Z= desired change in neck angle as measured at the saddles. Even if you insist on wood / "quality," I'd go cheap until you're sure how thick it has to be. Like shaving from a plane. As an instrument ages, constant string tension can cause the body to become slightly concave, and this changes the neck angle. Re: Fitting a Strat Neck in a Tight Pocket. X= length of neck pocket. FWIW the two oldest Strats I ever owned (1959 and 1964) both had neck shims in the neck pocket. Don't get me wrong, the guitar is absolutely 100% playable as is.but I like the action a bit lower. I use maple veneer which tapers (gets thinner at one end). Reply #1 on: April 13, 2018, 08:23:16 PM . Nor do they affect tone or sustain of your guitar in any way. They now do multi-packs with different degree angles so you can set the neck angle exactly how you want it to get the saddle height bang in the middle of the adjustment range. As said above, the critical thing is getting the correct neck angle and a fraction of a degree can make all the difference. I like my guitar to have the strings a little higher off the body of the guitar than some manufacturers set the neck angle to achieve. Taper specs (approximate) .25-degree shim . Blank shims were designed for odd screw spacings, smaller neck pockets, and custom designs like the Fender Micro-Tilt. Fits standard fender neck pocket perfectly! They have scammed members in the Emporiums by creating ads with stolen photos and requesting Paypal F&F or Venmo exclusively for payment. The Shop Set of 12 includes one each of every size, shape and taper: Try some hang card stock. A few weeks ago I bought a very nice Fender Squire telecaster, but the neck angle needs to be increased a few degrees in order to get the string height lower towards the heel end of the neck. gtrjunior Kramer Maniac Posts: 698 Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:49 pm. Apr 21, 2020. That said, it is the principle of shims that I have no issue with - but good contact between the neck and the pocket is critical and so what . The only difference is that they are full pocket shims and glued onto the neck so they look like they've been carved from solid. How should I shim a neck PROPERLY, then? $1999. Volume is a CTS push pull that splits the neck. But get the set with a .25, a .5 and a 1* shim and you have multiple options - including stacking the .25 and the .5 where the full 1* fells like a bit too much. It's called that because you put tension on the truss rod to bend it back, and relieve tension to let it bend forward. The whole neck pocket gets painted and when the guitar goes through assembly, the neck guy has to scrape the extra off to mount . Musikraft have supplied the neck already drilled for "standard Fender fitting". Time to remove the Fender "'60's" bound Jaguar neck from my project body, and prepare to fit the new neck. It'll take some time to figure out how to cut a 0.5 degree angle safely . These are wafer thin rosewood neck shims. that will eventually cause the neck to warp. Is there a way to measure so I know what the right one is? Comment Full contact neck shim :: 2015 Squire Jaguar [8.6 lbs] June 26, 2016. Take into consideration that no matter what material you use, there will be compression (either of the body wood or shim material itself) so it will be thinner than you thought. Stacking them will let you really dial in the neck angle you're after. The back is a nice soft V at the first fret, rounding out towards the heel. Even worse, they say that over time it will cause a neck bump. Re: Neck bow or Shim? The JM/Jag does need 1 to 2 degree+ neck pitch to facilitate normal gauge strings i.e. Full contact neck shims are meant to cover the entire neck pocket with no gaps. Off with the neck, scraped off the varnish ridges, ran a sanding block over the heel. Current 'American Original'-reissues of these models actually feature a 1-degree angled neck pocket to negate the need for a shim but vintage guitars and earlier reissues from the USA, Mexico and Japan don't have this feature. Plays pretty nice till you get up to the 12th fret, and it doesn't play at all. Or some 200 grit sand paper folded over. How do I know which is the proper stewmac shim angle? .25-degree shim offers the most versatility. Erick Coleman shows the right way to shim a nec. In this tutorial, we'll show you how to make a nice solid maple wedge, which is tapered at the right angle. Save yourself the trouble of trying to make one or better yet, stop using the credit card, pick, or cardboard that you've got stuffed under the neck now! A typical neck shim will be a 3 fold single shim, a piece of paper folder twice. To do so means making a wedge-shaped shim that runs the length of the neck pocket. Only show this user. Neck shim & string tension question Discussion in 'Luthiery, Modifications & Customizations' started by elkoki, Dec 2, 2020. elkoki SS.org Regular. Reactions: beagle, gkterry, Ricky D. and 2 others. It has a Duncan Alternative 8 in bridge and Dimarzio Transition in the neck. These shaped shims fit most neck pockets with a rounded heel. Chicken Man , Mar 21, 2016 1-degree shim is great for guitars with a Tune-o-matic bridge or Floyd Rose. Joined: Jan 20, 2017. Shimming one end of the neck pocket or the other is not to raise or lower the trem, it is to change the angle of the strings to the frets. Full coverage and works great! 