# Swirled Jackson: Progress Pics



## nojyeloot (Nov 28, 2012)

Ever since I saw the cover of Passion & Warfare, like many of you, I fell in love with that Universe Vai was posing with. I love the colors on that UV, but I wanted something different. Many many tests later, I had my color decision for my first swirl. (Special thanks to SpamSpam and HumanFuseBen for their invaluable advice and coaching.) This is my story (EDIT: Video is below in post# 6).

*Phase 01: Guitar Prep*
















Roughed up the body with some 300 grit. 










Use this primer for several coats. GENTLY wet sanded with 800 grit after the final coat. Turned out really cool and almost wanted to keep it primer gray. Almost. 















Yes, headstock too.










For the next several coats, I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch white. Again, GENTLY wet sanded the coat with about 800 grit as I didn't want the base coat to be too smooth and shiny (would cause the swirl to potentially smear)











I had previously filled the dings and dents with wood filler, but it just didn't go well. So a friend of mine insisted on fixing it up with some bondo, and I'm really glad he did. Big improvement.










After yet more repainting and wet sanding the body was pretty much ready. It was at this time if found some killer deals on some Floyd Rose Special trems. I know, they're not steel and they'll wear faster... but I got them cheap and they're WAY better than the cheaper licensed trems. Plus I can always upgrade to OFR in the future.

That being said, I had to route the cavity out a bit more to get it to fit. So, back to my buddy for some routing. While I had it taped up, I ALMOST decided to keep it flat white, even more so then when it was primer gray. It looked really cool. 





While I had it taped up, I ALMOST decided to keep it flat white, even more so then when it was primer gray. It looked really cool. The pups will be black SD Full Shreds in the neck and bridge. Stock middle.





More to come in just a bit...


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## Bouillestfu (Nov 28, 2012)

Haha, now you know that you need 2 more guitars! One primer grey and one white.  Keep it up!


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## nojyeloot (Nov 28, 2012)

*Phase 02: Swirl Tests*

I found my formula, but it took a little while. I looked around for a "magic formula" that would get me good results, but much like making a good loaf of bread, ingredients, environment, and technique are crucial. Now, I found a good starting point, but I had to refine it a just a bit, and mostly work on my technique. 

Now, I'm in Texas (DFW), and different states and regions have different water hardness. So your borax:water will differ a bit. Here's my formula:


1 gallon of water : 1.5 *table*spoons of 20 Muleteam Borax
Water temperature between 78F-79F
Humbrol Enamels stored around 76F-79F (some colors don't work well...) 
My first test swirl was pretty descent looking. I used different colors (Gloss, Brunswick Green, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 3 & Gloss, Lime Green, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 38)





I liked that first test, but didn't like the lime green at all. I really wanted a swirl just like Ben's. It was and is awesome looking, but he used Testors enamels on it, and I had zero luck with them. They kept skinning up on me:





So I tried a new green flavor: Gloss, Fluorescent Signal Green, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 208. I tried 8 different containers of it and it came out absolutely terrible each time... I wish it didn't, and saw that it was successful for some guys on youtube, but it REALLY blew for what I was going for.





I then regrouped and bought some different paints (from Airfix USA). Oh, make sure you buy at least 2+ of a particular color because you may get a bad can of it here or there. These handled really well:


Gloss, Brunswick Green, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 3
Gloss, French Blue, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 14
Gloss, Sea Blue, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 47
Gloss, Black, Enamel, 14ML, Shade 21

Used 2x4" boards

























Same colors, different color ratios










Some splotches










Same colors & different color ratios again




















Used white in place of the Sea Blue here





Stay tuned...


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## Webmaestro (Nov 28, 2012)

Subscribed!

I kinda like the "toxic waste green" way your first tests turned out, but that's just me, heh.


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## nojyeloot (Nov 28, 2012)

I figured some guys would, but in person, I just couldn't dig it. The paint simply didn't react properly, like the others did. Always came out too thin no matter what formula I used. No matter, I like the end product...


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## nojyeloot (Nov 28, 2012)

*Phase 03: The Swirling*



*Headstock swirl video forthcoming.


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## WiseSplinter (Nov 28, 2012)

Cheeses Crust! 
That came out really nicely man, well done, seriously.

Thanks for such a cool video as well, you make it look so easy!


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## nojyeloot (Nov 28, 2012)

Thanks man, it took me a whole lot of time and testing to get to that point. 

*Phase 03a: Head Stock Swirling*


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## sibanez29 (Nov 28, 2012)

Excellent execution and color scheme. Fantastic music as well!


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## HumanFuseBen (Nov 29, 2012)

That turned out looking sweet! Great job dude. You just may get hooked like i did, be careful!


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## Alex_IBZ (Nov 29, 2012)

How much experience with swirling and lacquer did you have before you started the project?
Beautiful swirl btw!


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## nojyeloot (Nov 29, 2012)

HumanFuseBen said:


> That turned out looking sweet! Great job dude. You just may get hooked like i did, be careful!



The bug has bitten! I think I'm going to swirl my hockey helmet. 



Alex_IBZ said:


> How much experience with swirling and lacquer did you have before you started the project?
> Beautiful swirl btw!



