# How to swirl a guitar.



## Ken (Aug 9, 2006)

Found this very interesting.


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## Elysian (Aug 9, 2006)

yeah its a cool how to...


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## Mastodon (Aug 9, 2006)

I found this a couple months ago and bookmarked it.

I really hope to try it somtime in the future.


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## Ryan (Aug 9, 2006)

so cooL! im gonna make a black, grey, and red swirl!


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## that guy (Aug 12, 2006)

or you can throw paint on it and swirl it around with your hands (gloves of course)


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## JJ Rodriguez (Aug 12, 2006)

Wouldn't look the same at all. I'm just wondering how to do it to a neck through guitar and the headstock without screwing up the fret board. How could you guard the fret board so it wouldn't get water on it?


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## jtm45 (Aug 12, 2006)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Wouldn't look the same at all. I'm just wondering how to do it to a neck through guitar and the headstock without screwing up the fret board. How could you guard the fret board so it wouldn't get water on it?



That would be a tricky one for sure.
Obviously you'd have to mask the fretboard but i can't really think of anything that would mask and be water-resistant at the same time.

There probably is some kinda' tape or something that would do it but it would be a risky one.

I think a better option would be to strip the back of the neck and headstock completely down to the bare wood,mask the entire neck off (far easier to do) and swirl the body and headstock separately and then once it's all dried i would leave the back of the neck stripped and give it a good tung-oiling or a coat of satin lacquer. 

Agreed,it would look great with the back of the neck swirled too, but it would be so difficult to do and an oiled/satin cleared neck would be nicer to play.


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## nienturi (Aug 15, 2006)

Looking too easy. But i'm pretty sure it wont be while trying...


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## Mastodon (Aug 15, 2006)

nienturi said:


> Looking too easy. But i'm pretty sure it wont be while trying...



Yeah, it's all good up until that part where he reccomends you have a second person to clear a path for the guitar to come back out of.


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## jtm45 (Aug 15, 2006)

I think the main problem with doing a nice swirl finish is that it needs a lot of practice runs to get a good result.
The actual colours used seems to be what lets a lot of otherwise great swirls down.
A lot of the 'home-done' swirls seem to end up with some pretty non-descript colour combinations.
I personally like the swirls with the really strong colours where the colours still remain distinctly separate even when there's some severely intricate swirling going on.

I would imagine there's a hell of a lot of trial and error with the technique.


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## soliloquy (Mar 8, 2009)

i'm thinking, if you put wax over the fret board then swirl it. let the paint dry, then sand/steel wool the fret board of any wax. that may do it? wouldnt/shouldnt it? 

i think i'll try this when i feel confident enough.


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## Mattmc74 (Mar 8, 2009)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Wouldn't look the same at all. I'm just wondering how to do it to a neck through guitar and the headstock without screwing up the fret board. How could you guard the fret board so it wouldn't get water on it?




I used a special green colored painters masking tape thats water resistant. Its kind of expensive but well worth it.


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## Mattmc74 (Mar 8, 2009)

jtm45 said:


> I think the main problem with doing a nice swirl finish is that it needs a lot of practice runs to get a good result.
> The actual colours used seems to be what lets a lot of otherwise great swirls down.
> A lot of the 'home-done' swirls seem to end up with some pretty non-descript colour combinations.
> I personally like the swirls with the really strong colours where the colours still remain distinctly separate even when there's some severely intricate swirling going on.
> ...



You sir are correct! I practiced on a lot of other things first before I started doing guitars. Finding the paint that worked the best was the hard part.


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## Randy (Mar 9, 2009)

Well, since this has been bumped already... aren't there a few youtube videos out there?

EDIT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XUEbXAm-hY


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## tonygayter (Sep 25, 2009)

The video on that you tube page has been illegall ripped from my photobucket account. You can view it on my page and I have also uploaded a video of the blue multicolor swirl aswell.

YouTube - tonygayter's Channel


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## Andii (Sep 25, 2009)

To the guys talking about the neck: Remove it. In the pics on the site the body is on a stick. I guess this wouldn't work with a neck thru.


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## Xiphos68 (Sep 25, 2009)

Ryan said:


> so cooL! im gonna make a black, grey, and red swirl!


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