New Episode: Crafting a 100-Piece Inlay Rosette

Episode 3 of the "Building Commissioned Guitars" series just went live — and this one might be my favorite part of this build so far.

If you've been following along, you already know these two guitars have been through a lot: the back plates are joined, the Adirondack spruce tops are prepped and glued. This episode is where things start to get a lot more detailed — building the sound hole rosettes, piece by tiny piece.

What's in This Episode

The rosette design I chose is called egg and dart — a pattern with roots in ancient Greek architecture, long before anyone thought to shrink it down and inlay it into a guitar. Each rosette on these two guitars is built from over 100 individual pieces: a Kirinite base, hand-set mother of pearl dots and darts that get fit and glued in one at a time. I also build a third rosette out of resawn maple burl for a separate guitar in progress.

A few of my favorite moments from this one:

• The 17th-century sand shading technique — scorching the edge of a piece of shell in hot sand to create a gradient, giving flat inlay a real sense of depth.

• The full CNC-to-hand-finished process, start to finish, for all three rosettes.

None of this changes how the guitar plays or sounds — it's purely decorative. But that's kind of the point. Commissioned work isn't just about function; it's about making something that feels like it was actually made for someone, not just assembled.

Watch the full episode now:

[https://youtu.be/aIVCFL4CVIA]

The rosettes get installed into the tops next episode — subscribe on YouTube so you don't miss it

— Anthony