June 5, 2009
Paintings on Guitars pt1
I created this custom painted guitar for my friend Jenna using Sharpie markers. You might or might not be surprised how well Sharpies adhere to the body of a guitar. I drew right on top of the clear coat without making any modifications to the surface of the guitar. No sanding was needed here but the trick was to use the Industrial strength Sharpie. It's almost like using paint or stain…..The guitar is an Ibanez….
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Comments on Paintings on Guitars pt1
Awesome picture!
alyssa: awsome!
ashley:that is the coolest guitar I have ever seen
I love the design on the guitar. I did not know you could do so much with a sharpie. It makes me want to explore the possiblites.
luv it look kool
hey! i'm looking to paint/draw on a gitar for my gf and so i've been looking around a lot on the best way to do it without messing with the sound quality, i really like the idea of sharpies but i'm worried that with time it'll start to rub off (thats what other people around the internet have warned of) you suggested to usethe industrial sharpies but i havent seen them in colors, do you know if they exist? do you know if regular sharpies will fade off with time?
one more question, how did you get the great highlights that you did with only sharpie? thank you so much for your help, you guitars are really breathtaking.
I think that the industrial sharpies might come in black, blue and maybe red. Not too sure. Although it's hard to take the industrial sharpie off of this guitar it can be done with anything that's oil based even the oils in your skin so in parts where your skin touches the guitar like the top right where your arm comes over the guitar it's best to leave that part unpainted or in this case un sharpied. If you want a 100% permanent solution you'd have to sand down the top of the guitar very lightly to knock the shine off the clear with a very fine grit sandpaper, then draw on the guitar and have someone knowlegable clear coat the guitar to lock in the drawing. I've done ghat before with other guitars.
Also the highlights are done with a Deco paint marker. That's the only part that's not sharpie.
One more thing > unless the guitar your painting or drawing on is over the $1000 mark in price it's highly unlikely that adding a thin layer of anything is going to affect the sound quality. I have a Gibson J200 that has a thin wood top with a very light clear coat applied and retails for over $3000 that I'll prob never paint because the resonation of that top is key to it's sound. Most less expesive guitars have such heavy bracing In them and thick finishes on top that it seems unlikely you'll change the sound of it with a thin coat of paint. I sanded, painted and re-clear coated a $1000 Takamine and it still sounds just as good as before it was painted. If the guitar was a Taylor or a Martin I'd think twice about messing with those as well. Stick to the under $1000 guitars and make sure everything you put on it is as light as possible.