Caribbean burst without dye?

Hi all,

I'm in the process of building my first tele, and my plan is to give it a caribbean burst finish with a masked binding.

I just finished reading Ed Hawley's tutorial on how to do it with dye, but can it be done with spray paint/spray cans? If so, what types of paint/brands of spray cans etc can I use? I'm trying to get a good looking finish for as cheap as possible (who isn't lol).

The difference between mine and the one that Ed Hawley does is that mine will just be the natural wood in the centre as opposed to the yellow. Ideally I'd like to have a darker blue on the outside with a light/baby blue or even an aqua/teal transition into the natural coloured centre. Does anyone know how I should go about doing this?

Here's the link to Ed Hawley's thread:
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/271950-caribbean-burst-how.html

This is basically what I"m going for, but maybe with a bit more of the colour:
http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?i=ps5809&Body=2&Path=Body

Thanks!

I just used a childs watercolor set for my caribbean burst. It worked great...just wiped it on.

Here's my caribbean burst done with water colors...

137146

To my eye, the guitar you linked to looks like just a gunned blue burst, maybe with a very dilute figure-pop dye of tobacco brown or amber. Looks to me like you might be able to do it with an airbrush. Lay down the lighter inner coat of paint first, then the outer, darker edge would be shot on top around the edges. I see what you're doing as more of a traditional burst technique, than the Carribbean burst, whose main characteristic is that it produces a third transitional color from the mixing of the inner and outer colors.

To my eye, the guitar you linked to looks like just a gunned blue burst, maybe with a very dilute figure-pop dye of tobacco brown or amber. Looks to me like you might be able to do it with an airbrush. Lay down the lighter inner coat of paint first, then the outer, darker edge would be shot on top around the edges. I see what you're doing as more of a traditional burst technique, than the Carribbean burst, whose main characteristic is that it produces a third transitional color from the mixing of the inner and outer colors.

What I'm doing is basically a caribbean burst without the yellow in the centre. So if I were to do this with paint, what kind of paint should I use? If I used the colortone stain could I get away with just using the blue and diluting it more for the lighter colour or would I need to buy white as well?

Thanks

I would use the colortone , if you want the aqua/teal transition blend blue and yellow , Ed's method is pretty easy to do , just practice on scrap first , Blue and yellow colortone and a few rattlecans of clear , and your set. Check the 2012 challenge builds , I did a Carribbean burst using Ed's method .

I would use the colortone , if you want the aqua/teal transition blend blue and yellow , Ed's method is pretty easy to do , just practice on scrap first , Blue and yellow colortone and a few rattlecans of clear , and your set. Check the 2012 challenge builds , I did a Carribbean burst using Ed's method .

Ok cool. Thanks for your help.