Hello folks,
I'm trying to make a little soprano ukelele from bits of wood left over from other projects
and thought I'd craft a rosette from a ring of rosewood and some bwb purfling. All went well well except the bwb join at 12 o'clock. On a guitar it could be hidden by the fretboard but on a soprano uke that's not really an option...... Any clever ideas on how to de-wonky a rosette would be very welcome 🙂
Cheers
James
Hi James, you could carve out a small part of the rosette and inlay a small graft as a feature. 🤔
🎸🙂🎶🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
I haven't made a rosette myself yet, so I not talking from experience. But in hindsight, I'm wondering if you had staggered the black/white/black joints would that avoid the wee misalignment.
I was going to suggest the same as Russ and I can see why you're reluctant to do that; I think I'd make of that too. Rather than cutting a piece out to fit an infill, how about drilling it and putting in a couple of fret dots.
@james-chacewatergmail-com-2 .... I know you say that, on a soprano uke, covering the top of the rosette with the fretboard is not really an option but..... why? I know a lot of them have the fretboard finish just over the body joint but not all of them. If it was me, I would still be concidering letting the fretboard cover that spot. Unless I'm missing something about uke building. I haven't done one of those yet.
I think that because the fretboard meets the soundboard around the 12th fret that by the time the fretboard was lengthened to cover the offending article the frets would be just for decoration......miniscule fretspacing and impossible to reach anyway. I think some of the larger ukes like concerts and baritones would allow longer fretboards. Tbh I'm probably overthinking it cos I'm only nerking about trying to make something out of free wood 🤣
🤔 If you want to make it look perfect you can route out the offending ring with a slightly wider slot and then inlay something extra wide (2bwb or bwbwb or a wooden strip) or take your own best advice and live with it. 😉
Measure twice, cut once...
Actually Sir, I owe you an apology......
I saw a ridiculously priced Martin soprano uke today and indeed..... the fretboard didn't stop just after the 12th fret body join but continued up to the rosette! And it looks tasty 🙂.
Might just do this if all goes well 🤔
I wonder if this 1700 quid uke has a hidden wonky rosette neath the fingerboard too 🤣