Members rocknhard Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 someone enlighten me - I think I need to try it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockStringBendr Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 well....ya take a piece of sandpaper, a business card, some fiber mesh, etc and re-angle your neck and body interface. some put a wafer under the front (body) side and either float their trem or just get the bridge up a bit some go the other way to get the trem non-floating or the bridge nice and tight some do an overall neck pocket lift to gain some room for whatever symtoms they are trying to remedy a little (tiny) bit goes a long way. my experience is with floyd roses and getting a float going, it really changes the personality of the axe. tilt it up a bit at the body, bring the trem up a little, dial everything in and rock the bitch. the neck relief (truss rod adjust) and intonation most times need some tweaking and the bridge is always going to be adjusted to accept the new angle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rocknhard Posted March 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the helpful information - here is what I think I did. On my Strat, it was playing perfectly - I then tightened the 4 neck screws too tightly and now I have a buzz on my first fret. Will this help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Video:http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shimming+a+neck&search_type=&aq=f Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashtray Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 The shim is where you put the mojo! Make sure you use something cool - like your favorite baseball card, autographed picture of famous musician, newspaper clipping from the 1950's, or whatever mojo you are trying to capture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the helpful information - here is what I think I did. On my Strat, it was playing perfectly - I then tightened the 4 neck screws too tightly and now I have a buzz on my first fret. Will this help? Loosen the truss rod a hair. Then lower the saddles if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the helpful information - here is what I think I did. On my Strat, it was playing perfectly - I then tightened the 4 neck screws too tightly and now I have a buzz on my first fret. Will this help? No a shim can help adjust the action. So you have a nice even string hieght down the length of the neck. So you don't have like 1 64th on the 3rd fret and 6 64th on the 18th fret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockStringBendr Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 actually if it's the 1st fret from the nut I would make sure it was fairly level and, if so, and the buzz was on the outer strings or all/most strings (not just the g, that would mean a start at the fret file near that string) I would asume you found the threshold on the lowest action you can get with the current neck relief- making a 1/16 to 1/8 of a turn counterclockwise is in order on your truss rod. I love to get aan axe dialed in so close that the 2 E strings buzz down low..... means that it's just a small tweak away from nirvana a little goes a long way, wait 24 hours for the wood to react to the adjustment entirely and there's a good chance whatever you did in tightening the neck bolts was a good/great thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 The proper solution. :poke: Sorry. Couldn't resist. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rocknhard Posted March 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks guys - you never fail me on making thing clearer, good suggestions and ideas to explore. I can't lower the truss rod any further or they all will buzz, I think what RockStringBndr suggested is what I have to do... Many many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Never shim with cardboard. Use a scrap of thin hardwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alex9152 Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 The proper solution. :poke: Sorry. Couldn't resist. EG I wish Epiphone would put binding on more of the SGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WildWill Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 The shim is where you put the mojo! Make sure you use something cool - like your favorite baseball card, autographed picture of famous musician, newspaper clipping from the 1950's, or whatever mojo you are trying to capture!I was setting up my Strat for blues playing and felt that way. So I cut up a platinum MasterCard and used it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaveAronow Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 Thanks for the helpful information - here is what I think I did. On my Strat, it was playing perfectly - I then tightened the 4 neck screws too tightly and now I have a buzz on my first fret. Will this help? Shims should be used only as a last resort AFTER all other set up options have been optimally tweaked and if you are still lacking the results that a shim can provide. Then you may consider a shim, but try everything else first. I would never voluntarily pot a shim where no shim is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HanSolo Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 I use either a Fender thin pick or a med depending on the relief I am looking for. I just loosen the strings and the neck screws and slip the pick in between the screws drop it pointy side forward to the back of the pocket. Retighten the screws and try it out. I start with thin and if it isn't enough, I shake the thin back out and replace with a medium. If a medium is required, I sandpaper the pointy end to make it a wedge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SaSa Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 I have a photo of a shim I made for my Strat XII. It's made of masking tape. It tapers so that at one end there's seven layers, and then towards the neck end gradually fewer layers. This is quite a thick shim, I think in many cases say 3,2,1,0 layers of masking tape would do the job.I googled this up from someplace and I there're probably better methods. But anyhow I haven't noticed any loss in tone or sustain, actually that guitar has stunning sustain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members yz250f49 Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 :poke: Sorry. Couldn't resist. The proper solution. :poke: Sorry. Couldn't resist. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jjpistols Posted March 7, 2010 Members Share Posted March 7, 2010 SHIM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rocknhard Posted March 9, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 SHIM!Meet Shim :love: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 Absolutely agrees with DaveAronow, dont use shim unless you absolutely have to. In those very few cases where I have used one I use high qaulity paper folded in two with a little bit of wood glue in middle and on side against neck pocket. I want it to be as much wood like for very thin shim as possible for minimal to no sound loss from useing shim. Its so much better when the guitar company does their neck pocket right to include slight tilt of neck back. Neednt be nearly as much as on Epi SG 400 guitars (which is less then gibsons), but a little rear tilt is nice for playability add. I did this to my Ibanez SR300 bass. It didnt need that for action, but as was in the neck pocket, was just too straight out with absolutely no rearward tilt of neck which bugged me some for playing comfort. Also cut down the little bit of acceptable fret buzz it hasd for lowest action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockStringBendr Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 every axe vendor that assembles in the us uses fiber mesh to adjust, and the locking nut designs get it back under the nut platform too..... it's part of dialing it in for custom shop delivery. I would guess that one in five have some shimming involved. set neck and through neck designs rely on other tweaks but the loss of tone is minimal on a bolt neck electric guitar unless something bozo the clown occurred during the setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockStringBendr Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 i would so would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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