1. In 'theory' the 1* shim is ideal for a non recessed Floyd on a body with a flat neck pocket. This line of thought says that a small shim leaves gap in the neck pocket between the body and the neck. I need to find a way to create a very fine, long, and evenly tapering wedge . In my opinion it's what a pro should do every time. The neck is NOT pulled into the pocket evenly across the entire contact area; it's pulled in where the 4 (or 3) screws are. This set includes 3 hard maple shims, each at a different taper for changing the pitch of any bolt-on neck: Tapered maple shims used to change the angle of a bolt-on neck.To change the angle of a bolt-on neck, players and repair shops have used shims for years. My '64 Jag I just got has a shim in the neck. You can trim along the lasered line to fit the shim to a pocket with a flat heel, like a Tele. Milkman said: Hi, Are neck shims . It's about as thick as a buisness card which is also excellent . When it's bent forward, as yours is, it's called "relief". Click to expand. I'm finding it hard to obtain a blank piece of maple of the thickness and size . A compound radius isn't Continue reading "Fretting and finishing a guitar neck" Category: Build, Finish, how-to Tags: Fender, finish, fret, fret dress, fretboard, neck . They are machined so accurately and the . We call this a full-pocket shim. A full-pocket neck shim can correct a neck angle that's too low. Top. increase the break angle over the bridge, so a big full pocket shim makes sense. Correspondingly, do jazzmasters need shims? Now, if you've read that previous article, you'll have learned what a pain in the butt it is to actually make these shims. With subsequent tightenings of the neck, it has compressed the neck pocket wood a bit and is now the perfect height. We take these issues seriously. Of course - since the neck is out of line, the shim therefore needs to be wedge shaped - running the full depth of the top edge of the neck pocket. I put the neck on without the shim to see what it was like and I projected the bridge would have to be lowered all the way with the mute removed, and the action would still be too high. but for now, can I get. Each neck shim is made for the guitar by tracing round the neck heel shape. There's two types of shims you can make. Use a ball bearing template router beat and start rout the top of the shim 1/16 to 1/16 steps, tryin the neck in each sweep with a straight ruler adding some clearence measurement of the neck forward string neck pull, from nut to highest saddle of the bridge (remenber to set the height of the saddles of the bridge in a "happy mid" to have some . It is an Italian arch top guitar made by a company named Santa. A full pocket shim theoretically couples the neck to the body better and is the best way to do it. Both were very thin slices of wood (or very dense fibreboard) and both were positioned at the butt-end only and ran across the full width of the pocket with holes for the bolts placed accordingly. Most players don't realize that an electric guitar can compress over time. You need to eliminate that air gap. Once I got it set up to where I knew how thick the shim should be, I'd trim it to fit the pocket (e.g., cut the business card or trim the plastic from a credit card). 2 level 1 shredtilldeth Some swear by full pocket shims in maple or some kind of wood. This is a very think shim and is being combined with the original shim glued in the pocket. What can I use to shim a guitar neck? When performing a setup on a bolt-on necked electric guitar, shims are a way to quickly adjust the angle at which the neck joins the body, facilitating the desired action adjustment. That's a hole, used to hang the body for painting. Bg Site Admin Posts: 39328 Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2003 1:13 pm Location: Auckland . Keep these on hand for a quick turnaround on this common repair. It tends to be a good thickness for shimming. After that, drill the holes. What causes a neck angle that's too low? IMO a full pocket shim is only needed if it needs a lot of angle correction. With the tuners firmly fitted - the neck looks even better. Using this shim will allow you to use an OEM neck such as ours or others on Fender bodies that have this deeper neck pocket. The profile would be a wedge. But why taper it and not fold some card over? So a problem I had with a bolt on Ibanez was that the saddles were real low and the height adjustment screws would stick out like crazy (neck relief was where it needed to be) . The neck won't 'sag' in-between the screws because there's no clamping force in that exact spot. Jay wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:06 pm Have you determined the height of the shim at the deep end of the pocket? Originally posted by BX8a. Your dining room table sits on 4 feet. The neck I used was very nicely made, with a compound radius fretboard which progresses up the board from 7" to 10 radius. That is the first thing to do. I'm looking for a shim for a Fender style neck pocket. The angle it imparts on the neck projects the resulting string location above the bridge high enough to allow for the increased height the Bigsby setup requires. Re: Choosing the right neck shin. Get some small strips of hard, thin material that doesn't compress. When sticking shims in the neck joints, an unwanted gap under the heel of the neck is something you would need to avoid as humidity condenses will swell the wood in a dead air space. It would be very fine and offer say a mere half degree of incline. Whether or not either guitar left the factory with . 02-28-2016, 02:34 AM. If you want to raise the trem out of the body, a full neck pocket shim would be required.