Category Archives: rosette

Seeking the Holy Grail: Torres’ FE08

2021
AL#143 p.6               
Federico Sheppard                                                                                           

▪ It is a story of mystery, dedication, and destiny. The wide-eyed young novitiate is mentored by oracles, sorcerers, and craftsmen until he finds his great quest and pursues it against all odds. To put it more plainly, but no more truthfully, it is the story of Federico Sheppard constructing a copy of FE08, the astonishingly elaborate early opus of the master luthier Antonio Torres Jurado. Mentions Nick Kukich, Ray Jacobs, Shel Urlik, Jose Romanillos, Richard Brune, Robert Ruck, Robert Lundberg, Abel Garcia Lopez, Nicolo Alessi.

The Seven-Year Itch

2020
AL#141 p.41               
Erik Wolters                                                                                           

▪ Wolters started his first instrument-making project later in life than some. But with an excellent mentor and years of patient determination, he completed a doozy of a first guitar. Dreams can come true. At least lutherie dreams.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Two

2020
AL#140 p.20               
Mark French   Charles Fox                                                                                       

▪ Building a Charles Fox guitar reveals the beautifully developed interdependence between the design and the process. In this episode we rough out the neck, work with the unusual neck block and the distinctive two-part lining, and then brace the top and back plates.

When Does “Replica” Become “Inspired By?”

2020
AL#140 p.62               
C.F. Casey                                                                                           

▪ Nearly twenty years ago, Casey made a detailed drawing of a 7-string Russian guitar which we published as GAL Instrument Plan #48. Recently, he was called on to make a replica of that instrument. Sure, he had the drawing, but he took a few liberties with the project. He tells us what he did, and why. The original guitar showed some Stauffer inspiration.

Meet the Maker: Rafael Mardones Sr. and Jr.

2018
AL#135 p.38               
Federico Sheppard                                                                                           

▪ In his youth, before Federico Sheppard found his calling as a luthier, he was a mere physician working for the Olympic Games. One day he heard a classical guitar being played on the radio of his car. It shook him to “his inner core being” as Lord Buckley would say, and changed the course of his life. And now he has finally made the pilrimage to Chile to visit the shop of the man who made that guitar, Rafael Mardones, and his son, Rafa Jr.

Meet the Maker: Peter Tsiorba

2017
AL#131 p.20               
January Williams   Peter Tsiorba                                                                                       

▪ Peter Tsiorba began his working life as a teenager making garments in a semi-legit Soviet cooperative. Today he’s a family man and a maker of classical guitars in the lutherie Mecca of Portland, Oregon.

Elliptical Legacy

2014
AL#117 p.52               
James Condino   John Monteleone                                                                                       

▪ A history of the ellipse soundhole cutter device in lutherie and it’s lineage from D’Angelico to D’Aquisto to John Monteleone.

A Reinterpretation Of Baroque Soundhole Rose

2010
AL#102 p.58               
Michael McCarten                                                                                           

▪ McCarten devises a style with characteristics of both the ‘paper rose’ and single layer soundhole rose, but with an aesthetic not typical of traditional work.

Total Flame Out, Retopping a Harp Guitar

2009
AL#100 p.38               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Replacing the top on a complicated instrument with as little refinishing and other stress as possible.

Crafting Marie’s Guitar

2009
AL#100 p.40      ALA5 p.68         
Christian Steinert                                                                                           

▪ Building an early period Baroque era guitar replica believed to be the onetime property of Marie Antoinette.

Roped In

2009
AL#100 p.54               
C.F. Casey                                                                                           

▪ Building a Weissenborn-style instrument with the rope binding and rosette that Weissenborn used on high end models.

The “Corker” Guitar: A Sideport Experiment

2008
AL#94 p.56               
Alan Carruth                                                                                           

▪ Carruth built a classical guitar with many ports cut in the side. By closing the ports with corks in various combinations he tested the usefulness of sideports and tried to establish the physics behind their use. Though this guitar did not make a believer out of him, he admits that his results are somewhat inconclusive. With one photo and a slew of charts and figures concerning the air modes of his guitar with various sideports open.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Meet the Maker: Dmitry Zhevlakov

2007
AL#89 p.38               
Federico Sheppard   Dmitry Zhevlakov                                                                                       

▪ This is not only the story of a Russian luthier who also makes beautiful rosettes for other builders, but is another example of how the Internet has changed the world — in this case for better. With 9 photos.

Alternative Headstock Decoration and Truss Rod Adjustment Access

2006
AL#86 p.42               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Strict traditions have hampered the evolution of musical instrument decoration, but the creativity of some luthiers will not be held back. Make your logos on your computer. Iron your labels right onto the wood. Engrave decorations with a desktop CNC. We haven’t begun to try what might be done, but this article might awaken you to the possibilities. With 21 photos.

