The owner of this video himself admitted that his attempt at swirl paint didn’t work out the way he wanted. But it’s great he posted the video anyway because it shows how tough it is to get swirl paint to apply correctly.
The video description states:
I tried to swirl paint my bass. It didn’t go so well.
The body and headstock were sanded to bare wood, then given a few light coats of $3 spray can satin black.
Magic Marble paints were used, including: metallic purple, gold & green- ’cause Mardi Gras, as well as regular black.
There were a bunch of air bubbles in the paint, and in turn on the guitar. Maybe that’s because I shook the bottles before pouring.
I’m guessing the water was too cold – it came out the hose.
I didn’t “swirl” the paint because it became filmy rather quickly.
My container was too shallow, so I had to dip a little more horizontal than I anticipated.
I did some testing on a piece of wood first with dismal results, but decided to go full on anyway.
This was just for fun, so failure was an option.
What you can take from this is he was willing to fail, which is a good thing.
This is just a reminder to all you modders and builders out there that there are times when things don’t work out concerning bass instrument projects. Sometimes things go wrong. When they do, take it as a learning experience and gain knowledge from it.
Have you ever had a bass guitar project go wrong?
If you mod or build long enough, chances are you’ve had some screw-ups along the way, be they minor or major. Share your experience by posting a comment below.
Actually, it might not have been what you were looking for, but I thought it was alright. There were a number of errors though for sure. I think you are supposed to also wipe the paint on the surface of the water away before pulling the guitar back out. I am going to give this a try before long myself.
I thought the body looked pretty good too. he probably should have stopped while he was ahead with the headstock – second and third go only made it worse. But, overall good first effort.
i think it looks cool… if there were bubbles in the paint, after it dries, you can probably wet sand it down to look real nice and smooth before the clear coat
Right idea, wrong technic.. First you need a deeper bucket, second you need to take your time, third you need to have a spare rag and once you have dipped the body leave it submerged and wipe away any paint still floating on top of the water away not doing this only allows the paint to continue to apply itself as you pull the guitar body out of the bucket.
doesn’t look failed to me, how much do you want for it?
Doesn’t look failed to me either. Maybe not what you planned, but still cool and very creative.
I thought it looked good after the second dip.
it good
He didn’t swirl the paint in S’s or circles before the body dip….it breaks up the paint, otherwise, it’s clumped together. Clearing the paint before pulling it out of the tub is important as well.
I thought the same thing !
I am currently engaged in a similar re-build with a P-Bass. I sanded all the old finish down to clean wood, primed with a white primer on prep for swirling. I also used the Magic Marble paints. The swirl turned out pretty good. I followed up with several coats of clear (Armour Gaurd clear finish lacquer). It is here that I have started to have problems…I started sanding the clear with 600, 800, 1000 and 2000 in prep for polishing. I went with Norton Ice polish. The finish looks cloudy after several passes with the polish and in fact looks worse than before I sanded and polished. Any tips or help would be welcome.
I would use normal rust oleum clear if you’re not a luthier. 2x is good.
I am an instrument builder, cabinet and finish, stain and color match person for all my working years. You are using FAR TOO MUCH PAINT of the color choices !!!! It needs to be thinned out, also. The instrument body should be already at the bottom of the liquid BEFORE SPRINKLING the colored paints on the liquid. It is all about fine techniques, and a LOT of test blocks of wood with the same radius on the edge as the body being swirled, as that will make a difference on how liquid will flow off of the surface. Is this water base paint ?? If you use it over a lacquered body, it will tend to just run off of the surface. If you try to clear lacquer over a water base paint, it will curdle up in a gooy mess.
If you don’t know anything about this paint, don’t comment. You’re giving bad advice on swirling.
Above, to the comment about the finish looking cloudy : You have to use clear automotive lacquer from an auto paint supplier. The lacquer that you get at the typical store has SOLIDS in it, white powder that will get cloudy looking when buffed out. The white reflects light back through the lacquer and will look bad. No way to get rid of it.
People need to know what additive to mix into the warm water besides borax, what is the chemical properties of borax anyways is it chlorine? Please advise, thanking u in advance.
This paint does not require borax in water. This is a plug and play style enamel.
maybe he should have done more research. he went with good paints but that was it, not warm water, no borax, not a deep enough container. he failed himself. this isnt hard to do
Join You don’t need borax if you are using “Magic Marble,” paints.
I believe there was to much paint added to the surface. Also no swirling took place. The paint must be cleared from the surface before raising the guitar up out of the water
Ok
First off GUYS, a lil harsh I think. Im no professional by any means, but I have myself “Hydro Dipped” or “Swirl” painted a few things. What I have positively learned is,
1. You must have a container at least 2 × your dipping objects.
2. Warmer water helps(now that is just my opinion in my experience).
3.shake cans well, not to many colors. Its way harder.
But yes its all trial & ERROR. NO BIGGIE.
Here is suggestion, next time you want to dip something, find something of similar size, prep it like normal.(now it doesn’t have to be perfect) And do a run threw. Practice makes perfect.