Amazon neck shims?

[R J]

I’m very excited to say I’ll be picking up a ‘62 Reissue made for Dave’s Guitar in fiesta red, adding to my AVRI collection of a ‘65 and AVRI II.

The AVRI II has been shimmed by a tech with fantastic results, it’s my favorite JM I’ve ever played. The 65…that one’s a bit of a fiddle still. I shimmed it but I’m thinking I may need to revisit the angle of the shim I used. I also don’t like the chunky neck on this one nearly as much.

The ‘62 I’m picking up, well, that my partner is picking up for me on her way out of town, I can’t play before hand. It’s a bit of a grail guitar for me and while my anxious about how it will play I’m also very excited and willing to roll the dice as it’s a good deal and resale remains pretty high on these.

I’m assuming the 62 will also need to be shimmed unless anyone has experience with these that might suggest otherwise.

Does anyone have experience with the multiple shims available from Amazon? They’re half the price of the ones available from Stew Mac. I’d gladly pony up if it were the cost difference alone but Stew Mac’s shipping costs on what equates to a regular postal envelope is a bit hard to swallow.

Of course I can order them and see for myself but I thought it might be wise to see what others say.

Thanks, everyone.

[timtam]

Discussed in depth here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=125036

TL;DR:
Tosicam: Good.
Muspor MX0360D: OK, but not exactly the labelled angle they say they are.
Unbranded (but still wood): Fake, unless you want a flat shim with no angle.

[R J]

Well I’ll be darned. Thank you!

[Larry Mal]

These are good.

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

I didn't even want to chance it and got the Stewmac ones.

[andy_tchp]

I’m assuming the 62 will also need to be shimmed unless anyone has experience with these that might suggest otherwise.

'It depends' is the answer depending on the specific guitar and how well (or not) it sets up. They often had small cardstock type shims from the factory which are just fine.

[AgentClaret]

I got some of the Tosicam ones and they seem as good as the Stewmac at a third of the price.

$33 is just too much for 3 slivers of wood, ya know?

[Nevets]

I got a set of Muspor and a set of the Tosicam and they're fine. They're the proper angles they claim to be. I just can't stomach the price and shipping costs on the Stewmac ones.

[MrSparkle]

Squier has an annoying habit of using a chunk of sandpaper that's not even the full width of the pocket. On my VI, that caused the neck to pivot on the shim when they were installing it, and it was uneven in the route. Fixed with a Crimson shim.

On my Jaguar, it has a piece of business card from a plumbing protection racket I found on my doormat. The Jaguar at work has three layers of it, that one was a shallow pocket.

So yeah - card shims are fine, as long as they're not overly compressible - but if they don't fit the whole forward edge of the pocket they'll cause as much harm as they save.

[GilmourD]

These are good.

Yup! That's what I buy and recommend as well.

[Guitarslinger21]

I've used the Tosicams on my 3 latest builds, and they are awesome. No problems whatsoever. I'm hoping I never have to pay $33 again for stew mac shims.

[Larry Mal]

I do not understand why Stew Mac operates the way they do and have negative feelings towards them. They would be a business I would like to support but it seems like they took advantage of being the only supplier of luthier tools with their super high prices- which I could live with- and their abusive shipping prices, which I can't.

Now the market is flooded with Chinese made replicas and I have to once again make the choice between buying Chinese made products or supporting an American owned business that never tried to provide value for money.

Not to get off on a tangent necessarily, but the $40 shims really did gall me also.

[terminalvertigo]

I do not understand why Stew Mac operates the way they do and have negative feelings towards them. They would be a business I would like to support but it seems like they took advantage of being the only supplier of luthier tools with their super high prices- which I could live with- and their abusive shipping prices, which I can't.

Now the market is flooded with Chinese made replicas and I have to once again make the choice between buying Chinese made products or supporting an American owned business that never tried to provide value for money.

Not to get off on a tangent necessarily, but the $40 shims really did gall me also.

Yup.

ordered 2 sets of the musipor ones just now (Canada Amazon).. if the price was similar, I'd buy stew mac/domestic..

but it's not even close.

[B.T.]

I got some of the Tosicam ones and they seem as good as the Stewmac at a third of the price.

$33 is just too much for 3 slivers of wood, ya know?

I’ve worked with Stewmac’s shims for years and recently picked up a set of Tosicam’s thanks to some good direction from OSG.

I will say the Stewmac’s are thinner at the base tip of the shim. With the neck on they’re a little bit better concealed but more frail to work with. So there’s pros and cons depending on what you’re doing.

That said you can take the Tosicam’s and lightly sand the tips over a sheet of fine sandpaper or fine diamond hone to get the same effect.

[eggo_princess]

I just grabbed these and they work well.

The 25 degree one was more than enough for my jazzmaster. I tried the 50 degree one in my telemaster with a really deep neck pocket and it was a bit too aggro, but they were easy to cut down, much easier than the wood ones from stewmac, which I've had disintegrate on me a number of times and also give me splinters.