Acoustic Guitar Construction

unable to view images?

Hmm, they load up for me?

Here is a link to the google photo album, the new pictures are at the bottom - https://goo.gl/photos/ggyrh5DevwZnySJcA

I have started on the rosette and soundhole.

I plumped for the stew mac router base and rosette cutting jig. It was expensive, especially after shipping and import duty, but I will hopefully make more use of them in the future to justify the cost! The circle cutter is straight forward and works well, but I find the router base tricky to use. There are 4 adjustable wheels that all have an effect on the depth and tilt of the cutting bit, and it gets me very confused. Maybe I will have another read over the instructions...

So with much trepidation I cut into the top wood! I had a few practice cuts, but even so found this bit quite scary. I completed the channel in one slow pass, and then neatened up the edges with files / sandpaper. Then I soaked a piece of purfling in warm water, and bent it in place round a can the same diameter as my rosette channel. When it had dried I test fit it and cut it to the right length, even trying a tiny miter joint.

To glue it in I used a product called UHU Hart, which is a model glue used for wood. On some test pieces it dried totally clear and produced a strong bond, so I figured it would be fine for the rosette. I couldn't use Ken's suggested rosette clamping method since I have not cut the soundhole out yet, so I just improvised.



My only concern now is that I left the rosette too proud of the soundboard, however I didn't want to cut too deeply, so figured I would leave it high and then trim it flush once it had dried.

Nope no pixs --- something has changed. First thing to do is reduce the size of the images

Oli, looks good. I also have that router base and I too find it confusing. I'm always turning the wrong wheel. :(
I made my own adjustable circle cutting jig for it.

Kevin - as soon as I had the stew mac circle cutter I realised it would be quite straight forward to make my own circle cutter (though perhaps not an adjustable one). I think I have a better grip on using the router base now. I can keep the darn thing level at least.

Today I scraped the rosette down flush to the soundboard, then cut out the soundhole. After that I tried to bind it .. which went OK. The joint on the binding material is not perfect (I made 4 attempts to get it invisible but really struggled). I might make a paste to cover the slight gap, and then sand it smooth.

The UHU hart glue I am using (for the rosette and soundhole binding) is great. It doesn't soak into the wood and it dries clear. Anyone else used it?

Never used that adhesive before. Sounds interesting.
Here is a pic of the rosette cutting jig I made.