Best material to 'shim' a guitar neck?

[Treetop Flyer]

Hey, I'm thinking of shimming the neck on my strat copy as the action is very high, about 4mm too much.

Shimming looks like an easy thing to do but I'm not sure what the best material would be. Some people on the net say coins (quarters) are the best but that doesn't make sense as the bond between neck and body won't be as solid will it?

Just now I'm thinking about either paper or thin cotton cloth because they will mould to the shape of the neck/body better won't they?

[pornbob]

credit card works everytime

[TheFallenAngel]

Just take it to a guitar tech and get it done properly.
We all know how much of a tit you are so your likely to make a cunt of it.

[J.M]

Kryptonite! never fails!

[slicer]

Guitar tech ftw....unless Campestral is any good at that kinda shit.....assume you'd be able to find out from him easy enough.

[TheFallenAngel]

Kryptonite! never fails!

It does so, it fails every time.
Just ask Lex Luthier!...

[MarkMono]

It does so, it fails every time.
Just ask Lex Luthier!...

Lex Luthor's evil French cousin!

[Treetop Flyer]

I got 3 tremolo springs (guitar only came with two) today and I thought I had success, the action went right down and was very playable. The only problem is the tremolo is near enough hard tailed with all 5 springs on. I would like to be able to get at least a semitone pitch bend up using the tremolo as well as down but when I take out springs to allow this the action goes a little too high again hmpf. So I might still try to shim it although I'm thinking maybe just pay the £35 and let the shop sort it out. Sooo pornbob, apparently in this metaphysical age guitars can get fixed using just the number off credit cards but not just any cards though, they have to be one of yours so if you could PM thanks the sooner we get this fixed the better

I would like to see that sweet FA, Superman foiled by killer licks from an axe made by Lex Luthier, even Superman couldn't get past a good guitar solo.

Slicer I've not spoke to him for about 3 months and to be honest I don't care if he's shimming location zero.

[TheFallenAngel]

Could be a few things, saddle height, truss rod....

Best giving a guitar tech the headache.

If you are used to 5 springs... (a bit rather excessive i have to say) then having the bridge floating slightly is going to present a totally different vibe to you. I certainly cannot stand when I pick and feel the bridge vibrate and the warble of the notes.

He meant sticking a credit card in... anyway why not just buy some sheets of maple veneer from ebay and use that.

How can you not speak to Campestral? its you!

[Treetop Flyer]

I know he meant sticking a credit card in it you loon lol. God damn it I just had a loon moment myself, I made a shime out of some A4 paper, layering about 8 pieces to fit into the neck joint and when I put the strings on it it looked great, the action was just about as low as you would expect to see on an expensive guitar. The only problem was the excessive buzzing so I had to adjust the saddle heights and although it's not as bad as before it's still quite high. And I think the reason for this is because I forgot to 'angle' the peices of paper to make the shim lol so basically I just raised the whole neck rather than rasing it at an angle. Now I've got no more strings I'll get some during the week and try it one more time, if that doesn't do it then it's off to the shop.

What is amazing is how different the neck feels when the action is nearly uniform, it's not just the fretting that feels easier the actual grip on the neck feels smoother too. I guess that must be because the whole hand is more relaxed.

Oh about the springs, the strings that were on it were 11s and now that I've put 10s on it I only have to use two springs. Not the two springs that came with it though because they are quite weak. Also, on the Fender site they say the normal height from the back of the tremolo to the body is 3.2mm so I don't think I'll be able to raise it as high as I wish. I was hoping to get a good high pull as well as low but that's probably what Floyds are for. It still has that nice 60s 'Nancy Sinatra' twang which is cool.

Maple veneer? I'll have a look for that as it sounds better but the paper seems solid enough.

Btw no I'm not

[PAPA LAZEROU]

I know he meant sticking a credit card in it you loon lol. God damn it I just had a loon moment myself, I made a shime out of some A4 paper, layering about 8 pieces to fit into the neck joint and when I put the strings on it it looked great, the action was just about as low as you would expect to see on an expensive guitar. The only problem was the excessive buzzing so I had to adjust the saddle heights and although it's not as bad as before it's still quite high. And I think the reason for this is because I forgot to 'angle' the peices of paper to make the shim lol so basically I just raised the whole neck rather than rasing it at an angle. Now I've got no more strings I'll get some during the week and try it one more time, if that doesn't do it then it's off to the shop.

What is amazing is how different the neck feels when the action is nearly uniform, it's not just the fretting that feels easier the actual grip on the neck feels smoother too. I guess that must be because the whole hand is more relaxed.

Oh about the springs, the strings that were on it were 11s and now that I've put 10s on it I only have to use two springs. Not the two springs that came with it though because they are quite weak. Also, on the Fender site they say the normal height from the back of the tremolo to the body is 3.2mm so I don't think I'll be able to raise it as high as I wish. I was hoping to get a good high pull as well as low but that's probably what Floyds are for. It still has that nice 60s 'Nancy Sinatra' twang which is cool.

Maple veneer? I'll have a look for that as it sounds better but the paper seems solid enough.

Btw no I'm not

Any decent veneer would do to shim the neck, it doesnt need to be maple as it will never be seen when the neck is back on. You could try asking Louise or Paula in Strung Out if they have a wee bit of veneer you could use as a shim.

Its pretty easy to do, you shouldnt have much trouble with it. Hope ya get it sorted out. Mind an see if ya need to adjust the truss-rod after shimming, this can make all the difference between buzzing like hell and not buzzing at all.