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Swirl paint / tye die body

4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Takin' a Ride 
#1 ·
I've seen videos on how to swirl-paint a guitar body but is it possible to tye-die a body?...and if so, does anyone have a video?

I couldn't find anything on youtube on how to do it. It looks like Jackson did this design with some of their dinky's but maybe they were just sprayed-on.

I did find this on ehow:

Tie Dye Guitar Instructions
By Matthew Anderson, eHow Contributor -last updated August 28, 2014
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Several of famous guitarist Steve Vai's Jem guitars have a distinct tie dye finish. This finish is achieved by using a swirling technique. This technique will always create a unique swirl pattern on the guitar. The best time to do this technique is after painting the base color or primer onto the guitar and before putting the clear coat on top to protect it. This technique can be done directly over the clear coat of a guitar, but will usually not look quite as good. This technique is fairly difficult in practice and is best attempted by people already familiar with the entire guitar finishing process for the best results.

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Things You'll Need
Bolt-on neck guitar body
Fake guitar neck
Neck screws
Screwdriver
Wax
50 gallon tub or similarly sized container
Water
1 cup of Borax
Oil paints
Dowel or brush
Test object (scrap of wood or similar item)
Guitar hanger (optional)
Instructions
1
Remove all of the hardware (bridge, pickups, control knobs, switches, etc.) from the guitar. This should have been done at the start of the painting process. A tie dye finish can be placed directly on the clear coat of a guitar, but the guitar swirling technique tends to look better if done in the middle of the guitar finishing process. Any paint or primer on the guitar should be dry before proceeding through this process.

2
Fill the control and bridge cavities with wax. This will prevent the finish from getting into these cavities.

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3
Attach a fake neck to the guitar body. The best fake neck would be a cheap, real neck that you would not mind ruining. This is an even better investment if you plan on making multiple tie dye finish guitars. Any piece of wood will work though. It just needs to have holes drilled in the end to match the neck screw holes on the body.

4
Fill the tub with water. You need enough room to completely submerge the guitar body without touching the sides.

5
Add one cup of Borax to the water. Wait 30 minutes.

6
Add a drop of paint to the tub. It should dissipate almost instantly. Add another cup of Borax and wait another 30 minutes if the paint does not dissipate before testing again.

7
Add the different colors of paint to the tub in order from dark to light colors. The paint will float at the top. The pattern on the surface is what will be painted onto any object dipped in the tub.

8
Swirl the different colors around using a dowel or brush. This is how the tie dye pattern is created.

9
Dip the test object, such as a scrap piece of wood into the tub.

10
Blow on the surface of the water to create a hole in the paint. Pull the object out through the clear hole in the surface of the water. Alternatively, you can have another person soak up paint using a piece of newspaper to create a hole. The point of the hole is to allow you to pull the object out of the tub without putting on a second layer of swirled paint. Proceed to the next step if you are satisfied with the results on the test object.

11
Reswirl the colors in the tub with a dowel or brush.

12
Dip the guitar body completely into the tub while holding it by the fake neck. Avoid touching the sides of the tub with the guitar body.

13
Blow on the surface to create a large enough hole in the paint to pull the guitar out of the tub without adding another layer of paint.

14
Spin the guitar body around slowly to remove excess water clinging to the guitar.

15
Hang the guitar up by the fake neck to allow it to dry undisturbed. A guitar hanger will work well for this purpose.

16
Wait 24 hours. The guitar is now ready to be clear coated, assuming you did not do this process directly on top of an existing clear coat finish.

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Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6398358_tie-dye-guitar-instructions.html
 
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