To adjust the angle or pitch of the neck.<\/p>\n
Why would you need to adjust the angle or pitch of the neck?<\/strong><\/p>\n Let’s say you replace the neck on your bass guitar. You install it, string up, adjust your truss rod for proper bow, and then notice that the height of the strings is really high. You also notice that no matter how low you adjust the saddles, the strings are still sitting way too high above the frets.<\/p>\n It’s at that point you need a neck shim to change the angle so you can adjust strings to your desired string height.<\/p>\n Where is a shim placed?<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the heel of a bolt-on neck where it butts against the neck pocket.<\/p>\n Alternatively, if you want to gain string height you can also use a reverse shim at the other end of the pocket, seen below:<\/p>\n What can be used for shim material?<\/strong><\/p>\n There’s a long list of materials that could be used, most of which you already have.<\/p>\n You could use a guitar pick, milk jug plastic, a business card, 120 sandpaper, wood, a slim sheet of metal, etc. I’m sure you could think of many more.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, it is preferable to use a material that can but cut to fit across the width of the neck easily, which is why so many builders use business cards or sandpaper.<\/p>\n Is it required<\/em> to use a neck shim whenever fitting a new bolt-on neck?<\/strong><\/p>\n Not always. If after installing the neck and adjusting the truss rod you see that you can set your string height to your liking, then you don’t need a shim.<\/p>\n However, it is probably true you will need one, because the likelihood of a new bolt-on neck fitting exactly right usually doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n Why is a neck shim so often needed for new neck installations?<\/strong><\/p>\n Because wood is unpredictable in how it will settle in once installed. No two necks fit exactly the same, even if they were cut from the same log.<\/p>\n Are there ways of adjusting without a shim?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes and no. <\/p>\n Seasoned luthiers can add mass to the neck heel and then “shave” it down to virtually eliminate any gap that a shim would ordinarily leave behind.<\/p>\n What this means is that no, you can’t adjust without a shim, but yes, a seasoned luthier can perform the adjustments in such a way where the energy transfer from neck-to-body basically acts exactly the same as if a shim were not present in the heel.<\/p>\n In other words, “gap-less” adjustment more or less acts like a natural extension of the neck heel as far as energy transfer is concerned because “everything is touching”.<\/p>\n Does the gap left behind by the shim adversely affect the tone?<\/strong><\/p>\n That’s debatable. <\/p>\n Some builders firmly believe that the gap left behind by the shim significantly decreases the energy transfer from neck-to-body, “killing” the decay rate of a plucked note (which most known as “sustain”).<\/p>\n Others believe that as long as the bolt-on neck is installed properly and has a good, snug fit, the space does not affect decay rate whatsoever.<\/p>\n Is it true some builders purposely<\/em> put in a shim gap for tonal purposes?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. Some builders do believe that the gap created by a shim actually adds in a special tonal quality.<\/p>\n What tonal quality, specifically? It’s best described as “punch”. The energy of the neck according to the builder is “stopped short” at the heel, decreases note decay but increases<\/em> loudness of certain harmonics; that’s where the “punch” comes from.<\/p>\n If you would like to experiment with certain gaps to see (or rather hear) what tonal differences there are, feel free to try it out.<\/p>\n As for how much<\/em> gap you should put in there, I have no idea because it varies from instrument to instrument. And of course, bolt patterns vary wildly depending on what you have, because not everyone has a standard Fender 4-bolt setup.<\/p>\n What’s your experience with neck shims?<\/strong><\/p>\n What worked? What didn’t<\/em> work? How many times did you have to adjust before you got the correct angle? Post a comment or two with your experience(s).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A shim when referred to guitar neck usage is for all intents and purposes a thin spacer. In rare instances a shim is sometimes called a wedge, but the standard terminology used by luthiers for a thin wedge is to call it a shim. What is the purpose of a neck shim? To adjust the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"NeckShim2\"](\"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/NeckShim2.jpg\" "\\"NeckShim2\\"")
<\/p>\n