Shimming a Tele neck

[jaberwock]

I've put a Bigsby on my thin line Tele, and now need to shim the neck to get the action low enough, I remember reading the neck angle makes a difference to the tone of the guitar, I was thinking of making a lightly, angled hardwood shim to cover the entire neck pocket; I've seen Fender necks shimmed with bits of cardboard in the past, but this surely has to adversely affect the transfer of vibration between neck and body.

Any advice on the best way to do this ? thanks Jaberwock

[zenmindbeginner]

I've had good success with maple veneer. What you do is fit it to fit exactly in the neck pocket and sand the north end until it is very thin... almost like paper. The shim is then tapered properly and should just sort of dissolve into the neck pocket. This gives you superior tonal transfer and actually sounds better than a business card or God forbid, a piece of plastic.

[murkat]

Sandpaper.

The best yet, dry wall sandpaper (open weave).

Just enough between the forward mounting screws an body wall of neck pocket cut to size with the pocket radius.

With sandpaper, I will cut two same pieces, glue together with contact cement with grit facing out both sides.

I find that sandpaper "locks" neck / body in place due to the grit of.

No experience of tone lose from myself or clients not knowing what I had used for a shim.

[BadgerDave]

I've been waiting for someone to latch onto shims as the latest tone enhancement accessory. Since most Fender neck pockets are the same dimensions, the trick would be to make the thickness of the shim decrease uniformly from the back to front of the neck pocket. Not easy to do with a piece of wood and sandpaper, but simple with the right tools and jigs in a production environment. I could see shims made of brass for metal tone, balsa to reduce weight, pine for the old school Tele tone, re-o-glass for the Jack White endorsed model, and on and on.

I use sandpaper when necessary and haven't noticed any difference at all.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

God forbid, a piece of plastic.

Oh shoot... That's what I just did with my import Cali...

[zenmindbeginner]

God forbid, a piece of plastic.

Oh shoot... That's what I just did with my import Cali...

I am coming from shimming an acoustic where I could tell the difference almost immediately. Like Murkat and BadgerDave said, with electrics, they don't hear any difference with sandpaper and probably plastic too.

I'm sure your fine with plastic, I just happen to have a lifetime of maple veneer scraps and actually have more of that than drywall sandpaper, business cards, credit cards or triangle guitar picks.

I also had no problems tapering it without a jig since it's just a piece of veneer and not an actual piece of wood that I was trying to shape.

A small inexpensive piece of maple veneer can yield shims for several guitars.

[mail4kev]

God forbid, a piece of plastic.

Oh shoot... That's what I just did with my import Cali...

Uhhhh... I typically just cut a strip from old name cards.... should I be dragged out and shot?

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

I can't say I'm missing out on tone with the Cali though tbh. 1-piece of card-thickness plastic between the 2 (body-side) neck screws. Works for me

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

I can't say I'm missing out on tone with the Cali though tbh. 1-piece of card-thickness plastic between the 2 (body-side) neck screws. Works for me

PS: I double-side sticky taped the plastic into place so it didn't slip from the intended position.

[zenmindbeginner]

God forbid, a piece of plastic.

Oh shoot... That's what I just did with my import Cali...

Uhhhh... I typically just cut a strip from old name cards.... should I be dragged out and shot?

No, I am apparently an idiot because I like wood as a shim.

[burningyen]

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1022613

[jaberwock]

Thanks for all the replies, didn't expect the sandpaper recipe, but that would uniformly raise the the height of the neck, I've got to get about an extra 5mm at the bridge, so that's why I'll probably go for an angled wooden shim, otherwise that would mean

a lot of sandpaper, business cards, plastic, Bondo etc.

I'm pretty sure I remember reading an article by Robert Godin saying he preferred bolt on necks on electrics, because it allowed him to experiment with different neck angles, which he thought substantially altered the tone of the guitar.

Regards Jaberwock

[BadgerDave]

ZMB said: "I also had no problems tapering it without a jig since it's just a piece of veneer and not an actual piece of wood that I was trying to shape.

A small inexpensive piece of maple veneer can yield shims for several guitars."

Clearly, this is the elegant solution. If I could figure out how to get the taper uniform, and I had a piece of wood that was approximately the right size, that's how I'd do it.

[hamerican gigolo]

I've always used a piece of a business card. I've never noticed a " loss of tonal transfer ".

With all due respect,quit sweatin' the small stuff & just play your instrument.