop.
  2. Stain first, then install the inlay. This is what I'm planning for my base level kit, since my inlay is more complicated than I'm comfortable masking.

    My concern is that I'll mess up the stain when leveling the inlay; however, I'm planning on a sanded-back stain anyway, so I hope those two steps will merge well.

Either way I'm going to test it out on scrap before committing. One of the guys from my uke group pretty much washed out the white part of the rosette on his first kit, and I'm trying to learn from his experience!
 
Oh, and option three is not to worry about it. This was one of those mistakes that nobody would’ve noticed if he hadn’t pointed it out.
 
My video on sunbursting on youtube may help- i cant remember if i do the front or only the back

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdb8TdJQyNMKE8R6AFOPVwA/search?query=sunburst

Beau, it's super cool that you replied because your vid was one of the ones that made me think I could pull it off. I didn't see you address the rosette issue though.

I think masking it is reasonable but might be hard to do it quite right. If it gets messed up, just staining over it would probably look better than a bad mask job. I think I'll check for that flexible masking tape.


Thanks for the replies
 
Beau, it's super cool that you replied because your vid was one of the ones that made me think I could pull it off. I didn't see you address the rosette issue though.

I think masking it is reasonable but might be hard to do it quite right. If it gets messed up, just staining over it would probably look better than a bad mask job. I think I'll check for that flexible masking tape.


Thanks for the replies

So- before bursting, i grain fill the rosette with CA glue, sand the ca flat, then reseal teh rosette (and purfling) with more ca with a Q tip and thin ca. Be careful with the outside purfling as if you get any ca on the wood it won't take any (hand rubbed) stain. If im hand bursting, i with ca seal all the purfling on the whole instrument- its a pain, but less so then trying to scrape out stain that is imbedded in fiber purfling and ESPECIALLY maple purfling.
If you get any ca on the wood, just use a razor blade to scrape it off.
 
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