Torres project

The work on the Torres Invencible is coming along although I have other projects and making new molds and jigs is very time-consuming. Here is the rosette just before installing in the top. It is very simple and very narrow but the colours and the combination of elements is perfect. There seem to be two kinds of guitar-makers: one that tries basically makes a new rosette for every guitar and the other that tries to establish a signature which will tell buyers who made the guitar. Torres was of the first type while I am more the second. My approach is to develop a rosette which will identify me as the maker of the guitar that you hold in your hands. There may be changes over time as my aesthetic sense improves or as I learn something new which helps me to better define my expression. However, as I am asked to copy more and more historic instruments I find myself making many types of rosettes as I delve into the work of past masters. As a rough calculation I think I have made something like 20 different rosettes since I began. In a past post called Artistry or Craftsmanship I posted photos of some of these rosettes. Some makers have made as many rosettes as guitars but that seems to me to be overkill as the decorative elements of the rosette have no funcional purpose in the guitar; a series of concentric rings is just as effective architecturally as a complicated mosaic. Some even attach so little importance to the rosette that they order their own design in pre-fabricated rosettes, something that I can never see myself doing.