My First Swirl With Pics, But I Have Questions

[Scooby]

This is my first Guitar Swirl. I have been practicing on odds and ends for a week and a half now so I thought tonight would be a great time to take the plunge(so to speek). I found after trying different paints for a while that the Tester Brand paints worked the best. I also used the Spray Can Tester Paints. So here is one of the pics and there is a link to the album below. But I Have some questions I need answered.

Link to Swirl Guitar Album

So my Questions are

1. Can I wet sand this body or do something to it to get rid of the slight dripping and inperfections?

2. What do I use for the final coat? And how can I apply it? The Tester Paints are oil based Enamals just so you know.

So if one of you could give me some pointers I would be greatfull.

Thanks

Scooby

[sscovill]

Nice swirl job. I'm not crazy about the baby blue, but pulling off a good swirl isn't easy to do, so I respect the fact that you did it yourself.

I'm sure you'll get some great answers to your questions.

[thrashncrust]

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA that looks freakin crazy good, could you possibly email me or post in here how you did it?

[MzI]

there is a tutorial on the main site of how to do it

MzI

[Drak]

You did great, I like it!

[Scott Rosenberger]

You can spot sand the big drips but I wouldn't sand the entire body. You'll just have to build up a really good clearcoat to get it level

[unclej]

great job! when i tried it on some practice pieces i swirled my left hand. looked pretty good actually.

[Scooby]

Wow.. thank you guys. I just did a lot of practice runs before doing the guitar. I did by the way sand the runs down as much as I could without taking any of the paint off. It was not an easy thing to do, but I took my time. I have now sprayed the body with Minwax Polycrylic(spelling) and it seems to be good.

Does anyone know a better choice for the finish?

And thank you all for your responces.

[thrashncrust]

hey, what are the names of the colors you used, how much of each color, and how much borax and water did u use

[Executioner606]

Pretty cool looking dude. I like the shades of blue personally.

[Scooby]

Hello everyone

I am not home at the moment so I cant look up the colors. Sorry. But I can explain what I used for dipping and the amount of Borax.

I bought a plastic trash barell at Walmart that was only $3 and some change. It was a 30 gallon trash barell. I filled it up about 3/4 of the way to the top(enough to submerge the whole guitar) with water. The water was about room temp maybe a little cooler. I added 1.5 to 2 cups of Borax and stired it around. I waited about 10 minutes. Then I used 4 different colors, All blue and they were the Tester's Brand Spray can model paint. You can buy this in any model shop or Wal-mart in the model section. I started with the darkest color first then went to the lightest color. as soon as I was done spraying I dipped the guitar slowly into the water. With my other hand I cleared an exit for the guitar with some rolled up newspaper. When It was out, I just twirled it a little and tried to remove as much of the water as I could.

So that is really all I did.

[thrashncrust]

thanks alot dude

[Paul Marossy]

Very nice work! It seems like it would be a bit of a challenge to get a good looking swirl...

[RGGR]

From what I picked up from the tutorial on the main site, is that Borax is used to brake the water tension, so the paint evens out nicely on the water.........

I was thinking....could I used little dish washer soap to do same trick.

Just thinking out load here.........why does it have to be borax???

(I'm not sure where I can find that stuff.....)

[amdmonster]

you could use dishwasher soap just have to be careful as to not cause soap suds or bubbles.

[Scooby]

I was actually thinking about dish soap as well... not sure I guess you would have to test it. And as for Borax, I just went to my local shopping (food) store and it was in the row with all "All,Tide,Bleach" stuff like that.

[demon]

would dish washing detergent not break up an oil based paint and cause it to mix with the water rather than floating on the top? dunno myself, jus wonderin. planning on doin a couple of swirls myself soon.

[GuitarMaestro]

Great finish....and I like the colors very much.....baby blue.....pfff....that guy has no taste

[Scooby]

Hello everyone.

I am going to start to put this guitar together as soon as I get an

RG Neck I purchased off Ebay. But I was wondering what everyong thought I sould use for a pickguard on this guitar? I have the perl white one that came with it(this used to be a RG350DX white guitar) but I was also thinking of using a clear pick guard. didnt know if anyone had any suggestions. Anything will help.

thanks

Scooby

[Paul Marossy]

I was thinking that a white pearl finish might look cool. Notice I didn't say pearloid...

Clear could be cool, too. Would you have the control cavities and stuff visible?

[RGGR]

would dish washing detergent not break up an oil based paint and cause it to mix with the water rather than floating on the top? dunno myself, jus wonderin.

I think you only need few drops of liquid soap to brake the water tension. I will have to test this. Borax seems to be proved route, but I guess soap will do same trick.

I also having been thinking about the process. What if I would install small tap/faucet on bottom of holding bucket and instead of pulling guitar out of bucket, just letting water level drop by letting the water out (slowly).

This way I don't have to deal with making open area on top, and if done with proper (slow) speed....the guitar will lack the nasty drip and drop marks other talk about.

I was just coming up with the concep last light.......what do you guys think....would this work????

[Scooby]

I also having been thinking about the process. What if I would install small tap/faucet on bottom of holding bucket and instead of pulling guitar out of bucket, just letting water level drop by letting the water out (slowly).

This way I don't have to deal with making open area on top, and if done with proper (slow) speed....the guitar will lack the nasty drip and drop marks other talk about.

I dont think that would solve the problem. As the water goes down.. the paint will be run over the guitar once again. Making the open area on the top of the water with the news paper was actually pretty easy.

I was thinking that a white pearl finish might look cool. Notice I didn't say pearloid...

Clear could be cool, too. Would you have the control cavities and stuff visible?

Do you mean to use the perl pickguard? (I can be blonde sometimes )

And yeah the control Cavities and stuff would be visible.

[american_jesus]

a definately think if you could do a neat control cavity rewire(no extra long pickup wires that run around in circles, clean solders, etc) a clear pickguard would look totally awesome on that piece. the swirl came out truly awesome, and there's no need to cover it up.

and by the way, i must say, very nice choice of colors!@

[amdmonster]

hey looks pretty good scooby, i don't know i would probally go with a clear pickgaurd myself!! I tried some of the testors spray paint but i have no luck with them yet!! They skin on the surface of the water.

[Paul Marossy]

Do you mean to use the perl pickguard?

Well, I mean something that looks similar to the one second from the right:

I think that a pearlescent off white could look cool. That means it would probably have to be painted, which may be somewhat problematic. You could always do a clear pickguard with the paint on the back of the pickguard. Just my thoughts...