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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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The Mazzaroth Guitar

The Mazzaroth Guitar, Special Edition of the Eminence Model This fine instrument is the culmination of an idea I had in the 1970's after seeing a guitar that luthier Steve Klein made for Dan Peek, founding member of the group America. Inspired … [Read More...]

Building a Monarch: Final Assembly

It is now time to assemble the guitar, dress the frets, install the bridge and pins, fit and install the tuners, make the nut and saddle, and set the final action. A pickguard is usually installed and the completed instrument is polishes and strung … [Read More...]

1932 Martin 0-18 Parlor Guitar

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My Building Philosophy

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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...]

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Viewpoint Articles

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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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