De-installing

[Dave Bagwill]

Removing a rosette from a finished body. That is the subject of todays inquiry.
It is an abalone rosette, and the owner wants a wooden one.
I don't think I have the skill to do a perfectly clean uninstall and then enlarge the channel perfectly - on a finished instrument.

Are there any secret techniques that don't involve sacrificing a virgin or making tea out of a hound's tooth? Has anyone here successfully removed a rosette and had the result look good?

[John Link]

I tried it once and wrecked the top. Needed a new top anyway, so not much was lost. But it WAS lost.

[Dave Bagwill]

Hi John - Ow! - the top on this one is in pretty good shape. Too much of a gamble I reckon.

[John Link]

One of the problems was trying to do it free hand, without the aid of a trammel. If there was a way to anchor a trammel point in the middle of the open sound hole, it might be a lot easier, using a Dremel (assuming the rosette was inlaid into a true circle).

In the final analysis, it should be doable free hand with sharp instruments, carefully controlled. I would go slow, very slow, very very slow. One thing at a time, one small thing at a time. The number of cuts would be finite, but nonetheless a very large number.

[Daniel P]

Could you cut a sound hole plug from a scrap top to fit your good sound hole- thus giving you a center hole for your trammel or rosette cutting tool of choice.

[Dave Bagwill]

Hmmmm...maybe something like that.

[John Parchem]

Could you cut a sound hole plug from a scrap top to fit your good sound hole- thus giving you a center hole for your trammel or rosette cutting tool of choice.

I have done this on a non braced top that was off of the guitar. I would be pretty nervous installing a rosette on a top, still on the guitar. It is probably not still flat.

One thought would be to heat the abalone and pick it out. Maybe you could install a thin rosette in that channel.