Acoustic Guitar Construction

Do you finish thickness your top before installing rosette? And is there different methods of the whole process.

We send out our KMG kit sound-boards close to finish thickness. But there can be some hand sanding/scraping of the rosette or sound-board to get things flush. If you have a drum sander there is no reason could not thickness after the rosette is installed, level the rosette then thickness off the inside surface of the SB.

ken cierp wrote:We send out our KMG kit sound-boards close to finish thickness. But there can be some hand sanding/scraping of the rosette or sound-board to get things flush. If you have a drum sander there is no reason could not thickness after the rosette is installed, level the rosette then thickness off the inside surface of the SB.

That's how I do it and I'm sure a bunch of others as well.

Can you use the thickness sander for leveling the rosette also. Or is it better to to by hand.

The factories run the sound board through a series of sanders after the rosette is installed. So the answer is yes. The caveat is that they know the materials and equipment used will not grind the sanding dust into the soft light color top wood. Bottom line -- you have to take care no matter what leveling method. In our shop we run the sound board through the drum sander, than clean with an orbital and final smooth with a scraper. I would not recommend running a shell rosette through a drum sander.

Ok thanks for info. Just trying to get my method down on this first rosette.

Paul,
Just a thought as you proceed. Machines take wood away fast, and sometimes faster than we want.
You may want to play it safe and do your first one by hand. A razor blade as a scraper, and a hand sanding block will work very well, and you will have much control over the process, and, it really won't take you very long. My two cents.

Kevin