Sound Hole and Rosette Pearl Questions

[Darryl Young]

I use a number of sizes. On a 45 style you have .045 on the side top .0625 . What is the price of that stuff. Should be under $1.25 per inch

If you buy 13 pieces (enough for 1 side if doing pearl purflings) it's $1.30 per inch (I just want it for the rosette). $1.68 per inch if you buy less than 13 pieces.

Do you or Custom Pearl Inlay have the Rainbow color and sell it for $1.25 per inch?

[tippie53]

We don't call it rainbow , it is actually blue paua. Dave has it. He is out of the shop till Monday call him then. I have a little but need that for a commission or I would sell it to you . The funny thing I found is the radiused pearl often shows more joints than the broken in stuff.

[Darryl Young]

Actually, Grizzly offers the Blue Paua and the Rainbow. The Rainbow has little to no blue and a lot of greens/purples/greys/tans. So it seems to be a different product.....but I guess it's possible they are sorting the blue paua by color then selling some shades under a different name.

I e-mailed Dave Nichols about his Ablam options so I'll wait to hear from him.

[tippie53]

he is at a festival and will be back monday I think

[Darryl Young]

I'm trying to cut and install my rosette today so I'm bumping up this old thread to ask a couple of questions.

I ordered the 45 style rosette from Martin and that is what I have in hand. The B/W purfling on either side of the pearl is about 0.079" deep. The teflon filler strip is about 0.059" deep. The Ablam pearl that will be installed after the teflon filler strip is removed is 0.052"-0.054" deep.

First Question: Should I cut the channel for the 45 style ring with pearl about 0.060" deep......then scrape the excess plastic purfling down level with the top.......then thickness the top in my drum sander down level with the pearl?

Qeuestion on approach: should I cut the inside ring where I want it (ID 1/8" outside the soundhole), then cut cut the OD a little narrow, then clean up between the inside and outside channels, then keep tweaking the OD till everything fits snug? Let me know if this won't work as I would like to cut and install the rosette today if possible.

[tippie53]

When I rout the channels I make them about .005 oversized for the glue to work in. I also set the dept so that the pearl is just under the plane of the plate. You will get a better looking rosette out of the pearl this way. If you set the pearl too high you can end up sanding through the top layer of pearl and then expose the epoxy under the pearl on the abalam.
If you need to shim pearl up , you can use cotton thread. That is what martin used for years.

[Darryl Young]

Do you use Duco for the pastic purfling?

[tippie53]

I do use duco for all rosettes

[Jim_H]

I used it on the latest dreadnought I'm building. It was all wood and fiber, but the fit was super tight, and I was afraid a water based glue wood cause swelling and make life difficult.

Using Duco was a breeze, no swelling, and it looks terrific.

[Darryl Young]

I went with the Duco.

If I remember right, John used Titebond to glue in the Ablam pearl, correct?