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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.

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Lutherie Classes: Voicing and Tuning

Acoustic Guitar Voicing and Tuning Class (Discontinued due to my heavy repair schedule) This is an advanced class that explores the principles behind great acoustic guitar tone. This class is intended for the experienced builder, and … [Read More...]

Legacy Benchworks Furniture

Greg owned his own custom furniture making shop from 1983 through 1996. The company was called Legacy Benchworks, and most of the work involved high end one-off custom furniture, as well as the more standard cabinetry such as kitchen cabinets and … [Read More...]

1975 Gibson Hummingbird Restoration

While meeting with a customer and his daughter about designing a guitar for her, he showed me his Gibson Hummingbird that his daughter had been playing. Using the serial number and other identifying characteristics, I was able to date the guitar … [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...]

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 … [Read More...]

The Eminence

The Eminence is a Grand Auditorium sized guitar that I designed to provide a slight boost to the treble response, along with the clear and balanced tone that all Dogwood models are known for. A slightly smaller body depth and a more narrow waist … [Read More...]

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Technical Articles

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...]

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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...]

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