Official Luthiers Forum!

All I find for curved rosette shell is 4.921" I.D. I'm doing a parlor with a
3.5" sound hole. Does anyone know who would have the strips in a
smaller diameter?    
And... do the Abalam strips really fracture into shape like I've heard?

long

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"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

You are not likely to find a different diameter. If it was abalone I would say that it breaks well enough that with simple planning the joints would be in visible but this is not the case with MOP. Odds are you will need to make your own radius strips. Or I am pretty sure, if you have 3 weeks Andy DePaule would be willing to have them special made for you. You cand contact Andy at luthiersupply.com

Try Australian Mother of Pearl Supplies. (Google for the URL)

Martin's rosette blanks have different internal diameters depending on the thickness of the stock.

You may be able to get what you require but they'll probably be thin.

I just got some of his thickest ones for a dread and it sits at 120mm (4.73") but I squeezed it down a bit so that the rosette is sitting around 5mm (.2") from the soundhole.

Send him an email and enquire. He's a nice guy and his prices are pretty good.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Bob,

You could also check with Masecraft, They will custom cut shell rosettes in any size you need.

   Andy Depaul and custom pearl inlay. They have MOP.
john hall

have a look at an australian ebay vendor candy 033. he offers different radii and his product and service is excellent, shipping is fast and his prices are very, very good.

i believe he will do custom sizes as well.

I've used these guys for Abalone, straight and curved. Just email them what you want and they will make it.
The only small downside is that you must sand the ends of the curved pcs as they are cut from rectangular stock.
Good quality fast friendly service and great flexibility.
Australian
shell

Bob, if your stock is of the .063" width (1/16"), you can "bend" it to fit a tighter radius.
I use a circular form to make up my pearl rigns, and just force that stuff into the tighter curve.
When bordered with b/w/b and flooded with CA, the ring sets up true and holds its new shape.



That's a tiny picture, but hopefully it shows enough?
The center disc is whatever radius you want, then you lay up everything dry. When it all fits to your liking, flood with the glue. Oh yes, if you try this, coat things with something that will release from the glue...

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

The real artists might disagree but I always use Abalam with great success. Simply install a teflon strip ini between the purflings and once it dries, pull the teflon out and snap the "straight" Abalam into place using a butter knife. It takes all of 10 minutes and you really dont see the lines with Abalone.

I have a post up now that shows the rosette.

Hi Michael

Candy033 is Martin at Australian MOP supplies.

If he hasn't got what you want listed on Ebay you can buy direct at the same price.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

thanks for the heads up bob. i've only ever dealt with him on ebay. and now that i reread the thread i notice that keith has posted a link to his web site.   

Thanks to everyone who responded. I committed to a tight deadline on
this parlor guitar, so I won't be able to special order anything, but maybe
in the future...
For now I think this may be a job for Abalam strips. I should be able to
get that to conform to the tighter radius.
Steve... I love the jig! ...it looks like an excellent example of "appropriate
technology". If I'm faced with making more parlor guitars in the future I'm
sure I'll want to find out more about it.
Rich... I wasn't able to find any photos on your web site. It may be a
temporary thing... I'll try later.

Thanks again everyone!

long

_________________
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

[QUOTE=rich altieri] The real artists might disagree but I always use Abalam with great success. Simply install a teflon strip ini between the purflings and once it dries, pull the teflon out and snap the "straight" Abalam into place using a butter knife. It takes all of 10 minutes and you really dont see the lines with Abalone.

I have a post up now that shows the rosette.[/QUOTE]

Rich I don't disagree, but have to say that MOP ablam is very lacking in appearance in my opinion plus the seams when breaking MOP or ablam MOP as opposed to Abalone or ablam Abalone, is so stark and apparent that the look is not very pleasing. If it was Abalone ablam, then I would agree.