Stephen Kinnaird SJ BRW/Italian Spruce build just for me!

[Steve Kinnaird]

I told Tom that this is one of my favorite parts of custom building, the design process. And, the back and forth between client and luthier. You get to know the person, at least a bit, and that's rewarding. You get stretched as an artist, and that yields great dividends. Then something emerges that is a collaborative effort, often surprising in its result--and that's magic.
Thanks again for your enthusiasm Tom!

Steve

[Marcus Wong]

Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with. You see the weirdest things so I'm intrigued to know what you suggested I am sure it is going to lolvely nonetheless!

[TomB'sox]

Hello again,

Physical work has commenced on the guitar specifically the rosette. Mental work/anguish has been in play for a while . Steve implied that customers sometimes push the artistic boundaries to result in something really cool. It has not been my intent to do that, but I did want to have a unique rosette that at least I thought looked cool while at the same time staying within the artistic vision of the luthier aka Steve and Ryan. I hope we have achieved that.

So here is the current working design for the rosette. I really like the eccentric look (go figure with me right???), and I knew they had done this type of work on a Memphis guitar, however, since that was a spec guitar they kind of did it by hand and it came out beautifully, but the building method was not something that they could count on to be consistent for each build, so Ryan has spent his time building a jig to allow uniformity in creating the eccentric rosette. The pictures below demonstrate what he came up with and a test using some scrap spruce and a piece of scrap redwood...

First, using a piece of Texas ebony, a 1/4 inch trough is routed into the wood making sure it was exactly 1/4 inch wide...



Next is using the trough to router a round piece of the Texas ebony..



Then we end up with this...the KAERT (Kinnaird Adjustable Eccentric Radius Tool), or a round piece of wood with a 1/4 slot in it...

[TomB'sox]

OK, it may not look like much according to Ryan, but it is designed to allow a consistent eccentric router groove as well as cutting out the wood to fit this. Now this is not as easy as it sounds as although the rosette is eccentric vs. concentric, that transition to the wider bottom section has to be smooth as well as uniform to look good. So you are looking for a uniform look to a non-uniform construct...see, not as easy a concept as one might think...

Continuing on:

This is a rendering of the current working rosette design. I guess just to save Ryan and Steve from criticism, I am responsible for the inlay design on the bottom of the rosette, so if you don't like it, that is on me not Kinnaird Guitars. The bands coming down the sides will be Paua inlayed into the BRW which is bordered on the inner and outer sides by Koa and bwb bands. The three lines on the bottom and the diamonds will either be paua and then koa respectively or we may look at reversing that and making the three lines koa and the diamonds paua depending on how it looks. Personally, I think this is pretty darned cool....

[TomB'sox]

OK, done pretty much with design, we are continuing on to construction...ie. testing the KAERT....

So here is the KAERT installed on the practice top, notice that it is centered perfectly on the center of the top...the idea is his will allow them to fix the top with multiple pivot points using thier pre-existing rosette jig without having to replug the pivot hole each time, at least that is how it was explained to me...



Next is cutting out the redwood test piece which is pretending to be the BRW piece...

[TomB'sox]

OK, if you are still reading, then you are truly a guitar nut and are not bored...the rest of you, go find a car forum or something hahaha

So here is the piece cut out, notice the eccentricity and the smooth gradual build in width....



And finally, here it is all put together, test complete and successful. It looks perfect to me so on to the real stuff next!!!!



So although it looks like "a coaster with a slot cut out of it" according to Ryan, it is actually a successful jig now named the Kinnaird Adjustable Eccentric Radius Tool...I think I have that right....Anyway it is a great example of good old Texas ingenuity that seems to work perfectly!

Great Job Ryan!!!

[cigarfan]

Really cool! And I like your diamond idea Tom. Gonna be special.

[Daveac]

Wow, that is awesome, I cant wait to see it complete. I like that it has some similarity to the Memphis SJ rosette, which I think is one of the most visually stunning rosettes I have ever seen. Great job!

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by cigarfan

Really cool! And I like your diamond idea Tom. Gonna be special.

Thank you Cigarfan. Obviously I like it too, but I did not know what others would think, probably shouldn't matter, but you know it is nice to know it is not just me. I am still not sure what way we will end up with the inlays. Initially I thought the diamonds in koa and the lines in paua to match the side lines, but then I got it in my head to reverse that and I think I like that idea better. That would leave Steve and Ryan the option to use the diamonds and lines in some combo in paua for fret board inlays.

As Steve has said, this is kind of fun now making these choices and seeing it come together. I know Steve has had some thoughts on the endplate inlays also that I have not seen yet! I am sure it will be cool.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Daveac

Wow, that is awesome, I cant wait to see it complete. I like that it has some similarity to the Memphis SJ rosette, which I think is one of the most visually stunning rosettes I have ever seen. Great job!

Yes Dave, I really liked that one too. When Ryan offered an eccentric rosette design, I kind of jumped all over it as I liked that one so much. That is where I also realized how pretty the paua really is. I like the blue overtones that seem to dominate most pieces of it over what I see as a green base in more regular abalone....

[Marcus Wong]

Oh no..... your luthier can't even cut an even circle! You're screwed

This is going to look great... I can already see it!

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Marcus Wong

Oh no..... your luthier can't even cut an even circle! You're screwed

This is going to look great... I can already see it!

Too funny....actually, they are so good they had to figure out how NOT to cut a round hole....that's like trying to dig half a hole, hmmm, think about it.

[David Wren]

Very cool!

[Marcus Wong]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Too funny....actually, they are so good they had to figure out how NOT to cut a round hole....that's like trying to dig half a hole, hmmm, think about it.

I've learnt to stop thinking when I read your posts. It makes my head hurt

[TomB'sox]

OK. more rosette work with the new tool although this time for real....