Sensei Build

[J_48_Johnson]

I've started a build for my nephew. He has played all four that I've made so far and wanted to ask me about making him a guitar. Little did he know that my sister and I had already talked about me making him one for a Christmas present.

After talking to him for a week or two, with him thinking I was just gathering information on a wish list so to speak, I talked my sister into telling him that I was going to build it for him as a gift. This way, I wouldn't get half way through the build and have him change his mind. He was excited to say the least.

The body style he picked out was a Reverend Guitars Sensei. We talked about everything and he wanted the headstock changed. He gave me pictures of headstocks he liked and it was a PRS style. It goes with the body style so it was fine with me.

I started out with a small picture from the website and went from there. I made my body template from the little drawing. As for the headstock, I did pretty much the same thing. I changed the design a bit and it looks pretty good.

[luthier1206]

That looks cool, definetly following this build

[J_48_Johnson]

Once we had the design down, I started getting the wood and materials together.

[J_48_Johnson]

He wanted the body chambered so I made a template for the chambers, cut it out and then started working on the body. I used a 1" forstner bit to take away most of the material in the chambers, then the router to clean everything up. I didn't get a picture of the last route I made which was the second half of the wiring route.

Once it was ready, I put glue down, put the maple cap on the mahogany, and clamped it up for the day.

[J_48_Johnson]

[J_48_Johnson]

[J_48_Johnson]

[J_48_Johnson]

Edited August 22, 2010 by J_48_Johnson

[J_48_Johnson]

[J_48_Johnson]

[mwcarl]

That neck looks great. The binding is nice too. The side dots seem placed a bit weird to me, but they look good and just as functional.

[J_48_Johnson]

That neck looks great. The binding is nice too. The side dots seem placed a bit weird to me, but they look good and just as functional.

Thanks dude. The reason the side dots are where they are is because the body and neck will be painted white. He wanted the side dots in the neck not the fretboard. This way the black dots will contrast with the white lacquer.

[supplebanana]

That neck looks great. The binding is nice too. The side dots seem placed a bit weird to me, but they look good and just as functional.

Thanks dude. The reason the side dots are where they are is because the body and neck will be painted white. He wanted the side dots in the neck not the fretboard. This way the black dots will contrast with the white lacquer.

the problem i see with that is that the dots will get painted over .... should have left them longer & then sanded them back when levelling the paint... just my opinion, maybe you have something else planned...

[Hound]

Your nephew is a fortunate young man. Good for you building it. In case your family is rather small I am available for adoption.

[J_48_Johnson]

That neck looks great. The binding is nice too. The side dots seem placed a bit weird to me, but they look good and just as functional.

Thanks dude. The reason the side dots are where they are is because the body and neck will be painted white. He wanted the side dots in the neck not the fretboard. This way the black dots will contrast with the white lacquer.

the problem i see with that is that the dots will get painted over .... should have left them longer & then sanded them back when levelling the paint... just my opinion, maybe you have something else planned...

Well, I wasn't sure how to do this. If I left them long and then tried to sand them flush with the paint, I was affraid of two things.

#1) Sanding them down and getting into the paint which would leave me with a flat side dot AND a paint repair.

#2) Sanding them down and leaving the black dust in the paint, which I would have to take the black dust away and that would leave me with problem #1.

I am planning to scrape the binding on the body. While I'm scraping it, I think I can scrape the dots the same way...I think. I'll use something small enough that I can scrape the dots w/o getting into the paint. I'll just have to build the clear enough to cover the difference in the dots and the paint.

That's my "plan". lol I'd like to hear from anyone that has seen this done or has done it before. How should I go about it?

[J_48_Johnson]

I got the rest of the frets pressed and glued in. After that I worked on grain filling two spots on the body. When I have more time, and the glue is dry, I'll clean up the fretboard and the fret wire.

[J_48_Johnson]

I got the binding and fretboard masked off, and sprayed the body and neck with primer. After that I set some of the hardware on the body to see what it would look like.

