Sami Ghouri

thanks a load everyone! i think i will go for that portable system afterall. Later on i'll switch to a proper compressor and a proper gun i guess. But for the time being, it'll be the El Cheapo ACE gun!

Helleo, I've read somewhere that rattle can paint is gonna remain soft forever (well at least a lot of the common market types ) so i found this kit at ACE hardware, a portable compressor/gun for 250AED (around $68) and i was thinking, how bad can that be? i mean, considering the fact that i ONLY USE rattlecans for the lack of moar money to invest in spraying equipment. thoughts? please don't throw stuff at me for such a question *dodges the first empty beer mug*

Hello thar! I have been posting for a while now, I guess that everyone starts with an intro, mine's a little overdue sorry *blush*. I'm Sami, originally Syrian living in Dubai/UAE. BSc in computer engineering, working as a telecom infrastructure design engineer in an American ARCH/ENG consultant firm. finished my music school education when i was in Syria, did piano for 13 years and then picked up the electric guitar. I mostly play classical music and extreme metal (pffft i know hehe). The intention of this post was mainly to THANK ALL OF YOU for the insane loads of information being put here! I would've never been able to find anyone to teach me this stuff and i wouldn't have even found the right books to start. Thanks for all the help and please keep it going! Cheers!

i'm absolutely in love with that V! this is the EXACT color i was looking for for my coming project.... i hope u don't mind sharing the recipe of the stain and wood pleeeaase

yeah i was thinking one neck with open tunings and one with a standard of some sort. I mostly play modern metal. But recently i've been listening to a lot of different stuff (modern jazz is definitely one) and i'm trying to experiment. I'm not a malmsteen or anything, actually maybe i'm more interested in making and modding guitars than actually playing them haha (which won't sound weird at all to many builders here ) anyway, it all seems to have haulted for now as i'm really finding difficulties locating wood sources. The only build i did before had an f'in PINE body due to the lack of choice (it was either ply or pine) so until i find proper wood somwerhe in this desert, modding is the only thing i'm gonna do, i'm not gonna invest so much time, effort and money on another pine body. Btw, anyone knows an online store where i can find body blanks big enough for a King V? my new design has approximately the same dimensions, but all the blanks i've seen so far (SM, Warmoth) are enough for a strat only, maybe an LP but that's about it.

Hey man, Thanks. I didn't think the post was touchy actually. I appreciate the honest opinion. I will most probably postpone this project until I make another single neck. For many reasons, one is the doubt factor that you have mentioned (which i have) and i don't wanna end up with a half @ssed doubleneck coz that's just rediculous. The other is the cost, which will be quite a deal for me right now with all the crap happening to the world financially. Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated.

definitely a scraper, had that before. Use a round bladed xacto if you don't have a scraper or want very clean lines. Worked for me before.

kpcrash: thanks bro, i think i might try the bass/guitar thing, seems less troublesome than converting a neck as i'm not that experienced and won't handle the disappointment of screwing a new neck up. Or maybe just go ahead with my single neck design and get it done first and then maybe move to double necks later.... dunno, i was just thinking it's pretty much the same as doing a single neck just double the work! since i'm only gonna be making a body which i can always discard and keep the parts for seperate guitars you know. I'll think about it for a while, thanks for all the help and suggestions guys!

actually i do have the tools i need to make bodies (router, various saws and other hand tools), and i have access to a full wood workshop at the uni i graduated from (just need to skip work to go there due to timings so i prefer doing most of the work at home). And i've built a guitar before. But I'm by no means an experienced builder and hence I don't want to invest so much in it just yet What i meant by pushing up is basically trying to make the best out of what i can do. Since i can only make bodies (for the lack of experience, tools and time -i work for 9 hrs + 4 hrs spent on roads- to make necks) i thoguht the only thing i can do which can give me much more experience and is much more fun to do than simply building another body for one of the necks i have would be making a body for a double neck guitar. Don't know if that made so much sense but hey, i'm still a n00b Btw, dubai is NOTHING like it used to be in 1996! it was a desert back then! I mean when i came here in 2001 there was almost nothing, now it's at least 5 times the size and population of the 90's. But it's quite annoying how there are HOOOOGE malls all over the place.. there's a mall between every two malls! and they even built the largest mall in the world! compensation issues much?I dunno. it's great for the Beverly Hills shopaholics but for a person who prefers a quieter life with more character to it, not so much i guess.

alright thanks a lot guys. I guess i'll pass then (not because it's hard but because it seems to be disappointing even if it worked out) and i'm still not sure whether loading a 2cm thick ibanez neck with 12 strings would be a good idea to begin with. ckdoublenecks ur stuff looks awesome! Wish i had the skill and time to do that stuff. I do most of my wood working at home and momzy doesn't get very happy about it sometimes so i'm pretty limited and can't make necks myself I spend an hour working on a guitar adn 2 hours cleaning up the place. Anyway, I still want a double neck, but now it sounds less exciting as the 12 string idea doesn't seem very promising. Any cool ideas that can be done with 2 very similar 6 string necks? Anything is welcome! even if it requires a good amount of work. I'm basically trying to push the bar for myself a slight notch up.

