No More Boring Guitars! Create Pro quality DIY Waterslide Decals For Your Guitar Builds

[@darrenboyd4837]

Thanks for the tutorial! I am refinishing a Squier bass that a previous owner did a poor headstock paint with a "Fender" decal. Luckily they left the correct Squier Serial number on the back and I am re-finishing it to a StewMac Vintage Amber (mid 60s P-bass neck color). Your details about wet sanding the finish to a matt before applying the decal and then the steps to make the edges smoothed out under the clear are just what I needed!

[@bravo4adventure988]

That was great. Thanks Tony, you just got another subscriber! Looking forward to the rest of the build

[@MarkJohnsonJams]

Looks great Tony

[@mattheweady615]

Thanks!😎

[@addictedtogear]

Thank you for the support!

[@mattheweady615]

@@addictedtogear welcome brother 🤘😎

[@johnw4659]

Great instructional video. Thank you!

[@KevinSaundersPaperAirplaneGuru]

Beautiful!

[@Stephen_M.]

Great decal tutorial Tony! Brings me back to my model race car building days, back in the 60's and 70's, when you could get a decent plastic model for about $5. I can't stress enough, how light the initial coats of clear need to be, after applying the decal! If you lay down an initial wet coat, the decal material will react! Back your spray can or spray gun, away! Go very light first few coats. Just enough to completely cover and seal the decal, then a nice wet coat to build up before the flat sanding begins again. Knowing this is for the double bound Tele, I'm surprised you didn't call it the "Red Rocker". Well done video Tony!

[@addictedtogear]

That’s a good name. I’ll have to use it on the next one. Thanks for the tips.

[@Stephen_M.]

@@addictedtogear About to check out the Sunday show. Mom went to sleep earlier than usual, so I went out walking till almost midnight. And yesterday was just a busy day. (I've gained over 30lbs. in the past 2-1/2 years sitting her watching her, so I get out for a walk whenever I can.)

[@mykneeshurt8393]

Looks really good. Nice job.

[@shanewalton8888]

I am definitely going to do this though I suck at art.

[@mannymanuel07]

I can’t wait to see the results, it is looking great though, I’ll be waiting 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@JoonKimDMD]

I am curious how it's different from stickers and if this one can be removed easily.

[@eddiejr540]

Great stuff Tony…I have a guitar I need to do this to but I had no idea how to do it…this was a good one👍

[@addictedtogear]

Glad I could help! You can do it.

[@paulmcnary4277]

:-) Thanks Tony 🙂

[@surfrby8876]

Just what I was looking for Tony 👍but I’m dangerous with scissors 😬

[@tigeraudio]

Very good video I must say.

[@pickersgrip]

Can you put the decal on and not coat it on top? Will it last that way or will it peal off etc? Thanks

[@addictedtogear]

@@pickersgrip Fender did that for years. It will last if you are careful with it.

[@christerrio8108]

Great job Tony. One thing that I noticed was that even though you can't feel the edge of the waterslide, I could still see the edges in the light. Does that go away with wet sanding?

[@addictedtogear]

The reason why I was showing that in the light was to make people understand that you have to put down enough coats of lacquer to build up enough of a buffer layer so that you can then bring it down with wet sanding and make the edge disappear.

[@christerrio8108]

@@addictedtogear thanks Tony. Totally get it now. I'm doing my own headstock on my evh Frankie and now I think I'm more comfortable doing it. Thanks

[@michaelhardie9193]

Would this work with a Poly Wipe On or would it raise the water decal?

[@addictedtogear]

You would have to pre-coat the watertslide decal before applying the Poly

[@robklapp6918]

Hi Tony - thanks so much for your helpful videos! Quick question - I was planning on doing my neck (including the headstock) with a stain, oil and wax finish similar to what you demonstrated in an earlier video. My question is, if I want to do a headstock decal (which I do), will I have to use a lacquer finish on the headstock? Seems like I would since I think the decal would have trouble adhering to an oil finish and I wouldn't be able to build up the post-decal layers to hide the edges as you pointed out. Would a clear matte lacquer work over a stain finish? The body is going to be stain and oil as well, so I don't want a super shiny headstock looking mismatched! Any advice is welcome. Thanks again and you have a new subscriber!

[@addictedtogear]

If you are planning an oil and wax finish, then I would suggest going with a vinyl cutout logo or decal that can be applied over the wax and doesn’t need to be covered in Lacquer.

[@tigeraudio]

So its $51 for the laser paper and I need 1 logo that is 1”x1”. Anyone want to sell me 1 sheet of paper?

[@TheMadStrater]

ugh you lost me at "lil rocker"