Installing the Rosette

Once sound hole is cut in the front face of the guitar, there is considerably less strength in that panel.  For that reason, many guitars add a rosette around the hole to bolster that area.  Rosettes come in all types of designs and materials and can have a big impact on the appearance of the guitar.  While some people make their own rosettes from wood or other material, I chose to purchase a prefabricated one online.  I was pretty sure mine would turn out poorly and ruin the look of the guitar.

The rosette I purchased is about 1/32" thick.  That means I needed to remove that much wood from my front panel in the shape of the rosette so it would sit flush with the panel.  I rigged up something so I could use my router to do the work.

First, I added a piece of wood onto the bottom of the router base for reasons I'll explain below.  I screwed it to the router base with countersunk screws and left an opening for the router bit to come through.

Next, I took what was left of the 3/16" rod I used for the truss rod and cut a piece about 3/8" long from it.  On a piece of thin plywood I practiced what to do by first drilling a center hole big enough for the 3/16" rod piece.  Then I calculated how far from the center of the 1/2" router bit I was using that I would need for making the first of two cuts for the circular groove.  At that location, I drilled a hole in the router base attachment to accept the other end of the rod piece.  So essentially I would have a common point of rotation between the router and the guitar panel.

Below is the plywood I practiced on a couple of times.  You can see the center hole of each circle.  That's where I had the small rod piece which also went up into the router base.  I spun the router around with the bit set to cut 1/32" deep.  Since my bit was only 1/2" and my rosette is 5/8" wide, I had to make two cuts by making a second hole in the router base in which to put the rod piece.

Here's the front panel with the rod piece installed:

 And here it is after routing the groove:

Finally, with the rosette sitting on the panel but not yet glued in.  I'll cut the sound hole opening later.  The rosette comes with a slot on one side so that it has more flexibility.  This will be covered by the fretboard later.