Hey all! So having a very limited amount of time, tools, money and equipment; i decided i wanna go for the following items on the double neck V i'm making (ala jackson/kxk) i wanna make, and i wanna know if what i'm thinking of makes sense: Lower side: - An Ibanez RG350EX neck - Either the EdgeIII trem that came with the guitar or just a standard fixed bridge. - The same INF pickups i got with the guitar (unless i get money later on to get better pickups) - the same tuners that came with the neck Upper side: HERE"S where the fun and questions are! i was thinking of selling a guitar or two from my collection and fund this project. I'm thinking of buying an RG321 and basically snatch out the neck, and convert it to a 12 string neck just like that double neck jackson (or IIRC the dean mustaine double neck V). here are my questions: 1- Can i convert the neck by drilling the headstock to hold the ball ends of the second set? 2- would slotting the same nut for another set of strings do? 3- how would i go about the bridge? can i just get any TOM, recess it, and make extra notches on the saddles to hold the new strings? 4- am i high for coming up with all the crap above? 5- any extra info/warnings/issues/ideas? thanks a load! Sami

hahahaha you really got me thinking for a second there! i was thinking ***? how?

i brushed Minwax Polycryllic waterbased clear on my first build, but i was a complete n00b at brushing so i had many mistakes (i was drooling while looking at RDub's LP which seems almost perfect without even wetsanding!) the stuff didn't brush easily (then again, this might be due to my n00bness) but it dried pretty clear without a blue tint. (runs looked a tiny bit yellow but were fixed while wetsanding). Takes a long time to cure though. SERIOUSLY RDub! wth is that? i'm gonna go jump out of my bedroom window now (14th floor) for my brushing skills are completely worthless!

yeah! that's true. but i'm gonna invest in some spraying equipment sometime soon as i'm really fed up with rattlecans. However I got a BIT better with the minwax polycryllic spray and now i know how to spray without making it too thin or too thick.... just the right amount to get minimal orange peel and at the same time not a sandpaper feel either! i'm surprised you actually remember that stuff anyway thanks guys.... all i needed to know was if it was a nitro finish (which i guessed coz it needed no sanding between coats, the previous coat will be dissolved by the new one) and all those hints.... i just never used nitro before (and never really was sure if a guitar was finished with nitro either) coz i'm a n00b thataway..... and there isn't much choice when it comes to guitar finishes in this country. People don't really care about these things as they simply don't have the time to work on such a hobby (traffic is a serious killer, we spend at least 5 hours on the roads daily) and they don't care about REfinishing as they just throw away the old and buy new stuff thanks a lot guys, that did help! I'll probably use it when i refinish my LP. Cheers, Sami

shaping a new bridge isn't really harder than fixing this one.... stewmac a new bridge i guess... that's what i did with my sister's violin. I also bought the kit but i still haven't got the heart to finish it off.... it's been almost 9 months now

Hey there! I am going through the dreads of clearcoating white guitars with Minwax Polycryllic (waterbase) clear which dries very clear but is a serious ho to work with, sprays like a foam, and stays gummy for weeks and weeks..... i was at ACE ther other day and i stumbled across Minwax Aerosol Lacquer, doesn't say what the substance is (urethane, nitro, acryllic, etc) but it says "clear".... the only way i could test on spot was get the three cans:polycryllic, polyurethane and the lacquer and spray on a white paper, polyurethane failed the test as soon as it hit the paper and turned it ugly yellow, polycryllic turned it white (but i've already tested it and i know it dries clear) BUT the lacquer WAS AS CLEAR AS WATER! i don't wanna put my hopes up, finish a white guitar with it and end up sanding it (which is what i did when i used polyu) so before i do something stupid, anyone tried it? what are the pros and cons? and what exactly is it? thanks a load you guys Sami

really nice looking! question though, what clear coat did you use over white? i couldn't use polyurethane coz it made white look beige! or even brown at some point, so i ended up using Minwax waterbase Polycryllic which WAS clear but was a B**** to spray and sand......

may she rest in peace bro. I lost my grandpa last year to a brain stroke (which he had a year earlier and it left him paralyzed, speechless, and unable to recognize anything nor anyone). And my grandma just got the same stroke (2 months ago) but she's aware of what's happening..... i know how sad this situation is at least your grandma's not suffering anymore..... rest in peace.

that's awesome! i usually use the hooge printer we have at work (i'm an engineer in a consultant company so we have many of those $$$$$$$ plotters) but i DO have to hide and wait for everyone to get out in order to use it so i'd rather do that stuff at home on my A4 printer honestly....

ACE hardware have a full range of minwax stuff. I'm guessing most countries DO have ACE branches?? non??? (i mean if we have 4 branches in one city 2 of which are really HOOGE then there must be at least one in every city around the americas?)

the second someone involves digital emulation in the setup the pickup's effect is MINIMIZED.... so i'd say look up his rig rather than the pickups he uses. An example of what i'm talking about is trying 25 different guitars (no two had the same pickups) on my Behringer V-Ampire LX112 and i could swear they all sounded almost identical. so yeah, check the kinda amp/stompbox/effects he uses. that'd be much closer to reality.

hey hey wait a second! a stripped nut doesn't require a whole truss rod change!!! can't you find one online and order it? i'm sure there are spare ones for sale! and i'm guessing to take it out you can try CA'ing the wrench to the nut and then giving it sometime to dry properly and then take it out...... i HIGHLY doubt you'll need a truss rod change!!!! i'm sure other ppl here are more experienced than me.... but if it's simply the nut then it should be an easy task! cheers sami

i've tried the dimebucker on a couple of guitars and i have to say (and hopefully won't be lashed to the slavestick for it) that it's VERY disappointing. no clarity, lots of muddiness (at least on the deans i've tried) and not much tone. X2N ftw! and also, a duncan distortion or a dimarzio super distortion are standards for this kinda tone! they never get old! and they're pretty well balanced.

i really wanna know what clear you used on the white one. I am guessing definitely not polyurethane since it's actually WHITE. polycryllic? or nitro? if it's nitro, will it yellow or become beige in a couple of months? thanks! Sam

but warmoth necks aren't finished and the frets are ONLY basically levelled (please correct me if i'm wrong) while the stewmac necks are ready for immediate consumption which brings me to a question (i DO NOT INTEND on hijacking the thread, it's just a quick innocent question) of how much work is needed after getting your warmoth neck.