A shim is the classic way to fix the neck angle, too. If you’re not sure, stop with whatever it is you’re doing and go to a pro! Don't just use a short shim at the bottom of the neck pocket. If you want to go lower but the saddles can’t get higher (and you’re getting fretbuzz), increase the angle and work on your saddles accordingly. When I originally wrote this article, only guitar neck shims were available. You can make a shim but instead of installing it at the back of the neck pocket (i.e. It might take a few minutes to come through so, don't worry if it's not there immediately. Then, if your cardboard shim has … When I originally wrote this article, only guitar neck shims were available. That’s my two bucks. This is just wrong from the getgo. 99. This is perfect to properly shim a guitar neck. Get it right and the guitar becomes a slick, playable machine. There are many different factors that go into the playability of a guitar, including the string height, the quality of the frets, the smoothness of the fretboard edges, the shape of the neck – the list goes on and on. View fullsize. Classic Orpheo. I have been working on guitars for over 30 years and one needs to adjust the bridge, the nut and the truss to get a proper action. : the edge closest to the bridge) you put the shim at the other side (i.e. Reattach the neck and voila: the angle is more steep. You need to experiment with different thickness shims to get the perfect action you want. You want to purposely raise your bridge to get a steeper string angle over it. By installing a popsicle stick, or similarly sized shim at the end of the neck pocket. Over time, after the adjustments are done, the action again goes off and one needs to go through the whole process again. It’s a bit of a stretch, but this method (proposed by a friend of mine) helped to ‘save’ a Fender USA Strat where the neck and body had a nice fit, but a wrong angle relative to each other. Shim your neck with a full-pocket shim to prevent ramps/ski-slopes. I have sold a vintage guitar once that had had a neck reset without a shim under the fretboard extension. If you think you’ve done everything you can to adjust the action and you recognize your guitar in the description above, it may be prudent to visit a luthier and suggest this kind of surgery. This is the easiest way to fix a shallow neck angle. Lock it all in place, screw down the neck, retune, adjust the saddles and you’re done. Essentially: the neck has a back-bow that can’t be torqued out with the truss rod or the strings. Just 30 minutes of your time, a few basic tools and common sense can help you a lot to diagnose the problem and maybe even fix it. Raising the saddles is either not possible or not advised because the action would get even higher making it even less playable. First off, you don’t want any shiny surfaces for your glueing operation. As wood ages, it “settles in”, as we say. 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. Don't just use a short shim at the bottom of the neck pocket. Just don’t drill, sand, file, rout or chop in the woods unless you’re a competent luthier: those fixes are often a hell of a lot more expensive than the adjusting some nuts, screws and bolts. This can be done in either of two ways. Are they wrong as well? http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19686-guitar-shop-101-how-to-shim-a-bolt-on-neck, http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/tech-talk/318907-neck-shim-hows-whys.html, http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/tech-talk/15273-how-shim-neck-step-step-photos.html, http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/112515-neck-shims.html, Announcing the Eric Steckel Signature “Candy” Humbucker Set. If your guitar is equipped with a Micro-Tilt device, all the better. There are a few different ways to address this. Download Truss Rods Made Easy for free. This can mean fretwork to resolve so you’d prefer to avoid it if possible. Check your inbox for an email for me—you'll need to confirm your subscription there. Smaller shims aren’t that prone to recurving a neck. Now, Stew Mac has tapered bass shims too (and some 'blank' shims in case you've a weird sized pocket). But you can also tackle the issue yourself with a fairly simple mod. 00. Copyright © 2020 Seymour Duncan. A hand-drawn, illustrated guide to setting up your own Strat. Well, here’s how you would not go about it: By using Fender’s Micro-Tilt adjustment thing. If it needed to be raised 2mm for example then the shim need to be 2mm down to zero the full length and width of the pocket. You need to avoid any ‘air gaps’ between the neck and body. Santa Barbara, California. This means a ‘full-pocket’ shim. If the neck angle is very shallow, you have the problem of the bridge or saddles not being able to go ‘low’ enough, which of course means you can’t get consistently low action should you want it. All rights reserved. Even when you’ve lowered your bridge saddles as far as you can, your action is still too high. It MAY happen, on occasion, but only if the shim is really, really thick. 4.7 out of 5 stars 38. So it's not going to be your ordinary shim. Now you adjust the saddle height and you’re done. 20% coupon applied at checkout Save 20% with coupon. If the saddles go as low as possible and the action at the 22nd fret is still way too high, you have to increase the neck angle. Neck angle that is too shallow/ steep stems from the disparity between the position of the bridge and that of the nut (they are not parallel with each other). Let’s look at some common problems and how to fix them. I’ve used them for the first time today and I’m a happy repair-guy. If you’re a confident luthier or if you know one, you can adjust the angle of the neck pocket itself. Any info on this? This is the easiest way to fix a shallow neck angle. If anything, your own experiments can help your luthier in his search to trouble shoot the problem. This is a simple inbuilt system which lets you adjust the neck angle without actually removing the neck itself. It would involve a re-radius of the fretboard and replacement, leveling, rounding, and polishing of the frets to get rid of the hump or dip. Check out these other great articles…, Haze Guitars, 54 Rossberry Avenue, Lucan, Ireland, Neck Resets - Beginning to remove the neck, Free Social Distancing for Musicians Sign, Repairing a damaged acoustic guitar bridge plate, Straightening a bowed neck: Correction and Reassembly, Remove Blue Pencil Lines in Affinity Photo, Straightening a bowed neck: Truss Rod Operation, Straightening a bowed neck (with some complications). I’ve hated making these shims in the past and being able to buy them is one less source of stress. Outback Designs Guitar Neck Shims – Durable Bolt-On Neck Plate for Guitar and Bass Repair – Protective Guitar Neck Gasket made from Flexible Nylon – 0.25°, 0.5°, and 1°Degree Guitar Shims - Set of 3. Take a look at what these guys are saying: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19686-guitar-shop-101-how-to-shim-a-bolt-on-neck http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/tech-talk/318907-neck-shim-hows-whys.html http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/tech-talk/15273-how-shim-neck-step-step-photos.html http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/112515-neck-shims.html Fender has been using shims as well for years in their guitars, too. 4 Pieces Guitar Neck Shims 0.2mm 0.5mm 1mm Thickness Brass Shims for Guitar and Bass Bolt-on Neck Repair. Blank shims were designed for odd screw spacings, smaller neck pockets, and custom designs like the Fender Micro-Tilt™. A shim would not fix that issue either. This can be helpful on Jazzmasters and Jaguars (where the strings generally go over the bridge at a quite shallow angle which reduces downward pressure and can cause hassle). A fret mill or a complete re-fret would almost certainly improve the problem there. : the edge closest to the tuning pegs). However, in order to comply with privacy regulations, I also need you to provide consent to store and process the information you've entered. It's not that scary. If you raise the nut, the string height at the nut increases, true, but maybe not at the end of the fretboard. This article written by Gerry Hayes and first published at hazeguitars.com, Tagged: shim, neck, neck-angle, bolt-on, stew mac, guitar, bass. I’ve heard about shims warping the neck at the pocket to get a ski slope type of curve at the high frets. If you’ve determined that the neck angle should indeed be more steep and you’re totally committed to that specific neck, a trip to a luthier would never hurt. To correct that, raise/ put a shim under the goddam nut, not the bridge.

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