Dogwood Guitars

  • Home
  • About
  • Guitars
    • Dogwood Models
    • Guitar Galleries
    • Ordering your Dogwood Guitar
    • FAQ’s
  • Services
  • Lutherie Classes
  • Pictorials
    • Repairs
    • How to Correctly String a Guitar
    • Building A Monarch
    • Making a Spalted Maple Rosette
    • Pearl and Abalone Inlay
  • Articles
    • Technical
    • Viewpoint
  • Testimonials
  • YouTube
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Pictorials / Making a Spalted Maple Rosette

Making a Spalted Maple Rosette

The rosette on an acoustic guitar, along with the peghead and bridge designs, is a big part of the custom builder’s signature. Often a particular design will immediately identify the guitar as being made by a specific individual. Perhaps the amazing artwork created by Ervin Somogyi is the most extreme example among contemporary luthiers. I favor a more traditional, old school approach to design and yet I am drawn to using unusual woods in an artistic way. I am especially drawn to spalted woods, and I have some in my stash that dates back to 1983. The pictorial gallery below shows some of the elements involved with designing and building a segmented rosette using spalted Maple.

[Show as slideshow]




  • Email
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Custom Guitars

Superb craftsmanship and exceptional tone are reflected in every handmade Dogwood guitar. Whether you are a singer-songwriter looking for an articulate instrument to express your creativity, or are part of a country band or a worship team and need a … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonial:

"My stage guitar had buzzing strings and the sound from the pickup was unbalanced. Greg made me a new bone saddle to replace the poorly fitted plastic oneĀ and did a setup, now I have a guitar with no issues. His knowledge of guitar geometry is … [Read More...]

The Kingston Jumbo

I've always been particularly drawn to jumbo-size acoustics. I learned to play guitar in the early 1970's when John Denver was at the height of his career, and the sound he got from his jumbo Guild 6 and 12 string guitars made an impression on me … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonials: Morgan Monroe

Greg... Thanks again for the top notch work you performed on my Morgan Monroe. Although this guitar is an expendable "gigging" tool you made it sound and play like a much more expensive instrument. It sure is comforting to know someone with your … [Read More...]

The Science and Theory of Tonewoods

Search out any discussion about tone and tonewoods on the internet and you will quickly find a wide variation of opinions among players and builders alike. However, the majority will almost always list "tonewoods" and/or specific species of Spruce … [Read More...]

Building a Monarch: Binding

The quality of the binding and purfling work is one of the factors that makes a guitar a true work of art. Some builders install bindings and purflings in one step, and this can lead to less-than-perfect results. Dogwood guitars are bound using a … [Read More...]

Visit us on YouTube…

Follow Dogwood Guitars

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Technical Articles

Voicing and Tap Tuning of Acoustic Guitars

Voicing and tuning are important elements of great tone. A great guitar has great tone, great playability, and great appearance, in that order. Fancy wood, a high gloss finish, and lots of Abalone inlay are visually beautiful but have … [Read More...]

More Technical Articles

Viewpoint Articles

The Three Elements of a Great Guitar

Guitar players and collectors have so many choices available to them. New, used, factory brands, custom hand built...how do you narrow down the choices to the best option for you? In my opinion, any guitar should be measured by three … [Read More...]

More Viewpoint Articles

Copyright © 2025 Dogwood Guitars