On guitars, as on speaker cabinets, the sound waves are affected by distortion due any lack of rigidity in porting apertures, which includes the sound hole. One of the traditional functions of the rosette is to stiffen the edges of the sound hole, functioning much as a cross grain brace. When segmented rosettes first appeared on high end guitars I began to realize how far lutherie has drifted from traditional understandings.
While this distortion can be measured, it is unlikely that most players can directly hear and identify it. It’s as subtle as HHG, or oil Varnish, or the Sexauer tone bar variation, or a dozen or more other things evolved luthiers may take seriously. When you add them together, however, they can make the difference between a good guitar and a truly great guitar.
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