Need a little swirl help here.....

[Ranz 777]

Hi!........how ya'll doin?
This is my first post in this section........
Im one of those people, that, no matter how hard I try, I end up with spare parts left over, tools scattered all over the neighbors yard, one eye glued shut, toilet paper stuck to my..................well, you get the idea. I should just stick to playing and leave refinishing and what not to the professionals.
However..........I just had to try and swirl my own guitar. I mean........the concept seems simple enough. My problem is this......in many places, the paint is way to thick. Not only does it take forever to dry, but in the wet sanding proccess I end up removing things I dont want to remove. Ive tried thinning the paint, Ive tried not putting very much paint in the water, Ive tried using really small sanding blocks to concentrate on the specific area I want sanded....................all to no avail. I get some really awesome swirl patterns.............but the finishing proccess just isnt working out. What am I doing wrong? Any & all advice is greatly appreciated. Except telling me to walk away and just buy em pre-swirled............Ive already figuered out that one. LOL!!!

Thanx!......................~Ranz~
P.S. Im using straight up oil base paint to dip in............if that helps.

[Tubarão Guitars]

Hey, Ranz. If your swirl takes forever to dry, obviously you're using the wrong amount of paint.
Man, i really don't know what to tell about ALL THAT THING about the paint type for swirling...
Man, just use PU (poliurethane), the same paint used on cars!!!!!
WOW :S
Said that, your swirl gonna dry instantly by removing from the water. No more than 10/20 secounds.
If you don't mind, i'd like to see your swirls attempts, even the wrong ones.
Lucky,
Tubarão.

[barbarelaxe]

try using a different type of paint and test. I don't think it's an exact science. If you look at all the different posts on swirling you will realize that the concept is the same but everybody get very different end results. most of the time you can tell who made the swirl just by looking at it.
As for wetsanding, you didn't say which type of clear you are using? how many layers are you spraying on, and all kinds of details so we will understand what is going wrong.
Refinishing a guitar (swirl or any other type of finish) has it's own learning curve. I did alot of mistakes and alot of sanding until I started to get decent results.
Just don't give up.

[Ranz 777]

Hey thanx for the responses...........
Just to add some details here.......I am using oil based paint, as oil "floats" on the water surface. I add "Borax" to the water which helps it spread across the water. I just assumed that urethane and other paints just sank. Ive spread the paint pretty thin in the water to prevent it from getting to thick on the body when I dip it...........but it still finds a way. The paint has taken as long as 2 weeks to dry in some cases (the thick areas) before I could even think about wet sanding it. As far as the sanding goes........I havent gotten to the clear coat yet........Im just trying to get the thick areas smoothed out. The head stock turned out pretty cool. I had a small sand thru that I can easily touch up, and then Ill add the logo and clear coat. But the body............RRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!!!
Ill see if I can get some pics and post them this week end. I wasnt having any luck with dipping a white body to get the color scheme I was looking for. So I painted it black first, then dipped it into red/orange/yellow. Looks great.......except the above mentioned problems.
Thanx again for the input.......I hope some of these details help with some advice a little more.
Laterz.................~Ranz~

[Martallica]

Hey Bud this might help I hope. http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/swirled.htm

[ET Guitars]

Sorry Ranz, but the oil and enamel paints are always gonna do that because of the solvent blends in the paint and way the resin dries. Its very very difficult to get the right "amount" of paint when using the ones you are trying, and they just don't dry properly. Seriously, get yourself some nice car paints, either acrylic or polyurethane, and save yourself some $ and lotsa hours wasted time.

[barbarelaxe]

I think theres a little misunderstanding on your part. You are not suppose to wet sand the paint. You wet sand the clear. As for paint curing slowly, I'm using a paint that gives me great results but need a long curing time otherwise it has a bad reaction to the clearcoat. So what???
I also found out that more borax helps spread the paint more evenly. Only after I doubled the amount of borax I stopped getting smudges and drips.
Read this thread :
http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=471664
It has some good info in it.

[Tubarão Guitars]

Just look out about the Borax, it's really toxic!

[musicdr]

I got good results using enamel spray paints available at hobby stores.Goes on real thin.Some of the colors tend to skin over when they contact the water,so it would be good to do a lot of testing before dipping a guitar.

[Tubarão Guitars]

lotz of talk but i'd love to see some pictures.
barbarelaxe have already posted nice ones on other thread.

[musicdr]

As soon as I figure out how to post pictures on here.If you like,pm me and I'll send some to your email.I was on the road for several years, so I haven't been active on this forum in awhile.I have actually been swirling on and off for 4yrs.By the way,nice work tubarao!

[Ranz 777]

Thanks everyone for the responses...........

I love this site!
Anyway.........This particular body.........Im writing off as a learning experience. I sanded down the thick areas the best I could and have begun the clear coating proccess. It doesnt "look" that bad. It has a slight texture to it though..........the thick areas. LOL!!! Im hoping that I can build up the clear coats enough to the point that it wont be that noticable.
I just picked up another RG at a pawn shop this week-end. The body is already stripped down to bare wood. Im going to check out using urethane car paints this time. I havent taken pics of my current project yet. But I will eventually. As a side note here.........the whole swirl experience is awesome. When I was dipping the body, I used the left over to dip everything that wasnt nailed down. My wifes gardening bucket, a decrotive log from the garden, my kids scooter..........LOL!!!......ya should see the family cat!
(just kidding about the cat) Heck!, the family car would be swirled if I had a container big enough to dip it!
Anyway..........Ill keep y'all posted on my progress. Ill get some pics of the current one here real soon. Thanks again everyone for the help. You have no idea how much its appreciated!

Laterz!.....................~Ranz~