Edited August 26, 2010 by J_48_Johnson

[chops1983]

Great build J48. With the black dots if it was me i would spray the colour coats, then drill and glue the dots in, flush cut them off with a sharp razor. A little area of scraping around the dots should not harm the white once the clear goes on. In fact you would probably be scuff sanding before the clear anyway so it should not be an issue. Its a hard one to nut out, but the way you have done it works, just think of it as tiny binding!

Chad.

[J_48_Johnson]

Great build J48. With the black dots if it was me i would spray the colour coats, then drill and glue the dots in, flush cut them off with a sharp razor. A little area of scraping around the dots should not harm the white once the clear goes on. In fact you would probably be scuff sanding before the clear anyway so it should not be an issue. Its a hard one to nut out, but the way you have done it works, just think of it as tiny binding!

Chad.

I thought about that Chad and I didn't do it that way for a reason. I'm not sure if it's a good reason so here goes...

I'm not sure how "straight" the dots need to go in in order for them to not look crooked. What I mean is this; I could set the neck on the drill press table, get the side of the neck perpendicular to the drill bit but I wouldn't have a true flat edge to work against, (neck has been carved, fretboard has been radiused), to make sure I was drilling straight down behind the fretboard. If I were to drill in at an angle that was off a degree or two would it matter? Would it show? Would the side dot look oval or round? I don't know. That's why I didn't do it that way. Would it make a difference? I have no idea, but that's my reason I didn't do it that way. Have you done it that way in the passed? If so, how does it look?

The way I did it...

I installed the dots, super glued them in, nipped off, then when everything was dry sanded flush. When I sprayed the primer I was hoping to scrape the dots and all would be good. Didn't happen. I couldn't scrape a round mark. I left some of the black dot white with primer, and scraped into the maple surrounding the dot.

Solution...

I read somewhere that a guy made his own side dots by making a side dot punch using his drill press. I have a drill press and a piece of steel so I can do that too! lol I clamped the steel to the drill press table and drilled a 3/32" hole in it using the bit I drilled the side dot holes with. Once the hole was in the steel and without moving anything I unchucked the bit, ground the back end of it flat and rechucked it in the drill press upside down. Checked the bit in the hole in the steel...prefect fit. I got a piece of thin plastic I had, (one of the clamshell containers wood screws come in), cut the lid off of it and punched about 50 clear 3/32" round dots. I used a spray adhesive I have and sprayed it on the lid, layed one dot in it so the one face of the dot would be 100% covered in the adhesive and then layed the 3/32" clear dot over the 3/32" black dot in the neck. Once done, I masked off the fretboard and sprayed primer like normal. I think it worked like a charm! Once the primer is done, I may pull one of the dots off to see how much of a build up there is around the dots. I may have to do a little sanding, maybe not. What I do know its that my black dots are 100% covered with a clear dot and everything SHOULD be good to go. Stay tuned...

[chops1983]

Great build J48. With the black dots if it was me i would spray the colour coats, then drill and glue the dots in, flush cut them off with a sharp razor. A little area of scraping around the dots should not harm the white once the clear goes on. In fact you would probably be scuff sanding before the clear anyway so it should not be an issue. Its a hard one to nut out, but the way you have done it works, just think of it as tiny binding!

Chad.

I thought about that Chad and I didn't do it that way for a reason. I'm not sure if it's a good reason so here goes...

I'm not sure how "straight" the dots need to go in in order for them to not look crooked. What I mean is this; I could set the neck on the drill press table, get the side of the neck perpendicular to the drill bit but I wouldn't have a true flat edge to work against, (neck has been carved, fretboard has been radiused), to make sure I was drilling straight down behind the fretboard. If I were to drill in at an angle that was off a degree or two would it matter? Would it show? Would the side dot look oval or round? I don't know. That's why I didn't do it that way. Would it make a difference? I have no idea, but that's my reason I didn't do it that way. Have you done it that way in the passed? If so, how does it look?

The way I did it...

I installed the dots, super glued them in, nipped off, then when everything was dry sanded flush. When I sprayed the primer I was hoping to scrape the dots and all would be good. Didn't happen. I couldn't scrape a round mark. I left some of the black dot white with primer, and scraped into the maple surrounding the dot.

