Neck pocket fit on tilted necks

[JohnZ]

What about the tales around perfect neck pocket fits to support the tone of a guitar?  All the craftsmen ship aside to create of a clean firm fit between body and neck - how can this have any impact on tone? E.g. what about tilting the neck with a micro tilt or a shim in the neck pocket? The created triangle air gap of wont resonate. Is it a myth, that firm pocket fits support tone, or am I missing something? 

Background: I have two strats with high action…also I found the shims under several bolted necks.

[Dave Scepter]

I personally do not own any guitars with a micro tilt, simply because I do not like the idea of a gap... I do, however, have tons of guitars with shims and have noticed a HUGE difference between a small piece of a heel shim to a full size wooden wedge... to the point where I have replaced all my "shimmed" guitars with full sized "full contact" wedge... and believe it or not, "in time" those little shims will warp or bend the heel area of your neck... first photo is what I consider a shim vs a full wedge.

[JohnZ]

Thank you for sharing your experience with these full size wedges. This makes a lot of sense to me. I saw how shim stripes bend the neck in the heel resulting in string buzz, too. Alternatively sanding/planing the neck heal or the pocket requires tools and tons of practice. How did you figure the wedge size/angle? 

[Dave Scepter]

19 minutes ago, JohnZ said:

Thank you for sharing your experience with these full size wedges. This makes a lot of sense to me. I saw how shim stripes bend the neck in the heel resulting in string buzz, too. Alternatively sanding/planing the neck heal or the pocket requires tools and tons of practice. How did you figure the wedge size/angle? 

Honestly, just trial-and-error... but they come different packs of 3 with either the same or different angle degrees, and different height thickness... I just used a combination of measuring, eyeballing and guessing 😂