Big fucking shims

George · Post by **George** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:51 pm

Bought a squier mustang. Sticking a Tom bridge on it. Need some big shim to raise the neck angle enough. Currently got a 5p in there and it's still not enough

Any ideas for how to get the angle sharper, and when does it get too much?

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:55 pm

I'd say a 5p was already a bit on the big side, and not a particularly friendly shape - at lst put something in that's full with. Maybe a small fillet of wood, cut at an angle?

What colour, btw?

George · Post by **George** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:00 pm

Thanks ill look into it. It does feel ropey using a coin.

Had to be vintage white. The tort is very very bad though

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:04 pm

Also:

"He sheems a normal shize to me..."

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:55 pm

George wrote:Bought a squier mustang. Sticking a Tom bridge on it. Need some big shim to raise the neck angle enough. Currently got a 5p in there and it's still not enough

Any ideas for how to get the angle sharper, and when does it get too much?

I put a TOM on mine... I filed down underneath the tom where the mounting poles touch until it nearly bottomed out onto the trem plate... along with a little on the saddles slots, and also the one ply thick business card for a neck shim... I wouldn't go to the thickness of a 5p at all !! That's insane.

Suppose you could take advice from jagon:

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:59 pm

i would take the time to file the bridge down, in the long run i think its a better idea. altho once you've used that bridge in that application then its pretty much there to stay i s'pose.

George · Post by **George** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:17 pm

thanks for the suggestions

instead of filing down i had a look in my draw for things that might help and found these tuner bushings from an old affinity strat

these fit PERFECTLY with the original bridge posts and cup. no movement in the bridge at all and nicely snug. still needed .73mm shim in there cos it raises the whole bridge up as you can see. the treble side cup also doesn't appear to be flush with the trem plate so i'll have to deal with that later anyway.

next everest will be the trem. struggling with that a lot at the moment.

cur · Post by **cur** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:28 pm

You want some of these?

brainfur · Post by **brainfur** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:14 pm

big fucking shim

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:19 pm

I shaved the bottom of my TOM all the way down using a belt sander. I also had to cut the post down and put in new slots to adjust the bridge.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:53 pm

cur wrote:

You want some of these?

I've been meaning to ask you, what is the outside diameter of those? You sent me some and they work great, but I was going to switch to a Mustang bridge and the inner diameter is too small for the Stang bridge. I've been meaning to go to the store and get some of that pipe myself, if you know the outside diameter that would help.

cur · Post by **cur** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:31 am

@ pens. 5/16 x 0.035 tube (7.94mm x 0.889mm). But have the cups and bridge with you and test away. I think it took three different hardware stores to find the one that worked for the jag bridge.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:38 am

George wrote:thanks for the suggestions

instead of filing down i had a look in my draw for things that might help and found these tuner bushings from an old affinity strat

these fit PERFECTLY with the original bridge posts and cup. no movement in the bridge at all and nicely snug. still needed .73mm shim in there cos it raises the whole bridge up as you can see. the treble side cup also doesn't appear to be flush with the trem plate so i'll have to deal with that later anyway.

I did this EXACTLY years ago to put a Mustang bridge on an Epiphone SG (not because I particularly wanted it there but because I had put the TOM on my Jaguar).

Mattsican · Post by **Mattsican** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:45 am

brainfur wrote:big fucking shim

HAHAHA!

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:25 am

hold on a minute george

you used a coin to shim your neck and it still wasn't enough for a TOM?

how in the hell

George · Post by **George** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:44 pm

daftsupernova wrote:hold on a minute george

you used a coin to shim your neck and it still wasn't enough for a TOM?

how in the hell

yeah. i think it's the thumbscrews and size of the wilkinson bridge. it's big

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 4:31 pm

Are you sure you shimmed it right though? Because I've honestly never heard of someone having to shim with a coin.

George · Post by **George** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 4:37 pm

yeah it was shimmed as right as it could be.

i wanted the action to be low with some adjustability either way

61fury · Post by **61fury** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:31 am

I just used a big fucking shim only mine went the other way, like a Gibson angle, I guess I'll find out soon if that's works. I'm putting a TOM on my Ibanez project too.

Used Aluminum foil for the template, instructions I got on the Telecaster forum said 4millimeters at the heel, down to nil at the neck. I like the way the neck feels, that angle makes it seem like it might be more user friendly

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:35 am

so... why a TOM on a mustang? just for the radiused feel?

Big fucking shims

Big fucking shims

Re: Big fucking shims