Solution...

I read somewhere that a guy made his own side dots by making a side dot punch using his drill press. I have a drill press and a piece of steel so I can do that too! lol I clamped the steel to the drill press table and drilled a 3/32" hole in it using the bit I drilled the side dot holes with. Once the hole was in the steel and without moving anything I unchucked the bit, ground the back end of it flat and rechucked it in the drill press upside down. Checked the bit in the hole in the steel...prefect fit. I got a piece of thin plastic I had, (one of the clamshell containers wood screws come in), cut the lid off of it and punched about 50 clear 3/32" round dots. I used a spray adhesive I have and sprayed it on the lid, layed one dot in it so the one face of the dot would be 100% covered in the adhesive and then layed the 3/32" clear dot over the 3/32" black dot in the neck. Once done, I masked off the fretboard and sprayed primer like normal. I think it worked like a charm! Once the primer is done, I may pull one of the dots off to see how much of a build up there is around the dots. I may have to do a little sanding, maybe not. What I do know its that my black dots are 100% covered with a clear dot and everything SHOULD be good to go. Stay tuned...

hmmm interesting technique at the end.

To me a round hole is a round hole is a round hole as long as the hole is drilled square to the face. Guessing that your fretboard edge would be unfinished is a straight line to work to. I haven't been in this circumstance though so my opinion is just speculative.

Im sure with the quality of your build the dots will look stella.

[J_48_Johnson]

Here's a picture of the little dots I made to cover up the black dots in the neck. This is a picture of the dots with primer and paint over them.

Here's the same picture with the clear plastic dots removed and the black dots underneath cleaned up. I have to say it worked quite well.

Same dots with two passes of clear. I tried to get the reflection of light on the 12th. fret dots to show how much build up I need to do with the clear over the black dots.

Body with two passes of clear.

[matthew bryan]

How are you accounting for not having a headstock angle with 3x3 tuners? Is there a special string tree that you are going to install, may be a bar like the ones used for floyds? Did you find tuners that are 3x3 with smaller posts for the longer strings? Is there something I am missing or am not seeing? I was just wondering if you were going to have nut break angle problems behind the nut with not headstock angle on a 3x3 tuner style headstock.

[J_48_Johnson]

How are you accounting for not having a headstock angle with 3x3 tuners? Is there a special string tree that you are going to install, may be a bar like the ones used for floyds? Did you find tuners that are 3x3 with smaller posts for the longer strings? Is there something I am missing or am not seeing? I was just wondering if you were going to have nut break angle problems behind the nut with not headstock angle on a 3x3 tuner style headstock.

I don't think I'll have problems with the closest two. I have roller string trees for the other four if it's a problem.

[J_48_Johnson]

I made a truss rod cover, put on my logo, and sprayed more clear today.

[J_48_Johnson]

After getting the clear down and waiting six weeks for it to harden, (I usually wait four weeks but Minwax clear wouldn't harden), I got it sanded, wet sanded, buffed, and polished. Here's a shot of the rear of the body showing the reflection of my work light.

I used copper shielding tape on the inside of the cover, put down the shielding paint in the cavity, and did some wiring.

After that was done, I mounted all of the hardware for the first time. Now if you remember what it looked like before I made the pickguard and got it on...

...I was very worried that it was too white and had too much gold on it and the body just didn't look right. After I made the pickguard and got it installed, somehow it brought everything together on the body.

The first picture of this thread, or one of the first shows what the Reverend Guitars Sensei looks like with two humbuckers. I wanted to keep the same basic lines as that pickguard, but I'd need to change it since I am using three singles.

If you look at the pickguard below, look at the little piece in between the bridge and the bridge pickup. It's only a 1/4" - 3/8" wide or so at its widest point, but without it, it looks unfinished and the lines don't flow nearly as well. It serves no purpose what so ever, but without it, the top straight line isn't as defining, and the bottom curve around the control knob doesn't flow.