Do you shim your necks?

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littlericky
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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by littlericky » Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:40 pm

Did you notice any difference in tone with the full contact shim as opposed to the typical piece of card,screen or what have you just used at the front of the pocket?

I suppose Leo didn't deem it necessary as he just used the thin shim at the front or even the Micro-Tilt adjuster.

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Larry Mal » Mon Feb 22, 2016 2:27 pm

Well, I can't say, but I really doubt I'll notice any difference in tone.
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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Larry Mal » Mon Feb 22, 2016 7:52 pm

I was maybe a little flip earlier.

I got my Telecaster back, and I can kind of notice a difference in the sound of the guitar. Not likely because the shim is making it contact better or anything, although who knows, but really, it just helped me dial in the setup a little more, I think. This guitar always felt a little too loose in the action somehow, I almost sold it because of that, but now it feels more in line with my other guitars of its ilk.

The one degree shim is more of an angle than by old ID card had, so I got the saddles up higher, and so forth. I don't know. It seems better.
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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Drewbertca » Tue Feb 23, 2016 4:04 am

I used part of a cigar package folded over to shim my SQJMJM. I swapped the bridge and the new one sat a little higher than the AOM so I shimmed it. Worked well.Those Stewmac parts look cool though...

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littlericky
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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by littlericky » Tue Feb 23, 2016 4:40 am

I use drywall sanding sheets as my shims for the most part. Thicker than a biz card and the abrasive grit on both sides bites into both the body side and the finish on the neck heel. sometimes with a Strat it's a little to thick.

I wouldn't think you would here a difference with the full length shim but I'm always looking to learn something new. Perhaps another StewMac answer to a problem that doesn't exist?

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by mordecainyc » Tue Feb 23, 2016 4:44 am

littlericky wrote:I wouldn't think you would here a difference with the full length shim but I'm always looking to learn something new. Perhaps another StewMac answer to a problem that doesn't exist?
Haha, this is exactly what my guitar tech said. I don't know - but if these StewMac shims give me an ideal neck pocket angle for a good set-up without having to think about it, I am happy to sink a few bucks into them.

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Axolotl » Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:32 am

FWIW, I installed a few of these today:

My 66 Jazzmaster came to me with a non-original, small veneer shim taped to the neck, which I reinforced with a piece of business card. I replaced them with the stewmac 1' shim. Feels about the same - I did have to lower the bridge height. Maybe the action feels a tad slinkier?. Sound is the same (glorious) to my ears. The shim fits nicely and if anything it feels satisfactory to see no gap whatsoever between the body and the neck.

My 59 Jazzmaster came to my with with the original shim, a thick wood trapezoid. I replaced it with the 1' shim. The bridge height was now just a tad lower. In this case, the neck feels so much better, I was able to lower the action more than before with no buzzing and I can really notice a an improvement in playability. Seems like the angle of the new shim is a much better setup for this guitar. Psyched!! 8)

I also tried a 1' in my Ranaldo JM but the bridge came out ridiculously high so I went for the 0.5' instead. Looks better than the two-piece business card shim I had in there. I got a better break angle. I don't notice any difference in feel or sound.

Staytrem bridges on all these 3 guitars.

Overall I'm happy I got them. Not cheap for a small piece of wood but it's a one time thing and in my case they worked out pretty well.

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Mad-Mike » Thu Mar 10, 2016 3:14 pm

Nope, nice and flat - all of em - Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Bass VI. with some stronger springs on the Low and high E saddles and jammed saddle screws, I can slap a set of .008 gauge strings on there and play Metallica till the cows come home with little to no issue.

same goes for everything else in the house for that matter too.

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by bunkre » Thu Mar 17, 2016 1:15 pm

I noticed a huge stability and resonance difference after adding shims to my JM's.

FYI the 1 degree Stew Mac shims add a TON of height at the bridge. Enough that I had to swap out the pickup foam for something beefier. The .5 degree one was plenty for me and still added a real nice amount of noticeable change.

Also, since the Stew Mac shims go the full length of the pocket, sometimes it is visible between the body paint and the neck heel. I was used to my own smaller paper shims where that doesn't happen.

I too asked them about selling individuals or swapping one of the sizes in the 2 pack to get two of the same. No dice.

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by carron » Thu Mar 17, 2016 1:59 pm

Thanks for posting this, I just bought one set. I am going to put probably the 1 degree in my Bass VI to replace an improvised shim I had made. Then I will probably agonize on whether to put the 0.5 degree one in my Jazzmaster. By sheer luck, last time I setup my Jazzy, it turned out so great, with the action so delicious and no rattling whatsoever, and the intonation so sweet, that I am a little afraid I will not be able to reproduce this setup again. Probably though the tinkerer in me will win out in the end and I will want to try out the shim :fp: .

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by carron » Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:00 pm

I got my stew mac shim on the mail yesterday. The 1 degree one was too much even for my bass VI, but the half a degree shim was exactly what the bass vi needed, with the staytrem bridge I had installed. Perfectly setup action now with room to spare for adjustments.

Now i am on the fence on ordering a shim for my jazzmaster...

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Kinghat » Thu Mar 24, 2016 8:47 am

carron wrote:
Thanks for posting this, I just bought one set. I am going to put probably the 1 degree in my Bass VI to replace an improvised shim I had made. Then I will probably agonize on whether to put the 0.5 degree one in my Jazzmaster. By sheer luck, last time I setup my Jazzy, it turned out so great, with the action so delicious and no rattling whatsoever, and the intonation so sweet, that I am a little afraid I will not be able to reproduce this setup again. Probably though the tinkerer in me will win out in the end and I will want to try out the shim .

I used the 1 degree first, but it was too extreme. Pickups were way too far from strings. .05 seems perfect to me

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Francer » Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:12 am

Here's a pic of my CIJ with a 1deg Stewmac shim, got good break angle over the bridge now. Works pretty well, I've got 10s on it with a pretty low action with only a minor bit of fretbuzz which is acceptable to me.

One thing to consider, I had a Mastery on this before but with the shim I couldn't get it adjusted tall enough to lift the strings off the fretboard so I had to revert to the old Mustang bridge that came with the guitar.

I guess it might be possible if I'd fully maxed out the bridge posts and the saddle height adjusters on the Mastery but I didn't attempt this as I can't imagine that's a recipe for stability either.

Image

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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by Haustnótt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:24 am

Francer wrote:Here's a pic of my CIJ with a 1deg Stewmac shim, got good break angle over the bridge now. Works pretty well, I've got 10s on it with a pretty low action with only a minor bit of fretbuzz which is acceptable to me.

One thing to consider, I had a Mastery on this before but with the shim I couldn't get it adjusted tall enough to lift the strings off the fretboard so I had to revert to the old Mustang bridge that came with the guitar.

I guess it might be possible if I'd fully maxed out the bridge posts and the saddle height adjusters on the Mastery but I didn't attempt this as I can't imagine that's a recipe for stability either.
I use a one degree shim too now. The half-degree I originally put on my VMJM was sufficient, but I like the feel of the guitar even better with the one degree shim. I use a Staytrem; it has ample height adjustment for this setup. Is it true that the Mastery bridge offers more sustain than a Mustang bridge does, by the way? Do you notice any difference?
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Re: Do you shim your necks?

Post by B » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:46 pm

Haustnótt wrote:
Francer wrote: Is it true that the Mastery bridge offers more sustain than a Mustang bridge does, by the way? Do you notice any difference?
I have found that to be true on two different guitars where I replaced a Mustang bridge with a Mastery. It was a very obvious and significant audible change in both cases.

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