Whats The Deal With Neck Shims?

[kh15]

lol i was at guitar lessons the other day and the other teacher walks in and was talking to my guitar teacher about this beautiful custom tele he had just got like a week ago, he was all like...man im telling you im at wits end with this thing the damn neck wont get right and i called them up and they were just like try shimming the neck and then he went all off on how hes not shimming the neck and it should be perfect from the custom shop blah blah blah but this guy only plays fender that all he plays and thats all he wants to play, i personally think its pretty close minded but hey what ever floats you boat

[Southpa]

I'm tempted to install components for adjusting neck angle (tilt neck) in the tele I'm building. The more adjustment features the merrier I always say. You might find lots of guys who are a bit **** about their setup. Some stock features don't do a guitar justice until you mod them yourself eg. shimming up your neck brings the strings closer to the fretboard for easier action without having to lower the strings onto the pickups. But I guess the guys you are talking about will turn their nose up at high action. Its like tuning a guitar, as your ear gets more accustomed to hearing notes you seem to get a little more fussy about your tuning. Something thats not as easily noticed when you are just learning.

[thedoctor]

If it is really a worthwhile axe, I will go to the trouble of rerouting the pocket instead of shims to correct an angle problem. I hate to but too much shim shows up in the neck-to-body line and I will always know its there. Someone else might not notice but I will always know cause I did it.

[Digideus]

I dont like neck shims. I wouldnt rely on a lump of duct tape,pick guard to provide the tone from my neck wood. My first thought would have been to recess the bridge to correct a angle-less neck pocket, but if someone has bought a custom tele from the a custom shop, that should have been taken care of. I agree with him on this count. Ifyou buy a custom guitar, as a customer you expect a certain level of aptitude from the company that builds it it set it up as well.

Theres an important lesson there for anyone thinking about building guitars for others. be prepared to have your work criticised by customers who have high expectations, tho this is most probably a case of shoddy workmanship.

[kh15]

i agree with digideus you not gonna get that same sound with a neck shim as you would in haveing a teli or any bolt on for that matter if it was wood on wood contact.

"If it is really a worthwhile axe, I will go to the trouble of rerouting the pocket instead of shims to correct an angle problem"

whats involved in that? you have to glue in a block of wood the the pocket and re-rout it out?

[thedoctor]

It depends on why you are shimming in the first place. The most common reason to shim at all is because the preffered string-plane falls below the lowest bridge setting. In that case you remove the neck and set up a template to cut nothing from the bridge side of the pocket and .045-.090" from the outermost part of the pocket. Depends on how bad and stuff. It can get to be a pain to set your template to the exact right angle but what the heck. This is the fun stuff, right?