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GMC Forum _ GEAR & PRODUCTION _ I Want To Try This! Swirl Painting!
Posted by: Praetorian May 17 2010, 01:55 AM
Posted by: ZakkWylde May 17 2010, 02:01 AM
Interesting!
Posted by: Daniel Realpe May 17 2010, 04:00 PM
great! I want to do this too!
he doesn't show the guitar too well at the end!!
but from what I saw it looks great!
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 17 2010, 04:13 PM
Wow, that's looking great, what an interesting method, never would thought of that! 
I wish I could do it, the result it awesome!
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 17 2010, 04:17 PM
Wow what a cool idea! Result looks great but I'm a little worried about the idea of submerging guitar into a bucket of water, is that ok?
Posted by: Deleted May 17 2010, 04:21 PM
I would like to paint my squier strato in this way: is it possible?
Edit: Yes, and it's really cool: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xWjoeLNcmQo/Sa76tvHpnfI/AAAAAAAACoE/LrByF4aU9So/s400/MIM+stratocaster+swirl+finish.jpg
Posted by: Praetorian May 17 2010, 05:10 PM
Ok, I have been doing a lot of reading about this on the net. Seems tougher than it looks! I am shopping for a beat up body to try it on, and will document the steps and materials for you guys. Seems like you need a big tub...borax (not sure if this is what we have in the US as borax which is powder soap)...oil based enamel paint. I will keep you posted!
Just a stripped down body that already has a base coat of paint on it, shouldn't be bad for it.
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 17 2010, 05:56 PM
that looks amazing, but the wood of your guitar will be wet again..., and that's not so cool, my advice, if you have an old guitar please don't do it, tone will change i'm pretty sure, if you have a new guitar go ahead, but still your age count will be pretty much starting again
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 17 2010, 06:03 PM
I'm not sure if the wood will be wet again after this, the primary coat is already on, and there is no long-term moisture exposure. If the body is dried right after the paint job, should be OK. But I do agree that older, valuable instruments shouldn't undergo such a treatment!
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 17 2010, 06:21 PM
OH, so the first clear coat is still on, yeah that can work, but you have to be very careful taking the old paint then, and left all the clear coat on
Posted by: Praetorian May 17 2010, 06:22 PM
I think with a proper base coat, and immediate drying, the wood should not become wet at all. The guitar is in the water such a short time, I don't think it will be affected. Also, I have read that you plug the holes with wax, to stop water from getting in there!
Posted by: Frederik May 17 2010, 06:31 PM
how do you get the wax off?
if i get good karateskills ill gladly do wax-on wax off for you .. lol
Posted by: Lian Gerbino May 17 2010, 07:19 PM
wow!!! this is awesome!!! looks so easy to do.
Posted by: Praetorian May 17 2010, 07:30 PM
So what do you think about a silver base coat...and light and dark blue as the swirl colors?
Posted by: Sollesnes May 17 2010, 07:44 PM
Wow, that looks awesome. How much does the paint that he puts in it cost?
Posted by: Gitarrero May 17 2010, 08:11 PM
Weird, interesting and beautiful!
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 18 2010, 12:31 AM
I can hardly imagine that combination, but it may look cool and original
))
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 18 2010, 03:52 PM
it will look amazing with those colores, the important thing is, you have to pick carefully the shade of the blues, it is the most important part.
now if you wanna go with something secure, just check for some finished paint jobs out there
Posted by: jstcrsn May 18 2010, 03:58 PM
does this need a clear coat after this
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 18 2010, 04:43 PM
yeah i think so!
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 05:03 PM
now if you wanna go with something secure, just check for some finished paint jobs out there
I think so too...something along these lines!
Posted by: lcsdds May 18 2010, 05:05 PM
Surely you guys have seen swirled guitars before right? Vai's DNA model is what made these popular.....
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 05:12 PM
Sure we have seen them...but never saw how it was done before. I for one, can't wait to try doing some swirling myself! I just ordered two used bodies on ebay to give it a shot!
Posted by: lcsdds May 18 2010, 05:21 PM
Very cool. From what I've seen on other message boards it can be kind of tricky. Can't wait to see how it turns out....... 
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 06:30 PM
Seems like it is much tougher than it looks. I bought a DVD showing step by step how to do it. I will document it and keep you guys posted!
Posted by: Fre May 18 2010, 07:21 PM
It looks too easy to me on this video.
It would be cool to try!
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 18 2010, 07:51 PM
Let us know how it works out man, I'm interested in checking it out. If you could take some pictures with your phone/cam, it would be great too!
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 09:25 PM
Once I get all the materials together I'll take lots of pics and put it all together in a "report" for everyone!
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 18 2010, 10:20 PM
from my experience with paint, be sure to leave the first clear coat, and it can be tricky, take the original paint with some light sand paper (it will take time), leave the clear coat but water sand it a little, to thin it a little, paint will dry better there, and do the new painting FAST, dont let the guitar absorb the humidity
this will be fun!!, and a great wiki entry!
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 10:40 PM
this will be fun!!, and a great wiki entry!
Just so I understand you correctly, I should keep the original finish on the guitar...just scuff up the clear coat a little? But what if the original color isn't one that you want? For instance, the body I bought is black...I want to do a blue scheme.
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 18 2010, 11:34 PM
Hmm... Getting all the paint off the body can be time consuming. If you have a cheap spare body for experimenting, I would suggest painting over everything one primary coat, and them trying the swirl thing. If succeeds, then you can start from bare wood, apply primary and then swirl paint, and then clear coat... I hope this makes sense, and I hope this is doable tho, not really sure if that is the proper way, just an idea
Posted by: Praetorian May 18 2010, 11:45 PM
I think I will definitely scuff the original paint, and re-primer over the top of it. Especially for my first try!
