1999

Well ... I rolled back to 1.9 couple of days ago .... overall comparisson - I found most of the models more "distinguishable" from each other ... at least to my ears ... 1.9 contains more "character" of particular models .. more woody..and less bright ... so 1.9 is a keeper for the time being. 1999

Well I got mine from the ebay .. at the link bellow is the exact one i ordered ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tree-Of-Life-Abalone-Mixed-Fret-Markers-Inlay-Sticker-decal-For-Guitar-/151082626863?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item232d39ef2f#ht_3904wt_901

The process is called "Swirling" - and of course I didn't invent it :) In the guitar world I think one of the first guys that appeared with such colorful guitar was Steve Vai somewhere in the 90's. And that was my initial inspiration since I'm the Ibanez fan :) As I've read numerous tutorials about it .. it was Marbling that was firs called - It's an ancient method from the far East ...and girls use the similar method to make their artificial nails look marvelous ...hahaha .. Anyway .. basicaly what I did is .. i took the guitar apart completely ..took out all the electronics and unscrewed the neck from it as well so I left with the bare wood body ... then I took polish paper and basically removed the clearcoat off of it (some folks even remove the base color) ...the next thing is I screwed some wooden piece instead of the original neck just to serve me as a handle. once done that I sprayed it with a primer and let it dry for a day( I used white primer because that way the colors come out more nicely and "vibrant" ) ... the next step is actual "swirling" and there are few methods 1. method with Borax 2. method using Easy Marble paints (this is the one I used, cause its abit easier and gave me better results compared to the above "Borax" method First thing you need a big barrel (well big enough so the whole guitar body would fit into it , taking into account the boyancy once filled with water) ... then you fill it with the water ... then you take those "Easy marble colors" and sip them into the barrel and since they are oil based they float on the surface ... you take a small toothpick or something like that and stir those colors on top so you get those "swirly" patterns (mind you there's not much time left for this step since the colors start to dry and become unusable - in my experiance theres a time frame of 2-3minutes to do that" - the final step is that you slowly but firmly dip your guitar body into the barrel... colors on top start to adhere to your guitar body as you are dipping it and once you reach the bottom or better once the whole guitar body is submerged ..you take a piece of paper(or a hair drier or as I did just blow the remaining colors that left on the surface towards the edges of the barrel with your mouth)and remove the excessive colors that left on the surface .. so they don't stick to the guitar (and spoil the color pattern thats has already been adhered to the guitar body by now submerged in the water completely) and you just simply and quickly pull the guitar body out of the water. Then you need to wait a few days or a week so the colors get dry ... the final step is to apply the clear coat to the body and again wait for 2 or 3 weeks and finally polish it ...(I did the same process but separate to the head of the neck .. and It turned out gr8 as well . So the whole process takes quite a bit of time , mostly because of waiting for the colors and clear coat to dry ... As I said ... mine is not finished yet ... I waited only couple of weeks after clear coat and put the guitar temporary together because I wanted to play it (I bought it new and after a week or so i started this procces so i was eager to put it together just to be able to play it LOL) Anyway this was the best and shortest description as I could give ..minding I'm not a native speaker.. More indepth information you can get at the link bellow and the numerous videos about it on Youtube if you type in "swirling guitar" (you'll see some fantastic and professional results some of the guys achieved) http://theswirling.com/ Hope this was useful and informative ... Once again ... It was fun for me doing this .. but as I said .. it takes time(I was experimenting and learning along the line) and at the end it takes some money as well .. (since I didnt have any tools I had to buy them all including the barrel hahaha) so I would say my experiment costs were approx .. 300 EUR. But nomatter that I had a tremendous fun and good time. I also swirled my other 2 guitars .. the acoustic one is my first guitar ..she's almost 38 years old and I call her "Grandma" ...hahaha.. next to her is my Ibanez SR300 PW bass which was originaly completely white and I used it for my testings and learning of this swirling process ..So just to maybe inspire you to take the same path - here's again another lollipop photo of all of my 3 swirls. :) Best regards 1999

Welll ... I can't do much better with this lollipop mobile camera ... here are two "closer" shots at natural light from a different angle .. just to get a bit better idea ... and to see how vibrant the colors are .... :) I still need to take her apart and finalize the clearcoat ... 1999

Derek and fremen .. thanx for pointing this out and posting the temp. solution. You guys rock ;) 1999

LOL ... well she ain't black anymore(Heaven&Earth is her new name ) .... but I luv it even more now (and with 2.0 HD upgrade she's the Queen) :) (I drilled some holes for JEM "monkey grip" imitation, dipped her into a barrel with colors ..and voila ) LOL Pics are unfortunately not of a good quality since they're taken with the mobile...but anyway ... Keep on rockin' 1999

Thanx Stevekc and all the contributors .. this is a gr8 idea :) 1999