Exploding Rosette. New Cutaway.

[Erik Hokanson]

I hope everyone is well.
This is my new build.
IRW/Sitka.
Mahogany neck.
Very loud. Need to adjust neck and fix nut. Strings are too close to edges.
As usual the sound develops after a few days, but things are looking good.
It's nice to revert to the glued on bridge after doing the floating bridge/ tailpiece guitars that where my fancy for a while. The sound is so rich in comparison. And things stay in tune.

[Steve Senseney]

I like the explosion!

[Erik Hokanson]

Some other details.

[Jason Rodgers]

Erik, I like that you're keeping with your own body style and trim details. How deep are those dots all over the top? Did you have any problems with the color bleeding into the top, or did you seal the holes first with shellac?

You say "glued on bridge," but I see bolts in there! And what's going on with that bridge plate? Am I seeing it right? It looks to be as tall as the surrounding braces!

[Erik Hokanson]

Thank you. I quit even pretending to make things symmetrical. This is how I fool the eye a little, and minimize the aesthetic problems present when dealing with asymmetry.
I try to lay the dots and stuff about halfway through the top, but it doesn't always work out like that.
Always seal with shellac. But the CA can sometimes still wick into the spruce. Rosewood seems to want to share its color with its surroundings, and the ebony wants to get its dust ground into the neighborhood, and the shell hates being flattened. Went slow with hard block through the grits. I think there's a pic somewhere to illuminate all this.
The hardware stuff under the bridge is my clamping method. A block of plywood with some threaded rod.
The sound hole is too small so this had to be in place before I glued the back on. Very little room for error. I won't do that again, I hope. The bridge got glued on reasonably well using a clamp caul cinched down with wing nuts. All that was removed.
There's a rosewood bridge patch in there.

[Jason Rodgers]

The hardware stuff under the bridge is my clamping method. A block of plywood with some threaded rod.
The sound hole is too small so this had to be in place before I glued the back on. Very little room for error. I won't do that again, I hope. The bridge got glued on reasonably well using a clamp caul cinched down with wing nuts. All that was removed.
There's a rosewood bridge patch in there.

Phwew!

[Erik Hokanson]

Here one can see that some of the pearl gets close to the bottom of the top.
I just took a snap of the top with a light behind it before the back got glued.