I didn’t manage to get the colours exactly the same but I can assure you that they are closer than it seems from this lousy photo from my cell phone.  If you follow the central wavy strip you will see some slight irregularities in it.  These are exactly the type of irregularity you can find in the original so in a funny way I am pleased.  It tells me that I chanced to put the rosette together in the same way that Arias did.  The strip, composed of three veneers, must be wetted so that it will take the curve, otherwise it breaks and at the same time the ebony half circles must be forced into the channel one after the other to trap the strip in that shape.  As the ebony pushes against the wet strip, the heat from the new glue causes the old glue to slip and the triple strip ends up looking a bit fatter on the crests and valleys.

I will apologize now for the quality of the images in most of the posts to come.  If I am going to be able to do this and keep up my rhythm of work I can take quick and dirty shots with my cell phone and post them straight up.  On the other hand I will try to take better shots of guitars that come in for restoration.

I had to play around a bit before I figured out exactly how to make this one.  I consulted a few of the more experienced guitar makers here in Granada but no one had ever done anything like this before.  In the end a luthier friend turned these ebony tubes on the lathe and that solved some of the problem.

Photos:  Marian Peón

Just a few more photos.