Thanks man.

None at all. I did a *lot* of research/testing and asked a lot of questions. ^Ben had some good advice for me too. My swirl has plenty of flaws, but I think it turned out pretty good for my first try. 

BTW, if you're swirling with enamels, DON'T USE LACQUER. Almost every where I researched said lacquer will shrivel your enamel paints and ruin your swirl in most cases. Use a urethane clear coat. 

I highly encourage more people to do this. It's very satisfying.


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## Overtone (Nov 29, 2012)

That's awesome! Came out fairly good. I'm sure the neighbors must have thought you guys were making napalm or meth or some shit.


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## nojyeloot (Nov 29, 2012)

Thanks dude. I did get a look or two. Those kids in the videos just walked over, so I put them to work


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## Spamspam (Nov 29, 2012)

Awesome job! Was wondering if you were ever going to get around to that, lol. Looks great 8)

Make sure you put some pics of the finished product up, when the clear coat is dry, and buffed out!


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## Alexis (Dec 1, 2012)

wow cant' wait to see a picture of it coated!


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## Alex_IBZ (Dec 1, 2012)

nojyeloot said:


> BTW, if you're swirling with enamels, DON'T USE LACQUER. Almost every where I researched said lacquer will shrivel your enamel paints and ruin your swirl in most cases. Use a urethane clear coat.
> 
> I highly encourage more people to do this. It's very satisfying.



Looks excellent to me 
Thanks for the advice!


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## nojyeloot (Jan 21, 2013)

The stars aligned yesterday: Weather was right, my luthier buddy was available (Miller Guitars), and I had some time free. So we got together and shot about 4 coats of urethane on my swirl. 

This is un-sanded, un-buffed, and un-finished, but boy does it already shine. These pix don't do it justice. 











You can see the splotches due to me using too much paint during the swirl. Most of it's on the back though. 










A glimpse of the sheen.















Will need to wet sand it down, and prepare a surface for the final clear. 

Got all the new components ordered and shipped.


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## nojyeloot (Jan 22, 2013)

*This isn't mine*, but here's one of his flame tops for an Axis he's making. While we were shooting mine, he shot a coat on his to see how the flame would pop. Just as we were thinking how good my swirl looked, well, this stole the show.


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## nojyeloot (Apr 26, 2013)

Clear coats:
I finished sanding/leveling the surfaces after the first round of clear and had been waiting on my friends availability to shoot the second round of clear. 

Got it back from him a couple weeks ago and just got around to do the final sand, buff & polish. 

Ran out of time last night, so I couldn't finish all the soldering/wiring/etc. But here's a sneak peak (also doing a kitchen remodel ourselves, so pardon my kitchen in the background)









I should have everything done by next week. Waiting on some high tension/noiseless springs from fu-tone.com for the final set up.


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## onetake-jam (Apr 26, 2013)

Impressive work ! Sexy swirl ! Congrats, Awesome job !!


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## Ghost40 (Apr 26, 2013)

nice work man, nice work!


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## Cosmic Junglist (Apr 26, 2013)

the swirl is killer!


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## HL7DS (Apr 26, 2013)

Looks fantastic, can't wait to see it assembled.
Thanks for sharing those videos


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## jahosy (Apr 26, 2013)

Was never a big fan of swirls but that looks awesome


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## JEngelking (Apr 26, 2013)

That turned out great, will be cool to see it all assembled!  Lots of good information here too. 
In regards to what you said about the paint reacting to lacquer poorly: I have a guitar which I'm pretty sure is finished with a lacquer clear coat that I was planning to swirl in the coming months. Do you think then it'd be best to sand off the clear coat completely, rather than just rough it up with 300 grit?


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## nojyeloot (Apr 27, 2013)

In regards to the lacquer: If you spray a lacquer clear coat _on top_ of an enamel swirl, then the enamel paints will shrivel. 

If the original base coat is lacquer, then I assume that's fine, but I would sand it down to the paint level myself if that's what I had. Then, after its sanded and filled (any nicks) primer it and follow my steps earlier in this thread.


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## JEngelking (Apr 27, 2013)

Ah alright, thanks!


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## nojyeloot (Apr 27, 2013)

NP. 

BTW, if you have any questions about this process at all, don't hesitate to either pm me or post in this thread. That was the purpose of making this thread.


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## nojyeloot (Apr 28, 2013)




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## Jacobine (Apr 30, 2013)

Bad ass swirl, yo. Awesome vids and great music. Who was the music anyways? Any way we could get a view of it all together too?


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## nojyeloot (Apr 30, 2013)

Jacobine said:


> Bad ass swirl, yo. Awesome vids and great music. Who was the music anyways? Any way we could get a view of it all together too?



Thanks man.

1st video: Marco Sfogli - Genius
2nd video: Jakub &#379;ytecki - Energy Of Consciousness (Check out his band Disperse.)

You bet. I'm in the process of setting it up. My high tension/noiseless springs arrived yesterday, so it'll be soon. I'll make sure to make em good.


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## nojyeloot (May 17, 2013)

If anyone here is subscribed, here's a link to the thread containing the completed/final pics.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...rl-completed-feast-your-eyes.html#post3558017


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