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Neck Shimming

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:07 am
by mickie08
What is the proper way to shim a neck.

The neck pocket for the tele I got from Robert was a little off, and also needed to be shimmed to angle the neck slightly back (it has more of a les paul style set up with a TOM/bigsby) So, what is the proper way to shim a neck. What material do you use. I had it set up, but the alignment was off from side to side of the fretboard. I got that fixed today, but I still can't seem to get the action down as low as I would prefer (it's definitely playable particularly as I play rhythym mainly anyways, but could be lower for sure) Basicly I have a little relief on the neck and the bridge up realtively high and it still buzzes a little here and there or on big bends. I am sure it can be set up correctly but want to give it a go to get it right myself before I pay someone to.

If I end up paying someone to, I am going to take it to a luthier who can make a precision wood shim that I can finiah to match the guitar and get all filled in andset up correctly.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:25 am
by Sloan
I've used all kinds of shit.

usually guitar picks and american quarters.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:44 am
by mickie08
OK, so just whatever works, no real trick to it.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:49 pm
by roachello
Guitar pick.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:55 pm
by Gavin
Yeah, I used cardboard cut to shape from cereal boxes, but that seemed to squash down after a while so I used a .6mm dunlop pick and that worked a treat.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:11 pm
by bassintom
Guitar picks or matchbooks.But I've used Lego pieces,sandpaper,and cigarette butts.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:03 pm
by robert(original)
i like ciggarette boxes and those large fender triangle picks

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:38 pm
by mickie08
thanks guys. I will try the large fender triangular guitar pics and see how they work. Right noe I have a piece of heavy cardboard that I compressed with weights to make sure it doesn's shift or compress too much as time goes on. It might need just a tad more though so I can get the action a bit lower.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:27 pm
by DGNR8
You can also sand or file wood, plastic, countertop material, etc into a better shape. Some materials adjust to pressure over time.