wheat/herringbone/rosette feedback

[Stephen Faulk]

Thanks Steven. The area around the blow out is only 2.5mm think. Rest of the top is 3- 3.5mm. seems I'd have to take the whole plate to 2.5, then route out a new channel barely 1mm deep. The channel originally went pretty deep and I can see the outline of it from there back side. Unless I glue the reinforcing patch on first, which send possible.
I'll certainly give it a shot.
I don't see being able to repair just the low spot.

I hope you make the grey diamond tiles again.
I like it.

[wombosi]

Thanks Steven. The area around the blow out is only 2.5mm think. Rest of the top is 3- 3.5mm. seems I'd have to take the whole plate to 2.5, then route out a new channel barely 1mm deep. The channel originally went pretty deep and I can see the outline of it from there back side. Unless I glue the reinforcing patch on first, which send possible.
I'll certainly give it a shot.
I don't see being able to repair just the low spot.

I hope you make the grey diamond tiles again.
I like it.

Thanks so much man! Coming from you that is a huge compliment. I have enough of those two logs left to make another rosette. I'd probably change the green/black rings though. What do you think about that?

[Stephen Faulk]

I'd probably keep it all black and white for graphic clarity.

I think strong black borders will frame the diamonds better than fussy thin B/W/B/W.

[wombosi]

Cool. I'll do some mockups. FYI the woods are Maple and Padauk for the diamonds and walnut background. It may be reading more grayscale in the photos than it actually is. But thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Stephen Faulk]

Oh, yeah it looks great on my screen. But I still think strong black is good. It needs to be captured, to me. But I like strong border work over delicate. If it's delicate I'm more inclined to center it and frame it over distributing fine detail.

[Michael.N.]

Like many things you can develop and refine that rosette over time. Some changes may remain, some may not. Sometimes it's neither better or worse, just different. The two tone grey looks good and worth preserving. I'm not sold on the border as it is. I'm sure it does need stronger contrast. The main point is that it's the basis for a bold striking rosette.

[Jasonm]

Nice rosette! Don’t feel bad. I’m working on my first guitar too had similar issues with my rosette tearing out.Twice! I had to eventually scrap my top because it got too thin and start a new one. Was able to transplant some of the old rosette to the new top. I also found pre bending the veneer lines on the iron made them go in so much better, and hence seat better for a stronger hold.

That’s very impressive and clean work on your rosette! I tried some tiles and looked like crap so I used wood from my maple back to make a segmented ring. I’m not crazy about it but was just glad to get on to the rest of the build.

Keep us posted on how it’s going!

[wombosi]

The finished rosette: I'm glad I decided to redo the diamond motif. In this soundboard, I've built at least three or four rosettes, completely excavated each one, and built another. Somehow between all the routing and circle cutting, this last one was left with non-uniform trenches which made things a real hassle. If you look closely there are some gaps between sound board and rosette. The trench varied by as much as .3mm.
But I very much like the finished product. I was agonizing about what to fill it with - herringbone, dots, etc... In the end, simple bands of ebony with the .4 padauk in the center is nice. Thanks for the help.

[MessyTendon]

That looks great. The imperfect variations in the wood make it look more handmade and less cartoony. I'm always a fan of simpler rosette designs. They are more inviting and less distracting to my eyes.

[Stephen Faulk]

Cool. It's elegant, very simple on someways, but sophisticated. Borders working well.