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Adding tremelo, shim the neck?


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Hello!

I'm putting together my dream partscaster, using a Mighty Mite neck and a GFS body with a GFS X-Trem tremelo arm. Really excited about the project, haven't done nearly enough of this kind of thing lately.

 

What I'm curious about is this little bit of information from the GFS website:

"Now listen carefully- In order to use this you MUST adjust your guitar so that you have a positive- 2.5 to 3 degree- neck angle. On some guitars this adjustment is easily done with an allen wrench- but on MOST you must SHIM the neck. We use business cards or sandpaper- some guys like old guitar picks or thin maple veneer- lots of ways to do it.

 

Your standard Tele bridge has an average height of 1/2"- This bridgesits about 9/16" average height. The bridge uses four grubscrews so you can easily adjust intonation- and once screwed down the bridge is firmly LOCKED to the bridgeplate."

 

I've been looking into shimming the neck online, and it seems to me (here's where my confusion is, and I'd really appreciate correction to my thinking) that shimming the neck has more to do with achieving the desired action than setting the overall relative string height. If an average bridge sits 8/16", and this bridge sits 9/16", shouldn't I put a flat 1/16" shim under the entire neck joint rather than shimming the neck to have a positive 3 degree angle?

 

Any clarity would be most sincerely appreciated!

Thank you!

Dave

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The reason to shim a neck is to get the bridge height within a manageable level using the saddle height screws. If the saddles are adjusted all the way down and the strings are still too high then you obviously have to tilt the neck back to lower the strings. This will allow you to adjust the saddles up to a medium level.

 

If the neck pocket was cut properly, you shouldn't have to shim the neck. Its hard to know until you do until its close to completing the build. You do get better tone if the neck is flat against the bottom of the pocket so the maximum vibration transfers between the neck and body. Its also more secure against shifting side to side.

 

If you do have to shim there are several methods. One method I use for getting the tilt right is to use small thin washers over the back set screws. I can add a number of them at a time until I get the height fine tuned. This usually involves having the strings on the guitar so I'll usually loosen the strings, then put a piece of masking tape over the first fret so the strings don't all unwind from the tuners. I can then back the screws out and add the washers as needed.

 

This will get my tilt correct, but it doesn't fix the air gap that's created in the process. Once I have the exact number of washers needed, I then put a drop of crazy glue on them to hold them in place, minus one washer. I make it just a tad lower.

 

Next I mix up some epoxy putty which you can buy in any hardware store. The stuff is like clay. You mix it, then use a flat knife or putty knife to quickly build the amount up to the washers you have in place. Next you place a piece of plastic wrap over the putty then wang the neck down into place and lake sure the height is still good. By tightening the neck down it squeezes the putty out and makes a custom shim that fits flat against the neck and allows maximum vibration from neck and body.

 

 

If the height is off you simply remove the neck quickly and then trim some of the putty off or light sand it before it hardens. If the neck does fit right I leave it for a few hours, then remove the neck and plastic wrap then go back and fill in any craters that the neck didn't completely contact. Then I may tale a small block of wood and sandpaper to make the pocket super smooth.

 

We aren't usually dealing with much here. Maybe 1 mm or so. I find the epoxy works much better then a match book cover or some other soft material that absorbs vibration. In a pinch I may use something else that works fairly well. I bought a squire years back and when I removed the neck I found they used plastic banding material used to strap up boxes and pallets of goods. I can get my hands on tons of that stuff where I work so I have a lifetime of the stuff in my parts cab.

 

It shims OK. You simply cut it to size and if you need it thicker you simply cut a longer piece and fold it over in half so there's two pieces or more. Its made of very hard plastic so its not going to flatten out over time. I'd say its second rate for tone to the method I mentioned above. Paper or cardboard is probably the worst for absorbing vibrations. The epoxy putty is the best because its as hard as wood when it hardens plus it can be sanded like wood.

 

Again, you have to wait till you're close to being finished before you can even determine if shimming is needed. Mighty Mite makes some good stuff and often times well built parts don't need any additional shims.

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Thank you so very much for that explanation WRGKMC! Really appreciate the time you took, in reading through it a couple of times I realized that one big mistake I was making was that I had confused Positive neck angle with Negative neck angle! Will definitely try out the epoxy, and am really grateful for the advice to wait until the beast is very nearly completed before looking at the action. Thanks again!

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