Acoustic Guitar Construction

So I have this rosette that I want to install on a OO-14. As you can see the inside diameter of the rosette is about 4 7/8", according to my template the soundhole is to be 3 3/4" in diameter. I will also be installing a purfling (B/W/B, 20/20/20) on both sides of the rosette, that drops the inside diameter of the rosette build-up the approximately 4 3/4". According to my math this will leave a 1/2" space between the edge of the soundhole and the inside edge of the rosette. It seems to me that this rosette may be a little too big for this body size, what do ya'll think?

David L

I agree too big.

That is one big rosette.

A bit big.

I am going to try to reduce the diameter of the rosette. If the soundhole is 3 3/4" in diameter, what would you recommend for the inside diameter of the rosette or put another way, how much space should I have between the edge of the soundhole and the inside edge of the rosette? Thanks for the input guys!!!

David L

I would leave .125"-.25" including your purfling lines. If you snap the shell, you can decrease the diameter. Not sure how it would look with MOP but it works well with abalone. You might not even have to do that since it might be flexible enough to just bend into a smaller channel. Sand the edges to meet flush and there you go.

Thanks Tony that sounds about right, with a small bodied guitar such as a OO-14 a large diameter rosette woudn't look right. To leave .25" I will have to decrease the diameter of the rosette 1/2". I don't know if it will flex enough like you said because it is 1/4" wide and I haven't taken it out of the package yet. I'm visualizing that I'm going to have to cut one of the pieces to make it smaller and then I'll probably have to lightly sand the end of each piece because with a smaller diameter the angle of the butt joints will change. I may even cut a small amount off of several pieces to achieve the desired diameter so that I don't end up with one piece that is substantially shorter than the rest. Gold MOP pieces don't blend as well as abalone so the butt joints are quite visible. The good thing is that I received two rosettes because each rosette has a piece or two that has some areas that aren't very gold so I have a couple extra pieces to make one good rosette. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

David L