Acoustic Guitar Construction

John P: that's an excellent tought.

That's a possibility, but I am not the man for that job! I would worry about any heat in that area - if I was at all careless, I could loosen up a brace or the utb. Someone with a much steadier hand could maybe accomplish it.
And then the careful oh-so-careful picking out of the abalone - I'd rather staple a dead skunk to my forehead. So to speak.

Realistically, that abalone is staying right where it is, safe and snug and shiny.

Thanks for the input.

Slightly off topic -- but the steady hand was mentioned. I never like to say best, so I would suggest that a good way to concentrate controlled heat on parts of a guitar or other objects is to use a "heat Lamp" as opposed to a heat gun or heating iron. Mount the lamp on a goose neck, this along with a infrared thermometer to check temps works well. A profiled reflective shield on top some cardboard pin points the heat.

Makes sense.

I think that is a good decision Dave, leave it alone. Sound like a job for SUPER LUTHIER.

Yes but Kevin, you're way down in southern Cal - it would cost too much to ship to you! :-)

About my previous statement that "I wrecked the top". Think I should qualify after further reflection.

I did remove the old rosette successfully on a 1968 Brazilian Guild F-312. I also installed the new rosette in the old groove successfully. All by being slow and cautious. So Dave, you should be able to do that.

Where I wrecked it was sanding it flush with the top. The top already had no finish, so preserving finish was not an issue and I felt I could proceed with the immunity idol hanging protectively from my neck. (Famous last words.) Funny that I would lose patience after almost reaching the finish line - but then, I am "funny" at all the worst times. So I used a random orbital with fairly coarse paper to sand the new rosette level. Unfortunately, the factory channel was not very deep in one area and I sanded through part of the rosette. The top was riddled with severe drying cracks and assorted other defects, including severe problems where the previous owner had brutally removed the bridge, deleting a lot of top immediately underneath, I mean A LOT. I happen to have some Ted Davis red spruce tops cut perfectly by John Arnold from well aged split billets for the Davis estate and I thought: why not? It is a 12-string, so the joint between the bridge and top needs to be very good and I had some doubts how that would work out, even if I spliced in some new spruce. Ultimately, I thought the original top too heavily braced and since restoration to factory specs was not an option anyway ... I am even thinking of ladder bracing the new top, rather than the original X-brace.

Alternatively, I could have removed the second rosette and cut a deeper channel, then proceeded more cautiously with making it flush. But, my tendency to experiment found the error - which was pretty stupid - the final reason to do what I wanted to do in the first place.

The short of it is: replacing a rosette can be done if you are careful, probably by most people who visit here. It just isn't easy or quick. Whatever, don't use a RO with coarse paper to level, and without applying tape to the neighboring spruce before proceeding. Especially with a wood instead of shell (I was using abalone for the new rosette), you should be able to level it cautiously, and successfully. The biggest problem would be avoiding injury to the current finish. Frog tape should go a long way to prevent that if you are careful.

My two cents, as they say.