19th-Century Rosette Marquetry for 21st-Century Guitars

2005
AL#84 p.6   BRB7 p.392            
Greg Byers                                                                                           

▪ With tools you’ve probably already got in your shop you can make mosaic rosettes that look modern and yet somehow traditional. The techniques differ from the bricks and tiles made of old and are more akin to the processes of making fancy purflings. Cooler than anything, but not for the impatient among us. With 31 photos and a pair of diagrams.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Carving the Lute Rose

2004
AL#80 p.4   BRB7 p.228            
Ervin Somogyi                                                                                           

▪ The author not only explains how the traditional lute rose is carved, but demonstrates how the technique might be used other than as a rosette. With 17 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part 2

2003
AL#73 p.14   BRB6 p.368            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ Clark is one of the old American masters of lutherie. Building an original rosette in the Spanish tradition is way more complicated than routing a channel and poking in some abalone, as steel stringers are apt to do, but with Clark’s instruction you can do it. Includes 22 photos. Part 1 appeared in AL #71.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Constructing the Spanish Rosette, Part 1

2002
AL#71 p.8   BRB6 p.368            
Eugene Clark   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ How deeply do you want to dive into the matter of making rosettes? Here Clark will submerge you until you gasp for air or make a fine rosette, whichever comes first. Designing the rosette and dying the sticks receive deepest treatment, though no words are spared when describing the cutting and sizing of the materials. Everything is here. With 33 photos. Part Two will appear in a future issue of AL.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Cranking Out Baroque Guitars

1996
AL#48 p.6   BRB4 p.378            
Lawrence-K. Brown                                                                                           

▪ Brown made the elaborate trim for 27 Baroque guitars, then spread the actual construction over a year and a half. All the details are included. He believes that too much patience stands in the way of making a living. This is an article with attitude. With 29 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Decorative Techniques in Lutherie

1996
AL#45 p.10   BRB4 p.264            
R.E. Brune                                                                                           

▪ This 1995 lecture transcription investigates the history of art applied to lutherie in all its varied forms, and then translates many of them into illustrations of contemporary instruments. Topics include painting, gilding, carving, veneer, inlay, engraving, and varnish work. With 49 photos and illustrations.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Making Oval Mandolin Rosettes

1995
AL#41 p.34   BRB4 p.140            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Seven luthiers explain how they cut that oval slot.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Julian Bream’s 1973 Romanillos Guitar

1991
AL#25 p.22   BRB3 p.2            
Kevin Aram                                                                                           

▪ Aram offers an anecdotal history of one of the most influential classical guitars of our time. With 26 photos. Mentions Hauser I, Torres.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Questions: Parchment Roses

1990
AL#23 p.60   BRB2 p.485            
Christopher Allworth   C.F. Casey                                                                                       

▪ The Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, England) has available working drawings of a 1641 guitar by Rene Voboam, including details of construction of the parchment rose.

Six Lutherie Tools

1989
AL#20 p.32   BRB2 p.330            
Jeffrey-R. Elliott   Jonathon Peterson                                                                                       

▪ The 6 tools are: a guitar cradle, a grimel (hand purfling cutter), a hand circle cutter, a shooting board, a circle cutting jig for the Dremel tool, and water stones for tool sharpening.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Practicum Three: Making the Belly

1989
AL#20 p.40   HLC p.94            
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ Lundberg makes a complete lute top including carving the rose and bracing the soundboard. Contains 57 photos and 6 diagrams with detailed captions. This series ran for 19 installments in American Lutherie and has been collected into our hardback book Historical Lute Construction.

The Erlangen Lectures Day Three: The Belly

1988
AL#14 p.22   HLC p.30            
Robert Lundberg                                                                                           

▪ This portion of the series deals with the soundboard, or belly, of the lute, including the braces and rosette. Many drawings illustrate the shape and thickness of historical lute tops. Beautiful drawings accompany the photos of astonishing rosettes (the drawings are not patterns of the photos). Where did those old guys find the patience? This is the third of 19 installments.

Innovative Concepts within Fixed Limits

1987
AL#11 p.12   BRB1 p.420            
Gila Eban                                                                                           

▪ Eban builds Kasha-style classical guitars. She comments at length about how her aesthetic concept for the guitar evolved, and offers many details of her construction procedures. Her descriptions of her work are so entrancing that you will long for more photos than the five that are offered. With rosette drawings.

An Overview of the Hauser Tradition

1986
AL#8 p.18   BRB1 p.274   ALA3 p.8         
Jeffrey-R. Elliott                                                                                           

▪ This lecture transcription presents a chronological overview of the work of Hermann Hauser Sr. 26 photos and 3 drawings complete the article. A major investigation of some important guitars.

Drill Press Rosette Grooves

1980
DS#140   LW p.80            
Larry Stevens                                                                                           

▪ A drill press only wants to make holes, but you can train it to do a lot of tricks. For instance, why not use it to mill the slots for rosette rings to snuggle into? Groovy! With diagrams of the cutting bits.

Making Pointy Rosettes

1978
DS#88   LW p.78            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Are you tired of rosettes that are just rings around the soundhole? Here’s a jumping off point if you want to take the plunge. The next step is to get rid of the round soundhole. With 3 diagrams.

Routing Rosette Slots

1978
DS#69   LT p.61            
John Spence                                                                                           

▪ Spence uses sub-bases for his router to make rosette cavities. The sub-bases are drilled with holes that fit over a pin mounted in the center of what will be the soundhole.