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 19 2010, 12:25 AM
Aaah, that makes sense
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 19 2010, 12:32 AM
This is a good idea! Its so cool that you are going to try this and document it...Do you have a video cam or something to shoot the actual process and make a tutorial?? If it works as intended, then I'm sure many will try too since results are really amazing...
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 19 2010, 12:54 AM
i mean, keep the very first clear coat, don't apply the paint on the raw wood
Posted by: Praetorian May 19 2010, 01:41 AM
But the clear coat is the final top coat over the original paint right?
I do have a video camera, and will film the actual paint dipping. I will take photos for the other steps.
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 19 2010, 02:41 AM
there is a clear coat before the paint too, well im not sure if it's called clear coat now , it's something that goes directly on the wood!
Posted by: Praetorian May 19 2010, 03:16 AM
, it's something that goes directly on the wood!Ah...that would be primer! Clear coat is the final spray, that gets sanded and polished to give it that high shine. It protects the paint, but is tough to get perfect.
Posted by: Adrian Figallo May 19 2010, 04:14 AM
primer it is!!, try to not sand that
Posted by: Joruus May 23 2010, 04:25 PM
Cant wait for the results, and hopefully a tutorial!
I think my Rg350 is starting to try hiding itself now, after ive been thinking of using that tutorial if you make it 
I wonder if this story about Steve's blood in Jem DNAs is true btw 
"To get the DNA Steve Vai himself donated a couple pints of blood to be swirled and Darren mixed it liberally. (The blood actually had to be smuggled into Japan because of importation laws:)"
Posted by: ruben_mcn May 23 2010, 04:52 PM
Could anybody do a tutorial on the sanding part ??? cause i have a IBanez like this one:
http://www.guitarvillage.co.uk/admin/pages/upload/Solids/Ibanez/ibanez_rg2550e_m.jpg
And i would like to turn it into this :
Is this something i can do my self ?? What tools will i need ? how can i do it (without ruining my Axe ) ?
ANd is it true that by doing this to my guitar it would improve my sustain ?
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 24 2010, 02:00 AM
http://www.guitarvillage.co.uk/admin/pages/upload/Solids/Ibanez/ibanez_rg2550e_m.jpg
And i would like to turn it into this :
Is this something i can do my self ?? What tools will i need ? how can i do it (without ruining my Axe ) ?
ANd is it true that by doing this to my guitar it would improve my sustain ?
Sure, you can do it, just remove all the hardware from the guitar, so you leave the body clean, and then sand it down. Tape all the parts that are not sanded, so you don't leave dust on them. You can use powertools it will save you time, but just be careful how you sand down the paint.
Removing paint is not a way to improve sustain. The sound can indeed become more open, but it's hard to tell how, if and how much the sound will change. Big chances are that the sound won't be that different.
Posted by: ruben_mcn May 26 2010, 01:15 AM
thanks Ivan.. I´m gonna try to sand an old piece of wood from an table than I will Sand an Jackson Kvx 10 that I am customizing ..
and If i like the results I will maybe do the same to the Ibanez tht i was talking about ...
Posted by: thefireball May 26 2010, 02:02 AM
that's so cool!! and every swirled guitar - not one the same!!! Going to check some more swirly guitar vids!
Posted by: Frederik Jun 6 2010, 11:29 PM
is this project coming along well ?
Posted by: Praetorian Jun 9 2010, 01:37 AM
?I am still collecting parts. I just got the bodies in the mail this week. One rough one, for a first try, then I got a nice Ibanez RG5EX body that I would like to have as a final project!
Posted by: emirb Jun 9 2010, 08:47 AM
Oh, how could I miss this thread! well, I wasn't a member when it started hehe, but this is so cool I'm eager to see the results I'm sure it's gonna be great! I've done this but not with guitar body, only for painting stompboxes. Borax is kinda hard to get here where I live or it's just me that doesn't know where to look. Anyway, some friends of mine have done this even with guitars and the catch is (just with swirling anything) to experiment and find just right 'hardness' of the water (borax ratio) to keep the surface tension of the water in the right spot. If I were you, I would experiment just on a piece of wood and remember to drop just a few drops of paint in the water (it should disperse in a perfect circles). if it drops down you need more borax. work quickly and just dip it and pull up. I never got good results when trying to dip twice or more. just one is required when paint is ready. I used toothpick to make nice patterns once I dropped some paint into the bucket.
Key thou is always the clear coat. I remember that people used some polyurethane clear coat which gives nice and thick finish. I use spray can clear coat for pedals but this is probably not enough for a guitar body. I would also try to bake it afterward by all means. no high temperatures just around 50C is enough. I'm sure you can find articles on this (or you already know all this, if so, then I'm just spamming this thread ).
Anyways, good luck and keep us posted!
Posted by: Sinisa Cekic Jun 9 2010, 11:58 AM
Superb video, extraordinary technique
!!!!
Posted by: Praetorian Jun 9 2010, 01:20 PM
Key thou is always the clear coat. I remember that people used some polyurethane clear coat which gives nice and thick finish. I use spray can clear coat for pedals but this is probably not enough for a guitar body. I would also try to bake it afterward by all means. no high temperatures just around 50C is enough. I'm sure you can find articles on this (or you already know all this, if so, then I'm just spamming this thread
).Anyways, good luck and keep us posted!
Thanks for the tips! I have been reading a lot online and am waiting for the paint to arrive. Once I have everything, I am going to test dip a number of pieces of wood before I actually try a guitar body. The final process will be documented here for the Wiki!
Posted by: Adrian Figallo Jun 9 2010, 06:28 PM
can't wait!!
Posted by: Azzaboi Jun 10 2010, 12:16 AM
That's cool, done it with t-shirts but never thought it could be done on a guitar body!
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