Paint type for swirl finishes

[Andres Escalante]

Hello everyone. I've been engouraged to attempt doing a swirl finish on a guitar body which has been generously "donated to science". After doing a little research, I found some people use enamel and others laquer for the colors. I have both types of paint available and I'm not sure which one would yield better results. Has anyone had expewrience doing swirl finishes? Thanks for the input.

[Rodger Knox]

A couple of people here have done swirl finishes, Mark Swanson posted one a couple of years ago.
There was one thread that had quite a bit about materials and technique, probably waiting to be archived on the old forum.

[Mark Swanson]

What kin d of "swirl finish" are you talking about? The one I did was a "spin" finish, the body was spinning and I dropped on the color until it fanned out.
Most of the time, a swirl finish is dipped. The guitar is dipped into a tank that was finish floating on the top, which sticks to the body as it is dipped and pulled back out. This is completely different from what I did.
There used to be a good website about this called www.theswirling.com but it doesn't seem to be working anymore. But there are some good videos of the process on YouTube.

[Andres Escalante]

Hello,
I'm planning to dip the guitar into a tank. I just can`t decide whether to use laquer or enamel. In your opinion, which one would work best?

[Jim Bonnell]

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/swirled.htm Google swirl guitar and you'll find more information. Good luck and be sure and post your results.

[Mark Swanson]

The swirls I have seen before used enamels for the color coats and they said it worked better, but that is only what I have seen and read and I have never done it.

[Andres Escalante]

Here is the first attempt. After some tests, laquer seemed to extend better over the water and borax mixture. However, I will eventually come up with a method that works for my local weather conditions (really hot in here). Flip flops are from clients who came to watch the process (should have sold tickets lol).

[Andres Escalante]

Here's the same body on a side view. BTW, the laquer is a metallic blue color. Should turn out nice once I clear coat it.

[Jim Bonnell]

It looks good so far. Please post picture when it's done. Good luck.

[Steve Senseney]

I like it too!

[Chuck Tweedy]

That is awsome! I like the blue flame/marble look.
How did you get it to look mostly symetric?? Just luck?

[Andres Escalante]

I guess it's been just luck so far. Enamels seem to work fine. One key factor seems to be the paint dilution. If it's too thick, the paint will sink; if its too thin, it wont cover properly. Here's another try. This one has purple, white, black and silver grey.

[Jim Bonnell]

That looks great. I'm going to have to put this on my list of things to try when I get caught up. Good job.

[Mark Swanson]

That looks good! I want to try this someday as well.

[David Schwab]

They look very cool. I like the purple one a lot.